The Mountain: before, during, and after Morton


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.

11 thoughts on “The Mountain: before, during, and after Morton”

  1. 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

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