White Squirrel Institute

How to use our interactive White Squirrel Locator map.

On the map look for the White Squirrel Icon and the corresponding areas highlighted in blue. These area’s have the highest concentration of White Squirrels and you most likely to see one in action.

Excerpts from The Transylvania Times:

Apparently, Brevard’s white squirrels originated from a carnival animal truck. According to Brevard resident Mrs. W.E. Mull, a pair of white squirrels was given to her brother-in-law, H.H. Mull, by Mr. Black of Madison, Florida, in 1949. A carnival truck had overturned near Black’s home and the squirrels were caught by Mr. Black when he observed them playing in his pecan grove.

Mull gave the critters to his niece, Barbara, who unsuccessfully tried to breed them. In 1951 she married and left home. Eventually, one of the white squirrels escaped and Mr. Mull soon let the other one go. Before long, the squirrels began breeding in the wild and appeared in several areas of town.

The white squirrels became so prized that the Brevard City Council voted to approve an ordinance declaring and establishing a sanctuary for squirrels, especially the white ones, in 1986. And that it “shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, kill, trap, or otherwise take any protected squirrels within the city by this section.”

Biologists recognize no known species of all-white squirrels in the world. The Brevard squirrels, with dark eyes and sometimes gray streaked fur, are not albinos==a condition in which an animal’s body has no melanin, a color pigment, resulting in white skin and fur, and pink or reddish eyes.

In addition to Brevard, white squirrels have been spotted in Olney, IL; Versailles, IL; Hodgenville, KY; Marionville, MO; Trenton, NJ; Bloomfield, NY; Greenwood, SC; and Kenton, TN. But only Brevard holds an annual festival in their honor!!

The founder of the original White Squirrel Research Institute was  Dr. Robert Glesener. He was a graduate of both the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan. His love for salamanders and the mountains brought him to the Brevard area where he taught at Brevard College for 26 years. It was here that he started the BC Recycling Program and the White Squirrel Count. 

 I first heard of Brevard while an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. Southern Appalachia is salamander heaven and I spent my summers in Western North Carolina trail blazing and collecting specimens for a zoology professor. I was hooked. I gave up my prior interest in medicine and psychology and became an ecologist. Even though my research eventually became more theoretical, to this day I cannot resist turning logs and rocks in Pisgah National Forest. The difference is that today I put back everything I catch.

I came to Brevard directly from graduate school at the University of Michigan. My research then dealt with (1) the regional stability of locally unstable predator/prey interactions and (2) the evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction. During my twenty-six years at Brevard College, I have taught everything from Introductory Biology and Zoology to Ecology and Genetics. Outside the classroom I founded the Commuter Student Association and BC RECYCLES! I also maintained small projects monitoring stream water quality and the salamanders of Moore Cove, Pisgah National Forest.

In 1997, I began a long-term study of Brevard’s white squirrel population, which includes conducting the annual Fall Squirrel Count. Although I have since retired, I continue as Director of the White Squirrel Research Institute under the sponsorship of the Heart of Brevard.  

Dr. Robert Richard Glesener, 66, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013 and it is our hope to continue his legacy – the White Squirrel Count in the near future. 

If you or anyone you know is interested in working on the White Squirrel Count please email whitesquirrelinstitute@gmail.com.

White Squirrel Festival

White Squirrels are so popular in Brevard we named a street festival after them.

Annual White Squirrel Festival

This wonderful street festival  is FREE and features two-and-a-half days of great live music, in Downtown Brevard, North Carolina. It is the perfect way to experience everything this quaint mountain community has to offer. The first annual White Squirrel Festival started in 2003 and was created to help develop the business district of downtown, promote the local businesses, and showcase local talent.

This event is recognized as one of the premier music festivals in the southeast and often features national and regional artists to include Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, George Porter, Jr., Steep Canyon Rangers, Scythian, Jupiter Coyote and many others. It has also earned the reputation for showcasing undiscovered muscians and taps into the abundant musical talent in the region. The music genres are varied and typically included a mix of Jazz, Bluegrass, Reggae, Singer-Songwriter, Southern Rock and Rock and Roll, the eclectic music line-up provides something for everyone.

During the festival downtown is host to a wide variety of quality craftsman and artisans, street vendors and food trucks that come from near and far to participate in the White Squirrel Festival. It’s always fun to browse through the different booths and see what treasures you can find.

If you are a collector of festival wear you  are in luck. The Heart of Brevard commissions a local artist each year to design a tee shirt and poster for the event. We have many local residents the collect and frame the posters year after year and you will see many of the former designs worn around town during the event. Stop by the Heart of Brevard booth and pick up the 2019 tee shirt design and poster at the White Squirrel Festival or call to order.

Visit Whitesquirrelfestival.com website for more information.