By Morgan Carver
Staff Writer
Jackson county’s very own Lynn Hotaling, editor of “The Sylva Herald,” has written a book giving this small town a vision of the past. Her book “Sylva” has images included in it from around the early 1900s and up. Looking back and seeing how Sylva has grown gives people who have grown up here history, and it gives those who are new to the area a sense of where everything came from and a thankfulness of the beautiful mountain area that the people in this area are blessed to be apart of.
Lynn Hotaling illustrates the growth in the town through the collection of photos that she gathered. Rachel Phillips, Dorris Beck and Hattie Hilda Allison took a big role as well in the production of the book. Hotaling expressed much appreciation for all their photo contributions and willingness to accomplish the book. Another thanks goes out to Nick Breedlove, “The Sylva Herald’s” photographer, for scanning and organizing the photos.
Lynn Hotaling is from Chickamauga, Georgia. She came to Jackson County to attend Western Carolina in 1970. She took an interest in history and went from there, and she has been in Jackson County ever since. City Lights has also taken an interest in the book “Sylva” and has agreed to donate $1 from every book sold to go to the building fund of the new library. City Lights also held a book signing on Monday, September 15. Hotaling made quite a stir in this small town that night. Over 100 people showed up for the opening of her book and she sold over 200 copies. Hotaling expresses a lot of enthusiasm about her book and not only is she thankful for those who contributed to the book, but also to Western Carolina’s history professors. Her professors have made history become an important concept in her life and help shape who she is today. Inside the bindings of “Sylva” you can find images of former president Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sylva in 1936, as well as the statue of the confederate soldier.
There is so much this new book has to offer, and the town is thankful for all of the history that has been pieced together so that Sylva’s locals can celebrate the old and the new.
