Dr. Neva J. Specht, dean of App State’s College of Arts and Sciences and an Honors College faculty member, has served as the nexus for multiple partnerships and serendipitous connections that, in the words of App State documentarist Dr. Beth Davison, have intersected to create “a rich and mutually beneficial relationship” between Flat Top Manor and App State’s Mountaineers.

In 2006, Specht, then a professor of history at App State, and her Material Studies graduate class conducted archival research, collected oral histories and compiled a report on the Cone Estate for the National Park Service (NPS). The success of that experience led Specht to organize a meeting between key stakeholders at App State and NPS to explore additional opportunities for collaboration. This led to the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway liaison position, which Specht held until 2013.

Through the liaison position, NPS partners Appalachian Community members with hundreds of park units across the United States, providing a plethora of internships, jobs and research opportunities — many on or near the Cone Estate.

In 2018, Specht connected alumna Carrie Streeter ’12 with the executive director at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM), who was beginning the process of developing a team to curate an exhibition of the art collected by Dr. Claribel Cone and Etta Cone, two of the Cone sisters.

Streeter collaborated with former BRAHM Curator Dianna Cameron ’13, who holds a Bachelor of Science in art management and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art from App State, on both the exhibit and the extensive catalog for the critically acclaimed show.

Streeter, who earned her master’s degree in public history from App State, was one of the researchers who helped Specht with her earliest Cone Estate research. According to the museum’s director, Streeter’s knowledge was critical to curating the exhibit in the time frame required.

In October 2019, Streeter and Specht collaborated again to present “A Mansion on the Parkway: Mrs. Moses H. Cone and the Politics of Public History” at the 44th annual conference of the Southern Jewish Historical Society. Also that year, Specht facilitated an on-campus luncheon for 70 members belonging to the families of Moses Cone and his wife, Bertha Lindau Cone.

Watch this video featuring Streeter and Cameron to learn more about BRAHM’s Cone sisters exhibit, displayed August–November 2019, and check out this video for more on the alumnae’s Appalachian Experience.

Over the years, research opportunities — ranging from toxicology assessments of the estate’s orchards and lakes through App State’s Department of Biology, to recording the public history of the state’s textile industry — have engaged App State students and faculty.

App State students have also been involved in faculty research on the estate through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network. CESU programs promote and provide research, technical assistance and education to federal land management, as well as environmental and research agencies in the southern Appalachian Mountains region.

App State’s Special Collections Research Center, located in Belk Library and Information Commons, houses the Cone Family Collection, the Moses Cone Estate Collection and the H. Cone and Sons Collection. These collections contain such items as Cone family letters and letters of Cone Estate workers, as well as a cigar box from the H. Cone and Sons business formed by Herman Cone and his three sons, Moses, Ceaser and Monroe.

Dr. Beth Davison, professor of sociology and co-director of University Documentary Film Services, has produced two documentaries about the Cones and their estate: “The Denim Dynasty” and “A History of Moses H. Cone Estate Memorial Park: From Private Retreat to Public Pleasure Ground.”

Graduate and undergraduate students in Dr. Andrea Burns’ public history course at App State researched and produced short documentary clips on the Cones, traveling across the state and learning the basics of documentary filmmaking. At least some of that research made its way into Davison’s work.

App State’s Dr. Paulette Marty, professor of theatre arts, has developed and is revising a play titled “Etta & Claribel” about the Cone sisters. In/Visible Theatre of Boone performed a staged reading of the play in October 2019 at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum.