“How the West was Won: Trains and the Transformation of Western North Carolina”
Rural Heritage Museum, Mars Hill University
Teacher Guide
Mars Hill University’s Rural Heritage Museum exhibition, “How the West was Won: Trains and the
Transformation of Western North Carolina,” presents a fantastic opportunity to augment the North
Carolina Social Studies curriculum for middle and high schoolers. There are opportunities to link the
exhibition to what students are learning in the classroom about both U.S. history and North Carolina
history. Possibilities for interdisciplinary work also exist; for example, math, language arts, science and
technology, and even art and music, can be woven through this lesson plan. Teachers can use these highly
adaptable follow-up learning activities for after the students visit the Rural Heritage Museum, and some
can even be used prior to the students visiting.
I.
Learning Objectives:
Students will come away from the exhibition with:
1. An understanding of the three significant transformations the advent of the railroads brought to
Western North Carolina (environmental, economic, and social – timber, mining, tourists)
2. The ability to place these events into context with other world, national, and local nineteenth
century happenings (and to do this in different ways – through speech, timeline/map creation,
writing, etc.)
3. An opportunity to research topics such as workers rights and unions, the ethics of using prison
labor, the irreversible environmental impact of “progress,” the Northern Migration and race in
the South during the post-Civil War period
4. The ability to critically assess the changes the railroads brought, and weigh the advantages against
the challenges residents experienced
II.
Learning Activities (followed by disciplines/skills the activities help develop/master):
1. Since the exhibition includes a timeline of important railroad events, students can create their
own timeline to include special events and milestones from their lives (like first steps and words,
getting/losing teeth, first year in school, and even if and when they experienced their first train
ride). *Self reflection, understanding chronology and sequential events, writing
2. Students will research and analyze the three primary reasons the railroads were built; they will
enumerate how the endeavor changed the lives of Western North Carolina’s residents’ lives.
*Research/analytical skills
3. Have students write a two-paragraph journal entry by the railroad worker of their choice, from
conductor to African American porter. What were their daily challenges? Why did they enjoy their
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work? Was it exciting to work in a field with such new technology? Conversely, if they choose to
write the journal entry of an employee or prisoner who helped build the railroads, how did he feel
about the high level of risk his job entailed, and the low (or no) pay? *Analytical/critical thinking,
writing conventions, research
Have students create a railroad track drawing, painting, sculpture, or even use their own bodies
on the classroom floor or outside and plot the locations of Black Mountain, Saluda,
Hendersonville, Hot Springs, and Waynesville in relation to Asheville. Distances between towns
can also be calculated. *Spatial relations skills, geographical skills, research skills, art/creative
skills, mathematical skills, kinesthetic learning opportunity
Raw materials were harvested in the region and included iron ore, feldspar, mica, barite, and
copper. Have students research and present the different uses for each of these. * Research skills,
earth sciences study, possible collaborative work if done in groups, organizational and
presentation skills
Assign students to research and present about the difference between raw materials and natural
resources, and their relevance in the scope of the building of the railroads.
*Differentiation/classification skills, research skills, drawing/defending conclusions, presentation
skills
The impeachment of North Carolina Governor William Holden is noted in the exhibition. Have
students research the impeachment process, find out which two U.S. Presidents were impeached
since our country’s inception, and the one U.S. President who resigned before he could be
impeached. Assign an opinion paper which responds to the question: “Do you think the President
did the right thing when he resigned before he could be impeached?” *Critical thinking/analytical
skills, organizational and writing skills, research skills, drawing and defending conclusions
The Saluda track was designed for trains to go up steep mountains instead of using loops to go
around them. Have the students weigh the pros and cons of each construction method and
compare and contrast the Saluda with the Old Fort tracks. Which design model, in their opinion,
works best and why? *Science/technology/robotics study, critical thinking/analytical skills,
research, drawing and defending conclusions
Art and design related activities:
 The ballad, “Wreck of the 252” was written about a man who died working on the Murphy
branch of the railroad. Ask students to write a ballad about a significant event or person
in their own lives, and to discuss the healing impact art has on the human spirit.
 “Tweetsie” is a theme park built around the Wild West and railroad themes. Have
students design their own theme park. Be sure they include rides, historical interpreters
in period dress, and food options.
*Design/planning skills, collaborative skills, presentation skills, arts and culture study
10. The nickname for the “Carolina Special” train was the “Carolina Creeper,” due to the fact that its
maximum speed was just 25 miles per hour. Have students write about the derivation of this
nickname, as well as the nicknames for various railroad job titles noted in the exhibit (“Lizard
scorcher” for a camp cook and “Brain” for a conductor, for example). Ask students to create
nicknames for other professions, such as teacher, attorney, principal, custodian, plumber,
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counselor, professional athlete, etc. *Brainstorming/creative skills, collaborative skills, vocabulary
knowledge, research skills
The exhibition contains many stories; one mentions that people believe a particular railroad
tunnel is haunted by the ghosts of 19 convicts who drowned while working on it. Tell students to
make up their own ghost stories about the railroads or tunnels. *Imaginative/creative skills,
presentation skills, story/sequential event construction skills
Some of the words found among the exhibition’s railroad information panels are
“transformation,” “extraction,” and “unstable.” Ask students how the prefixes change the
meaning of each root word. How many other examples can they think of? *Language arts
conventions, creative thinking skills
Have students compare what Hot Springs (then Warm Springs) used to be like in comparison to
today’s town. This could be done for any of the towns in the exhibition as well (Marshall, Old Fort,
Saluda, etc.). *Compare and contrasting skills, differentiation skills, research skills
Have students consider the present use of various depots, like Marshall’s, where performances
occur. They can devise other possible uses for historic depots. *Creative thinking/brainstorming
skills, research skills, design skills, particularly creative reuse
Assign math problems based on railroads and trains:
 Example: Create a train timetable for students to practice computation of time. Use the
following information to determine the length of time it takes for each train trip:
Depart
Time
Arrive
Time
Asheville
3:00 p.m.
Marshall
3:30 p.m.
Black Mountain 11:30 a.m.
Asheville
12:03 p.m.
Etc.
*For older students: Make a timetable using cities located in different time zones.
 Example: There are 60 cars on a train. If half the train was made up of passenger cars,
how many passenger cars were there? If there were 40 passengers in each car, what was
the total number of passengers on the train?
 Example: Each trip a train takes requires 1,000 gallons of fuel. How many quarts are in
1,000 gallons? The engineer checked the fuel used at each stop, and there are four stops
in all. What is the average amount of fuel used for each part of the trip? At the first stop,
the remaining fuel is measured. How much fuel should be remaining? At the second stop?
At the third stop? If, after the third stop, there are 300 gallons of fuel remaining, will
there be enough fuel to finish the trip?
*Mathematical skills, deductive reasoning
III. Means of Assessment
Assessment will be done by each individual teacher, based on exhibition content and materials.
Methods can include oral assessment or grading of presentations, group work, and individual
student work, writings, timelines, etc. Assessments can also include assignments that
complement museum education materials, such as additional homework assignments, quizzes, or
tests that are devised by the teacher.
IV. Materials
Materials used will be lesson plan provided by the Rural Heritage Museum and the “How the West
was Won” exhibition text, videos, timeline, and artifacts. Complementary materials might include
classroom social studies textbooks and other school materials.