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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Kephart Memorial

  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10982.jp2
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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 in 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.
  • The people of Western North Carolina have ng recognized their debt to the late Horace ^...ephart, of Bryson City, "who wrote with such charm and beauty of style, the story of the matchless mountains incorporated within the area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Kephart's book, "Our Southern Highlands has been recognized as an authentic portrayal of the people and environment of the South* highlands. His other works on camping and woodcraft and his yeoman s with the campaign for the creation'- of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have served to emphasize the ability of the man and' the value of his work: It is, therefore, most fitting that a memorial be established which will honor perpetually the name of the man who did as much as any other man or more to preserve for posterity the last stand of the great eastern wilderness. The people of this mountain section will no doubt be unanimous in their endorsement of the organization formed at Bryson City last Saturday night which has for ' its central purpose the preservation of ' the late author's library as a nucleus for the establishment of a Horace Kephart memorial research library and museum, probably inside the area of the national park. Such an undertaking is significant of the recognition that is being accorded those figures in American history who have loved their country and who have fought to conserve Its resources and its beauties in order that future generations may have a worthy heritage with which to work in the building of a greater Horace Kephart, in a sense, needs no memorial, for his books and his other work speaks for his name, but in a larger sense this me- I morial center is needed. It will give the public j an opportunity to express in concrete form its profound appreciation of the man and author and it will afford a place where the lore of these everlasting hills may be preserved before it is too late. The mountains of Southern Appalachia have fesen going through a period of transition. The mountaineers who have talked the language of the Elizabethans are rubbing shoulders with 'the people who talk the slang and the modern English of the 20th century. The folkways are breaking down. The old and beautiful ballads and folk songs of the Southern highlands, their chief depository in America, are still with us,- but if they are not preserved one of the great heritages of the past will be gone forever. In this connection, it is interesting and gratifying to note the plan of Professor Greer, of Boone, to establish a foundation for the preservation of these ballads in connection with the Great j Smoky Mountains National Park. The Kephart memorial and the ballad | ' foundation plans constitute, in effect, a reali- j zation on the part of citizens that the hcrit: of the mountains is v/ortl Tiv.:><i and the j s should go forw

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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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