Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 11
Cast of Major Characters 13
Part I Exploring the Forest
Why DuPont Forest? 15
Recalling a Buck Forest Childhood 18
What Is in DuPont Forest Today 22
Part II Settlers and Land Barons
Meeting the First Settlers 25
Visiting the Land of the Sky 29
Kingdom of the Happy Land 32
Finding Cherokee Petroglyphs 33
Growing Up in Cedar Mountain 35
Creating Buck Forest Lodge 37
Hike: Three Waterfalls in Three Miles 42
Who Was Alex Guion? 47
Appalachians Make Good Workers 49
Part III DuPont Corporation Goes to Work
Immigrant Irénée Starts an Empire 53
DuPont Corporation Comes to Western North Carolina 56
Channing Hubbard, the First Site Employee 61
Making Hyperpure Silicon 64
What to Do with All This Land? 66
Moving on to X-Ray Film 72
Earle Johnson Remembers 75
Exploring the Twists and Turns of Cascade Lake Road 79
Lewis Staton Gets a Road 82
Hike: Spring in DuPont Forest 84
Brevard, Past and Present, with Stuart English 88
The DuPont Plant Was a Good Place to Work 91
Part IV Summit Camps
Summer Camp, the Best Part of Childhood 93
Airstrip Trail 100
Buck Forest Development 102
Part V End of an Era
Growing Up DuPont 105
DuPont Corporation Sells the Plant 109
Hike: Midsummer Walk from Guion Farm 112
Fight for the Falls 116
Alan Hirsch Remembers the Fight for the Waterfalls 119
Aleen Steinberg, Environmental Activist 121
Fauna and Flora in the Forest 124
Jeff Jennings Saves a Forest 127
The X-Ray Plant Closes 129
Part VI The Forest Grows Up
Dave Brown, First Forest Supervisor 133
Hike: Bewildered on Sheep Mountain Trail 135
Studying the Forest Management Plan 138
Creating a Recreational Forest 142
We Can All Get Along 143
Speaking with Forest Supervisor Jason Guidry 148
Hike: Walking Joanna Road from Both Directions 150
Blockbusters in the Forest 153
Visiting the Donut Hole 156
Holmes Educational State Forest: DuPont Forest's Smaller Friend 160
Part VII The Future of DuPont Forest
Pay to Play in the Forest? 165
Kiwi Gelato in Brevard 167
Marielle DeJong Comes Home 170
Contemplations and Speculations 172
DuPont Forest Continues to Grow 174
Bibliography 177
Index 187
About the Author 191