Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

I. K. Stearns and Kip

  • wcu_picturing-5439.jpg
  • This 1942 image of Irving Kip Stearns (1895-1942) with his dog Kip shows the nine-hole, sand green, Bryson City Golf Course and golfers in the immediate background. Farther back is the Deep Creek drainage, the two mountains at the right stand along the Thomas Ridge Divide, the peaks above I.K. Stearns and Kip are part of Sunkota Ridge, and the far mountains show the main Smoky Mountain Divide. This image is part of the Stearns-Grueninger collection. I. K. Stearns was president of Carolina Wood Turning Company from 1928 until his death in 1942. Stearns’ grandfather, Jeremiah Shank, started the company in 1903 as Bryson City Pump Works and it grew to be a thriving industry for the community. In 1911, Stearns was in the first graduating class of Bryson City High School. He had one son, Joseph Pease Stearns (1917-1948). In 1935, I. K. married Betty Grueninger (1896-1971).