Novel by Smokies advocate is out 80 years late

Conservationist, nonfiction author Kephart was catalyst for formation of national park

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 23, 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --

A novel set in the Great Smoky Mountains that was written 80 years ago by Horace Kephart has finally been published.

Kephart wrote Smoky Mountain Magic in 1929. He is best known as the Smoky Mountains author, outdoorsman and conservationist recently highlighted in the Ken Burns documentary on America's national parks.

After it was written, one publisher had rejected the book, and it was never offered for publication thereafter. The manuscript was handed down for posterity within the Kephart family.

Libby Kephart Hargrave, Kephart's great-granddaughter, became aware of the manuscript in 1997, felt it deserved attention and in 2008 began seriously thinking about publishing it.

She talked with Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson about the manuscript on May 1. On June 8, Ditmanson introduced her to Steve Kemp of the Great Smoky Mountains Association, and they worked out arrangements for the association to publish the novel.

The novel takes place in the summer of 1925, in Bryson City, N.C., the Cherokee Indian Reservation and the Deep Creek area of North Carolina. The book's characters include a mysterious stranger thought to be Kephart, a greedy land baron, a beautiful botanist and a Cherokee chief.

A librarian by trade, Kephart wrote the novel at the time when he was one of the catalysts behind the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

"It was a pretty big departure from his previous writings of nonfiction," said Kemp, who edited the project.