Following the creation of Watauga County in 1849, Boone’s incorporation in 1872, and the founding of what became Appalachian State University in 1899, the region experienced steady population and industrial growth. Emerging photographic technology documented the people, places, and structures of this changing landscape.
Among the earliest photographers of the local area whose documents are held in the Special Collections Research Center are those of the Reverend J. Norton Atkins (1881-1962), a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. A native of New Jersey, Atkins was married in Western North Carolina in 1913 to Katharine Ada Moran. The June 13, 1907 edition of the Watauga Democrat newspaper noted in its local news items of the 26-year-old, “Rev. J. Norton Atkins, a former teacher in the school at Valle Crucis, preached in the church there last Sunday, and Rev. Mr. Lowrance, of New York, preached in Blowing Bock the same day. Mr. Atkins will locate in Ashe county and assist Rev. Mr. Savage in the Episcopal work up here.” Atkins was apparently preaching at this time as a deacon, prior to being ordained that December to the priesthood in “perhaps the most brilliant and impressive religious ceremony ever witnessed in Gastonia,” according to a report in the Gastonia Gazette published on Christmas Eve of that year.
During his ministry, Rev. Atkins generated a voluminous correspondence on Church and personal matters, sermons, and mission records, which form the largest part of the Reverend J. Norton Atkins Papers collection.
Also included are a number of photographs of the Valle Crucis and Foscoe areas at this time. Below are digital reproductions of the images that Fr. Norton Atkins captured in the early 1900s.
A view of Grandfather Mountain, the profile shrouded in fog as is perennially the case, with local foliage and the front of Atkins’ horse include in the scene
A Watauga County river scene - very likely of the eponymous Watauga River - recorded by Atkins’ camera; such scenes may still be found a century later
“Reverend J. Norton Atkins [?] Traveling by Buggy, Watauga County, North Carolina, Early 20th Century.” The figure in the carriage may be Rev. Atkins or a travelling companion. Do you know what mountain that is?
This snow-clad scene preserves the memory of a building probably at or near the Valle Crucis Mission (now Holy Cross Episcopal Church and Valle Crucis Conference Center), a central place in Reverend Atkin’s life
“This photograph depicts a farm in the Foscoe Valley in Watauga County, North Carolina taken by Episcopal minister Reverend J. Norton Atkins in the early 20th century.” Note the log-built shed and the hayricks made in the traditional manner as had been done for centuries.
John Norton Atkins and Katharine Ada Moran Atkins both died in the 1960s and are buried together in the Holy Cross Episcopal Church Cemetery located in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.
These evocative photographs, captured by Reverend J. Norton Atkins amid the transformative early decades of Watauga County's 20th century, offer a rare and intimate glimpse into the landscapes, daily life, and enduring rural character of the High Country, preserved today in the Special Collections Research Center at Appalachian State University Libraries for future generations to explore and appreciate.
(Submitted by Ross Cooper. Thanks to Sai Estep and Hannah Helmey for research and textual assistance.)
A black-and-white photograph shows a country landscape with a dirt road. A horse-and-buggy are stopped in the road, a person sitting inside the buggy.
“Reverend J. Norton Atkins [?] Traveling by Buggy, Watauga County, North Carolina, Early 20th Century"