Please Join Us For Our Next Local History Program
Title: “‘Mountain Scenery’–Discovering WNC from the 1850s, Asheville, Ancestors, and Immortality”
Speaker: Elizabeth “Liz” Colton
Date: Wednesday, April 26th
Time: ***Evening Program 6:00-7:30 PM
Henry Elliott Colton (1836-1892), was a naturalist, geologist and author. He was born in Fayetteville, NC and published his first, and most famous book in 1859 when he was just 22 years old: Mountain Scenery: The Scenery of the Mountains of Western North Carolina and Northwestern South Carolina.
George Ellison says that Mountain Scenery was “often categorized as ‘the first tourist guidebook to Western North Carolina.’ It was the first book containing significant amounts of nature and descriptive writing that was devoted almost entirely to the mountainous districts of North Carolina.” (High Vistas: An Anthology of Nature Writing from Western North Carolina & the Great Smoky Mountains, Vol. 1.)
“Asheville is finely situated in what might be termed a valley, through which flows the French Broad River, it having just received upon its bosom the Swannanoa.” Henry Colton
“View of Asheville N.C. And The Mountains From The Beaux Catcher Knob” Lithograph by Herline & Hensel Lithographers.
“There is perhaps no section, embracing so small a compass, for which nature has done so much.” Henry Colton
Elizabeth (Liz) Colton, Ph.D. will talk about the book, Mountain Scenery: The Scenery of the Mountains of Western North Carolina and Northwestern South Carolina written by Henry E. Colton and published in 1859. No one could better present this fascinating book than Liz Colton, as she has visited every site in Western NC visited by her ancestor Henry E. Colton.
Liz Colton grew up in Asheville, NC. She lived and worked around the world as a journalist, diplomat, educator. Now through her EO Colton & Associates Global Collaboration consulting firm based in Asheville and Washington, Dr. Colton speaks and advises globally on diplomacy, politics, education, journalism & the media. She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a university professor, a UN development planner, a Peace Corps Volunteer, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, and a Foreign Service Officer. Liz has an undergraduate BA from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and MAs from Vanderbilt University and holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Currently, Dr. Elizabeth Colton is serving as Diplomat in Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne University-Asheville Center and also as UNITAR trainer/moderator in Diplomacy courses.
Post by Zoe Rhine
