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.