The field activities took place in both the East and the West Meadows. Major Castleberry won the professional bag piping competition, and William Firestone of Cumberland, Virginia took home the novice piping honors. The highland dance competition was held on a large platform as was the piping competition. Andrew’s Society Pipe Band under the direction of Pipe Major Gene Castleberry, and “The Fighting Scots” Brass from Scotland County High School in Laurinburg, N. Two bands were present: the Washington, D. The festivities started that morning in 1956 at 11 o’clock with a church service conducted by Mr. Even today, the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and Gathering of Scottish Clans is often called “America’s Braemar.” Morton and McDonald planned for a one-day event, based on the Braemar Gathering with performances of Scottish songs and dances along with athletic events including foot races, wresting, the high jump, and the shot put. McDonald had attended Scotland’s famous Braemar Gathering in 1954 and suggested that highland games would attract more visitors than just a reunion of individual clans. (Hugh Morton photograph, cropped by the editor.)
McDonald of Charlotte.ĭonald MacDonald dancing the Highland Fling while an unidentified woman plays accordion at the first Highland Games in 1956 near Grandfather Mountain, N. One of the people she contacted, in 1955, was Donald F. Morton (Agnes MacRae) read an article about Scottish gatherings in other areas and began talking about the idea for a gathering at Grandfather Mountain. Many months of planning and preparation had gone into the event and according to the 1976 Souvenir Programme and Review booklet, the idea for a gathering began to take shape when Mrs. On that day, the first Highland Games ever held in the South were staged to the delight of about 10,000 spectators according to The Asheville Citizen issue of August 20th.
Sunday, Augwas a special day at MacRae Meadows in the shadows of Grandfather Mountain. CBS News legend and Hugh Morton’s friend, Charles Kuralt, June 7, 1996 Who can explain such a thing? It is Scottish.
Powerful men wearing skirts compete in tossing telephone poles about. there is the annual Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and Gathering of the Scottish Clans, which must be seen to be believed. As we celebrate once again this mountain event, Morton Collection volunteer Jack Hilliard looks at the first “gathering and games” back in 1956. This spectacular happening has become one of the most popular and colorful events of its type in all of North America. The 61st annual “Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and Gathering of Scottish Clans” takes place in Linville’s MacRae Meadows from July 7th through July 10th, 2016. “Scottish Clans 1956” by Hugh Morton (cropped by the editor).
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