1986
S. Kent Schwarzkopf

Asheville native S. Kent Schwarzkopf (b. 1953) won the award for 1986 for his book, A History of Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains: Exploration, Development, and Preservation. Schwarzkopf first became interested in the history of the Black Mountains while an employee of the North Carolina State Parks in 1976. Subjects discussed in the book include initial habitations by scientist Elisha Mitchell’s exploration of the range, developing tourism in the 1850s, the Clingman-Mitchell highest peak controversy, and geographic explorations of Arnold Guyot, exploitation and preservation at the turn of the 20th century, and the return of tourism.