Echoes of Eden in Western North Carolina: The Johnstone Settlement, 1852-1864 - Paperback

by Craig Robert Gralley (Author)

In the 1850s, a group of affluent rice planters left coastal South Carolina to establish a permanent settlement in the mountains of western North Carolina. Led by Francis Withers Johnstone, members of the Rutledge, Hume, Gadsden, Ewbank, and Hanckel families acquired thousands of acres along the French Broad River Valley. This settlement, while part of a greater westward movement, was unique because it was shaped less by the search for status and wealth than by social and environmental pressures--family disputes, a collapsing rice culture, and recurring yellow fever epidemics exacerbated by Charleston's climate.

Relocating with large numbers of enslaved people, the settlers sought to maintain the social and economic structures they had known in the east. The community they created, later known as the Johnstone Settlement, was short-lived, and its history gradually faded from public record. This work represents the first cohesive effort to recover and examine the origins, development, and dissolution of the Johnstone Settlement.

Author Biography

Craig Robert Gralley, a former senior executive with the Central Intelligence Agency, served as an analyst, manager and chief speechwriter for three directors. He subsequently served as a consultant for the Agency's history staff and holds advanced degrees in government (Georgetown) and writing (Johns Hopkins). Now an author residing in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, his two previous books focused on WWII and Cold War espionage. For more information visit: www.craiggralley.com.