Carson Brewer (February 2, 1920 – January 15, 2003) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist and conservationist, best known for his work documenting the folk life of Knoxville and the surrounding

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

n communities in

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

. During his 40-year career as a columnist for the ''

Knoxville News-Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel, also known as Knox News,'' is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: ''The K ...

'', Brewer was a key voice for the promotion and protection of the region's natural wonders, especially the Great Smoky Mountains. His historical work included the first extensive history of the

Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It drains portions of three national ...

valley and one of the first comprehensive histories of the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

.Connie Lester
Carson Brewer
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 19 February 2009. Brewer was born in

Hancock County, Tennessee Hancock County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,662, making it the fourth-least populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Sneedville. History Hanco ...

in 1920, the son of a local postmaster. He attended

Maryville College Maryville College is a private liberal arts college in Maryville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1819 by Presbyterian minister Isaac L. Anderson for the purpose of furthering education and enlightenment into the West. The college is one of t ...

for two years before joining the U.S. Army in 1941 at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war, Brewer attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

, but due to illness, he never obtained a degree. He joined the staff of the ''News-Sentinel'' in 1945, and in 1948 he married pioneering female journalist Alberta Trulock (1917—2007). Brewer wrote several books on the Great Smoky Mountains, most notably ''Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains'' (1962), which was reprinted several times over three decades. In 1969, the Tennessee Valley Authority— which was planning to flood the Little Tennessee River valley by constructing

Tellico Dam Tellico Dam is a dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Loudon County, Tennessee, on the Little Tennessee River as part of the Tellico Project. Planning for a dam structure on the Little Tennessee was reported as early as 1936 bu ...

at the river's mouth— hired Brewer and his wife Alberta to compile a history of the valley and its inhabitants. Their work was published by the

East Tennessee Historical Society The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS), headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating ...

in 1975 under the title, ''Valley So Wild: A Folk History''.Alberta and Carson Brewer, ''Valley So Wild'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1975), introduction. In the early 1980s, Brewer wrote a series of articles documenting the history of the Tennessee Valley Authority and its effects on the inhabitants of East Tennessee. He retired from the ''News-Sentinel'' in 1985, but continued writing until his death in 2003.

References

External links

Finding Aid for the Carson Brewer Articles, 1985-1992
— University of Tennessee Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Carson 1920 births 2003 deaths People from Hancock County, Tennessee American male journalists 20th-century American journalists American conservationists United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers People from Knoxville, Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains National Park