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....