Cataloochee
By Larry Porter
()
About this ebook
Big Cataloochee and Little Cataloochee, rich valleys tucked in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, were settled by rugged individualists in 1838. These men went first to cut the trees then break the fertile soil for cultivation. They brought their families, helped each other to build log cabins and settled in to become some of the most productive farmers and cattlemen in the country.
These families, through four generations, asked nothing more than to be left in their isolation to fend for themselves, growing and building everything they needed. The outside world thought them to be ignorant hillbillies. But they built and supported schools and made certain their children attended faithfully. Then, when they finished seventh grade, the children were often sent outside to finish high school and even, in many cases, college, to become professionals in the outside world.
Many visitors in later years came away marveling at their pristine, beautiful gardens, houses and grounds. Some likened them to the Amish communities. Even by the Depression years, the roads into Cataloochee were, at best, crude and difficult to navigate. That was fine with the thousand or so inhabitants living in the valleys and surrounding hillsides.
Then, around 1920, some folks in North Carolina, Tennessee and other areas, decided the Eastern part of the country needed a national park like Yellowstone and other Western parks. It was decided that the Smokies, and more specifically, the border of Tennessee and North Carolina would be the ideal location. This play is the story of how the fourth generation of settlers in Cataloochee were torn from their homesteads, cheated, lied to, and generally broken by both the federal and state governments.
Larry Porter
Larry Porter has been writing since 1976, when he had his second project, a children’s play, Treehouse, produced in Atlanta, Ga. He has written fourteen full-length plays. Another, The Gospel According to Jesus, was produced in Asheville, NC. He has written numerous short stories, eight novels including Chance Mountain, Ivan the Backward Man, True Globalization, The Carousel, The Blue Barrel, The Visitor, and After America: Rebuilding. He has a memoir, Self-Storage Business and a collection of short stories titled Heaven? dealing with the afterlife. He has written four screenplays. His latest project is writing history in verse. A compilation of four epic poems titled History in Verse includes The Experiment, a history of the US, The Reconstruction of a Nation, a history of the Civil War, The Quest for the West, a history of the settling of the US west, and The Sixties, a history of the decade of the 1960s in the US. Look for a new series of totalitarians of the twentieth century coning soon. He lives in the North Carolina Mountains where he continues to write.
Read more from Larry Porter
America in the Sixties: a most interesting decade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue Barrel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChance Mountain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Experiment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelf Storage Auctions and Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIvan the Backward Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuest for the West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfter America: Rebuilding Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica is Gone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tragedy in the Mountains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reconstruction of a Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Globalization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Carousel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Visitors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeaven ? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Cataloochee - Larry Porter
CATALOOCHEE
By Larry Porter
Copyright 2013 Larry Porter
Smashwords Edition
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Big Cataloochee and Little Cataloochee, rich valleys tucked in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, were settled by rugged individualists in 1838. These men went first to cut the trees then break the fertile soil for cultivation. They brought their families, helped each other to build log cabins and settled in to become some of the most productive farmers and cattlemen in the country.
These families, through four generations, asked nothing more than to be left in their isolation to fend for themselves, growing and building everything they needed. The outside world thought them to be ignorant hillbillies. But they built and supported schools and made certain their children attended faithfully. Then, when they finished seventh grade, the children were often sent outside to finish high school and even, in many cases, college, to become professionals in the outside world.
Many visitors in later years came away marveling at their pristine, beautiful gardens, houses and grounds. Some likened them to the Amish communities. Even by the Depression years, the roads into Cataloochee were, at best, crude and difficult to navigate. That was fine with the thousand or so inhabitants living in the valleys and surrounding hillsides.
Then, around 1920, some folks in North Carolina, Tennessee and other areas, decided the Eastern part of the country needed a national park like Yellowstone and other Western parks. It was decided that the Smokies, and more specifically, the border of Tennessee and North Carolina would be the ideal location. This play is the story of how the fourth generation of settlers in Cataloochee were torn from their homesteads, cheated, lied to, and generally broken by both the federal and state governments.
CAST
HIRAM SUTTLES – A man of about fifty-five when first seen in the first act then into his sixties in the last act. A property owner in the Big Cataloochee valley, he keeps a clear head on what is happening and tries to keep his fellow owners on an even keel as they decide what action to take.
SAM WOODRUFF – Property owner, age, late thirties, is extremely angry about what the Park Commission is doing and wants to take action, violent or otherwise.
P. M. HALE – Another property owner who is more cunning.