Press release

Asheville, NC - January 24, 2013 - Dr. Timothy Silver, History Professor at Appalachian State University will present a lecture entitled Yancey County Goes to War: Appalachian People and Nature, 1861-1865 on Saturday, February 9, 2013, at 2:00 pm. The lecture will be held in the Manheimer Room on the first floor of the Reuter Center at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Dr. Silver will discuss the specific region of Yancey County and its people during the Civil War. A question and answer segment will immediately follow the lecture.

Dr. Silver is the author of the book Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America. His current research includes the environmental history of North America with emphasis on the South and Southern Appalachia and the history of America's National and State Parks.

This is the first lecture in a series of five lectures and programs to be presented by the Western North Carolina Historical Association in partnership with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNCA and the Western Office of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. The series, Community Under Stress: The Civil War in Western North Carolina is a continuation of the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

The lecture is open to the public. A donation of $5.00 per person is suggested. Members of Western NC Historical Association and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute may attend free of charge. Reservations are encouraged and may be made by calling 828-253-9231 or my emailing smh@wnchistory.org.

Additional lectures in the series will include "Sacred Bodies: Caring for the Dead during and after the War presented by the North Carolina State Archives on March 16; a lecture on Stoneman's Raid presented by author, Chris J. Hartley on April 13; Dr. Gordon McKinney will present a lecture on William Holland Thomas and the Cherokee Indians on May 18; and the fifth and final program in the series will be a panel discussion on the effects of the Civil War on Western North Carolina on June 15.