Recently released prison records from the North Carolina State Archives are being used to help guide the future plans of The RAIL Project . The project memorializes the thousands of incarcerated laborers — the majority of whom were African American — who died constructing the Mountain Division of the Western N.C. Railroad from Old Fort to Ridgecrest in the late 1870s.
Findings will be presented at “The RAIL Project: New Discoveries in the State Archives,” a virtual lunch + learn event hosted by the State Archives on Friday, Feb. 16 from 12 to 1 p.m. Project researchers Dr. Dan Pierce, a professor of history at UNC Asheville, and Steve Little, Mayor of Marion, will discuss how the new information will shape the project’s next steps — register in advance to attend.
Explore the detailed history of the incarcerated laborers who constructed WNC’s railroads on The RAIL Project’s website .