The First One from North Carolina

The locomotive on the front of this post card is an American Style (4 – 4 – 0) - according to the Whyte Notation of locomotives. Evidently it is “Arriving in the Land of the Sky”. “Where”, you ask, “is the Land of the Sky?” Keep reading… The following information was taken from this website: https://wncmagazine.com/feature/birth_slogan As lofty descriptors go, “Land of the Sky” seems a perfect fit for Western North Carolina, but the history of how it was coined is surprisingly little known. It wasn’t the first attempt to promote the mountain region with a turn of phrase, and some of the earliest stabs at the task didn’t stick. “The Switzerland of America” never felt quite right, and “Nature’s Trundle Bed of Recuperation for Tourist and Health Seeker” didn’t have much zing, though Asheville-based ad men floated both formulations in the late 1800s. In fact, it took a Salisbury, North Carolina-born writer to pin the Land of the Sky on Western North Carolina. Frances Fisher Tiernan (1846-1920), using the pen name Christian Reid, wrote more than 50 novels, many of which romanticized travel to points near and far. One of her most popular books was set squarely in Western North Carolina: The Land of the Sky; or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, was published in 1875. Within just a few years, the catchphrase became a staple in ads for mountain railway trips, hotels, and other businesses while gracing an untold number of postcards highlighting the region. In time, it was incorporated into the names of churches, dance troupes, regional government bodies, and even Asheville’s television station, WLOS. “Despite its literary shortcomings,” Starnes noted, “Tiernan’s novel developed themes and images others would use to construct a regional tourism image for Western North Carolina.” In a land where the sky commands so much attention, Tiernan gave the place a name as fitting now as it was in her time.

The post card was published by the Brown Book Company started by Edwin Brown. It was in Asheville, North Carolina. The post card was printed in Germany; so, this card was printed after 1907 (divided back era) and before World War I (1914).