Appalachian History

(continued from yesterday…) When the Union forces first reached Atlanta, Callahan sent his daughter word not to go in for more goods, but to stay home with the children. From 30 miles away the loud roar of cannon could be clearly heard. She declared in 1928 that she would never forget the battle sound. Callahan [...]

She said she was 101 at the time of the interview in the January 28, 1928 issue of the Progressive Farmer, but she remembered the early days of childhood well. There is no doubt that Nancy Emmaline Callahan Dollar, who came to be known as “Granny Dollar,” was what is known as a character. This [...]

Old Fort: the name says it. It is indeed one of the oldest towns in western North Carolina, and it was originally a fort, built by the colonial militia before the Declaration of Independence. Once called “Gateway to the West,” the settlement served as the westernmost outpost of the early Thirteen Colonies. Frequent skirmishes between [...]

The Carolina coast was the site of the earliest evidence of pottery making in North America, with pieces dated 4,500 BC and tempered with Spanish moss. In 1540, when Hernando De Soto traveled through the Carolinas, the Catawba Indian Nation controlled 55,000 square miles of land including portions of North Carolina and Virginia, and most [...]

STORY OF A CHEROKEE INDIAN FAMILY CHARACTERS Hogbite [‘hogbite’] His wife Zetella [‘crane’]. Their daughter, Unatsi [‘snow’]. Their baby boy, name unknown. In 1835 the blacksmith Hogbite and his wife, Zetella, with their daughter Unatsi, fourteen, and their baby boy, six months old, crossed the Nantahala mountains to Franklin. On their return in the evening, [...]