Wild Country

jennyb · Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Posts: 154 Location: Asheville, NC

Is anyone familiar with a manway in the Cataloochee area that starts near the horse camp and follows Shanty Branch and continues along the ridgeline of Shanty Mountain? I see it on the Blue Book map.
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yellowhammer · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 164 Location: Western N.C.

I walked the lower part of it last year, maybe in late summer/early fall. The first part is very easy to navigate and there's a nice homestead site not too far back. I'll look at my photos when I have a bit more time and give you some more info.

jennyb · Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Posts: 154 Location: Asheville, NC

Thank you! That would be great. Also, if anyone has a source to recommend about the raid of Confederate George Kirk on hospitalized Union soldiers somewhere in Cataloochee, I'd be interested. The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club is looking for hike ideas for next year's program that would have a Civil War connection (for the 150th anniversary of the start of the war). When I learned of the Kirk raid in Cataloochee, I started trying to think of some new and different hikes in the area.
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kevinumberger · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 66

i havent read it yet, but does the book that the GSMA put out about the civil war in the smokies contain info on the raid?

i have the book at home (at work right now) but will check when i get back tonight.......

one hike the club could take, is to go up caldwell fork trail to the cemeteries of the soldiers.........

Joey · Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 487 Location: Hendersonville, NC

Jennyb, when you find out this info, let me know about it. Im a big Civil War history buff. Just came back fromGettysburg two weeks ago. It was UNREAL!! Plus I would like to check out that manway as well.
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kevinumberger · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 66

yeah........if yer looking for someone to help you scout this trail, i'm game......

Tom Dunigan · Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 39

I've got two Civil war books on WNC activities (Trotter's, Bushwhackers; and Inscoe's Western NC in the Civil War) -- neither says too much about Kirk and Cataloochee -- though there were Kirk raids from TN to Camp Vance and later to Waynesville. Here's a website mentioning Schoolhouse Patch attack on "hospital" there.
http://cataloochee-nc.tripod.com/kirk.htm

kevinumberger · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 66

i dont own this book so cant attest to what's in it.........

http://www.amazon.com/Kirks-Raiders-Matt-Bumgarner/dp/1931058008

kevinumberger · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 66

looks like wikipedia footnotes a bunch of stuff from hattie caldwell's book.......

jennyb · Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Posts: 154 Location: Asheville, NC

Well, I see from looking at a few of the Civil War sources that the website I looked at initially had it backwards! (Kirk was not a Confederate attacking Union soldiers but the other way around.) Details, details... but it's clear there was a lot of confusion with groups of Civil War bushwhackers. As mentioned in an earlier post on Wild Country, my great-great grandfather Andrew Johnstone was killed by bushwhackers at his home in Flat Rock toward the end of the war. Anyway, I plan to read more on the subject.

In the meantime, I have acquired, from a very generous source, a detailed but not extremely recent route description of the whole Shanty Mountain manway. Anyone interested in exploring this let me know. I would like to do it August 14 or 21, if possible, but if that doesn't work we'll figure out something else.
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