author
Ben S. Grosscup
A little-known 19th-century coauthor whose name survives through a vivid regional classic, helping bring the landscapes, history, and local stories of Western North Carolina to print. Best known for collaborating on The Heart of the Alleghanies in 1883, a book that blends travel writing, folklore, and local history.
1 Audiobook
The Heart of the Alleghanies; or, Western North Carolina
by Wilbur Gleason Zeigler, Ben S. Grosscup
About the author
Little verified biographical information about Ben S. Grosscup appears to be readily available online. What can be confirmed is that he was the joint author, with Wilbur G. Zeigler, of The Heart of the Alleghanies; or, Western North Carolina, published in 1883.
That book is a wide-ranging portrait of Western North Carolina, covering the region’s topography, history, resources, people, travel experiences, and wilderness legends. Because so little personal detail about Grosscup is easy to confirm from reliable public sources, his reputation today rests mainly on that collaboration and the window it offers into Appalachian life and landscape in the late 19th century.
For listeners interested in regional history, nature writing, and older travel narratives, Grosscup’s surviving work remains an engaging period piece—part guidebook, part local chronicle, and part celebration of the mountain world he helped describe.