County's sesquicentennial to include heritage parade, downtown festival

By Lynn Hotaling

The monthlong celebration will begin Saturday, Sept. 29, with Western Carolina University's annual Mountain Heritage Day and continue through Saturday, Oct. 20, when a daylong festival will be held in downtown Sylva.

An event sesquicentennial organizers have termed a heritage parade will be held Sunday, Oct. 7, and will feature only horses and horse-drawn vehicles. Sylva town board member Maurice Moody is coordinating that event.

The Sesquicentennial Parade will be included in the Oct. 20 downtown festival. That parade will also feature a heritage theme, and all floats should reflect Jackson County's past. Other planned activities are old-fashioned contests and games, including a beard contest, period dress competition and a checkers tournament. The day will also feature performances of traditional mountain music and food and craft vendors.

A special section to be published by The Sylva Herald Thursday, Sept. 27, will be the official sesquicentennial publication. Extra copies will be available for sale at Mountain Heritage Day and during the Oct. 7 and Oct. 20 downtown events. Sesquicentennial T-shirts are currently being designed and should be available during Sylva's annual downtown Fourth of July celebration.

In addition to the main events, the Sesquicentennial Committee will sponsor an essay contest and plans several musical programs.

Jackson County was formed in 1851 from Macon and Haywood counties. Its government was organized in March 1853 during a two-day session at the Daniel Bryson homeplace in Beta. A monument was erected last fall along U.S. 23-74 near the Cope Creek intersection to mark the site of the county's first courthouse.

Jackson County is named for Andrew Jackson, a Democrat war hero who won an important victory over the British at New Orleans in 1815 and was twice elected president of the United States. Webster, the original county seat, was named for Daniel Webster, a prominent Whig orator and statesman who died a year before the 1853 formation of Jackson County's government.

Webster was designated the county seat and served as the county's hub until 1913 when citizens voted to move their seat of government to Sylva.

Volunteers are needed to serve on various subcommittees. Individuals or groups who would like to help may call Jackson County Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Carpenter at 586-6333. The Sesquicentennial Committee will meet today (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Jackson County Recreation Department.

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