Special Collections Research Center

Until industry arrived in the western North Carolina and began developing timber and mineral rights, most Appalachians made their living farming land. This land was often handed down family lines for generations. Recently, however, with increasing land development and mechanization of farming, family farms are no longer able to remain solvent and descendents have been forced to sell family land. In the late 19th century a movement emerged that extolled Appalachia as a region where tourists could view picturesque farms and quaint mountain families hard at work farming the fields or making handicrafts. This movement came to be known as agricultural tourism, or agritourism, and has helped to maintain the solvency of the family farm in western North Carolina. This document is designed as an introduction to the literature about agritourism in western North Carolina available in the Belk Library, the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, through the Western North Carolina Library network, or online.