Appalachian Scenic Highway scout car procession

Appalachian Scenic Highway scout car procession

Automobiles

Dirt roads

Gorges

Women

Two automobiles sit on a dirt road in the Nantahala Gorge. One car has written on the back: Advance car Atlanta Journals Atlanta to Asheville tour The Appalachian Scenic Highway. This is likely part of the procession on the Appalachian Scenic Highway when a group traveled, on a scouting tour, 264 miles from Asheville to Atlanta in a record time of seven hours and forty-seven minutes in 1926. 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

64495

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/64495

Nantahala Gorge (N.C.)

Swain County (N.C.)

3.5" x 5.75"(dimension)

Picturing Appalachia