Property Rights 1972 Greensboro Daily News

Property Rights 1972 Greensboro Daily News

Mountains, Conservation, Signs, Trails, Blue Ridge Parkway, Legislation, Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), National Park Services, Maps, Watauga County, Appalachian Trail, Newspapers

This image depicts a newspaper clipping from the Greensboro Daily News. At the top of the clipping "Trails. N" is written in red pen. Towards the middle, there is a fading stamp that reads "Greensboro Daily News" and "A-1 Nov. 16, 1972" is written in black pen. The clipping is of the article "Property Rights War With Roamin' Rights" by Bill Lee. Lee describes a movie about George Vanderbilt and his conservationist efforts in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lee criticizes the movie for its portrayal of Appalachians and presents their side of the story to counterbalance the film. He describes free roaming laws and the long tradition of Appalachians traveling anywhere in their communities. As described in the article, this tradition was destroyed by Vanderbilt and others that bought huge swaths of land. Upon purchasing land, these individuals would enforce "no trespassing" signs and barring the roaming mountaineers from entry. The article continues with a description of efforts by mountaineers to put up their own signs but only enforcing it for tourists. The accompanying image shows a few hikers walking through the Appalachian Trail. Stapled to item 064-a, item 064-b is a continuation of the article "Property Rights Clash With Roamin' Rights" by Bill Lee. The article is about the recent conflict between landowners in the Blue Ridge Mountains, locals, and the developers of the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail had been an unofficial trail that went through the mountains to Big Bald Mountain. However, upon trying to officially develop the trail, Henry Nichols struggled against Fondren Mitchell who owned the land around the mountain. This conflict continued to escalate, with Mitchell refusing to sell his land and threatening to build a large hotel between the trail and the mountain. The article ends with Nichols stating that he would go through condemnation proceedings for Mitchell and other property owners that refuse to sell or develop their land.

Bill Lee

November 16, 1972

Watauga County Agricultural Extension

Newspaper

English

Document

Wat-Agr-05-064

Greensboro, NC

Adelia Daly

600

24

Watauga County Agricultural Extension Photo And Slide Collection

Epson Scan