Henry Scadin

Rupert "Henry" Scadin, self-portrait

Rupert “Henry” Scadin was a western regional photographer well-known at the turn of the 20^th century. Although he called himself a landscape photographer, what he captured with his images of a changing landscape would be well-titled as documentary photography. Scadin had a home in Sapphire, NC, which as a skilled carpenter, he contributed to building in 1897. He and his wife Kate and son Dewey lived there off and on until 1915. In addition to photography, he kept a working orchard on the land until it was destroyed in the 1916 floods, urging him to move to Vermont. 

Lake Toxaway - photo by Henry Scadin, colorization by Kate Scadin

Scadin frequently photographed the lakes and inns of Fairfield, Sapphire, and Toxaway. His wife Kate was a painter and hand-colored his works in order to turn them into postcards. Many of the Toxaway Inn postcards of that era were created from Scadin’s photographs. In conjunction with his photographs, he kept extensive diaries which are available online today that give a view into life at that time, down to the weather each day. These are searchable and available through the UNCA Special Collections. The Transylvania County Library owns several original Scadin photographs, including the self-portrait and colorized Lake Toxaway postcard seen here.

Looking Glass Falls photo by Henry Scadin

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. This article was written by Local History Librarian Laura Gardner. For more information, comments, or suggestions, contact NC Room staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.