Things to do / Travel Guide
The history of the southern Appalachian Mountains region is one of peoples, not of political acts. The region didn't play a big part in the Revolutionary War, nor did it for much of the Civil War. It remained quite remote until the turn of the 20th century - when tourism started to pick up.
Native Americans in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Long before any Europeans could testify to the region's beauty, Native Americans were using the land for farming and hunting.
In western Virginia, the dominant tribes were the Cherokees in the state's southwest, and the Monacan Nation in the Shenandoah. The Monacans fled the advancing Europeans, and the Cherokees of Virginia were forced to move on to Oklahoma during the infamous Trail of Tears in the 1830s. During this decade, around 15,000 Native Americans were removed from their lands, with almost a third succumbing to disease on their way to Oklahoma.
West Virginia tribes included the Moneton tribe and the Cherokees. The Cherokees were also highly represented in the Smokies. Throughout the region, the Native American saga was one of retreat in the face of European settlement.
Europeans in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
The Europeans who settled in the region were a mixture of different nationalities: Scots, Irish, English, French, German, and Welsh all contributed. They began moving in during the 1730s, mostly from Pennsylvania. Western Virginia was settled first, while they took longer to settle in the Smokies.
Some explorers from this period of European expansion became American icons. Daniel Boone, for instance, was the first to explore Kentucky. He played a large part in clearing the way for new settlements, mapping out the unsettled territories, and inspiring others to follow.
Farming of crops and livestock was always the main occupation for the inhabitants of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Crops included wheat, potatoes, and corn; while livestock included hogs, sheep, cattle, and poultry such as chicken and geese.
The Southern Appalachian Mountains during the Civil War
In 1861, all the states in the southern Appalachian Mountains region joined the Confederacy. All save one, actually - or rather half of one. The northwestern counties of Virginia refused to secede, and they formed their own state, West Virginia.
There was bitter fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. In the northern tip of the region, Harpers Ferry housed a significant arsenal for the North, and one of the first battles of the war was the South's successful attempt to secure Harpers Ferry for its arms and arm-making ability. It was in the Shenandoah that a professor from the Virginia Military Institute named Thomas Jackson became Stonewall Jackson, and it was in that valley that Stonewall fought his most renowned battles.
It was General U.S. Grant himself that ended Southern hegemony over the Shenandoah. Old Stonewall had said, “If this Valley is lost, Virginia is lost.” It was finally lost, decisively, in March 1865, and the North declared victory just a month later.
The Southern Appalachian Mountains after the Civil War
With the close of the Civil War, and with more and more agriculture moving west to places like Missouri and Iowa, the importance of the southern Appalachians declined. In place of agriculture, therefore, came logging and mining for natural resources. These twin industries denuded the mountainous land, ridding it of its beauty, and reducing the farmers to near destitution. In the 1890s the North Carolina mountains got their first regular trains, and this was to transport the raw material.
The Southern Appalachian Mountains after the Great Depression
Finally, in the 1930s, the region began to see much-needed change. It was the height of the Great Depression, and if things weren't bad before in the southern Appalachians, it became very bad indeed during. This change came in the form of the building of National Parkways, a gigantic initiative similar in scope to other New Deal projects (though this wasn't technically one of them), and one which would employ thousands of the inhabitants of the region. Two major parkways were approved by President Roosevelt, one after the other:
- Skyline Drive was built from 1931-1939. This toll road rides the ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains within Shenandoah National Park.
- Begun in 1935, the Blue Ridge Parkway continues where Skyline Drive leaves off, south of Shenandoah National Park. This parkway was mostly completed only well after World War II, in 1952, and it wasn't officially finished until 1987, when the magnificent viaduct at Linn Cove, in North Carolina, was completed.
The Southern Appalachian Mountains Today
The maintaining of the parkways and National Parks employs a great many inhabitants of the region. Asheville is a bustling city, one of the most attractive in the Eastern United States to live in for its beauty and vivacity. The region has become a playground for all lovers of the outdoors (both residents and tourists), and as such it's one of the prime Eastern region for outdoors visitors; people from all over the U.S. come to witness its bucolic, awesome mountains and valleys, and its historic cities, towns, and mansions.
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