In this work, the most comprehensive of its kind, the author examines in engaging narrative and wonderful photography the development of the area’s complete railroading industry—Class 1 railroads, short lines, industrial and mining roads, and logging lines. Added to the textual histories are more than three hundred photographs and illustrations, including timetables and maps for most of the lines discussed.

Traveling across the treacherous and diverse landscape of western North Carolina is a challenge historically met with human ingenuity. Mountain traces of Native Americans, dusty stagecoach routes and vital railroads lined the region. Asheville installed the state's first electric streetcars. Intrepid young men and women continued North Carolina's aviation legacy. The Buncombe Turnpike helped tame the Blue Ridge Mountains, allowing livestock drives to reach markets in South Carolina. Author Terry Ruscin reveals the visionaries and risk-takers who paved the way to the "Land of the Sky" in a wondrous examination of western North Carolina transportation history.

From the introduction to the appendix, this volume is filled with interesting information. Covering seventeen counties—Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey—the author spent about ten years searching and gathering materials.

"Railroad Builders: The Dunavant Family of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee" introduced Henry Jackson "Jack" Dunavant (1875-1928) and described many of the large-scale construction projects he completed in North Carolina and throughout the South. (Charlotte's Dunavant Street was named in his honor.) It also introduced his wife, Louise Wert Dunavant (1886-1967), and described how she supervised the initial construction of Charlotte's Carolina Golf Club and successfully launched that project during the Great Depression. This supplemental e-book introduced their immediate family and related families, and this latest edition also recalls how the Henkel - Dunavants of Statesville helped to develop the beautiful mountain town of Blowing Rock. This two-volume work received both a History Book Award and a Family History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians in 2015.

In telling the story of the North Carolina Railroad's independent years (1849-71), Trelease covers all aspects of the company and its development, including its construction and rolling stock; its management, labor force, and labor policies; its passenger and freight operations; and its role in the Civil War. He also assesses the impact of the railroad on the economic and social development of North Carolina. Originally published in 1991. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.