Profiles in Mountain Character

As a carefree child in Bryson City, North Carolina, Jim Casada had no idea his childhood had been blessed with the kinds of unforgettable characters who belong in storybooks. In Profiles in Mountain Character, readers will get to know these folks—military men, moonshiners, and a murderer; teachers and preachers; lawmakers and lawbreakers. With a reporter’s eye and a neighbor’s affection, Casada brings to life men and women who shaped—and were shaped by—the Great Smoky Mountains.

Casada writes perceptively about many of the public figures connected with the region, including Harvey Broome, George Masa, Olive Tilford Dargan, and Horace Kephart. His mentors and heroes also include less well-known personalities such as the neighborhood laundress and spectacular cook “Aunt Mag” Williams, convicted murderer and catfisherman “Al” Dorsey, and devoted educator Lillian Franklin Thomasson. He profiles each with a clear-eyed warmth and tenderness.

In the vein of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, this book aims to capture the essence of Smokies life through a parade of wonderfully varied subjects. Mountain lovers and armchair travelers alike will enjoy these bite-sized biographies of the characters who peopled the Smokies.