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NPS official praises exhibit, speaks on trail
by Jule Hubbard
(Photo caption) Jule Hubbard/staff photo-With new Wilkes Heritage Museum exhibit Saturday are, left to right, Paul Carson of the National Park Service, Jennifer Furr, former U.S. Senator James Broyhill, Marilyn Payne, R.G. Absher and Dr. Charles Gilreath. Mrs. Furr, Mrs. Payne and Absher are with Old Wilkes Inc. Gilreath is a re-enactor.
A National Park Service official on Saturday hailed a new Wilkes Heritage Museum exhibit as the most elaborate public display on the American Revolution along the 230-mile Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, which recognizes the march of Patriot militia to the Battle of Kings Mountain in the fall of 1780.
Paul Carson, superintendent of the trail, spoke at the heritage museum as part of the formal opening of the new exhibit, called “Turmoil in the Backcountry, The American Revolution.” The exhibit features Revolutionary War artifacts, replica items and extensive graphics, including depictions of the role of Wilkes County militia under Col. Benjamin Cleveland.
Carson said Wilkes was fortunate to be one of only nine North Carolina counties included on the designated route in federal legislation that passed in 1980.
“We get a lot of requests from people wanting to get the trail through their counties…. but the decision was made at the Congressional level to make the primary route the official route,” said Carson, referring to the paths of Patriot forces from northwestern North Carolina, southwestern Virginia, northeastern Tennessee and South Carolina to the battle in the fall of 1780.
“One advantage to having this is that it is part of the National Park Service…. Plus, I get requests from people as far away as California and even overseas wanting information on the trail and wanting to visit,” he said. It is one of 18 national historic trails.
The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail goes from Abingdon, Va., through eastern Tennessee and over the North Carolina mountains and Piedmont to Kings Mountain National Military Park in South Carolina near the North Carolina line.
(“Overmountain” was the term for the area and people living on the northwestern side of the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, opposite the side that includes what now is Wilkes County.)
A 70-mile branch of the trail from Elkin follows the Yadkin River through Wilkes and part of Caldwell counties before joining the main route at Morganton. This is the route of Wilkes area men under Cleveland. No route is designated in Georgia, although Patriots from that state fought in the battle.
Most of the route is identified with distinctive signs along public highways within the trail corridor, but efforts are ongoing with landowners to secure locations for actual footpaths. The longest off-highway portions are on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property along W. Kerr Scott Reservoir.
Carson also spoke about the men who fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain. He said they illustrated that the American Revolution was a civil war in the South, with neighbors and sometimes relatives with conflicting loyalties fighting against each other.
Carson recognized Randell Jones of Winston-Salem, author of “In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone,” for providing some of the information for the new exhibit on the American Revolution at the Wilkes Heritage Museum. Jones was among about 25 people gathered in the old courtroom for talks by Carson and former U.S. Sen. James Broyhill of Lenoir.
Former U.S. Sen. James Broyhill, speaking about the Battle of Kings Mountain and the American Revolution in the South, said about one-third of the residents of the Carolinas then were on the Patriot side, about a third remained loyal to the British king and the remaining third “wavered back and forth depending on which force occupied their neighborhoods.”
Broyhill said that after the British carried the war to the South and defeated the Continental Army at Charleston, S.C., and Camden, S.C., the Patriot militia victory at Kings Mountain turned the tide and started a series of Patriot victories that culminated with defeat of the British Army at Yorktown, Va.
He also spoke about the achievements of Patriot militia leaders from the South after the war.
While Broyhill was in the U.S. Senate, he introduced legislation that created the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.
Other activities Saturday included 18th century re-enactors and demonstrations, live music and a flag retirement ceremony by the Marine Corps League and a visit by Santa Claus. |
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