As with much of Scottish history, the origin of the Highland Games is firmly rooted in legend and folklore. But in tradition and in records going back some 1,000 years, it is apparent that the arts of war formed the basis of many of the early gatherings. The Games were the best way to find and recruit the most exceptional athletes or warriors to improve the strength of the army. The 1747 Act of Proscription, which banned carrying arms, wearing the kilt, playing bagpipes and public gatherings in Scotland, brought an abrupt halt to the century’s old Clan system in the Highlands. Moreover, it brought a halt to the Highland Games. It became apparent that many aspects of the culture of the Highlands were on their way to extinction if something were not done to revive them.      

The model for the modern Games began about 1781 (The same year as the Battle of Cowan’s Ford, the last battle of the American Revolution fought in Mecklenburg County) when the Highland Society of Falkirk offered to sponsor trophies and prize money for competitions in dancing, piping and athletics during a very popular Fall Fair. In 1782, the Act of Proscription was repealed, and in 1818 the St. Fillans Society promoted a full scale games with piping, dancing & athletics. For the first time the sword dance, previously considered a war dance, was included in the competition. By the 1820's there were gatherings with Games organized along the same lines throughout Scotland.        

Scottish rural sports were spread all over the world by those in the Scottish societies, particularly those emigrating between 1750 and 1850. Although there are stories about Games held around Ellerbee, North Carolina in the late 1700's, the first reference to Games by a Scottish society in the United States appeared in the Emigrant and Old Countryman, October 19, 1836, in which a writer vaguely described the Highland Society of New York's "First Sportive Meet." Most references cite the first games in the United States as being started by Boston Scotsmen in 1853. Although, one reference mentions them meeting for traditional Games for several summers earlier.        

The early United States Games, often called Caledonian Games, generally consisted of dancing, music and various athletic competitions such as footraces, hurdle races, wrestling, pole-vaulting, high and long jump, hop, skip and jump, putting the heavy stone, throwing the hammer, the light and heavy weights and tossing the caber. At least four Caledonian clubs were holding annual games before the outset of the American Civil War; Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Newark, New Jersey. During the decade after the Civil War, Caledonian Games could be found in 125 cities and towns across America.        

With the rise in intercollegiate athletics in the late 1800's participation at Scottish Games went into a decline while many events folded. The remaining Scottish Games redirected their focus toward cultural heritage and put their efforts toward fundraising for crisis relief and in support of educational goals.

Today (2006), there has been a resurgence of interest and enthusiasm toward Scottish Games across the United States. In the Southeast, more than 20 games have developed in southern cities to include Charleston, SC, Greenville, SC, Sumter, SC, Aiken, SC, Jacksonville, FL, Winter Springs, FL, Palmetto, FL, Madison, AL, Savannah, GA (more than 25 years), Stone Mountain, GA (more than 25 years), Culloden, GA, Blairsville, GA, Gatlinburg, TN, Glasgow, KY, Murray, KY, Winston-Salem, NC, Greensboro, NC, Huntersville, NC, Mint Hill, NC, Waxhaw, NC, and of course, Grandfather Mountain in Linville Falls, NC which has been taking place for more than 50 years.

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