Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Mount Mitchell (Elevation 6711 ft.) from Blackstock

  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-3981.jp2
  • This photograph depicting Mount Mitchell--the highest peak in eastern United States--was taken by Herbert W. Pelton (1879-1961). Pelton, a photographer active in Asheville, North Carolina, in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s, produced landscapes of the region including panoramic shots. The photograph is part of a collection documenting the activities of the Appalachian National Park Association. The Association, founded in 1899, played a key role in the movement for the establishment of a national park in the Southern Appalachians. George S. Powell was the Association’s first president and Asheville physician Dr. Chase P. Ambler (1865-1932) was the secretary. Ambler deposited this collection in 1929 to the State Archives of North Carolina at Raleigh from where they were moved in 2012 to the Western Regional Archives located in Asheville.