MACON COUNTY, NC -- BIOGRAPHIES -- THOMAS G. HARBISON

Published in the Mountain Laurel, December 2003
(Used by permission)

WHO WAS THOMAS G. HARBISON ANYWAY? 
written by Wiley Sloan

If you have passed the historic marker at Highlands City Hall in the last few
days, you may be wondering, "Who is Thomas G. Harbison?"

After reading one of Samuel Kelsey's promotions for the Highlands area, Thomas
G. Harbison walked with his friend, Elmer E. McGee, from Pennsylvania to
Highlands. Throughout the trip he studied the animal and plant life of the
Southern Application(sic) [Appalachian] mountains. Although he had planned to
stay in Highlands for only a year to complete his botany testing, his plans
changed dramatically. 

Upon his arrival he was offered the job of principal of the school here. Not
really being interested in this job, he set an "outlandish" salary of $600 for
ten months work. To his amazement, his bluff was called and the money was
raised. This was the start of Harbison's influence on our area. 

Harbison, who had begun teaching in Pennsylvania at the age of 17, continued
to attend school during vacations. He received a permanent certificate from
the state of Pennsylvania at the age of twenty-tw (the youngest to receive
such a certificate). He later completed studies under professors at Bucknell
University, specializing in botany. While teaching here in Highlands, he
completed a full four-year correspondence course from the University of the
City of New York, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree. Later he completed a
thesis for which he was granted a Ph.D. in 1888. 

Under Harbison's direction, the local school was converted into HIghlands'
Academy. For the next ten years, Harbison saw the school grow from a single
room facility to one large enough for up to 10 educators. At the same time he
established the Highlands Scientific Society (the precursor of the Highlands
Biological Station) to study the natural sciences and to educate the masses to
the phenomena of nature. 

Harbison was a self-educated man who built an extensive library. At the age of
twenty-one, this library consisted of over 1,000 volumes; by age thirty-one,
the collection had become known as the best school library in Western North
Carolina. Harbison served as the fourth librarian of the Hudson LIbrary. His
daughters, Dolly & Gertrude, continued his tradition by serving for many years
as librarians of the Hudson also. His son, Tom, was a master mason,
contractor, and landscape architect. 

As if being school principal and president of the Scientific Society was not
enough, Harbison founded the Mountain Eagle, a highly respected Highlands
newspaper. He also served as head of the 4H Club for Boys, town comissioner,
town clerk, and mayor. 

In 1897, Harbison accepted employment as collector of plants for the herbarium
of George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore estate. He and fellow Highlander, Frank E.
Boynton, collected plants in Western North Carolina and even out to the
Rockies, the Cascades, and the ranges of the West Coast. He continued in his
role for the Biltmore until 1903. From 1905 until 1926 he traveled the
southern states, collecting matieral for Sargent's Manual of the Trees of
North America. Even while he was traveling for this assignment, he kept his
home base in Highlands. Harbison was especially thankful for the establishment
of the Highlands Improvement Society in 1909 and its purchase of the top of
Satulah Mountain to preserve it in its natural state. 

Thomas G. Harbison was a botanist, educator, editor, publisher, curator and
much, much more. The impact that THomas G. Harbison made in the Highlands area
and to the world of botany cannot be covered in this short space. To learn
more about Harbison's life, read the Heart of the Blue Ridge: Highlands, North
Carolina by Ran Shaffner. 

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