Road and railroad in Nantahala Gorge

Road and railroad in Nantahala Gorge

Automobiles

Gorges

Railroad tracks

An automobile travelling on a road with railroad tracks below. This photograph is taken in the Beechertown area of the Nantahala Gorge just south of the gap where US 129 crosses from the Nantahala drainage into the Tululah Creek drainage. The rail line is the Graham County Railroad, which ran from the Southern Railroad east of Red Marble Gap to Robbinsville. It was built in 1925 and the first train arrived at Robbinsville that year. The photographer, “Doc” Kelly Bennett (1890-1974), was a prominent pharmacist in Swain County, NC. Owner of the Bryson City Drug Company, Bennett served as alderman and mayor of Bryson City, on the Swain County Board of Education, as well as several terms as NC State Senator and NC State Representative. He participated in numerous other initiatives and organizations. Known as the “Apostle of the Smokies,” Bennett was an instrumental figure in the movement to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He was also an avid photographer, skillfully documenting a wide variety of people, places, and events in Swain County and the surrounding area.

Bennett, Kelly, 1890-1974

Kelly Bennett Collection

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg

negatives (photographs)

eng

StillImage

64493

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/64493

Nantahala Gorge (N.C.)

Swain County (N.C.)

3.5" x 5.75"(dimension)

Picturing Appalachia