A view of the Toe River Valley area, taken from Roan Mountain on Wednesday, October 22,
2008.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Avery County book wins award
Folks, I had a chance to attend the award banquet for the North Carolina Society of Historians this past Saturday in Hickory. Two of my books, Remembering Avery County and Remembering North Carolina’s Civil War, were awarded the Willie Parker Piece History Book Award. This marks the third and fourth times I have won this award. Considering that there were 834 entries and only 107 winners, well, I am deeply honored.
Other WBTS titles that were honored included:
Greensboro’s Confederate Soldiers – Carol Moore
The Civil War Ends: Greensboro, April 1865 – Bradley R. Foley and Adrian L. Whicker
Mountain Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina – Terrell Garren
Through the Eyes of Soldiers: The Battle of Wyse fork, Kinston, North Carolina – Tom J. Edwards and William K. Rowland
The Un-Civil War – Mike Scruggs
I had a great time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. And, once again, thanks to the NC Society of Historians for honoring my work.
Other WBTS titles that were honored included:
Greensboro’s Confederate Soldiers – Carol Moore
The Civil War Ends: Greensboro, April 1865 – Bradley R. Foley and Adrian L. Whicker
Mountain Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina – Terrell Garren
Through the Eyes of Soldiers: The Battle of Wyse fork, Kinston, North Carolina – Tom J. Edwards and William K. Rowland
The Un-Civil War – Mike Scruggs
I had a great time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. And, once again, thanks to the NC Society of Historians for honoring my work.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Happy Birthday Yancey!
A week ago this past Saturday, we were in Yancey County celebrating the county’s 175th birthday. Yancey County, and the Toe River Valley in general, has gone largely undocumented. Only Avery County has a somewhat formal published history.
Local residents in the Toe River Valley started petitioning the general assembly in Raleigh to establish a new county in 1825. The general assembly, controlled by people from the eastern part of the state, did not want new western counties eroding their base of power. It was not until 1833 that the measure passed for a new county, named in honor of former speaker Bartlett Yancey. Even with the passage of the act, the eastern representatives tried to slip in measures that would give the new county “administration without representation,” and they tried to establish a new county in the eastern part of the state by the name of Roanoke. Neither measure was adopted.
The new Yancey County covered the entire Toe River Valley, and then some.
Yancey County needed a county seat, and a group of commissioners was chosen: Rickles Stanley, Thomas Baker, Joseph Shepherd, Levi Bailey, and John McElroy. The commissioners first met in January 1834, and soon chose a track of land known as “Ray Flats”; the property was owned by John “Yellow Jacket” Bailey. In honor of Otway Burns, a privateer in the War of 1812, the new county seat was named in his honor. Burns’s vote for the new county in 1833 cost him his seat in the assembly.
So Yancey County is 175 years old. It is home to the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, the South Toe River, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Parkway Theater – and no history of the county exists. Who is going to take up this challenge?
Local residents in the Toe River Valley started petitioning the general assembly in Raleigh to establish a new county in 1825. The general assembly, controlled by people from the eastern part of the state, did not want new western counties eroding their base of power. It was not until 1833 that the measure passed for a new county, named in honor of former speaker Bartlett Yancey. Even with the passage of the act, the eastern representatives tried to slip in measures that would give the new county “administration without representation,” and they tried to establish a new county in the eastern part of the state by the name of Roanoke. Neither measure was adopted.
The new Yancey County covered the entire Toe River Valley, and then some.
Yancey County needed a county seat, and a group of commissioners was chosen: Rickles Stanley, Thomas Baker, Joseph Shepherd, Levi Bailey, and John McElroy. The commissioners first met in January 1834, and soon chose a track of land known as “Ray Flats”; the property was owned by John “Yellow Jacket” Bailey. In honor of Otway Burns, a privateer in the War of 1812, the new county seat was named in his honor. Burns’s vote for the new county in 1833 cost him his seat in the assembly.
So Yancey County is 175 years old. It is home to the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, the South Toe River, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Parkway Theater – and no history of the county exists. Who is going to take up this challenge?
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