The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

Part of Arcadia Publishing’s Postcard History Series, this pictorial historical glimpse of the westernmost 23 counties in North Carolina takes the reader on a tour of the mountains via vintage postcards.

In addition to the mountain counties of North Carolina, the book includes the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which is located in Swain and Haywood counties in North Carolina as well as Blount, Sevier, and Cocke counties in Tennessee.

Most of the postcards in the book are linen-finish; however, there are a good number of black-and-white glossy real-photo postcards of such sights as the Cheoah Dam, Lake Santeetlah, Deal’s Gap Road, and the Fontana Dam and Powerhouse made soon after construction.

Rare postcards in the book include one of the Blowing Rock Observatory (circa 1930); postcards of the Blue Ridge Parkway before it was paved; a postcard of the campus of Cullowhee State Normal (now, Western Carolina University) postmarked in 1931; an early 1900s postcard of the Indian mound near Franklin, NC, which was all that remained of an ancient Cherokee town called Nikwasi; 1936 real-photo postcards from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including one of Newfound Gap Road when it was gravel.

Although limited by the publisher in the number of words she could write about each postcard and the scene it depicted, Janet packed as much historical detail as possible in each postcard’s description.

The postcard images in the paperback edition are in black-and-white; however, the color postcards are in color in the e-book.

Click HERE to purchase in paperback from Arcadia Publishing.

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