this isn't exactly Galloway, but since you asked MMason1701 wrote: > In a message dated 98-04-10 22:09:01 EDT, you write: > > (Political note - the Sierrra Club is attempting to use my ancestors buried > there to justify opeing the region to 100,000 tourists a year. grrrrrrr. > > Linda, > Could you clarify that for me. I did not understand. You mean the Sierra > Club is trying to reopen the area due to the panther population ? > > Michelle This a very brief summary of local happenings:Aboutish 1930 or so, the families in Cane Break, and other small communities in the Jocassee Watershed sold their property to the government and moved out. This was around the time The Government was burning down the houses in the Smokies to force folks to sell, so I've often wondered just how voluntary the sales were. The Government later sold the land to Duke Power. Duke Power now wants to sell it to the state. The Sierra Club wants to turn it into a major State Park, something along the lines of the Great Smokies. Local folks want it to stay the same as it has been - accessible, but not promoted. Of course this also involves occasional hunting, one of the few remaining Cherokee traditions we have around here. The hunting is what officially has the Sierra Club all bent out of shape. My Uncle Bob worked long and hard to get all roads into the area shut down (except one during hunting season). The easy accessibility was leading to people dumping garbage all over the place, kids in 4 wheel drives and 4 wheelers tearing up the place, and major drug traffic between NC & SC. There was also too much activity going on for the endangered species there (Technically a rain forest - very unique). This includes the panthers who are trying to make a comeback - about three months ago one was even up here by my house. Bob is chairman of the Auger Hole Coalition, the local group trying to keep the area the way it is and has been for a few thousand years. Remember, there is currently public access - you just have to walk or ride a horse. Also a good idea to avoid snake season - ooodles of rattlers and copperheads. The Sierra Club wants to majorly promote the area, and bring in over 100,000 tourists a year, and open the roads back up. Bill Thomas, Chairman of the local Sierra Club, recently put out the first edition of the trail guide to help his political interests. They tricked my Uncle into telling where the old home places and cemeteries are located by promising a scholarly archeaological study of the region, and then tried to the sites on the map . The work was so hastily done that they didn't bother to actually find the sites, so the map is all wrong, covered with white-out, and cemetery is even misspelled (he has it as cemetary). The historical significance of the area is one of his reasons to bring everyone in. This first edition is more of a political statement than a trail guide. And since bringing that many people into the region would wreck havoc on the fragile environment, I'm really confused as to why the Sierra Club is doing it, unless they just want to sell more books and memberships. So to clarify, the Sierra Club isn't trying to help the panthers one bit. Since my multi -great grandpa Green was one of the folks who killed off all the panthers, I kind of feel responsible for helping them make a comeback. Interesting story here - he would lay down in a rotten log so the panther couldn't get him, then stick his toes out to bait the cats. He would then shoot the panther between his feet. We speculate that he probably didn't actually do this too many times. As for the cemeteries - my spouse has ancestors buried in Cades Cove over in Great Smokies. Trust me - having ancestors as a tourist attraction is a very weird concept and includes government regulation on how and when you can decorate & maintain the graves, not to mention the user fee. Having the graves of your ancestors used as part of someone's political agenda is down right pathetic. I'll hop off the soap box now. Known surnames buried down in the region in question include: PATTERSON (my folks), REAVIS, LOWE, CHAPPELL, CANTRELL, DODGEN, SANDERS. But there are more cemeteries than I have heard about, and several probably under Lake Jocassee. There just has to be at least one GALLOWAY somewhere - they seem to be everywhere else. I haven't posted any of these cemeteries yet because they are too far for my little Alex to hike to. -- Linda Hoxit Raxter lraxter@citcom.net See Indexed Western North Carolina Cemetery Surveys http://www.geocities.com/~alextreehouse related to at least half the county - at least once ; )