Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

North Carolina view from Spence Cabin

  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-15294.jpg
  • Paul M. Fink (1892-1980) of Jonesborough, Tennessee, was an early advocate for the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This collection of photographs from 1914 through the 1930s was taken while Fink thoroughly explored the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding area. A banker and a conservationist, Fink kept a journal of his explorations and published his entries in Backpacking Was the Only Way (1975). This photograph was likely taken during a six-day trip in 1922 to explore the Western end of the Smokies. Present were Walter S. Diehl, Henry W. Patton, and Paul M. Fink. On the back of this photograph Fink wrote: Into Carolina from the Spencer Cabin.