Irving Messer and wife

This photograph is of Irving Messer and his wife. The couple lived in the Little Cataloochee section of Haywood County, North Carolina. The 1937 photograph was made by Hiram Coleman Wilburn (1880-1967), unofficial historian of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Wilburn spent time identifying historic structures, collecting artifacts, and researching local history. He is credited with curating the earliest collections that would form the nucleus of the park’s museum