Roger "Steve" Ricker Biography

A recipient of the National Park System's Enduring Patriot Award, the Ramsey Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Living History Interpretation from the East Tennessee Historical Society, and a member of Cambridge's Who's Who in America, Steve Ricker was born and raised in Green County, Tennessee. He is an artisan of Scottish and Catawba decent and a master craftsman with a love and passion for early American history. Steve has been creating historically correct and usable art for more than forty years. His museum-quality work is exhibited in many fine art galleries throughout the nation and overseas.
He serves as the Director of Interpretation for the Overtmountain Victory Trail Association and has been a guest interpreter for events at historical locations such as Yorktown, David Crockett Birthplace State Park and Museum, and the opening of the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. His work has been on display at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area, Abingdon Muster Grounds, the Historic Orchard at Altapass, The Museum of the Cherokee in Cherokee, NC and with countless private collectors.

He has diligently researched the techniques and materials used by Native Peoples and early frontiersman with skills including the construction of weaponry, clothing, accouterments, moccasins, campfire cooking, hide tanning, shelter building, and primitive survival skills. He has been featured in many magazine articles and films, recently serving as a resource and personality in South Carolina Educational Television's series of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. In addition, he served as a consultant for the Feature Length Film Mandy and the Secret Tunnel and performed in the Documentary, The Lost State of Franklin and “Tanasi – 1796” at the Clayton Center for the Arts.

In 2008, Steve began at the Abingdon, Va. Muster Grounds and walked the 330-mile route of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, ending at Kings Mountain National Military Park. Since his first trek, Steve has been on the trail commemorating the march of 1780 every year - telling stories of the mountain men to hundreds of thousands of people of all ages. The captivated audiences, influenced and mesmerized by his first-person interpretations, can only help to fulfill his stated purpose: "It is my dream to kindle a spark from the past into a flame for the future."