Guest Column – Why My Sons and I Love the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games

By Tara Gragg Daniels

Avery County Military Veterans Officer

Once a year, the second week in July. Tents are raised, kilts are dusted off, sporrans and Sgian-dubh are properly placed. People start pouring in from around the country, even parts of the world to Grandfather Mountain, NC, all with one thing in common–the gathering of the Grandfather Highland Games.

It’s a time when those with Scot-Irish heritage and those without can learn and research history.  It’s also a time for my sons–Laiden Gragg-Smith, Cam Gragg-Smith, Mason Gragg-Smith–and me to get in contact with our roots and a way to keep our heritage alive. We are made up of several different clans. On Saturday of last week (July 13), we were in attendance for the 68th annual Highland Games.  We saw traditional games such as the cable toss, hammer throw, and tug of war. Also, we saw exhibitions of highland dance and music. 

One of the highlights of the day for me was listening to the Piper Jones Band, which I highly recommend to anyone who loves good band music of any genre. My other favorite events of the day included watching the demonstration of the sheep and ducks and the highland dancers. As my sons and I walked around, we got to meet our extended family of clans from across the United States. I was honored to get to meet the past Chieftain Thad Osborne, from Clan MacGregor. Once he saw our tartan colors of the MacGregors, he and the rest of the clan made us feel like family. 

That’s one part of the gathering of the clan that is so amazing. You find that welcome sense of family, with the connection that may have been more than 300 years ago. With each clan tent we visited, we were given more history and showed the extensive research they had done. I asked a few there why this means so much to them. Their answers were all similar, which in a nutshell were: “To keep their heritage and history going down to the next generations!” 

This resonated with me so much with my sons and me being natives of the Appalachian Mountains and also because my family ancestors have lived in the North Carolina High Country since the Revolutionary War. 

Some of our history and culture which is a mixture of Scots-Irish, German, African, and Native American combined are being lost or forgotten. That’s why the Highland Games are so important to me and to share with my sons. They are proud of who they are, their ancestors’ struggles to make it to the country, and those who help build it. They will say many if you ask them which clan they belong to. But they will first and foremost tell anyone who asks without any hesitation: “WE ARE THE MACGREGORS!”

Thanks to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and all who have been involved with them and who are currently part of this continued great happening for all they have meant to the North Carolina High Country, Avery County, and all of us who are offsprings of the history and culture it represents and promotes!