Blue Ridge blog: “Hugh Morton passed away yesterday. Mr. Morton is a famous North Carolinian who championed the preservation of the Tarheel State’s scenic beauty through his photography . It helped that he owned a mountain as grand as Grandfather. “
I never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Morton, but, he was one of the people in North Carolina that first inspired my interest in the Valle Crucis ~ Linville area. When I first started planning our first family trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains there were two areas I was looking at. Northwestern North Carolina I had visited alone in 2000, the other was the Ashville area. As I started investigating areas for the trip I stumbled onto the website of the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. The story behind the store intrigued me and led me to do more research on the area. That led me to Grandfather Mountain, and the story of the Mountain, the family and the man inspired me. One of the primary sites on our agenda that year was going to be Grandfather Mountain, unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it took three tries to get a chance to visit Mr. Morton’s Mountain. From then on one or more of Hugh Morton’s photos graced the desktop of my computer, and for the longest time the Grandfather Mountain Screensaver ran on my computers…
Our plans for this year are centered around the Highland Games. We planned the trip to be in Valle Crucis on the weekend after the 4th just to be able to attend. And for this, again my thanks go to Mr. Morton for his allowing this event to be held on “his mountain”. I intend to spend some time in silence, thanking the man himself for what he has held in trust for all of us.
And sometime in the future, I hope to attend the photographers weekend myself and learn from the spirit of the mountain…
Hugh Morton
1921-2006
Rest peacefully on the mountain.