Cultural Heritage

The Scots-Irish In NC: A Kilt Of Many Colors

Every July in North Carolina’s highlands, thousands of people turn out to witness the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Complete with kilts and bagpipes and ancient athletic events, the event is a spectacle of color and tradition, and is also the largest annual gathering of Scottish clans in the world… including even Scotland.

The Highland Games is just one testament to the depth and importance of Scots-Irish culture in North Carolina. From Presbyterian Churches to golf courses, from bluegrass music to historic farms and battlefields, the Scots-Irish influence in NC is impossible to ignore and fascinating to discover.

It all began in the early 18th century, when economic hardship and religious persecution sent entire congregations of Scots-Irish from the old country to America, usually by sailing into Philadelphia and taking the Great Wagon Road south to the open lands of the Carolinas. Here, the new immigrants spread out from the High Country to the Outer Banks, infusing this New World outpost with their language, music, and tradition… much of which can still be found across North Carolina to this day.

Those looking to delve into NC’s Scots-Irish traditions have opportunities in every corner of the state. From the quilting, weaving, and pottery displays at the Folk Art Center in Asheville to the Scottish Tartans Museum and Gift Shop in Franklin, from historic Presbyterian Churches in Fayetteville, Dunn, and Mooresville to the Scottish Heritage Center in Laurinburg, from preserved family plantations to smaller versions of the Highland Games, North Carolina has a cultural kilt of Scots-Irish tradition that covers the state from the mountains to the sea, and a multitude of ways for visitors to explore it.

The Scots-Irish have also integrated sounds from the homeland into North Carolina culture. If you’re out on the Outer Banks and hear someone tell you that it’s ‘hoi toid on the saned soid’ (high tide on the sound side), you’re hearing a brogue brought from the old country and nurtured in generations of geographic isolation. When you see a bluegrass band performing at Wilkesboro’s Merlefest, you’re listening to musical traditions handed down over the centuries from Scots-Irish immigrants to Appalachian Mountain folk blended with the banjo music of African-American artisans.

You can even find evidence of Scots-Irish tradition by playing the greens and fairways of the Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Aberdeen area. As we all know, golf has its origins on the high meadows of Scotland’s St. Andrews. At the turn of the 20th century, a Scotsman named Donald Ross brought his love for the game and knowledge of course design (he apprenticed at St. Andrews) to the Pinehurst Resort, where he created four of the courses. Today, the entire area is known as the Home of American Golf, with 43 courses within a 15-mile radius.  And, of course, any town named ‘Aberdeen’ is going to be steeped in Scottish tradition.

On North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain, there is yet more Scots-Irish influence. The history of the mountain itself is a stunning example of both the Scots-Irish love of the high country and the Presbyterian focus on good land stewardship. Purchased in 1889 by Hugh MacRae (whose family emigrated from Scotland to Wilmington in 1770), the property was eventually inherited by his son, conservationist and photographer Hugh Morton.

Morton vigorously protected the mountain from development, and even battled with the National Park Service over the proper way to bring the Blue Ridge Parkway through the area. His tenacity resulted in the construction of the Linn Cove Viaduct, a beautiful quarter-mile bridge that juts out from the mountain, supported by piers. The viaduct is now hailed as an architectural and scenic marvel and has won at least a dozen design awards.

After Morton’s death in 2006, his family sold Grandfather Mountain to the state, ensuring that this high country paradise would remain unspoiled by development. But there’s more to it than that. Preserving Grandfather Mountain for the ages also means there will always be a place in NC for the kilts, bagpipes, and spectacle of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, and an appropriate place to celebrate the sights, sounds, and traditions of the Scots-Irish cultural influence in North Carolina.

added: February 9, 2009

updated: February 18, 2011