People
The Sea Claimed Petty Officer Billy Joe McKinney, But His Heart Is Still in the Mountains
Bakersville native Billy Joe McKinney was killed during a routine training flight in 1953. This is his story.
Patrolman Charles L. Radcliffe
Charles Lewis Radcliffe was born 10/30/1926 in Roanoke Rapids, Halifax County, NC. His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Radcliffe; his father worked as an electrician at Rosemary Manufacturing Company. Charles had a brother and 2 sisters. When Charles was 7 years...
Miss Dorothy and her Books
Dorothy Lee Anderson was born in Bakersville on November 15, 1929. She was the youngest daughter of Lee and Dora Masters Greene. She grew up in Bakersville and was a graduate of Bowman High School. In 1950 she married Milton A. Anderson Jr. According to an Asheville...
Roy Williams: Western North Carolina Legend
The legendary basketball coach announced his retirement on April 1, after 48 years of coaching. Roy Williams was born on August 1, 1950. His family lived in Spruce Pine at the time of his birth, however he was born in Marion Hospital as Spruce Pine would not establish...
Early Medical Practice In Bakersville
Early Medical Practice in Bakersville Over 40 physicians, 25 of whom served Bakersville and the northern end of the county, have been identified as having practiced in Mitchell County from 1867 to the beginning of three major health related institutions: the...
Mary Whitson Byrd, “Mountain Gal”
Mary Elizabeth Whitson Byrd was born 11-27-1882 in Tipton Hill, and except for 2 years, she lived in that Mitchell County community her entire life. She was the daughter of David Clingman Whitson (1858-1948) and Nancy Levisa Tipton (1856-1941). Other children born...
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
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
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...
Roxanna Bowman Putman ~ Herb Doctor
In Appalachia, a Herb Doctor is a therapist who heals with herbs. Other labels for such practitioners, often but not always female, are “granny women,” “wise women,” or “conjurers.” One of these herb doctors from Buladean was Roxanna “Roxaner” Bowman Putman. Roxanne...