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Taking a Look Back
Written By: Deena Bouknight | Issue: October 2023
It’s a matter of history – the Plateau’s twin libraries are exceptional community resources.
Exceptional stories of how Cashiers and Highlands sprang up as important communities are published in various books – and the local libraries offer these history resources and much more.
In fact, Hudson Library in Highlands and Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers have resources in both physical book and digital forms; they also have nonfiction and historic-fiction offerings that open readers’ eyes to the facts, legends, geology, and lore of this important area.
Library patrons can visit one of the two Plateau libraries as well as tap into its online resources. For example, genealogy databases include HeritageQuest, available at fontanalib.org/genealogy. They also have access to the HomeGrown eBook collection through NCLive that features fiction and non-fiction by North Carolina authors and publishers: library.biblioboard.com/home.
A few books that spotlight Highlands’ history in pictorial form are by Angela Jenkins, whose family extends nine generations in Highlands: Highlands, North Carolina … The Early Years; Highlands, North Carolina … The Early Years Volume II; and, Memories of Highlands’ Early Years … Stories by Native Highlanders.
And Cynthia Strain has two Highlands photographic beauties: Highlands North Carolina Through the Seasons and the 2023 Highlands North Carolina Through the Years. Both are wonderful, and she is currently completing a similar book for the Cashiers area,” said Hudson Library’s Carlyn Morenus.
Plus, Heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, by Ran Shaffner is focused on Highlands. This North Carolina Society of Historians’ award winner also wrote Good Reading Material, Mostly Bound and New, a history of the Hudson Library in Highlands. Concentrating on Cashiers is Historic Tales of Cashiers, by Jane Nardy, who also wrote Cashiers Valley. A large-format photo survey titled The Cashiers Area – Yesterday, Today, and Forever.
“There are a ton of hidden gems from our local authors!” expressed Serenity Richards, branch librarian for the Cashiers library. “The David Joy and Ron Rash books are always popular. The Yellow Mountain series by Mercedes Reitz is popular with folks looking for hyper-local stories. And the Nine Minutes novels by Beth Flynn are always on heavy rotation with our patrons.”
Knowing a region’s history means more connection to the people and places.
