Our Southern Highlanders - Legacy

Legacy

Our Southern Highlanders was the "seminal work" of Appalachian nonfiction, and provided a foundation for numerous other studies of Appalachian culture over subsequent decades. In spite of the book's shortcomings, its keen observations went a long way toward demystifying the rural people of Southern Appalachia. According to Bryson City author George Ellison, no book devoted to Southern Appalachia is "more widely known, read, and respected" than Our Southern Highlanders.

Kephart's years in the Hazel Creek valley had a profound impact on his life. He abandoned his career as a librarian, and focused solely on writing about outdoor life and studying the people of Southern Appalachia. While he left Hazel Creek in 1907 to tour the Southern Appalachian region, he eventually returned to nearby Bryson City in 1910, where he lived for the rest of his life. He spent much of the 1920s advocating the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which opened shortly after his death. Kephart was also instrumental in mapping the route of the park's Appalachian Trail segment, which was completed in the 1930s. The trail closely follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and traverses many of the highland pastures (most of which have been reclaimed by a young forest) that figured prominently in Our Southern Highlanders. In 2007, park archaeologists uncovered the foundation of Hall cabin during a project to revamp the nearby Derrick Knob shelter.