Carolina Theatre

This morning, I spent some time exploring the web page for the Carolina Theatre Preservation Association, located in downtown Spruce Pine. I have long been fascinated with old time music. When I was younger, that fascination revolved around Civil War music, war songs like the "Bonnie Blue Flag," "the Homespun Dress," and "All Quiet Along the Potomac"; and ballads, like "Lorena," and "Sweet Evelina." As I have grown older, that fascination has stayed, but changed. Now, I have a possibly unhealthy fascination with murder ballads: "Banks of the Ohio," "Pretty Polly," and the "Knoxville Girl."

A couple of years ago, I was working on my collection of essays on Avery County history. One of those essays deals with Lulu Belle and Scotty. They too have become a fascination.

The Carolina Theatre was built in 1937 in a booming downtown Spruce Pine. Thne in the late 1940s, the building had evolved, and now held the nationally broadcasted Carolina Barn Dance. According to the web site, the Carolina Barn Dance attracted both locally and nationally known acts. Some of those national acts to visit the area included Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Chet Atkins, and Lulu Belle and Scotty. I’m quite sure that I’ve come across info on Lulu Belle and Soctty at the Carolina Barn Dance in my research. I’ll need to go back through my notes to make sure.

While the most famous, at one time being broadcast on over 500 stations, the Carolina Barn Dance was not the only venue for local music. There was the Wiseman Memorial Park, the Music Barn in Crossnore, Youngs Mountain Music in Yancey County, and the Apple Orchard in Alta Pass. You can still catch local musicians at some of these venues.

The Carolina Theatre Preservation Association needs your help. They want to preserve the theatre and open it up as a destination site in western North Carolina. Check out the web page here to see what you can do to help.