Ida Webb Henry was the fifth child of pioneer settlers Billy and Lucretia Gibson Webb. As a midwife, she delivered some 400 babies around Highlands during the early 20th century. Photo ca. 1950.
Harlan Page "Bop" Kelsey (1872-1958) was one of town-founder Samuel Kelsey's twin sons, who at 12 was the "youngest nurseryman in America" and was a driving force in the creation of the Appalachian Trail and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo ca. 1950.
Alfred Hawkins came to Highlands from Hudson, Ohio, in 1883 and settled at Rock House, south of Horse Cove near the Glade Mountain Road. As a self-made scholar, he practiced homeopathic medicine, which is why folks called him Dr. Hawkins.
Silas McDowell (1795-1879) was a self-educated Renaissance sage, who lived near Franklin and promoted Highlands for 30 years before Kelsey and Hutchinson founded the town. He was famous for his discovery of the no-frost "thermal belt" in the Southern Appalachians. Photo ca. 1960.
Hugh & Mary Ann Gibson lived as William Dobson's caretakers of the land where Highlands currently today. Their one-room cabin was located near today's Trillium Place on East Main. For the 1876 lithograph of the Gibsons, see Richard Harding Davis, "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," Sept. 1880, vol. 61, p. 543, and pp. 541-44 for the section relating to Highlands.