land management emphasis from hunting and fishing toward preservation.For example, in 1897, the club filed a temporary injunction forbidding upstream loggers from running logs down a river that ran adjacent to club property.When the club’s board periodically decided to cut timber to raise capital for improvements or land acquisition, it did so selectively in the exterior region of the property.In 1937, the club decided to go a step further in its effort to protect the property’s natural amenities.They enlisted the services of Aldo Leopold, the nationally renowned conservationist, to assess the natural and scientific values of the club’s holdings and recommend ways to protect them.Leopold encouraged the club to continue its land acquisition program by consolidating holdings and creating an additional buffer zone.Indeed, government bounties on predators had been the order of the day, because predators killed livestock and reduced game species.Finally, Leopold encouraged the club to invite members of the scientific community to pursue their studies on its property.Since Leopold’s Huron Mountain 1938 assessment, the club has continued to follow the policies he recommended without experiencing the political gridlock that often hampers public land management.With little fanfare, the club protected its rare climax forest of maplehemlock.Moreover, it has served as an important study area for researchers.Hugh Macrae graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1885 and embarked on a career as a mining engineer in his home state of North Carolina.As he traveled on horseback to his job in Avery County, he was overwhelmed by the spectacular high country of Grandfather Mountain and its neighboring mountains, Sugar, Grandmother, and Flattop.At 5,964 feet above sea level, Grandfather Mountain’s Calloway Peak is actually the highest point in the Blue Ridge Mountains.Inspired by the sight, Macrae wrote to his father, Donald Macrae, in Wilmington, Delaware, requesting funds to purchase Grandfather Mountain and sections of the neighboring peaks.Between 1885 and 1890, he purchased a total of 15,750 acres from Walter Waighstill Lenoir.Young Macrae was interested in buying the mountain so that he could market its natural beauty and vista to visitors.He recognized Grandfather Mountain as a unique asset that could serve as a major tourist attraction for hikers and nature lovers.Like Yellowstone, the mountain was remote, and visitors needed transportation services to the site and tourist facilities once they arrived.Macrae provided both.Those engines still operate at another travel attraction between Boone and Blowing Rock, taking visitors back to a time of leisurely, rhythmic travel through the Blue Ridge wilderness.Macrae’s descendants carried on his dreams for Grandfather Mountain.To allow automobiles up Grandfather, Donald, his son, and Julian Morton, husband of his niece Agnes Macrae Morton, widened a horseback trail up the mountain’s slope not quite to the top.At the end of the road, the partners constructed a lookout site and charged a toll for using the road and enjoying the spectacular view.When Hugh Morton, Julian’s son, took the reins of stewardship for Grandfather Mountain, he wanted to complete the road to the top.Family stockholders stopped the project, questioning his premise that more people would pay to see the view from the top of the mountain, but he still succeeded in widening the existing road and improving the quality of access.During his control, Hugh Morton fought vigorously to protect the amenity values of the mountain.Roosevelt as a way to stimulate jobs in the isolated Appalachian region.The highway, known as the Blue Ridge Parkway and under control of the National Park Service, was eventually built, but not without a fight from Julian Morton.Hugh Morton refused.At the time, the common engineering practice for crossing rugged mountains was'cut and fill, ' and Morton felt that this would destroy the'wilderness characteristics' of Grandfather Mountain.The state responded by exercising its right of eminent domain and condemning the parcel.The governor and the highway commission agreed , and Morton retained the land.Federal road planners, however, still wanted the higher route, Even if it threatened the integrity of the pristine mountainside.The conflict gained public attention in the 1950s and eventually led to a televised debate between Morton and Conrad Worth, head of the National Park Service.Each man was allowed a debate partner, and for his , Morton chose his friend and local television celebrity, Arthur Smith. Morton ’s comment that to tear up the mountain at the higher elevation would be like'taking a switch blade to the Mona Lisa, ' 5 made headlines across the state . Smith followed his friend ’ s emotional appeal by saying that a man who loves his land as Morton loves Grandfather Mountain should not have to fear losing it to'a bunch of Washington bureaucrats.' Public opinion had been swayed , and again Morton retained his land.Today, under an arrangement with the Nature Conservancy, Grandfather Mountain has been permanently protected and remains in private hands.Because of its biological importance, the mountain was designated as an international biosphere reserve by the United Nations.It is an area in high demand by hikers.Grandfather Mountain ’ s newly built nature museum houses outstanding exhibits, including interpretations of the natural heritage of the The Morton family continues its successful marketing of Grandfather mountain, the finest collection of North Carolina gemstones, minerals and gold, and exhibits of wildflowers.Indian and pioneer history are explored in displays designed by the former chief of natural history exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution . Mountain's amenities.Daily fees for all facilities are $ 9 for adults, $ 5 for children, and free for children under four.6