Local Historian Jane Nardy to Present Program on Cashiers Using Vintage Photographs [Sat. Oct. 27]

Jane Gibson Nardy, a Cashiers native, will bring her skills as an historian and author to City Lights Bookstore in Sylva this Saturday, October 27 at 2 p.m., for a reading from her recently published pictorial history, Cashiers Valley.

Nardy and co-author Jan Wyatt compiled the book with more than 200 vintage photographs and extensive historical captions, all describing the evolution of the Cashiers Valley area in southern Jackson County.

Nardy will also speak during the program about the importance of photographs, their role in our society, and how interpretations of photographs can provide clues to a community's past.

Nardy is the historian of the Cashiers Historical Society, which was formed in 1996 to save the historic Mordecai Zachary House, located on Highway 107 two miles south of Cashiers. Then-owner Robert "Bubba" Tolbert wanted to sell the home to a group willing to undertake its preservation. In 1997 Thomas and Wendy Dowden purchased the home, now called the Zachary-Tolbert House, and donated it to the Cashiers Historical Society, which restored the 1850 house to nearly-original condition. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is used by the historical society as its headquarters and serves as a community resource for learning, recreation and fund-raising.

Nardy is a descendant of Colonel John Zachary, one of the original founders of Cashiers, whose history is part of the story told in the house museum. She will be available after the reading for questions and book signings.

For more information, call Jessica at City Lights at 586-9499 or visit a page about the program on the City Lights web site.

A Sylva Herald article has additional coverage.