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George Masa

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George Masa
Masa c. 1933
Born
Masahara Izuka

c. 1881
Osaka, Japan
DiedJune 21, 1933(1933-06-21) (aged 51–52)
Burial placeRiverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)
Occupation(s)Businessman
Photographer
Masa Marker Dedication April 8, 2022

George Masa (c. 1881 – June 21, 1933), born Masahara Izuka, in Osaka, Japan,[1] was a businessman and professional large-format photographer. He lived and worked in the United States.[2]

Biography

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Masa arrived in the United States in 1901. In 1915, he settled in Asheville, North Carolina. After initially working for the Grove Park Inn as a bellhop and valet, Masa left the inn to take a position as a photographer in February 1919. He founded Plateau Studio (a business he later sold, which is still in operation today).[3] His customers included some of the town's most affluent citizens such as the Vanderbilt, Grove, and Seely families.

Masa came to love the mountains of western North Carolina and advocated their preservation, often at his own expense. Using his photographic equipment and an odometer he crafted from an old bicycle,[4] Masa meticulously catalogued a significant number of peaks,[5] the distances between them, and the names given to them by the local settlers and the Cherokee.[3] He was a friend of Horace Kephart,[6] and the two of them worked together to ensure that a large portion of the Great Smoky Mountains would be established as a national park. Masa also scouted and marked the entire North Carolina portion of the Appalachian Trail.[7]

Death and legacy

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A historic marker for Masa in Asheville, North Carolina

Masa died in 1933 from influenza. He had desired to be buried next to his good friend Horace Kephart near Bryson City, North Carolina.[8] However with no surviving family or estate, his burial was organized by his local hiking club, and they did not have the necessary funds to do so.[9] Instead, he was buried in Asheville's Riverside Cemetery.[8]

One year after Masa's death, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was officially established.[8][10] In 1961, Masa Knob, a peak of 5,685 feet[11] in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was named in Masa's honor.[8][12] It stands, appropriately, adjacent to Mount Kephart.

Interest in Masa's life was revived by documentary film-makers more than 60 years after his death. Bonesteel Films released a 90-minute documentary about George Masa in 2003.[13] Also, the fourth episode of Ken Burns's documentary about "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" features Masa (entitled "Going Home," covering the period between 1920 and 1933), which was initially broadcast on September 30, 2009.[9]

In September 2024, Smokies Life published George Masa: A Life Reimagined, a comprehensive biography written by Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel. After conducting groundbreaking research in the US and Japan, McCue and Bonesteel tell the fascinating story of an immigrant who endured scrutiny from the Bureau of Investigation, harassment from the Ku Klux Klan, and the collapse of the economy, his business, and his health—all while making it his life’s goal to champion conservation in Southern Appalachia.[14]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "George Masa – Hunter Library, Western Carolina University". Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "George Masa's Terra Incognita".
  3. ^ a b The Mystery of George Masa (Documentary). Asheville, North Carolina: Bonesteel Films. 2003.
  4. ^ "George Masa Collection – Highlands Historical Society". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2007.
  5. ^ "George Masa Papers – Ramsey Library, University of North Carolina at Asheville". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  6. ^ "Horace Kephart – Revealing an Enigma, Hunter Library, Western Carolina University". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
  7. ^ "The Mystery of George Masa – Bonesteel Films". Archived from the original on April 8, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  8. ^ a b c d "A hike with a bit of history Archived 18 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine", The Smoky Mountain News, July 13, 2005
  9. ^ a b Ken Burns, PBS, "The National Parks," – People Behind the National Parks, George Masa
  10. ^ American Park Network – GSMNP.
  11. ^ "Masa Knob". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  12. ^ "Carolina Mountain Club Archive – Ramsey Library, University of North Carolina at Asheville". Archived from the original on February 16, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  13. ^ "The Mystery of George Masa – Bonesteel films". Archived from the original on April 7, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  14. ^ https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2024/08/24/word-from-smokies-george-masa-biography-reveals-startling-discoveries/74891716007/

References

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  • Duncan, Dayton and Ken Burns. (2009). The National Parks: America's Best Idea. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26896-9; OCLC 290466894. Two useful biographical vignettes of Masa are William A. Hart's "George Masa: The Best Mountaineer," in Robert S. Brunk (Editor), May We All Remember Well," Volume I, pages 249–75 and Jim Casada, "George Masa: Musings on a Man of Myster," Smoky Mountain Living," Fall, 2001, pages 67–70.
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