Finding Asheville, and a Life in the Mountains
Masa arrived in Asheville in the early 1900s, part of a wave of visitors drawn to the region for its mountain air and natural beauty. While many came for health or leisure, Masa stayed — and built a life rooted in exploration.
He didn't wait long to make his mark. Within a few years of arriving, Masa had launched his own studio, Plateau Studios, networked his way into both city newspapers, and developed a specialty that would define his career: sweeping scenic images of the Blue Ridge Mountains sold as postcards across the region. His technical mastery came fast and his range was extraordinary — one week perched on a cliff at Chimney Rock, the next documenting a city remaking itself in real time. Long before anyone recognized his name, Masa was quietly shaping how Asheville saw itself, and how the rest of the world would come to see it too.
From his base in Asheville, Masa began venturing deeper into the surrounding wilderness, including what is now Pisgah National Forest. These early expeditions required endurance and precision. Trails were informal or inconsistently maintained, and the terrain demanded careful navigation. Over time, he developed an intimate knowledge of the region's geography. He wasn't just photographing the landscape — he was learning how it fit together.
A Photographer Who Helped Shape a National Park
Masa's photographs arrived at a pivotal moment. As conversations around conservation gained momentum in the early 20th century, his images offered compelling evidence of what was at stake. Working alongside figures like Horace Kephart, Masa helped build support for the creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His photographs gave form to an idea — showing the scale, beauty, and significance of the region in a way that resonated with audiences far beyond the mountains themselves.
What made his achievement all the more remarkable was the world he was navigating to accomplish it. As a Japanese immigrant in the early 20th century South, Masa faced real and persistent racism. It didn't stop him from capturing how special this landscape was, or from advocating for its protection with everything he had.
At the same time, Masa contributed to early efforts to map and measure routes that would later become part of the Appalachian Trail. His fieldwork — often carried out with a homemade measuring device — helped establish pathways that hikers still follow today. What he helped create wasn't just awareness. It was a foundation for how people would come to experience this landscape for generations.
A Story Still Being Told
More than a century later, Masa's story continues to come into clearer focus — and some of the most exciting discoveries have come from unexpected places.
Tucked inside Biltmore's archives, researchers found something thought to be lost forever: Masa's original 8x10 camera negatives. Of the thousands he made during his lifetime, almost all vanished in the late 1950s. But these survived — the actual film from his camera, capturing Biltmore before it ever opened to the public. Those images have guided restoration work at Biltmore for decades. What visitors experience there today still reflects what his lens recorded in 1930.
Filmmaker Paul Bonesteel has spent more than two decades exploring Masa's life and legacy. His earlier documentary, The Mystery of George Masa, helped renew broader public interest in Masa's story. His more recent film, A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story, builds on years of additional research alongside a forthcoming biography co-created with writer Janet McCue. Together, these projects draw from archival materials, photographs, and newly uncovered records — including those never-before-translated Japanese letters — to present the most complete picture of Masa's life yet assembled.
Parts of his story remain unresolved. And in many ways, that sense of mystery is inseparable from the mountains themselves — ancient, layered, and still giving up their secrets slowly.
Follow Masa's Footsteps
The mountains Masa documented are still here. So is his story. To understand his impact, step outside and experience the terrain he once navigated with a camera, a notebook, and a self-made measuring wheel.
Masa photographed Biltmore before it ever opened to the public, and his original negatives — long thought lost — were found in their archives. What visitors experience at America's largest home today still reflects what his lens captured in 1930. It's as close as you can get to seeing Asheville through Masa's eyes.
Long before he was known for mapping mountains, Masa was a fixture at the ballpark, photographing the local Asheville Tourists. The park has been around since 1924 and still hosts games today — a rare thread of continuity between Masa's Asheville and ours.
Some of Masa's earliest and most ambitious expeditions took him deep into what is now Pisgah National Forest. The trails were informal and the terrain unforgiving. Today those same landscapes are home to some of the most rewarding hiking, waterfall hunting, and forest exploration in the region.
Masa was known to climb to dramatic vantage points in pursuit of the right image — and Chimney Rock was one of them. The views from the top haven't changed. The effort to get there is considerably easier.
Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, this high-elevation area offers sweeping views and, in early summer, dense blooms of rhododendron. The fog that often moves through here softens the ridgelines in a way that feels true to Masa's photographs — layered, atmospheric, and constantly shifting.
A short hike leads to open, grassy balds with wide-ranging views in nearly every direction. The terrain here offers a sense of the vantage points Masa sought out — and the effort it once took to reach them.
At 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell remains one of the most defining viewpoints in the region. The surrounding trails offer a quieter way to experience the mountain — through dense spruce-fir forest and into long-range views that extend across multiple states.
Walking even a short stretch connects you to Masa's early work — mapping routes, measuring distances, and shaping a trail that now spans more than 2,000 miles.
Just beyond Asheville, the park Masa worked to protect holds some of the most iconic landscapes in the Eastern United States. From quiet forest paths to expansive overlooks, it reflects both the scale of his vision and the lasting impact of his advocacy.
All video segments featured in this article are from A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story, courtesy of filmmaker Paul Bonesteel. Learn more about the documentary and where to watch at georgemasa.com.
