Selling the Southern Highlands: Tourism and Community Development in the Mountain South
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-1997 Selling the Southern Highlands: Tourism and Community Development in the Mountain South Christopher Brenden Martin University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Martin, Christopher Brenden, "Selling the Southern Highlands: Tourism and Community Development in the Mountain South. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1997. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3270 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Christopher Brenden Martin entitled "Selling the Southern Highlands: Tourism and Community Development in the Mountain South." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. James C. Cobb, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Paul H. Bergeron, Bruce Wheeler, Charles Aiken Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) I To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Christopher Brenden Martin entitled "Selling the Southern Highlands: Tourism and Community Development in the Mountain South." I have examined the fmal copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in parti;U fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in History. C. Cobb, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: -d!J)J� rz. Accepted for the Council: AssociateVice Chancellor and Dean of The Graduate School SELLING THE SOUTHERN IDGHLANDS: TOURISM AND COMMUNfiY DEVELOPMENT IN THE MOUNTAIN SOUTH A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Christopher Brenden Martin August 1997 Copyright © Christopher Brenden Martin, 1997 All rights reserved ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my late stepfather Dr. William B. McCash who first inspired my passion for history. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been written wi thout the help and support of many people. The members of my committee, Dr. James C. Cobb, Dr. Paul H. Bergeron, Dr W. Bruce Wheeler, and Dr. Charles Aiken, provi ded invaluable suggestions and saved me from numerous embarrassing errors. Though I accept ful l responsibility for any shortcomings in this study, the merits of this work are due in no small part to the suggestions of my committee members. I am especially grateful for the intell ectual chall enges and moral support of Dr. Cobb, who firstle d me to this topic and guided the process of researching and writing this dissertation. Words al one cannot express my debt and grati tude for the love and support of my famil y. My mother encouraged me to pursue academic studies and gently prodded me to finish. My son, Eric, has been a constant source of joy and comedic relief as he has so patiently waited for me to finish "that dumb dissertation" for the last three years. But most of al l I want to thank my loving wife, Sara. Without her love and support, this dissertation would have never been completed. iv ABSTRACT Focusing on Buncombe County, North Carolina, Blount County, Tennessee, and Sevier County, Tennessee as representative resort areas in the mountain South, this study recognizes tourism as a central factor in the historical development of the region's cultural identity, economy, and landscape. In studying the variant devel opment patterns of resort communities in the southern highl ands, it is apparent that tourism has simultaneously produced both continuity and change as well as positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, tourism has often served as a source of economic, cultural , and environmental preservation. Tourism has hel ped to maintained cul tural distinctiveness, historical identity, and a sense of pl ace in the mountain South. Likewise, tourism has also sustained many of the economic qualities traditional ly associated with the region, including a dependency on external capital, uneven distribution of economic benefits, an unorganized labor force, and seasonal employment patterns. Moreover, since scenic beauty and healthy cl imate have long been a main attraction for tourists, tourism has often provided the economic rationale for the protection of the environment. On the other hand, the growth of tourism has also modified many of the qualities traditionally associated with the region. Considering the environmental changes brought by rapid commercial development and second home construction, or the cultural adaptations induced by contrived attractions and interactions between visitors and local residents in a tourist setting, or the employment, revenue, and economic v dependence generated by the mass travel industry, it is clear that tourism has been a major source of change in the southern mountains. In many ways tourism has been an important factor in the transfonnation of the landscape as well as the modernization of the region's culture and economy over the last century. Depending on the context in which it is pursued, tourism can be a healthy, sustainable development strategy that enhances the beauty of the landscape as well as the cultural foundation of the community, or it can hinder economic diversification, mar the scenery, and destroy the sense of community. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. "Taking the Cure": The Antebellum Origins of Tourism in the Mountain South .............................................9 PART I--FROM TRAILS TO RAILS, 1865-1914 2. "Millionaires Must Cost Us Something": The Economics of . Victorian Tourism in the Highland South ...........................43 3. Castles Among Cabins: Regional Identity, Cultural Interaction, and Tourism in the Mountain South, 1865-1914 ......................74 4. Trains, Trees, and Travelers: Tourism and the Landscape in the Southern Highlands, 1865-1914 . 107 PART IT--FROM RAILS TO ROADS, 1914-1996 5. "It's a whole lot easier to pick tourists than to pick cotton": The Automobile and the Economics of Mountain Tourism . .......... 130 6. Hillbillies, Rednecks, and "Injuns": Modem Tourism, Regional Change, and Cultural Change in the Southern Highlands .............. .185 7. "Dang if I ever seed sich a way to skin up a mountain": Modem Tourism and the Landscape in the Mountain South . 23 5 CONCLUSION ......... .................. ...... ............263 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................... .....................269 VITA ......................................................290 vii Introduction Since World War II, tourism has quietly emerged as one of the largest industries in the world. 1 Its global economic importance has grown exponentially over the last several decades as transportation and accommodations improved and people throughout the industrialized world gained more disposable income and leisure time in which to travel. Few regions of the world better reflect the magnified importance of tourism than the American South, where the hospitality trade is now either the first or second most important industry in every state.2 Indeed, tourism is the only industry in many southern communities. Given the economic im portance of tourism, it is surprising that so fe w historians have studied the relationship between tourism and regional development in the South. This study will help to fill this void by analyzing tourism's role in the economic, cultural, and environmental development of the southern highlands. Defined broadly, the mountain South (or the southern highlands) refers to the upland areas of the American South, including southern Appalachia, the Ouachita Mountains, and the Ozark Mountains. Tourism in these sub-regions of the South has a long, rich history that dates back to the eighteenth century when health seekers first visited the region's "salubrious" mineral springs. As resorts in the region grew more sophisticated and more accessible, visitors traveled increasingly to spas for social life and pleasure rather 'Donald E. Lundsberg, The Tourist Business (Boston: Cahners, 1974), 2. 2Bob Dart, "South Charged Up as Tourist Magnet," Knoxville News-Sentinel, 7 March 1993. 1 than to "take the waters." Building upon the antebellum fo undations of tourism in the southern highlands, New South entrepreneurs developed scores of new mountain resorts that catered to America's growing middle class. The rise of automobiles in America democratized tourism and spawned the growth of many new resort communities in the twentieth century. As a result, there are now dozens of communities in the region with a large tourist base. While each resort community has its own distinct historical experience, there are identifiable sub-regional trends in the history of tourism in the mountain South. For that reason, after studying