As I hope you noted in my last post, the almost 71,000 Hugh Morton images from the Grandfather Mountain Series are now part of the collection’s online finding aid and are open for research. These images date from the late 1930s through the early 2000s, and thoroughly document Morton’s intimate, life-long connections to the Mountain.
In the latest essay in our Worth 1,000 Words series, scholar DREW A. SWANSON explores this relationship and also reminds us that the Mountain was there long, long before the man, and will exist long, long after. How did tourism and development affect the Mountain’s ecosystems before Morton inherited it? What impacts did his actions, in the areas of both development and conservation, have? What can we expect in its future as a state park?
Read Drew’s essay, entitled Grandfather Mountain: Commerce and Tourism in the Appalachian Environment, and let us know your thoughts about these issues.
Good news from Blowing Rock:
http://blowingrocket.com/Local_News/story/Downtown-mural-reinstalled-id-003896
The current issue (September, 2014) of “Our State” magazine has a beautiful photo essay of Grandfather Mountain.
https://www.ourstate.com/tocs/september-2014/
A special celebration coming up at Grandfather Mountain:
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2014/09/01/grandfather-mountain-kidfest-fun-entire-family/14922855/
October will be a great time to view fall colors at Grandfather Mountain.
http://www.averyjournal.com/news/avery-news-notes-september/article_568e7530-450e-11e4-a599-d78426a333e3.html
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There is an interesting Grandfather Mountain article in today’s (7/3/15) issue of the Asheville paper.
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/07/03/morton-made-grandfather-mountain-top-attraction/29669369/
Lee Pace has a great article about Grandfather Golf and Country Club in the June, 2016 issue of “O. Henry ” magazine (Pages 27-29)
http://www.ohenrymag.com/?page_id=25
News from Grandfather Mountain State Park:
http://www.hcpress.com/front-page/improvements-at-grandfather-mountain-state-park-in-progress-new-profile-trail-parking-lot.html
There is sad news from Grandfather Mountain.
The state of North Carolina and Grandfather Mountain in particular lost a treasure on Saturday, April 1, 2017, when Jim Morton past away. To say he will be missed is a massive understatement.
https://www.hcpress.com/front-page/grandfather-mountain-mourns-loss-jim-morton.html
In the 1980s and ’90s when I was producing WFMY-TV’s “Good Morning” show in Greensboro, I would often get a call from Hugh Morton.
“Hello Jack, it’s you friend Hugh Morton.” He would then tell me about an interesting current temperature or an unusual wind gust atop Grandfather Mountain. Yesterday’s (3/2/18) wind gust would likely have prompted one of those calls.
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/grandfather-mountain-records-mph-wind-gust/article_7e0c8dc2-1e72-11e8-8160-4b9fb218b1d1.html
Some great news from Grandfather Mountain.
https://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/preservation-and-passion-grandfather-mountain-breaks-ground-for-new-conservancy/article_75adb267-e7e1-5e47-8711-edf7fcbd70ff.html