Heritage/History Lifestyle

History Feature: Mars Hill University Collection Chronicles the Region’s Agrarian Past

Miss Robena Ramsey, 17, in a field of alfalfa. Photo courtesy of the James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill University

By Lauren Stepp

In mid-winter, mountain fields are sleepy-eyed. Save for hearty collards and root vegetables, the ice-rimed plots sit in quiet expectation of warmer weather. But deep in the archives of Mars Hill University (MHU), spring has already arrived. Bees are buzzing, broccoli is budding and agronomists are eking out a life from the hardscrabble dirt beneath their feet.

Donated to the college in 1982, the James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection features more than 3,000 photographs of regional farms in the 20th century. There are images of grazing cows in Madison County, husbands and wives tending tobacco fields and scrappy children picking blackberries.

Beekeeping. Photo courtesy of the James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill University

These pictures were compiled by the Farmers Federation of Western North Carolina, a 21-county organization founded more than a century ago by a man named James G. K. McClure, Jr.

A Presbyterian minister, McClure “had a strong interest in fostering the common good as part of his own faith and personal moral code,” says Karen L. Paar, director of the Southern Appalachian Archives at MHU. As John Curtis Ager writes in We Plow God’s Fields, McClure “wanted his life to stand for spiritual excellence, not as a contemplative monk but as a man who was unafraid to dream that the Kingdom of God could be established on this earth.”

And so, when the clergyman left his Chicago suburb to live in Fairview, he promptly lent a helping hand. According to Paar, McClure raised funds for the American Red Cross, sold Victory bonds during WWI and helped bring telephone service to his tiny community.

Gathering cabbage. Beekeeping. Photo courtesy of the James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill University

Then, in 1920, he established the Federation of Farmers of Fairview, later called the Farmers Federation of Western North Carolina. The organization boasted a range of projects, from rallying local growers to purchase supplies in bulk to opening the Western North Carolina Cannery in Hendersonville.

An aspiring farmer himself, McClure wanted to learn from his neighbors—the best time to plant tomato seeds, for instance, or when to expect the first frost. But he also wanted to teach his mountain comrades to market their products and increase their earnings. The main vehicle for these education efforts was the Farmers Federation News.

Distributed to members monthly, the publication offered tips on everything from selling wild ginseng to keeping honey bees happy during the cooler months. (For the latter, a 1956 edition suggests a pollen substitute: a mixture of soybean flour, brewer’s yeast and simple syrup.)

Alas, not all of the suggestions were wise. “There are ads in the publication for toxic chemicals, such as DDT, that were then being touted as solutions to pest infestations,” says Paar.

Nevertheless, McClure’s efforts had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the lives of mountain growers. Farmers learned to create trout ponds, alternate rows of red raspberries with cowpeas and build predator-resistant chicken coops. But most importantly, they learned how to make a living.

As Ager writes, McClure “created a cooperative agricultural movement that began to shift the economy of Western North Carolina from one hopelessly beset with inertia to one that gave the farmers of the area new hope.”

The James G. K. McClure, Jr. Collection can be viewed online at SouthernAppalachianArchives.org.

Leave a Comment