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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.

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Item 1 - Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.
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Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.

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wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11402.jpg

Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.

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Item 3 - Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.
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Kephart death is mourned by W.N.C.

GSMNP_10184_26_03_03
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Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • After returning from Europe he was at different times assistant at the Cornel and Yale University libraries and librarian at the St. Louis Mercantile library. He was president of the North Carolina Literature and Historical association, an author of wide repute and a speaker of wide renown, but in it all he was a man who knew the gay notes of every bird, a specialist in the habits of the animals that populate the gigantic mountains and valleys and a writer whose soul entered into every word that, he wrote of the mountains he so dearly loved. , Hon Much Praise. Fifteen years ago his "Our Southern Highlanders" provoked nationwide praise in presenting one of the first true pictures of the mountain folk, their history, their habits, their viewpoints about "blockading," their feuds, their hospitality, their unselfishness and a thousand and one other farts. He was an authority on woodcraft, on camping, on firearms, on adventure and on literature and the great outdoors. Behind Mr. Kephart was a experience. He was graduated from a small Pennsylvania college, later entered Cornell University at Ithica, N. Y., where he became interested in forestry. Then he went, to Boston University and later to Yale. He passed four years in the Yale University library and for the following 12 years was librarian in the St. Louis Mercantile library. After long service In library work, Mr. Kephart suffered a ests. Commercial companies forthwith suggested a national forest, I but Kephart demurred, demanding wide j in its stead a national park where 11 timber would be preserved for but j posterity. He was spoken of for years as a silly idealist but then Kephart brought " into play his experiences learned In libraries and colleges. His labors were immediately turned toward writing. He contributed extensively to The Worlds Word, while photographs taken by his Japanese friend, George Masa, were widely published. Kephart's yarns began nervous! turning public opinion and soon breakdown and began casting about j there were others who took up the for an isolated section in which to j work. cast his lot. He studied the situa- Kephart went to Washington with tion intently and ultimately hit upon i his plan for the greatest national the vast, undeveloped slopes and j park in Eastern America—The Great ridges of picturesque Western North Smoky National Park. To him it was Carolina. Located In Cabin. Twenty-seven years ago Mr. Kep- Susquehanna. The family lived briefly | in Iowa and alter "returned to I Pennsylvania. After Horace had fared hard arrived in Svlva, 50 miles west ! f°rth to college the family moved to of Asheville. Near there he located i Dayton, Ohio. a log cabin on Hazel Creek, where he did- his own cooking, washing. Mr. Kephart was a moving spirit I early in the organization of the na- etc. Then no axe had sullied-- the j tion wide movement to perpetuate virgin forests that hemmed in every and outline the famous Appalachian part of the state. To the residents i Trail from the wilderness ot Northern of that sparsely settled community ! Maine through Western North Caro- in 1904 Horace Kephart was "a fur- riner" who partook of the hospitality, rude as it was. that was heartily of- lina and into Georgia. He- was a mem ber and organizer of the Carolina Appalachian Trail Club which was fered. If Mr. Kephart ever learned of | organized in Asheville several months ny illegal transactions of the folk j ago and-also was a member of the of that area he kept it a secret until his' dieing day yesterday. Some national Appalachian Trail Conference which is to meet in Gatlln- took him for a "revemooer," but his i burg. Tenn., June ,2. He was to have friendship and help soon abolished | represented the Asheville club as one any such thoughts from the citizenry. Finally, Mr. Kephard settled in Bryson "city, then a small settlement in Swain County. Celebrities of its delegates Mr. Kephart was advisor for The Times exploring trip into the Great Smokies dxiring the summer of 1929. a passion. Of the park he said once:. by the score visited him annually, : "i owe my life to these mountains and he guided them into the for- , and I want them preserved that ests he knew so well. Later came the j others may profit by them as I have." Legislatures of North Carolina and Tennessee have voted millions of dollars, the American government has acted approvingly and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park it to be. but it probably wouldn't be without the impetus furnished by the sincere and laborious effort of Horace Kephart.
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  • This article is a memorial to Horace Kephart (1862-1931), a noted naturalist, woodsman, journalist, and author. In 1904, he left his work as a librarian in St. Louis and permanently moved to western North Carolina. His popular book, “Camping and Woodcraft” was first published 1906; the 1916/1917 edition is considered a standard manual for campers after almost a century of use. Living and working in a cabin on Hazel Creek in Swain County, Kephart began to document life in the Great Smoky Mountains, producing “Our Southern Highlanders” in 1913. Throughout his life, Kephart wrote many articles supporting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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