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WCU - Travel Western North Carolina

Valley of the Noon-Day Sun

  • wcu_travel-163.jp2
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  • This illustration from Wilbur G. Zeigler and Ben S. Grosscup's late 19th century travel narrative, 'Heart of the Alleghanies,'� is captioned, 'Valley of the Noon-Day Sun' (frontispiece). The name is a popular reference to the Nantahala Gorge in Macon and Graham counties, N.C. The page number referenced in the caption reads, 'You are looking across a long pent-in vale. On one side the Anderson Roughs, lofty and impending, with steep ridges, one behind the other, descending to the river, reach away to where the blue sky dips in between them and the last visible perpendicular wall that frowns along the valley's opposite border. The wilderness of the scene is heightened instead of softened by the vision of Campbell's lowly cabin in the center of the narrow corn-fields. You see the smoke above the blackened roof; several uncombed children tumbling in the sunshine; the rail fence close by its frail porch; and, beyond it, the limpid Nantihala , smooth and turbulent alternately, and filling the ears with its loud monotone. (See Frontispiece)' (pp. 97 - 98).

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Travel Western North Carolina

The images in this collection allow viewers to visit towns and communities throughout western North Carolina. Different journeys include a route along footpaths and wagon trails as it was in t...

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wcu_travel-163.jp2