N.C. to buy Grandfather Mountain

The Morton family sold Grandfather Mountain in NC to the state  For 12 million dollars.  I used to attend church at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in  Valley Crucis, nc with the Mortons and they couldn't be a finer family.

I didn't know that Hugh had passed on till I saw this story.  He was a fine man. 

Here is a photo of him on top of Grandfather Mountain doing what he liked to do best.

 Here is one of the last photos they say he took.

You can order prints of his work from Grandfather Mountains web site

 http://www.grandfather.com/

Here is his Biographical

Hugh Morton

• Born
  February 19, 1921 in Wilmington, NC
  
• Education: Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  
• Married
  Julia Taylor in Greensboro on December 8, 1945
  
• Children:
  • Julia MacRae Morton, Greensboro
  • Hugh Morton, Jr. (Deceased)
  • James M. Morton, Linville
  • Catherine W. Morton, Linville
• Grandchildren: (Sons of Hugh Morton, Jr.)
  • Hugh MacRae (Crae) Morton, III, Boone
  • Jack Morton, Raleigh
    
• Great grandchild: (Son of Crae Morton) Clyde MacRae Morton
  
• Sister: Agnes Morton Woodruff of Wilmington and Linville

Grandfather Mountain

• Inherited Grandfather Mountain from his grandfather, Hugh MacRae, in 1952
• Extended road to top of the mountain in 1952
• Built the Mile High Swinging Bridge in 1952
• Built Visitor Center on top in 1961
• Established a National Weather Service Weather Reporting Station in 1956
• Built seven native wildlife habitats for adult bears, mother bear and cubs, golden eagles, bald eagles, cougars, white-tail deer and river otters
• Built nature museum and theater
• Promoted the mountain for over 50 years through his photography
• Chairman of the board and president of the mountain until June 2005, when he made his grandson, Crae, president.
• Made preservation of Grandfather Mountain his primary focus
  • Donated conservation easements for over 3,000 acres of Grandfather Mountain to the Nature Conservancy, and sold additional acres and conservation easements to the Nature Conservancy to insure Grandfather Mountain is protected in the future
  • Protected the mountain from a "high route" of the Blue Ridge Parkway that would have harmed the scenic beauty and ecosystem of the mountain (1954-1966).
  
  Travel & Tourism Related
• President of the 1st North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington (1948)
• Member of NC Board of Conservation & Development (1951-61)
  • Served on the board as chairman of State Advertising Committee and vice-chairman of State Parks Committee
• Helped save the battleship USS North Carolina and was the first chairman of the battleship commission (1961)
• President of G.F. Company, developer of Grandfather Golf & Country Club (beginning 1967)
• Chairman of Governor's Advisory Committee on Travel & Tourism
• Served as president or chairman of:
  • Blue Ridge Parkway Association,
  • Travel Council of North Carolina (now North Carolina Travel Industry Association),
  • Southern Highlands Attractions Association,
  • North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, and
  • NC Sports Hall of Fame (1975)
• Honored as one of the "Top 20 Tourism Leaders of the 20th Century" by Appalachian State University.
• Received the Eagle Award from the Blue Ridge Parkway Association for exceptional contributions in preserving and promoting the Parkway. This special award that has been given to only three people (1983)
• First recipient of the Travel Council of North Carolina's highest award for individual contributions to the North Carolina travel industry (1965)
• First recipient of the Charles Kuralt Award for bringing exceptional, positive national attention to the state of North Carolina by the NC Travel Industry Association (2000)
• Winners Circle Award from Governor Michael Easley (2004)
• Received the Sue Wilmoth Award for the Advancement of Tourism from the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce (2006)
• First inductee into the newly formed North Carolina Tourism Hall of Fame (2006) Civic
• Past board member (1959-1998) and chairman of the Carolina Motor Club, AAA for NC and SC
• Briefly considered a run for governor of North Carolina in 1972 (but dropped out before filing because he would have had to put Grandfather Mountain up as collateral to help finance the campaign)
• Chairman of Businessmen's Committee in support of a constitutional amendment allowing North Carolina governors to be re-elected (1977)
• Chairman of "Good Roads Committee" in 1981 to provide funding for highway improvements through a 3 cents increase in gasoline tax
• Chairman of Western Carolina Tomorrow leadership group (1981-83)
• Received the NORTH CAROLINA AWARD, the state's highest honor, in the category of public service (1983)
• Received the Community Recognition Award from the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce (1984)
• Member of the NC Global Transpark Authority (1994-98)
• Chairman of North Carolina Year of the Mountains Commission, (1995-96)
• Received Citizen Of The Carolinas Award from the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce (1995)
• Citation for Distinguished Public Service, NC Citizens For Business & Industry (1996)
• Laurel Leaves Award from the Appalachian Consortium (1996)
• North Caroliniana Society Award (1996)
• Leadership North Carolina's Governor's Award (1997)
• NC Press Association's North Carolinian of the Year (1997)
• Wilmington Walk of Fame Award (1998)
• Received the Alfred Adams Award for Economic Development from the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce (2000)
• North Carolina Business Hall of Fame (2002)
• John Caldwell Award from NC Humanities Council (2003)
• Honored by the North Carolina Society of New York (2005)

Photography

• Served as combat newsreel cameraman in World War II in the Pacific Theater, receiving the Purple Heart and Bronze Star
• Photography of North Carolina people, places, events and scenery has been used in national publications since he was 14 years old
• President of the Carolinas Press Photographers Association (1949)
• One of the founders and Chairman of the Southern Short Course in Press Photography (1950-1965)
• Recipient of the Skeeter Frances Award by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association for his photographic contributions to the Atlantic Coast Conference
• Author of two books featuring his photography published by the University of North Carolina Press titled: Hugh Morton's North Carolina (2003) and Hugh Morton: North Carolina Photographer (to be published in the fall of 2006).
• Was co-author/photographer of Making A Difference In North Carolina with Ed Rankin (1988) and The ACC Basketball Tournament Classic with Smith Barrier (1981).
• Photographer/producer of eight films that won CINE's highest award, the Golden Award, for sports and nature films:
  Those films are: "Masters of Hang Gliding," "Winning At Hang Gliding," "Hang Gliding Around The World," "The Hawk & John McNeely," the Richard Evans Younger Wildlife Artist series: "The Black Bear" and "The Cougar" and "Shore Birds," and "The Highland Games at Grandfather."
  Morton also filmed and produced "Grandfather of the Blue Ridge" and "Wild Turkeys in the North Carolina Mountains."
• He was photographer/producer of "The Search For Clean Air," a documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite that ran nationally on the PBS Network (1995)
• Founded the Grandfather Mountain Camera Clinic (1950) and the Grandfather Mountain Nature Photographers Weekend (1986)
• Kodak's Award for Excellence in Photography (1989)
• Member, UNC School of Journalism Hall of Fame (1990)
• Phoenix Award from American Society of Travel Writers (2004)
• His family has donated his photographic portfolio (spanning 60 years) to the North Carolina Collection of the University of North Carolina Library (2006) Educational
• State chairman to raise North Carolina's funds for the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library (1964)
• President of UNC General Alumni Association (1964-65)
• Chairman of the committee to establish the Luther H. Hodges Chair in Business Ethics at UNC (1977)
• William R. Davie Award from UNC (1991)
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, UNC (1997)
• University Award, UNC System Board of Governors, presented jointly to Hugh and Julia Morton (2003)
• Received honorary doctorate degrees from Belmont Abbey (1988), Lees-McRae College (1988) Queens College (2002), UNC-Asheville (2003), UNC-Wilmington (2004), Appalachian State (2005) and NC State (2005)
• Chairman of the committee to raise funds and erect a statue honoring Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice at Kenan Football Stadium (2004)
• Donated a photographic portfolio spanning 60 years to the North Carolina Collection of the University of North Carolina Library (2006)
• Honored with the Hugh Morton Distinguished Professorship in Journalism and Mass Communication (2006) Environmental

• Battled the National Park Service to prevent the Blue Ridge Parkway from using "cut & fill" road-building techniques to take a high route across Grandfather Mountain. The result was a compromise route that gave the public the award-winning Linn Cove Viaduct. (1954-1966)
• Leader in organizing efforts to get NC DOT to plant wildflowers along primary North Carolina highways
• As Chairman of WNC Tomorrow, led the effort to get the "Ridge Law" passed while to North Carolina mountain peaks from development more than 30 feet above the ridge linel (1983)
• Organizer and Chair of the Save Cape Lighthouse Committee (1981-1999)
• Presented the Theodore Roosevelt Award for Conservation at the White House by President George H. W. Bush (1990)
• Mountain Heritage Award from Western Carolina University (1991)
• Leader in the fight to protect North Carolina against air pollution and acid rain. Photographed and produced "The Search for Clean Air," narrated by Walter Cronkite and aired nationally on PBS to develop grass roots support for clean air. (1995)
• Recipient of the Outstanding Conservationist Award by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (1996)
• As Chairman of the Year of the Mountains Commission, led efforts to get land donations and conservation easements along the Blue Ridge Parkway totaling thousands of acres in order to protect the Parkway's scenic views. Also, led the fight to eliminate the practice of "straight piping" sewage into mountain streams to protect the water supply. (1995-1996)