RAIL Project Symposium

1 University Heights,Asheville NC 28804

30 March, 2023

Description

Schedule for RAIL Project Symposium – March 30, 31, and April 1 Thursday, March 30 – Mannheimer Room, OLLI 7:00 PM - Keynote: Dr. Darin Waters, Deputy Secretary, NC Office of Archives and History Reception following Friday, March 31 – Mountain View Room, Kimmel Arena 8:30 AM – Coffee and Pastries 9:00 – Welcome – Dr. Tracey Rizzo (Dean of Humanities, UNCA) 9:15 - Session 1 How We Began, What We Did, and What It All Means RAIL Board Member Roundtable Moderator - Steve Little (Mayor, City of Marion) Ray McKesson (CFO McDowell Technical College, ret.) Stephanie Stepson Twitty (President and CEO Eagle Market Streets Development Corp.) RoAnn Bishop (Director, Mountain Gateway Museum) Ashley Whittle (Archives and Special Collections Assistant ,UNCA) Jim Stokely (President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy) Jeff Futch (Western Regional Supervisor, NC Department of Cultural and Natural Resources) 10:45 – Break 11:00 – Session 2 Using Human Remains Detection Dogs and Ground Penetrating Radar to Help Locate Historic Burial Grounds Moderator – Dr. Sarah Judson (Chair, Department of History, UNCA) Cat Warren (Department of English, NC State University, Author: What the Dog Knows) Blair Tormey (Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, Western Carolina University) Paul Martin (Martin Archaeology Consultants) 12:30 – Lunch Break 1:30 – Session 3 Moderator – Dr. Abena Boakyewa-Ansah (Department of History, UNCA) Partners in Memorializing: The Asheville African American Cemeteries Project, The Buncombe County Remembrance Project, and The African Americans in the Smokies Project Dr. Ellen Holmes Pearson (Department of History, UNCA and South Asheville and The 828 Digital Archives for Historical Equity Project) Dr. Joseph Fox (CEO Fox Management Consulting Enterprises and Buncombe County Remembrance Project) Antoine Fletcher (Science Communicator, Great Smoky Mountains National Park) 3:00 – Break 3:15 – Session 4 Where Do We Go From Here: Challenges and Opportunities Moderator – Dr. Dan Pierce (Department of History, UNCA) Cayla Colclasure (Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology, UNC-CH) Dr. Jeff Keith (Department of Global Studies, Warren Wilson College) Dr. Kevin Kehrberg (Department of Music, Warren Wilson College) Anne Chesky-Smith (Director, WNC Historical Association) Saturday, April 1 Four Field Opportunities: Session 1 @ 10:00 AM; Session 2 @ 11:30 AM The Swannanoa Gap – Anne Chesky Smith Andrews Geyser and the RAIL Memorial – Steve Little and Paul Twitty Andrews Geyser and Human Remains Detection Dogs – Cat Warren A Walk Down the Point Lookout Greenway (2 miles on pavement) – Dan Pierce