North Carolina and the Blue Ridge region lost Hugh Morton two years ago. He was a preservationist, a businessman, a naturalist, a father, a lobbyist. Our readers voted him best photographer in the mountains, and though he’s no longer with us, his images, his perspectives on the world, remain.

On a Tuesday afternoon, our creative director Leonard Loria and I drove down to Linville, and we met Catherine Morton, the daughter of the man everyone knew as Mr. Morton, on the mountain. After lunch, we spent hours going through 15 thick binders of Hugh Morton’s slides, every few minutes pulling one out and saying, “Look at this!” We developed a pile of images on that table in Catherine’s office, dreading the point at which we’d have to go through it and weed out images. We could have published this entire issue with Hugh’s photos, Leonard pointed out.

After we dug through slides, Grandfather Mountain staffer Landis Wofford patiently scrolled through files of digital images, including historic images from Grandfather’s past. At the end of the afternoon, we headed back to Roanoke (after a short trip up to the mile-high swinging bridge, and a view out over the mountain ridges). On these pages we share those images with you, and some of the stories behind them.

Catherine Morton has worked on Grandfather since she was 14 years old, and she shares the same reverence and respect for the land that her father did: “It’s always going to be bigger and older and wiser than me, and it puts me in my place every day.”

Read this complete article in the new Blue Ridge Country, now available at bookstores, on newsstands or by calling (800) 877-6026. Or try our Free Issue Offer.