“Souls cannot rest in contested places”: An ethnographic case study and archeological environmental assessment of the North Shore cemeteries.

This thesis is an ethnographic case study and archeological-environmental assessment of the North Shore Cemeteries to derive condition commentary and care recommendations for the landscape, cultural resources, descendant community, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Framed by theories of space-place culture, dispossession, and public lands co-management, this multi-methods, interdisciplinary thesis combines historical context, environmental conditions, archeological documentation, participant observations, and ethnographic interviewing of NPS and community affiliates to derive applied strategies for cemetery repair, operational efficacy, and this specific, public lands “co-management” relationship. With data from 12 interviews, eight participant observations, and six condition assessment surveys, it’s argued that perceptions of care and responsibility pertaining to the North Shore are steeped in the landscape’s unique place-culture and complicated history of Appalachian displacement to federal conservation; thus, public lands co-management recommendations must be made through understanding this inseparable context.