Etowah NC Heritage
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  • SPECIAL
    • Etowah Heritage Day 1889 - 2019
    • Etowah Treasures Exhibit, Sept/Oct 2019
    • Virtual Tour of Selected Historic Places
    • History Displays in Etowah & Library Notebooks
  • TIMELINE/MAPS
    • Timeline 1700 to present
    • Maps
    • Maps - 1838 Formation of Henderson County
  • PHOTOS
    • Memorabilia
    • Places, Early Homes, Other
    • French Broad River & Valley Views
    • People - early times
    • People - post 1950
    • People - Gash Family descendants
    • Veterans
  • HIST. I
    • Etowah History Notes - Research To Date
    • 1889 Money, then Etowah
    • How Etowah Got Its Name
    • Postmasters 1889 - 1968
    • Etowah Train Depot - 1895 >
      • Trains of Etowah
    • The Railroad - Hendersonville to Toxaway
  • HIST. II
    • 1900 U.S. Census
    • Farms of Early Etowah
    • Historic Schools 1800s - 1928 >
      • Historic Etowah High School 1928 - 1960
      • Little Chief - Gleanings from
      • Etowah High School - Memorial Plaque 2014 - HCEHI
      • Etowah Institute 1911
      • Schools of Nearby Communities
    • Historic Churches
    • Historic Cemeteries
    • Adopt-A-Cemetery: Thomas-Fletcher
  • HIST. III
    • Sheriff Robert Thomas
    • Civil War Union Monument
    • Orr Cabin Homeplace - early 1800s
    • Mountain Lily - 1881
    • Welsh Colony 1880s
    • Grist Mills
    • Shape Note Traditions
  • HIST. IV
    • Businesses - Early to mid-1900's
    • "Etowah Brick" Moland-Drysdale Corp. - 1923
    • Camp Peep-Out - 1935
    • Etowah Grange #984 - 1937 >
      • Grange - 25th Anniversary 1937-1962
      • Grange Quilt - 1953
  • 1950 +
    • 1952 - Hatheway Floral Company
    • 1954 - Etowah Lions Club
    • 1960s - Growing & Changing
    • 1964 - Etowah / Horse Shoe Volunteer Fire
    • 1966 - Water System Tower
    • 1966 - Etowah Riding Club
    • 1982 - A Library Comes to Etowah
  • Stories
    • Eade Anderson, Reverend
    • Lois Adcock Bayne
    • Emma Louise Curtis Bradley
    • Richard Brown
    • Patricia Bell Cantrell
    • Jerri Whiteside Lambeth
    • Wanda Sumner Love
    • David S. Mallett
    • Opal Dalton Parkinson
    • Jeannie Huggins Revis
    • Glenda Maxwell Simpson
    • Marylin Annette Jones Thomas
    • "The Follies" & "Matilda's Folly"
  • About
SHAPE NOTE TRADITIONS

"Since 1909, singers have brought their  shaped note songbooks, picnic baskets and tales of good times to the all day sings at Etowah.  The gatherings held each May and September, used to meet at the Methodist Church.  Now the singings are held at the school house,  . . ."
​
Read more in the 7 September 1978 article below, published in The Transylvania Times.  Photos and text by Keena Lowe.
​
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William Walker 1809 - 1875, Baptist "singing master" and composer
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Western Carolina Tribune - 23 Apr 1959
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The Walker shapes. (from, oldfieldsingers.com)

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1978 article published in The Transylvania Times
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For historical context
 on the Appalachian tradition of shape note singing,
  SHAPE NOTES, the digital heritage project of Western Carolina University.

"Shape notes were invented in the late 18th century to simplify teaching people to sight-read unaccompanied sacred musical scores. They were called shape notes because, instead of drawing all of the music scale’s seven notes with round shapes, each note was represented by either a triangle, square, oval, or diamond shape, called fa, sol, la, or mi, depending on its position in the scale. Singers usually perform in four-part harmony — alto, tenor, treble, and bass — unaccompanied by instruments."

For information about
ETOWAH CHRISTIAN HARMONY SINGINGS
Spring & Fall