1921 Crop Map

So, what was crop and livestock production like in 1921? The North Carolina Miscellany blog (from the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) recently had a post about this remarkable Tar Heel map You can see the whole map here.

This map was prepared from “Data furnished by Frank Parker, Agricultural Statistician, U.S. Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, Raleigh, N.C. and B.B. Hare, Agricultural Statistician, U.S. Bureau of Crop Estimates, Saluda, S.C”

Other Jailers

Folks: I recently had the opportunity of helping with a book on the Avery County Jail in Newland. The jail was home not only to those who found themselves on the wrong side of the law, but also was home to the sheriff, or his appointee, and their families. We often have young children and teenagers, living at the jail while their fathers served as the jailer. The book, entitled Families, Friends, and Felons: Growing Up in the Avery County Jail, co-written with Jimmie Daniels, who was one of those folks whose dad was a jailer, is available for purchase at either the Avery County Museum, or by visiting www.michaelchardy.com

However obvious it might seem, I am not really writing to plug the book. Many other rural places all across the United States had this same set-up: the sheriff or a deputy was jailer, and his family lived in the jail while he served, often with the wife cooking and cleaning, with the kids helping.

Does anyone here on this list have any information regarding this piece of Mitchell or Yancey County’s history? Drop me a line and tell me about it. I find this bit of our history fascinating and one that really needs to be preserved. To my knowledge, Families, Friends, and Felons is the only book of its time out there.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Roan Mountain's name

I hope you enjoyed the photograph from Roan Mountain.

Just where did Roan Mountain get its name?

No one knows for sure. One story is that Andre Michaux named it in 1794 after the Rhone River in his native France.

Another account is this: Daniel Boone was a frequent visitor to the area and the Mountain was named for one of his roan-colored horses.

Yet other legends say that the mountain was named for its roan-colored appearance in June and July, when the Catawba rhododendron are in bloom. Or, maybe due to the number of ash trees, which used to be called rowan trees.

So, will we ever know? No, probably not. It seems that the origin of the name has died with the past.

New Book

New Book

Things have been really, really busy here of late. I am trying to balance four different books. Here is the latest release:

Families, Friends, and Felons: Growing Up in the Avery County Jail
This book was just released last week. We (I co-wrote this with Jimmie Daniels) had a book party this past Sunday afternoon. Families, Friends, and Felons takes a look at a historic structure, the Avery County jail, but from a different perspective. When most people think about a jail, they think about the incarceration of wrong doers. We did not focus on those who wound up on the wrong side of the law, but on those who lived in the jail. Over the course of almost seventy years, the jail was home to the jailer, sometimes the sheriff and sometimes an appointed deputy, and his family. The jailer’s wife often cooked (and at times cleaned) for the prisoners, and other members of the family helped take care of those men and women behind bars. Families, Friends, and Felons is the story (in their own words) of those families. They not only witnessed prisoners being brought in at any time of the day or night, but also weddings (two documented) and births (one documented), along with regular observances: birthdays, anniversaries, even Christmas.

The book is 51 pages in length and has a dozen photographs, most published for the first time. You can get signed copies of this book by sending a check for $15.00 to: PO Box 393, Crossnore, NC 28616 or, you can order it online by visiting www.michaelchardy.com/books.html. If you want us to address this book to someone in particular, please let us know to whom it needs to be addressed.

The folks who picked the book up last Sunday have already started calling and saying how much they enjoyed the book. Get your copy soon. It makes a great gift!

And don’t forget, I have two other books on Avery County. The first is the collection of historic images and the second is a collection of essays on all kinds of Avery County subjects, like Lulu Belle and Scotty, Howard Marmon, the Land of Oz, Crossnore School, Childsville, and many other locations and people. Check it out at http://www.michaelchardy.com/

Well, I hope everyone is well. It’s been snowing here on Hawshaw Mountain and very cold. More like January than November.

Regards,
Michael

PS: The new Mitchell County book is slated for release in February, and the book on the 58th NCT will be out sometime next year

New Book

Greetings folks! My new book, co-written with Jimmie Daniels, will be available next week. On Sunday, November 16, at 3:00 pm, we will be having a book signing at the Avery County-Morrison Public Library. Following this, we will be touring the old jail. Everyone is invited. Information on ordering the book will follow shortly.

Toe River Valley

A view of the Toe River Valley area, taken from Roan Mountain on Wednesday, October 22,

2008.

Avery County book wins award

Folks, I had a chance to attend the award banquet for the North Carolina Society of Historians this past Saturday in Hickory. Two of my books, Remembering Avery County and Remembering North Carolina’s Civil War, were awarded the Willie Parker Piece History Book Award. This marks the third and fourth times I have won this award. Considering that there were 834 entries and only 107 winners, well, I am deeply honored.

Other WBTS titles that were honored included:

Greensboro’s Confederate Soldiers – Carol Moore
The Civil War Ends: Greensboro, April 1865 – Bradley R. Foley and Adrian L. Whicker
Mountain Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina – Terrell Garren
Through the Eyes of Soldiers: The Battle of Wyse fork, Kinston, North Carolina – Tom J. Edwards and William K. Rowland
The Un-Civil War – Mike Scruggs

I had a great time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. And, once again, thanks to the NC Society of Historians for honoring my work.

Happy Birthday Yancey!

A week ago this past Saturday, we were in Yancey County celebrating the county’s 175th birthday. Yancey County, and the Toe River Valley in general, has gone largely undocumented. Only Avery County has a somewhat formal published history.

Local residents in the Toe River Valley started petitioning the general assembly in Raleigh to establish a new county in 1825. The general assembly, controlled by people from the eastern part of the state, did not want new western counties eroding their base of power. It was not until 1833 that the measure passed for a new county, named in honor of former speaker Bartlett Yancey. Even with the passage of the act, the eastern representatives tried to slip in measures that would give the new county “administration without representation,” and they tried to establish a new county in the eastern part of the state by the name of Roanoke. Neither measure was adopted.

The new Yancey County covered the entire Toe River Valley, and then some.

Yancey County needed a county seat, and a group of commissioners was chosen: Rickles Stanley, Thomas Baker, Joseph Shepherd, Levi Bailey, and John McElroy. The commissioners first met in January 1834, and soon chose a track of land known as “Ray Flats”; the property was owned by John “Yellow Jacket” Bailey. In honor of Otway Burns, a privateer in the War of 1812, the new county seat was named in his honor. Burns’s vote for the new county in 1833 cost him his seat in the assembly.

So Yancey County is 175 years old. It is home to the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, the South Toe River, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Parkway Theater – and no history of the county exists. Who is going to take up this challenge?

Grandfather Mountain being sold

Ok, I know that Grandfather Mountain is not in the Toe River Valley. However, since it is in Avery County, I am going to talk about it. I heard Saturday night, and then read Sunday afternoon, that Grandfather Mountain is being sold by the Morton family to the State of North Carolina. You can read the article in the Charlotte Observer here.

I talked to a couple of people this morning who have ties with the Mountain. Their emotions were mixed. One actually thought the selling to the state was wrong, that the Mountain would be poorly managed by the state who poorly manages other properties.

The property, some 3,000 acres, is being sold for a mere 12 million dollars. The idea is to set up a non-profit, headed by the Mortons, to manage the funds.

It is interesting to look at all of the attempted transactions involving Grandfather Mountain ever since it was owned by Capt. Walter W. Lenoir. On several different occasions, there were attempts (is that the right word) by the state and the Federal government to acquire the property as a part of the national park service. While the wrangling over Grandfather Mountain was occurring, the Smokey Mountains were acquired

For so many folks who live in Avery County, Grandfather Mountain was their first job. So many folks have ties to the Mountain, and so much income, with Singing on the Mountain and the Highland Games, is generated for the county, how do you feel and what are you concerns? Feel free to leave a post or drop me a line.

Today, after church (and after finding gas), we drove up past Grandfather to get on the Parkway. It was a beautiful day and I took this photograph.

Rumors of three hospitals

To say that the Toe River Valley was involved in turmoil during the Civil War would be an understatement. There were men leaving to serve in front-line Confederate regiments, recruiting for Federal regiments, inter-family clashes, and neighbor versus neighbor struggles.

I also have rumors of three different hospitals in the area. The first was supposed to be in Elk Park, and the source is said to be Trotter’s book, Bushwhackers. I read this book some time ago, and I go back to it from time to time. Elk Park is not in the index, and I am not sure what page it is on. The probability is that there was not an Elk Park until the railroad came through about two decades after the war. Elk Park was created as a answer to the company-owned Cranberry, just a couple of miles up the road. Cranberry, on the other hand, was a wide enough spot in the road to have gained a post office in 1850 (long before the railroad). I wish I had other information on this, but I do not.

Second, I have heard of a Confederate hospital in Bakersville. John Baker, a member of Company I, 29th NCT, came home sick and died in a hospital in Bakersville. We believe that Baker is buried in the old Bakersville Cemetery beside his father. Chances are there was not a real “hospital” in Bakersville, but someone’s home or a vacant building. But that is the story the way that I hear it.

Third: in one of Lloyd Bailey’s Toe River Heritage books, the first I think, there was mention of a smallpox hospital in Pensacola. Who worked in the hospital, how many patients, or exactly where it was located are so far all part of the mystery.

So many times, information regarding this time period comes in fragments just like the three that I present above. It could be that someone out there has more information. Or, we must be ready to come to grips with the reality that what information that might be out there is already gone, save for these glimpses into the past.

Avery County Civil War Trail Markers

Just a quick announcement. The three North Carolina Civil War Trail markers in Avery County that I have made mention of before have been installed. We are holding dedication programs this Saturday: Cranberry at 10:30 am, Blalocks at Cannon Memorial Hospital at 1:30 pm, and the Banner House in Banner Elk at 3:00 pm. There will be living histories at both the Cranberry site (old Cranberry school), and at the Banner House. If you get a chance, please stop by and see us.

Cruelly Murdered

While on a recent ramble in the Lily Branch Cemetery in Mitchell County, I came across the tombstone of Edwin Horton, born June 10, 1853, and died February 17, 1880. He didn’t just die, but, according to his tombstone, was “cruely murdered” [sic] on February 17, 1884.

How many of these types of stones are around?

I am aware of three, one in Avery County (Cranberry), this one in Mitchell (Lily Branch), and one in Yancey County (Old Zion).

The Cranberry Cemetery includes a stone for Albert Walser who was “murdered by George Hartley…No better man ever died for a more unjust cause.” Since George Hartley, the alleged murderer, escaped, changed his name, and never was punished for the crime, this stone likely served as the family’s way of making sure the crime was never forgotten. The unjust cause was evidently a dispute over horses. Walser ran a livery stable and accused Hartley of riding the horses too hard. The dispute escalated and ended with Hartley shooting Walser.

According to an article in the Lenoir Topic, in February 1884, John C. Miller, Stephen Burleson, and Edward Horton were killed by Edward Ray and Waighstill A. Anderson at the Flat Rock mica mine in Mitchell County. The disagreement was over ownership of the mine, and it seems , from reading the testimony presented during the trail, that Horton had been hired to work in the mine. Horton seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The last stone is in the Old Zion Church Cemetery, off Upper Pig Pen in Yancey County. This stone reads “In Memory of John Hughes Born Oct. 28 1835 was murdered by John Murphy July 26, 1889. Aged 53 years 8 m. 28 days.” I could not find a paper trail for this crime, but I seem to recall being told that the murder was over a woman. Hughes was a Confederate veteran, a member of the 58th North Carolina Troops.

I have been in a lot of cemeteries across the eastern United States, and I do not recall seeing this type of public display in very many other places. Anyone else?

Why two Horton Cooper Histories of Avery County?

Recently, Jimmie Daniels let me borrow her copy of Horton Cooper’s first history of Avery County. I’ve heard about this other history for quite some time, but I had never seen a copy.

The two books could not be any more different.

The first has no publication date. A clue to the age of the manuscript is found on page 15. Horton writes: Newland was established 25 years of age and has grown slowly…” Does Horton mean that Newland was established 25 years ago at the time of his writing? If so, that would date the manuscript to ca.1936. Horton also mentions that Harvey Clark, born ca.1843, was still alive and one of the oldest citizens of the county.

Horton makes mention on page 22 of the 1936-1937 school term. He also writes on page 68 that the area was served by two narrow-gauge railroads: the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad and the Linville River Railroad. So the book dates prior to 1940, either 1936 or 1937.

Horton’s first history of the county was written at the request of Mrs. Bonnie (H. C.) Ford, of Penland, NC. Horton wrote an “Apology” at the beginning: “This history was reluctantly started at Mrs. H. C. Ford’s suggestion: it was expanded from the sheer joy of writing; painstaking research was made in order that present and future generations might know and appreciate the story of life that used to be among the mighty mountains and hollows of this corner of God’s world; and it was with much work and worry typed, hectographed and offered for sale because the winds had failed me and I was obligated to take the oars.”

Interesting statement: “the winds had failed me and I was obliged to take to the oars.”

The book sold for $1.50. It is bound with green paper and brown binding. The “hectographed” pages inside are of the old purple ink that we used to find in our church bulletins.

I dug around online and could only find one other copy of this work. It is in the archives (closed collections) at Appalachian State University. They have also not hazarded a guess about the date, but say that it differs significantly from the 1964 book. It does.

I am going to make a couple of copies of the book, one for myself, and one for the museum. If you get a chance, stop by and give it a read. I actually think it is a better book than the second one.

Inscoe coming to town

I spent the weekend (Thursday through Saturday), selling books and talking to folks at the national reunion of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, held this year in Concord, North Carolina. I greatly enjoyed talking with the scores of people who came by my table. Many of them shared bits of their own family histories for future projects.

This Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, Dr. John C. Inscoe will be lecturing on Appalachian Women and the Civil War. The program will be held in the Evans Auditorium in the Cannon Student Center. Inscoe is the author of The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina and the Civil War, and Mountain Masters: Slavery and the Sectional Crisis in Western North Carolina, among many others. Inscoe is a Professor of History at the University of Georgia. This program is free and we are looking forward to it.

Overmountain Men

Finished the Mitchell County book. Now I can get back to blogging.

I took this photograph last week at the Mineral Museum at Gillispe Gap. This is the monument erected to the Overmountain Men.

Greetings folks! The past few weeks that I have been working on the Mitchell County book have been great. I have gotten to talk with and meet some wonderful folks. To all of you who live in other places who have called family members in the area and told them about the project, thanks! Some of the pictures have been spectacular, and I have enjoyed putting them into the book.

But alas, the scanning part of the program is coming to a close. However, I still need your help. I’ve gotten great photographs of Bakersville, Altapass, and Spruce Pine. I’ve gotten tons of photographs from Bear Creek Baptist, Bakersville Baptist, Bakersville Methodist, and Roan Mountain Baptist. I’ve even gotten a photograph of the Church of the Brethern. I’ve gotten awesome family photos of members of the Turbyfield, Buchanan, Pannell, Peterson, Wilson, Sullins, Henline, Woody, and Greene families.

There are still photographs out there. I am still looking for good photographs from Grassy Creek, Huntdale, Glenn Ayre, or Buladean communities, of pre-1960 sports teams from Harris High School, the buildings of the Wing Academy, and nurses from the hospital or Red Cross. Anyone have photographs of the old Mayland Fair? How about the Boy Scouts in Washington DC in 1950? Or the Street Car Diner in Spruce Pine? I have no football photos from Harris, Bowman, or Tipton.

I will be scanning photographs for the last times on Thursday, June 26, at the Spruce Pine Public Library, from 3:00 until 5:00 pm, and on Saturday, June 28, at the Bakersville Public Library, from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm. I will also be scanning photos at the Avery County Historical Museum on Friday, June 27, from 1:00 until 4:00 pm.

Got photographs? Please drop me a line. Got family in the area? Please give them a call and have them meet me one day next week. I have scanned a couple hundred photographs. I know that there are hundreds more out there, in attics, photo albums, and scrapbooks. Please help me get copies of these photographs so they can be preserved and shared.

Avery Heritage Festival

Greetings folks! The Avery County Heritage festival is this Saturday, in beautiful downtown Plumtree. Starts at 10:00 am. It is free and I hope everyone can make it.

Regards,
Michael
www.michaelchardy.com

Fire Towers

This past Friday, I had the privilege of hearing Peter J. Barr speak about his new book, Hiking North Carolina’s Lookout Towers (Blair, 2008). He was speaking at Black Bear Books in Boone, and his program included a power point program on some of the National Forest Service towers.

"In the second decade of the 20th century," Barr writes, "numerous lookout points established atop mountain peaks provided the first long-distance fire detection network in North Carolina." (4) In the early years, the fire detection networks were just the tops of balds or rocky mountains. As time went on, stone or steel towers were built to elevate and house the men, and at time women, who were employed to watch for fires.

There have been numerous towers erected across the Toe River Valley. Here are details, taken from Barr’s book, on those towers.

Avery County
Hawshaw Mountain, erected in 1934. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Mitchell County
Devils Nest, erected, unknown. Dismantled and burned ca.1970.
Locust Knob, erected in 1974. Still standing, but not publically accessible.
Roan High Knob, erected ca.1936. Removed ca.1946.
Woody Knob, erected in 1959. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Yancey County
Green Knob, erected in 1931. Accessible.
Mount Mitchell - more than one tower. A new tower is currently being constructed.
Phillips Knob, erected in 1961. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Barr has written a good book. It is a hiking guide. While it has great history not found in any other source, it does contain a good bit of hiking data.

Now if I could just find my hiking boots....

Convict labor program

For the past couple of days, I've been reading up on the convict labor system in regards to Mitchell County. I came across a great photograph of some convicts working on a road, probably the road between Toecane and Burnsville; I plan to use the image in the Mitchell County book.

Many are probably not aware of the program used in the 1920s where convicts from the state prison system were used to construct roads in the area. Awareness of the program probably comes from the Race Riot in Spruce Pine in 1923. (Or from movies, like O Brother, Where art Thou? and The Shawshank Redemption!)

It appears that the program of leasing out convicts started not long after the end of the Civil War. The convicts were leased to private companies that paid the state for their services. The convicts worked during the day, and then returned to their cells in the evening. According to the book Slavery and the Penal System, the sole aim of the system was the "financial profit to the lessees who exploited the labor of the prisoners to the fullest, and to the government which sold the convicts to the lessees." Convicts were used to supply labor in the railroad, mining, farming, and logging operations. This system was slowly fazed out in the early 20th century and replaced with the Trusty system (not to be confused with Mississippi's Trusty system). Convicts who had served a significant portion of their sentences, and who were well behaved, were designated as trustees. In Mitchell County there wasa "prison" camp for trustees. The convicts worked on the roads during the day and returned to the camp in the evenings. Most, if not all of the convicts used in this program were Americans of African descent.

It is believed that the Fisk Carter Construction Company used such laborers, as did the Clinchfield Products Corporation, the Porter and Boyd Construction Company, and the C. H. O'Brian Construction Company. Fisk Carter was engaged in laying water and sewer lines in Spruce Pine. Those who worked for Clinchfield were mining kaolin and feldspar. Porter and Boyd, and O'Brien, were both working on the roads. There was also a state highway project in Avery County.

There were undoubtably other companies with the Toe River area that used convict labor. This is a topic that deserves more investigation.

Sorry for not posting more. I’ve been more out of town than in town, and the three books that I am working on are keeping me more than busy.

What three books? Well, all three of them are tied to the Toe River Valley.

The first is a history of the 58th North Carolina Troops. I’ve been working on this project for about a decade. I guess I should define "working." I’ve been collecting material on the 58th NCT for at least ten years, maybe eleven or twelve. I started actually writing about a year and a half ago.

The second project is a pictorial history of Mitchell County. This project is going to be published by Arcadia. I’ve done projects like this for Avery and Caldwell counties already. I am looking for photographs, so if you have any, please drop me a line.

Third, I am working, along with Jimmie Daniels, on a book about the old Avery County jail. It is more about the people who, like Jimmie, who grew up in the jail. Not prisoners, but the families of the men who served as sheriff or jailer.

Wow, that is a lot of stuff. Thankfully, my book signing schedule has slowed considerably and I should be able to get some work done.

Mica

For the past couple of days I’ve been working on the beginnings of mica mining in the Valley. There is ample archaeological evidence that the Cherokee mined mica to some extent.
The Cherokee believed that early Spanish explorers did some mining also. In 1873, Thomas L. Clingman wrote that "the old Cherokee Indians, living in some of the western counties, used to speak of a tradition coming down in their tribe, that long ago companies of white men came on mules from the south, worked during the summer, and carried off a white metal with them..."
There was almost no market for mica prior to the Civil War. Zac McHone reportedly took a piece of mica to Marion to sell in 1870. A year or two (or three) later, things changed in the mica industry. E. B. Clapp and John G. Heap, who worked in the stove industry, started purchasing mines and mining mica for use in window pains in their stoves. They possibly owned up to twenty mines in the Valley area.

Mica mining has come and gone in the area. It probably peaked during World War II, when the United States’s supply of internationally produced mica was cut off. Everybody in the area started digging, re-opening closed mines and starting new ones. Once the war ended, the US outsourced its mica once again, and it is not mined in the Valley any more.

Not long ago, they were cutting a new road in not far from where I live. The ground glittered with pieces of mica. Too bad our government continues to support other governments of the world and not out own economy. Oh well, I’m sure some day the foreign market will be closed again and those old mines will be re-visited.

Project on the old Avery County Jail

Some of you might have heard that I working on a project with Jimmie Daniels on the Avery County jail. These are not rumors.

Most of you probably know that I’m on the board of directors for the Avery County Historical Society and Museum, which oversees the Avery County Historical Museum in the old jail. The jail has a great history. One aspect of that history is its use not only to incarcerate certain members of community, but also to serve as the home for the sheriff, deputy, or jailer. It was not only his home, but home for his family as well. Jimmie Daniels, who is also on the board, grew up in the jail. She and I have ben working on gathering information about the jail, and about these families who lived in the building throughout its 50+ year history.

Both Jimmie and I will be at the Museum tomorrow, from 10 until 2 pm, collecting stories from folks who want to venture down to the old jail. If you get a chance, stop by and say hi.

Historical Markers

Why so few state historical markers in the Toe River area?

Why no sign for the Bright Settlement/Childsville - the first county seat for Mitchell?

Why no sign for the Crest of the Blue Ridge Road? Or the Black Bear Highway?

How about one to Lulu Belle and Scotty?

How about Aaron Seminary?

How about Professor Wing’s School?

How about a couple for the ET&WNC RR, or the Clinchfield?

DeSoto? Black Mountain RR?

Can you come up with a couple of dozen yourself?

Historical Markers in Avery - Mitchell - Yancey Counties.

Today, I picked up a copy of the 10th edition (2007) of the Guide to North Carolina Historical Markers. I thumbed through the pages concerning the Toe River Valley area and came up with this.

Avery County has the most, eight markers. They are:
one at the North Carolina/Tennessee state line.
one in Cranberry dealing with the mines
one in Frank that discusses the Yellow Mountain Road
one in Crossnore that talks about the school
two in Banner Elk, one about Shep Dugger and the other, Lees-McRae College.
two at Grandfather Mountain that talk about Asa Gray and Andre Michaux

Mitchell County has five. They are:
Sink Hole Mine, northwest of Ledger
Asa Gray, in Bakersville.
Andre Michaux, in Bakersville
The Spruce Pine Mining District, near 226 and the Blue Ridge Parkway
The Penland School, in Penland.

Yancey County has only three. They are
one at the North Carolina/Tennessee State line, off US 19
one about the long gone Yancey Collegiate Institute in Burnsville
one on Mount Mitchell concerning Dr. Elisha Mitchell.

More than one Mitchell County?

Earlier today, I was doing some digging, and came across a list of other counties in the United States that bear the name "Mitchell" Here is where they are and for whom they are named:

Mitchell County, GA - created in 1857 and named for Henry Mitchell (1760-1837), a Revolutionary soldier, Georgia state brigadier general, legislator, and state senate president.

Mitchell County, IA - created in 1851 and named for John Mitchell (1815-1875), an Irish revolutionary who was in America for a short time.

Mitchell County, KS - created in 1867 and named for William D. Mitchell (? - 1865), a Federal Captain during the Civil War who was killed at the battle of Monroe’s Cross Roads, NC, in March 1865.

Mitchell County, NC - created in 1861 and named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a professor at UNC.

Mitchell County, TX - created in 1876 and named for two brothers, Asa Mitchell (? - 1865) and Eli Mitchell (?-1876). Asa was a Texan Revolutionary, as was Eli, who also brought freemasonry to Texas.


Not leaving out the other two counties in the Toe River Valley, here they are. These are the only counties in the United States to bear these names.

Yancey County, NC - created in 1833 and named for Bartlett Yancey (1785-1828), a lawyer, US Representative, and state senator.

Avery County, NC - created in 1911, and named for Waightstill Avery (1741-1821) a lawyer, NC attorney general, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775, and member of the general assembly.

Snow in April

Weather is a funny thing here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Some folks say that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, and it will change. Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out the lawn mower for the first time this year. I changed the oil and did other maintenance, and then mowed. Today, it snowed, and as I write at 8:30 pm on Sunday evening, it is still snowing.
This got me to thinking about other snow storms - real snow storms, in the Toe River Valley. I pulled out my copy of Arthur’s history of western North Carolina, and dug out a few references.

February 8, 1835 - "The Cold Saturday"

pre-1850s - a big snow that "obliterated all evidence of fences and shrubbery..."

June 5, 1858 - a freeze occurred that "killed corn knee-high, and all fruits, vegetables, and white oak trees" between Boone and Jefferson

July 26, 1876 - frost in Blowing Rock

December 2-3, 1886 - snowed three feet in Buncombe "and surrounding counties."

June 10, 1913 - snowed in Haywood County

Of course, in our own time, there was the snow in the late 1960s, and the blizzard of 1993.
We had no good snows this year. Maybe five or six inches twice. I guess that is a good thing. Otherwise, someone would have needed to meet me at the bottom of Hawshaw Mountain to take me to the store.

Is it not interesting, of all of the big weather events that Arthur mentioned, no one remembers them today? They have passed out of out collective consciences and are but mere words on a page in a book that some may deem antiquated or quaint. Arthur’s book is a treasure trove of information, if you have the patience to dig out the material you need.

I just checked outside - there is a little skiff on my deck.

Ruins, pt 4

There is probably no better example of a place to talk about ruins than Lost Cove in Yancey County. No, I’ve never been there. I would like to visit one day.

This morning, I sat down and read a thesis written at the end of 2007 by Christy A. Smith. It’s entitled "Lost Cove, North Carolina: The Life and Death of a Thriving Community. (1864-1957) Avery County Historical Society chairman Cindy Peters informed me about the thesis not long ago. My past knowledge about the Lost Cove community had come from either Lloyd Bailey’s books, or from conversations with Jim Priestmeyer.

There are hundreds of topics that could be cover edabout what has been called "one of eastern America’s most legendary Ghost Towns." I’m sure, just like the railroad, we will return to many of them in the future. For now, let’s look at Lost Cove and how it become a ruin.

People lived In Lost Cove from the 1860s through the 1950s. The were many reason why they had to leave, the top few being a lack of employment and a lack of transportation. Once the timber in the area was depleted, there were no longer any jobs for local people. No jobs meant no way to purchased items not locally produced.

However, transportation was the biggest reason that Lost Cove became a ghost town. The rise of highways and automobiles brought an end to passenger service via railroads. The old Three C’s Railroad, the Clinchfield, was the main link between the outside world and Lost Cove. The residents of Lost Cove petitioned the governor to have a road built to Lost Cove, but the state government declined. Lost Cove was truly lost.

A fire in May 2007 destroyed all but three of the buildings in Lost Cove.

I found a web site recently called "Off the Beaten Path" There are photos of the Lost Cove area. Check it out.

McElroy House, yesterday

Ruins, pt. 3

Railroad history is probably my second love, behind Civil War history. The Toe River Valley has some great railroad history that I’m sure that I’ll spend a lot of time talking about.

This photograph was made in the Micaville area not long ago. In 1907, construction began on a branch line from Kona to Micaville, and then on to Bowditch. A separate branch line from Micaville reached Burnsville in 1912, and then Eskota, at the base of Mount Mitchell in 1913. I thought that I had read that a spur of the line from Eskota reached the top of Mt. Mitchell, linking up with the Mount Mitchell Railroad. The line running out of Kona was known as the Black Mountain Railroad, and was for all practicable purposes, a subsidiary of the Clinchfield.

The line was sold in 1955 to a group of investors and renamed the Yancey Railroad.

There is a lot of history to the little line. We will explore more of it later.

There were other railroads in the area. Probably the most famous was the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. That ran to Cranberry. The Linville River Railroad ran from Cranberry, through Newland, and Montezuma, and then on to Boone. There was also the Caney River Railway, a short line running from Huntsdale to Bald Mountain. Add to that the Crabtree Creek Railroad, along with several other lines that only existed on paper, such as the Mica Belt Railroad (Cranberry to Altapass)and a Southern and Western project from Cranberry, through Montezuma, and down the mountains.

As I said before, lots of great railroading history in the area to explore.

Confederate executions

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a book about the 58th North Carolina Troops. About half of the men in this regiment came from the Toe River Valley area. On May 4, 1864, up to thirteen men from this regiment were executed for desertion. Here are some of my notes about these men.

I’ve been able to identify thirteen men from the 58th North Carolina who were court martialed and ordered to be executed for desertion on May 4, 1864. Those thirteen were as follows: Jacob Austin (Co. E); Alford Ball (Co. G); William R. Byers (Co. G); Reuben Dellinger (Co. A); Asa Dover (Co. F); Joseph Gibbs (Co. C); Jesse Hase (Co. A); Wright Hutchings (Co. F); George McFall (Co. K); Gordon Morrow (Co. H); Michael Ward (Co. D); Hiram Youngblood (Co. F); E. H. Younts (Co. H).

Of the thirteen, George Morrow was pardoned the day before the execution. William Byers’s fate is not exactly known, only that he died prior to September 1, 1864. The same is true for Dellinger and Hase. It is not clear that they were executed. Family history states that Dellinger died during the war.

The 58th NCT came from the counties of Ashe, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, Caldwell, and McDowell, with smaller groups of men from Wilkes, Yadkin, and Iredell Counties. Of the nine who were executed, one (Austin) appears to be from Union County; two were from Rutherford County (Hutchings and Youngblood, along with Byers); and one was from York County, South Carolina (Dover). Younts’s record simply states that he enlisted in Athens, Georgia. Hase’s record states that he enlisted in Hamilton or Greene County, Tennessee.

About half of the condemned men had joined the regiment recently. Austin - December 25, 1863; Byers - October 25, 1863; Dover - August 20, 1863; Hase - October 20, 186[3]; Hutchings - October 6, 1863; Youngblood - August 14, 1863; and, Younts - December 16, 1863. Morrow, who hailed from Caldwell County, had been in the service since May 15, 1862, joining Company I, 26th NCT, then joining Vance’s Legion on May 23, 1862.

Each of them had deserted just once, save Ball, who was a sergeant, and Ward, a private. They both deserted twice. Gibbs was the youngest - 19 or 20. Hutchings was the oldest - 44 or 45. Dellinger joined what would become the 58th North carolina Troops in late 1861. He transferred to the 5th Battalion, North Carolina in June 1862, went awol, then rejoined the 58th NCT. He deserted from the 58th NCT on August 20, 1863.

As of today, I only know that Ward, Hase, Gibbs, and maybe Byers had children.

There were probably two others executed that day. Christopher Ledford (Company C) and James M Randal (Company A), 60th North Carolina Troops.

Ruins, pt. 2

In 1906, North Carolina state geologist Joseph H. Pratt introduced the idea of a scenic toll road, the "Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway," through the Blue Ridge Mountains, from Marion, Virginia, to Tallulah, Georgia. Surveying was done in 1911, and the Appalachian Highway Company was charted in 1914. Construction began on the section of the road from Pineola to Altapass, in Mitchell County. The road was to be twenty-four feet wide, with a sand-clay or gravel surface.

Earlier this week, I went out and walked what I believe is part of the old "Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway." If you are traveling south on the Parkway, once you pass Chestoa View, start looking to your right. Every so often, you can catch a glimpse of a old road bed, up on the side of the mountain. The road bed continues on just past mile marker 324. It went around the mountain, but there were several downed trees and I had my six-year-old son with me.

The roadbed fit the description, about twenty feet in width. I could not see any sand, but there were quite a few pieces of mica-encrusted granite.

I’ve enclosed a couple of photographs showing the old road bed.

So am I right? Is this the remnants of the old "Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway"?

ruined buildings

British novelist Rose Macaulay once wrote that "there are, above and under the earth, far more ruined than unruined buildings." While the Toe River Valley has never been the height of population, there are plenty of ruined things both above and below the ground. I thought for the next serval days, we would talk about just a few of them.

A couple of years ago, I hiked out to Roaring Fork Falls in southern Yancey County. It was a beautiful, warm fall day and the falls themselves were beautiful. They are located off Hwy. 80 and I encourage you to visit them.

Along the way you come across a couple of steel-reinforced concrete structures. One guide book says that they were "once used to store explosives." Another sources states that "At one time, they had "Danger" and "Explosives" warning signs on them. Years ago, the forest service used these buildings to store the explosives used to build the roads through the mountains."

Hmm, probably true. But I also wonder, maybe it was connected to the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway? There are a lot of tunnels in the general area. Or, maybe one of the many mining operations in the area?

Carolina Theatre

This morning, I spent some time exploring the web page for the Carolina Theatre Preservation Association, located in downtown Spruce Pine. I have long been fascinated with old time music. When I was younger, that fascination revolved around Civil War music, war songs like the "Bonnie Blue Flag," "the Homespun Dress," and "All Quiet Along the Potomac"; and ballads, like "Lorena," and "Sweet Evelina." As I have grown older, that fascination has stayed, but changed. Now, I have a possibly unhealthy fascination with murder ballads: "Banks of the Ohio," "Pretty Polly," and the "Knoxville Girl."

A couple of years ago, I was working on my collection of essays on Avery County history. One of those essays deals with Lulu Belle and Scotty. They too have become a fascination.

The Carolina Theatre was built in 1937 in a booming downtown Spruce Pine. Thne in the late 1940s, the building had evolved, and now held the nationally broadcasted Carolina Barn Dance. According to the web site, the Carolina Barn Dance attracted both locally and nationally known acts. Some of those national acts to visit the area included Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Chet Atkins, and Lulu Belle and Scotty. I’m quite sure that I’ve come across info on Lulu Belle and Soctty at the Carolina Barn Dance in my research. I’ll need to go back through my notes to make sure.

While the most famous, at one time being broadcast on over 500 stations, the Carolina Barn Dance was not the only venue for local music. There was the Wiseman Memorial Park, the Music Barn in Crossnore, Youngs Mountain Music in Yancey County, and the Apple Orchard in Alta Pass. You can still catch local musicians at some of these venues.

The Carolina Theatre Preservation Association needs your help. They want to preserve the theatre and open it up as a destination site in western North Carolina. Check out the web page here to see what you can do to help.

Mountain Heritage Trout City

There were articles recently in both of Avery County’s newspapers about the designation of Newland as a "Mountain Heritage Trout City." Legislation, sponsored by our own Joe Sam Queen, was passed last year and Newland, along with a one-mile section of the Toe River, is one of the first of five pilot programs in the state. Queen, quoted by the Avery Journal-Times, said that: "Avery County has great waters to fish, and this program will help give identity of destination to the mountains. This program is going to be very family oriented and will celebrate our mountain heritage."

It is nice to see things being done to "celebrate our mountain heritage." More needs to be done.

I wonder where the other four areas are?

Penland

Welcome to the new Toe River Valley blog

Why a new blog? The Toe River Valley is full of history. From de Soto to the Parkway Play House, the Toe River Valley is packed with events that have both changed people’s lives, and have changed life in America. Over the next few years, I hope to talk about a few of them.

What is the Toe River Valley? The area is composed of Yancey, Mitchell, about half of Avery County, and a little part of Madison County, North Carolina. The crest of the Blue Ridge (along the Blue Ridge Parkway) bounds the area on the south side. To the west is the Walnut Mountain range, and to its south, a series of peaks: Cold Knob, Chestnut Mountain, Sam Doane Mountain, and Sally Mountain. To the east is the Continental Divide - running through Montezuma. To the north, you have Roan Mountain, and the Bald Mountains, and the Unaka Mountains. The Toe River is made up of the North Toe, which begins in Avery County, and the South Toe, which forms in the Black Mountains. They become the Nolichucky River near Peterson.

Who am I? I’m Michael. I live in the Toe River Valley area. I also write about the Toe River Valley. To date, I’ve written three books about the area: a pictorial history of Avery County; a collection of essays on Avery County; and a history of the McElroy House in Burnsville. I’ve also written five other books, histories of Watauga County, Caldwell County, and three Civil War books. I am currently working on a book about the 58th North Carolina Troops, a Confederate regiment made up of men mostly from the Toe River area. I also have two other projects in the works that deal with the Toe River Area. I’m a past vice president/president of the Yancey Historical Association and current Vice-Chair of the Avery County Historical Society and Museum. I also work with the Mitchell County Historical Society. I’ve taught classes on local history at Mayland Community College, where I also serve on the library board. And, I’m the worship leader (and on the finance committee) at Aaron Baptist Church, located in Montezuma, just barely in the Toe River area. Finally, I’m a charter member of the Col. John B. Palmer Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which meets the third Tuesday of each month at the town center in Burnsville.

Did I have ancestors in the Toe River area? Ancestors, no. Cousins, a lot. My North Carolina ancestors first settled in the Yadkin River Valley in the 1750s. They lived in what would become Watauga County for a couple of generations before migrating to east Kentucky. They include the Proffitts, Hamptons, and Laws. Recognize those names? You’ll find them in the Toe River Valley.
I’ll try and post a several times a week. Sometimes, they will be deep, thought-provoking posts. Others will be announcements; a few will be photographs of the area.

Got something interesting on your mind? Drop me a line and tell me about it. Maybe we can work out a guest post for you.