The classic book is a collection of essays  on mountain lore and life by Kephart, a major advocate for creating Great Smoky Mountains National Park who lived in the Hazel Creek and Bryson City areas from 1904 to 1931. 

“Newly included are stories featuring rifle making, moonshiners and revenuers, mountain culture, and Kephart’s feelings regarding a proposed new national park in the Smokies,” said Steve Kemp, GSMA’s interpretive products and services director.

Also for the first time, the book is electronically typeset, making it much more readable, and Bryson City author George Ellison has written an entirely new introduction. Ellison’s new introduction highlights the fruits of recent research on Kephart and his work. 

The new edition also features a comprehensive index, new photos by George Masa and others and a specially-commissioned cover painting by Bryson City artist Elizabeth Ellison, George Ellison’s wife.

The book is $14.95 and available through www.smokiesinformation.org or 888.898.9102, ext. 226.

Ellison book signing planned

George Ellison, Bryson City author who wrote the introduction in the new edition of Our Southern Highlanders and a separate one in the previous edition, will be signing copies of the book 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28 at the Swain County Visitor Center in Bryson City. He will sign copies of his other books as well.