Tragedy at Berry Gap

Tragedy at Berry Gap

The coming of the Clinchfield Railroad to the region in the early 1900s was a boon for the area and opened up the isolated mountain region to the outside world. The building of the railroad through the mountains was an arduous task and an engineering marvel that still...
POLLY WRIGHT STEWART SAW FIVE GENERATIONS

POLLY WRIGHT STEWART SAW FIVE GENERATIONS

Mary Wright was born about 1836 according to her death certificate, but most census records show her as being a few years younger, born perhaps about 1839.  Her parents, Solomon and Hannah Hughes Wright, were living in the Red Hill community of what was then Yancey...
Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Waightstill Avery Anderson was a Mitchell County revenue officer. Anderson married Nora Bowman, the daughter of J.W. Bowman and Mary Garland. Anderson had the reputation as a man who “possessed many enemies because he was active in running down the moonshiners who...
J.J. Britt: Defender of Freedom

J.J. Britt: Defender of Freedom

On 19 October 1899, J.J. Britt, presiding over the North Carolina Republican Party meeting in Statesville opposing the suffrage amendment, the Campaign for Freedom In North Carolina, said: “We have entered upon a period of unparalleled prosperity in every line of...