Question: How did Grandfather Mountain become a North Carolina tourist attraction?
Answer: In 1952, Hugh Morton inherited the mountain from his grandfather and opened it to the public as a travel attraction. He quickly built a road to the summit and the iconic Mile High Swinging Bridge, invested profits back into facilities and preservation, and promoted it for decades through his acclaimed photography.
Bonus info: Ironically, the name Grandfather for the mountain didn’t come from Morton inheriting it from his grandfather, but rather from early European pioneers and settlers who noticed that certain cliff profiles on the mountain resembled the face of an old man—a “grandfather.”
