Railroads have always been important to the economic development of North Carolina, but for many years the western part of the state was left out of the equation. The intense, mountainous terrain deterred companies from developing in the area around Asheville.
But in 1877, the state-owned Western North Carolina Railroad Company, headed by Maj. James H. Wilson, began boring through the mountains west of Old Fort. And this started a new chapter in western North Carolina history. Industries like mining, timber and tourism all began to boom.
This story is documented in a new exhibit at the Rural Heritage Museum at Mars Hill University called “How The West Was Won: Trains and the Transformation of Western North Carolina.”
Host Frank Stasio previews the exhibit with Les Reker of the Rural Heritage Museum and exhibit curator and former North Carolina legislator Ray Rapp.
The exhibit is on view through January 2016.
