Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Mary Sloop with Crossnore students

  • wcu_craft_revival-5374.jpg
  • This photograph, taken by Bayard Wootten in the late 1920s or early 1930s, shows Mary Martin Sloop interacting with students near the Crossnore School. Dr. Mary Martin Sloop, a medical doctor, moved to Avery County, North Carolina in 1911. Within a few years, Sloop was working with the Crossnore community to upgrade a little one-room schoolhouse to expand local educational opportunities. Crossnore School was incorporated in 1917 and continues today. In 1920 Crossnore established a weaving program, operated with funds from the Smith-Hughes Act, federal legislation enacted to support vocational education.