Spanish Program News

The Mountain Heritage Center, a museum of Appalachian culture at Western Carolina University, will hold a crafts demonstration and music performance on campus Thursday, July 9.

Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center is now accepting nominations for the 2026 Mountain Heritage Awards, honoring individuals and organizations whose work preserves, interprets, and celebrates the rich cultural traditions and history of Southern Appalachia.

Western Carolina University keeps its nature in mind. Situated as our lush campus is in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the importance of environmentally-minded, sustainable action is easily understood to all who visit and dwell here. And every day presents a new opportunity to take that action further. The latest efforts, spearheaded by passionate faculty, staff and students, have earned this year’s Mountain Heritage Days celebration the NC Green Travel designation.

Western Carolina University will honor the recipients of the 2025 Mountain Heritage Awards during the Mountain Heritage Days Afternoon Concert, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Bardo Arts Center.

Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Days will be a weeklong celebration of Southern Appalachian culture, featuring a compelling lecture on the Appalachian dialect, the annual Rooted in the Mountains symposium and a Friday evening concert. The week of events will lead up to the Saturday heritage demonstrations, music and food everyone has loved for the past 50 years.

For the past 50 years on the last Saturday of September, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day festival has honored the music, stories, and traditions of Appalachia.

Effective May 1, Peter Koch was promoted from the position of museum education associate to associate director of Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center.