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Background on Karen Amspacher
We
interviewed Karen Willis Amspacher, and she is from Harkers
Island. She graduated from East Carteret High School
in 1973. She lived in the mountains and went to
Appalachian State University. She began working on
oral history projects and interviewed people. She
wondered why people down here weren't doing the same thing.
Early in her career she taught social studies to seventh
graders, and then she became an AG resource teacher.
She returned home in 1982 and taught in Havelock for awhile.
She is one of the founders of the Core Sound Waterfowl
Museum on Harkers Island, where she currently works.
She worked on the Harkers Island Cookbook and the Mail Boat
projects.
Description of the Issue
Cultural heritage is a
mixture of the place we live, the people we know, the way we
talk, buildings, monuments, the way we do things, the
traditions we celebrate and much more. A lot of changes are
occurring in our cultural heritage. In the past ten years
our community has grown. More people, more buildings, more
businesses, more complexes, more marinas, and much more are
coming to the area. If it keeps growing we may lose our
cultural heritage.
Challenges
The challenges with Cultural
Heritage are not enough children are learning about it. That
is not good because they’re the ones in the future who will
preserve it. If they learn about it now they’ll see how
valuable it is. There are many things threatening cultural
heritage. Decline in commercial fishing, and boat building
are a threat. The change in the economy is threatening our
heritage.
Solutions
It is very important for
children to learn about their heritage, because if not it
will die. Cultural Heritage is the most important
thing in our lives, and we as children need to pick up the
banner.
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