Tag: great smoky mountains national park

Below the Plow Zone: An Excerpt from “Oconaluftee”

The following is an excerpt from Oconaluftee: The History of a Smoky Mountain Valley by Elizabeth Giddens, which is available everywhere books are sold. A deep dive into one valley of the mountain borderlands of the antebellum South, the Civil War, and industrialization. Giddens makes this amazing place come alive by connecting the stories of prosperous and less prosperous people… Continue Reading Below the Plow Zone: An Excerpt from “Oconaluftee”

Appalachian Studies/Excerpts/North Carolina

What is Decoration Day?

Alan Jabbour, who authored Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decoration in the Southern Appalachians with his wife Karen Singer Jabbour, provides some insight to a grassroots ritual that led to the creation of a federal holiday. –alyssa Many rural community cemeteries in western North Carolina hold “decorations.” A decoration is a religious service in the cemetery when… Continue Reading What is Decoration Day?

American History/American Studies/Appalachian Studies/Author blog entry/Cultural Studies/folklore/Guest Bloggers/North Carolina/Southern Studies

The Gasque backstory

As Townsend, Tennessee, gears up for Troutfest 2009, Knox.com features a story about the book that will be helping generate funds for the fly-fishing exposition, Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies, by Jim Gasque. Writer Chad Gay caught up with Dan Pitts, president of the Great Smoky Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited, who helped bring the out-of-print 1948 classic… Continue Reading The Gasque backstory

Events/Nature/Sports