Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State
“In western North Carolina a folklorist found many old family homesteads empty and neglected, but often used for family reunions; what mattered was ‘the memory of the experiences within and the meanings attached to the homeplace…. not the walls, the roof and the foundation. [They] preserve stories about old houses better than they preserve the structures themselves.’ ”
— From “The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History” by David Lowenthal (1996)
“The American mogul William A. V. Cecil told a bi-national meeting at Leeds Castle, Kent, in 1980 how he had transformed his North Carolina estate, Biltmore, from debt-laden encumbrance to lucrative honeypot by moving out of the house. This horrified the custodial English, bent on tenanting their stately homes even if bankrupt. Britons cared about living in their homes, Americans about owning them.”
– From “The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History” by David Lowenthal (1996)