Asheville – Down on Pack Square in the heart of downtown Asheville, there is this historical marker – “George Masa – a Japanese photographer. Born Masahara Iizuka. Advocate of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Appalachian Trail. His studio was nearby.”
George Masa, born Masahara Iizuka in Osaka, Japan, has an uncertain birth year, with records suggesting it ranges from 1881 to 1890. He arrived in the United States in 1915 and soon found employment at Asheville’s Grove Park Inn, working in the laundry and as a valet. Borrowing a camera from Fred Seely, the son-in-law of the inn’s founder, Masa began photographing guests and processing film, which helped him develop what we call today a side hustle or gig.
Masa worked intermittently for the Grove Park Inn and later as a woodcarver for Biltmore Industries until 1918. After a brief period of travel, he returned to Asheville and secured a job with Herbert Pelton, a prominent local photographer. When Pelton relocated, Masa took over the studio, renaming it Plateau Studios. He continued his photographic business under various names until his death. His photographs appeared in promotional publications, magazines such as National Geographic, newspapers, guidebooks, and postcards.
In the mid-1920s, Masa befriended Horace Kephart and joined him in the movement to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Masa, already familiar with the mountain trails through his hiking and photography work, measured them with a home-made odometer made from the front end of a bicycle. His extensive trail knowledge made him a reliable authority for National Park officials, whom he often accompanied on trips into the local mountains.
During the 1920s, Masa and Kephart collaborated with Myron Avery to clarify the nomenclature along the proposed Appalachian Trail (AT) in North Carolina. Avery relied heavily on Masa to route and mark the trail on either side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 1931, with Kephart’s assistance,
Masa formed the Carolina Appalachian Trail Club. In its first year, the club scouted, measured, and marked 104.3 miles of the trail. To give you an example of just how much of the Appalachian Trail that is, you need to realize North Carolina only has a little over 95 miles of trail in the state. Masa served as Avery’s regional consultant, photographing landmarks, resolving nomenclature questions, and proofing the official Appalachian Trail guide. The 1933 “Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park” featured many of Masa’s photographs and trail descriptions.
Masa dedicated himself tirelessly to researching, measuring, mapping, and photographing the landscape to support the establishment of both the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail. His commitment was deeply personal and rooted in a profound appreciation for the scenic beauty of the North Carolina mountains.
In a 1931 letter, Horace Kephart praised Masa, writing, “He…labored long and earnestly on his maps. It is astonishing that he…should have done all this exploring and photographing and mapping on his own hook, without compensation but at much expense to himself, out of sheer loyalty to the park idea and a fine sense of scenic values. He deserves a monument.”
His efforts were not rewarded monetarily as George Masa died destitute in 1933 and was buried in the historical Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery. It was only decades after he died that his work was recognized.
In 1961, the Carolina Mountain Club succeeded in having a landmark in the Smokies named Masa Knob in his honor. In 2018, Masa was inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame, recognizing his significant contributions to the trail and the region he was not born in but came to dedicate his life to and loved until his dying day.