ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In 1904, a 42-year-old librarian named Horace Kephart came to western North Carolina looking for a fresh start in the southern Appalachian wilderness. Over the next 27 years, his numerous articles and books, including “Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers,” captured a disappearing culture, provided practical advice for generations of outdoor enthusiasts, and spearheaded the movement to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Shortly after Kephart’s death in an automobile accident in 1931, the newly formed Horace Kephart Troop, Boy Scouts of America, placed a millstone marker at the Bryson Place campsite outside of Bryson City in Swain County. The marker reads, “On this spot Horace Kephart – Dean of American Campers and one of the Principal Founders.”
The traveling exhibit “Horace Kephart in the Great Smoky Mountains,” will be on display in Asheville at the Western Office of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources from April 1 to June 30, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
Special evening and Saturday programs are also planned and will be announced separately. The exhibition includes a number of original items from the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University, including the prototype for the “Kephart Sheath Knife”, which was commercially manufactured by the Colclesser Brothers and is still in use today.
For additional information please call (828) 296-7230, email jeff.futch@ncdcr.gov , or visit http://www.ncdcr.gov/westernoffice. The Western Office is located at 176 Riceville Road, Asheville, N.C, and within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
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