The history of North Carolina's mountains is a study in isolation. For most of the time Europeans have been in North America, the Appalachians have been on the geographic, political, and economic fringe.
In the colonial era, the mountain ranges served as a barrier to westward expansion. Roads were possible only through gaps in the ridges. Even then, they were mostly rough, primitive affairs not conducive to the movement of people or commerce. The most efficient form of transportation in the 18th century was waterborne. Again, mountainous areas were at a disadvantage with their shallow, rocky, un-navigable streams.
There were also political arrangements hindering settlement. The French held sway west of the Appalachians. To serve as a barrier against these perennial enemies, the British government constructed a series of alliances with Indian tribes in and around the Appalachians. Part of the agreements with these tribes had the British discouraging settlement into and past the mountain ranges. The utter remoteness of the entire range becomes apparent in accounts of expeditions during the French and Indian Wars, which were brought about in large part by a disasterous expedition by a young Virginia colonel into the wilds of the mountains near modern day Pittsburgh. (The colonel later redeemed his reputation in the Revolutionary War, he was George Washington.)
Free from Britain after the Revolution, settlement of the mountainous areas began in ernest. During the last decades of the 18th and first of the 19th, Indian tribes were pushed out and replaced by white settlers. Much of the stock was Scotch-Irish and a good percentage of Germans moving south along the valleys from Pennsylvania. With limited transportation, rocky soil, and rugged terrain, the area remained poor and, by necessity, became self reliant.
During the middle of the 19th century, North Carolina's mountains began to see the beginnings of tourism as planters from the South Carolina coast (North Carolina's plantation economy never rivaled that of its neighbors) sought refuge from the heat and humidity.
When the Civil War came, the area demonstrated its independence and disconnection from the rest of the state by becoming a hotbed of union sentiment. Many locals joined Union regiments and resisted Confederate conscription efforts.
By the turn of this century, much of the area looked nothing like it does today. Timbering and farming had cleared large parcels of forest. Many of the tree covered mountains visitors now admire once stood bald. It was into this environment George Vanderbilt moved to create Biltmore Estate. Not only a house, Biltmore was a concept of renewable farming and timbering that restored large tracts of what became Pisgah National Forest.
The area received further attention in the 30's when the development of Applachia became a national priority. Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway, public building projects, and rural electrification all served to pull North Carolina's mountains more into the mainstream.
Although still remote by some standards, technology has made the mountains much more accessible. The area now serves as both a tourist destination and, increasingly, as a retreat for those desiring a differently paced life. The worry now is not so much poverty and decay, but the loss of a lifestyle that's rapidly disappearing.