Early Immigration to Western NC

To read more about earlier inhabitants of Western North Carolina, start here. 

Two great waves of immigration from Europe to America occurred during the 18th century, largely provoked by economic change and/or religious persecution. The first wave began around 1750, peaked twenty years later, then ebbed with the start of the American Revolution. The second began after the war and continued into the 19th century.

Watch this excerpt from Hillbilly: The Real Story, a 2008 documentary produced by The History Channel that describes this mass exodus to America, and eventually, Appalachia. Note: Though this video claims that the Scots-Irish immigrants were largely “uneducated,” many sources refute that and, in fact, indicate that the Scots-Irish, especially those with Presbyterian upbringing, were perhaps the best educated of the immigrant groups to reach America.[1]

Immigration to Western NC

Scots-Irish immigrants. Photo by Kaitlin Ahlenius, American Heritage Publishing Co.

As noted in the video snippet at left, the mountains of Western North Carolina were still seasonal hunting grounds for several Indian tribes, but otherwise sparsely settled.

The first non-native settlers in the area had typically arrived in northern ports and found their way west and south along the Great Wagon Road out of Philadelphia, or landed in southern ports and worked their way into the mountains from the lowlands along market, or drover’s, roads.

Great Wagon Road

According to one source, “These early settlers came in that youth of the nation when land was free and hopes were high, younger sons sometimes, and business men of small property who had a dream of possessing a landed estate and “founding a family” in the New World. The fabled western mountains powerfully attracted these seekers for fame and fortune…”[2]

A study of old family names in the North Carolina mountains revealed that the immigration to Western NC included 30% of Scot-Irish descent, 30% English, 15% percent German, and the remainder of various ethnicities.[3]

Immigration to Western NC_The Drovers Road

The drover’s road through southwestern North Carolina connected the region to Charleston and Savannah. It was a route of settlement in the early 19th century for many Scots-Irish families, as well as the site of cattle, swine, and sheep drives that were so important to the local economy.

Initially the cultural differences among these groups was very obvious, especially because the Appalachian pioneers, like pioneers on other frontiers, generally migrated into the region in family or community groups and settled in small clusters of two or three homesteads. Separated from each other by as little as one-half mile, these loose clusters of farms allowed mountain settlers to maintain a certain level of independence while retaining social contacts and community life. Later generations added to these clusters, creating larger kin-related groups.[4]

Immigration to Western NC

Mountain home in the 1890s, photo by HH Brimley courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives.

Author Robert Beverly, already cited here, provides a quick survey of Scotch-Irish and German traits, which he claims was drawn from the accounts of many early American observers.

According to his data, the Scots-Irish community was most likely to exhibit these traits: individualistic; politically oriented; more aggressive than cautious; drawn to ear-oriented activity like storytelling and playing music; social-minded, including an enjoying of gatherings and parties; and generally undemonstrative with emotions, which sometimes resulted in others viewing them as cold and reserved.

Meanwhile, the German traits most remarked upon included these: community-minded; non-political; generally law-abiding and inclined toward peaceful interactions; conservative; thorough; and hard-working.

As they explored and expanded, these early clusters of settlers from the first immigration to Western NC found the mountain landscape already interlaced with big game and Indian trails, and they quickly turned these ancient paths into major and minor roads. This created a network which connected each community with the larger villages and towns and in turn with the nearest marketing centers of the low country. In time, the population became more homogenous as these trade routes developed.

One good example of how these cultures combined is in the music which resulted when settlers from the British Isles and Germany combined their string music and balladry, creating a sound unique to Southern Appalachia.

In more recent times (1975), Loyal Jones, director of the Appalachian Center at Kentucky’s Berea College, published his interpretation of certain “Appalachian values” which he cherished, though he admitted that most could also have a downside.[6]

Jones’ top 10 attributes included, in no particular order:

  • Religion

  • Individualism, self-reliance and pride

  • Neighborliness and hospitality

  • Loyalty, especially to family

  • Good social relations

  • Love of place

  • Humbleness

  • An appreciation of beauty

  • A sense of humor

  • Patriotism

So it seems many of those original traits reported by Beverly indeed merged into the population, creating the wonderful blend of folks who now call Historic Toxaway home. Sláinte! 🍀

SOURCES
[1] The Scots-Irish in the Carolinas, Billy Kennedy
[2] The Carolina Mountains, Margaret W. Worley, 1913
[3] The Western North Carolina Almanac, Robert Beverly
[4] Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers – Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930, Ronald D. Eller
[5] The Western North Carolina Almanac, Robert Beverly
[6] The Western North Carolina Almanac, Robert Beverly