Tanning Company, Machine Shop Anchored Pisgah Forest

The little crossroads community of Pisgah Forest officially came into existed in December 1906 when a post office was opened there.  Pisgah Forest was actually the last of the current Transylvania County post offices to be established.

Brevard Tannin Company

A few years earlier the Brevard Tannin Company began operations on the north side of the French Broad River on Wilson Road.  According to the Certificate of Incorporation of Brevard Tannin Company dated January 13, 1903 the initial stockholders were George L. Adams, Frank K. Adams, W.A. Gash, Charles McNames and William P. Long.  The company’s objectives included “manufacturing, making and obtaining tanning extracts” from timber by using large machinery to break down the logs.  The resulting product was then loaded into tankers and shipped via rail to northern tanneries.

Brevard Tannin consisted of a maze of buildings that included a Carpentry Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Machine Shop and Bark Mill.  In addition several acres of property on the other side of Wilson Road were used as a wood piling ground.

Inside Barnett's Machine Shop

Sid Barnett was the head machinist for Brevard Tannin.  When the tannin plant closed Barnett bought the lathes and welding machines and opened his own shop at the intersection of Hendersonville Hwy and Wilson Road in 1923.  For nearly 80 years farmers, mechanics and businesses throughout the area relied on Barnett’s to custom built anything they needed made of metal and for metal repair work.  Through the years customers included Transylvania Tannery, Pisgah Mills, Whitmire Mill, Ecusta, DuPont, Smith Systems, Transylvania County Schools and the Forest Service.  Barnett’s Machine Shop closed in 2000.

Other manufacturing businesses in Pisgah Forest were the Carr Lumber Company and Ecusta.  They will be featured in Picturing the Past articles during the next two weeks.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

County's Historic Bridges Reside in Forest

Bridge #54 at the mouth of Looking Glass Creek

The North Carolina Department of Transportation website lists four historic bridge in Transylvania County.  All four are located on a short stretch of Highway 276 in the Pisgah National Forest.  They were built in 1935 by the State Highway Commission along with the US Forest Service in an effort to increase automobile tourism and recreation in Western North Carolina.  Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway was occurring at the same time.  Improvements of Hwy 276 from Brevard through the Pisgah National Forest would provide access to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  These projects were part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program and helped create jobs during the Great Depression.

All four bridges cross Looking Glass Creek, the first near its confluence with the Davidson River.  Forest Service Rd 475 turns west to the Pisgah Center for Wildlife immediately north of this bridge.

The reinforce concrete, tee beam bridges were typical for the time period.  Their uniqueness lays in the decorative details.  "Round-headed openings pierce the concrete balustrades of each bridge and the five parallel lines of tee beams are finished with haunches that emulate the curves of arched bridges.  Further, blocks of granite, reportedly laid by Italian stonemasons, face pylons, abutments and wingwalls."

Davidson River Bridge on Highway 64

A similar bridge on Hwy 64 crossing the Davidson River was built in 1934 by the North Carolina State Highway Commission and Public Works Commission.  It also has the open arch details rather than solid concrete walls.  However, it does not have the granite stonework of the bridges in the Pisgah National Forest.  This bridge carries the traffic coming into Brevard.  The bridge carrying traffic out of Brevard was constructed in 1956.

Information on these and other historic bridge in North Carolina can be found at www.ncdot.gov/projects/ncbridges/historic.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Bridges Have Been Crucial To Development

People don’t often think about bridges as a part of our history but in a county with so many streams, creeks and rivers they play a vital role in development.

Before the earliest settlers arrived in western North Carolina the ability to ford rivers and streams effected the location of pathways.  Commerce centers and settlements grew around the easiest spots to cross waterways. 

Early Transylvania Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (predecessor to the County Commissioners) minutes refer to public bridges on the French Broad River at Island Ford, Little River (also known as Shuford’s Bridge) and Patton’s Bridge (Everett Rd).  In January 1873 there is reference of constructing a new bridge near Ethan Wilson’s (Greenville Hwy). 

An entry in the September 1866 Court Minutes states, $50 from the Bridge Tax will be used to settle an account with George Clayton for constructing the County Courthouse.  The Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions set the rate for the Bridge Tax and authorized the use of this fund.  In 1874 the Bridge Tax was 14¢ on $100 worth of property.

The earliest known map of Transylvania County is an 1868 survey map certified by Chas. Patton, Richard Whitmire, George Clayton, Lambert Neill and John Owen.  This map identified five bridges along the French Broad River.  They were Shuford’s, Patton’s, a bridge near present day Barclay Road, Dunn’s Rock (north of the intersection of Island Ford Rd and Hwy 276) and Island Ford.

Ila Israel and a friend on Rosman’s Old Iron Bridge.

An early 1900s photograph of Rosman shows a wooden bridge crossing the French Broad River.  Around 1930 that bridge was replaced with an iron bridge on Hwy 178.  The current bridge, built in 1978, is slightly south of the old one-lane iron bridge.

Beginning in 1921 the State of North Carolina took over responsibility of highways and roads, and therefore bridges.   Some roads, streets and bridges in cities and towns are maintained by the municipalities but there is no county roads in North Carolina. 

Bronze plaque on the King’s Creek Bridge

constructed during the first year that the state 

took over building and maintenance of roads and bridges.

In the 1920s several concrete and steel bridges where constructed along Transylvania’s State Roads.  Normally they had recessed panels and a molded cap, with solid side walls and contained a bronze plaque with the bridge name, construction date and project number.  Most of these bridges have been replaced by wider, modern bridges.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

DigitalNC Resources

The North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is a statewide digitization and digital publishing program housed in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Digital Heritage Center works with cultural heritage institutions across North Carolina to digitize and publish historic materials online.  The Transylvania County Library has been a contributor since 2010.

Logging and railroad photographs including this one 

of a steam crane loader were recently added to digitalnc.org.

Visit digitalnc.org to view photographs, yearbooks, newspapers, city directories and memorabilia covering Transylvania County’s history.  

The Images collection includes over 200 photographs of downtown Brevard, 500+ photographs of Transylvania County Schools and about 275 logging and railroad photographs.  The images can be browsed by subject or location.  Transylvania County locations include Brevard, Cherryfield, Davidson River, French Broad River, Lake Toxaway, Penrose, Pisgah National Forest, Quebec, Rosman and Sapphire.

Brevard High School annuals (1944-1962), Rosman High School annuals (1948-1962) and Brevard College yearbooks (1935-2003) are available except a small number of missing years for Rosman and Brevard College.  The Brevard College yearbooks were contributed by Brevard College.

Santa visits Ecusta.  The Echo, December 1949.

The Newspaper collection includes Sylvan Valley News (1900-1916) and Brevard News (1917-1922).  In the early 1900s there are only a small number of issues available.  Brevard College has contributed Weaver College, Rutherford College and Brevard College student newspapers.  The newest addition to the newspaper section is a complete collection of the Ecusta Echo (1940-1954).

 City Directories are a useful source of information for both genealogists and those researching businesses.  Only one city directory for Brevard (1962) was ever published.  There are several city directories from other western North Carolina cities, including Asheville and Hendersonville.

The Memorabilia collection includes scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, ledgers, manuscripts and other written accounts from North Carolinians past and present.  The Transylvania County Library and the Little River Community Center contributed 16 large format scrapbooks ranging from 1954 to 1984.  These scrapbooks contain news, events and photographs from the Little River Community.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Moltz Lumber

In early 1916 Jerome Moltz and his sons began purchasing property in upper Transylvania County with the intention of building a lumber operation and large band saw mill.  After the Lake Toxaway dam failed in August 1916 Moltz acquired property from the Toxaway Company as well.  They had survey work done for logging rail lines from Lake Toxaway into Jackson County. 

Portable cabins for a Moltz Lumber crew at Cold Mountain.

By 1918 the Moltz Lumber Company had 7000 acres and 15 miles of logging railroad (Moltz leased additional rail from Southern Railway) north and west of Lake Toxaway.  The saw mill was built within ¾ of a mile of the Southern Railway Line in Lake Toxaway.  The mill cut 50,000 feet of hemlock and 30,000 feet of hardwood a day.  They harvested timber around Cold Mountain, Big Green Mountain, Greenland Creek and Panthertown Creek.  They also had a rail line heading northeast to the North Fork of the French Broad River then back into Jackson County to the Tuckaseegee River.

Moltz Lumber Engineer Grant “Dutchman” Bruner 

leans on front truck of a Shay Engine delivering logs

 to the mill at Lake Toxaway. 

Moltz’s success was in making hemlock harvesting profitable.  They hired contractors to cut the hemlocks.  The contractors would measure, grade and sort the logs, then stack them near the rail lines.  Only the top quality logs were sold for lumber.  Lower quality logs were sold to Champion Fiber in Canton for pulpwood.  Moltz kept their overhead low and earned a reputation for uniform grade timber.

Moltz Lumber Company operated for until September 1929.  The saw mill was dismantled in 1941 and the limber rights were sold to Carr Lumber Company in January 1942.

Jerome Moltz was a lumber manufacturer from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  He had six sons and one daughter.  At least four of his sons were also involved in the lumber industry.  Carl Moltz, born in 1893, was the fourth son of Jerome and May Moltz.  In 1930 Carl Moltz married Lucy Camp Armstrong.

Carl and Lucy Moltz lived in her home, known as Hillmont.  The house had been built on the shore of Lake Toxaway in 1915.  The Swiss mountain style house had six levels, plus a separate library, stables and a swimming pool.  They lived there until Carl’s death in 1961 when Lucy moved to a smaller house nearby.  Lucy Armstrong Moltz lived to see the Lake Toxaway dam rebuilt and the lake restored.  Today Hillmont is known as the Greystone Inn.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Tourist Left Lake Toxaway After Dam Burst

When the Toxaway Inn opened in August 1903 tourism brochures boasted that it was, “one of the best equipped and most modern resort hotels to be found in the South, having elevators, steam heat, electric lights, more than one hundred rooms en suite with private baths, pool and billiard rooms, bowling alleys, tennis courts and large, spacious verandas”. The menu had a wide variety of items including prime rib, roast lamb, baked red snapper, escalloped oysters as well as many vegetables and elegant desserts.

On August 13, 1916 the Toxaway Dam burst following heavy rains over several weeks.  The 540 acre lake sent a wall of water through the gorge and flooded miles of lower land in South Carolina.  Although the Inn survived, the wealthy visitors left and the grand hotel stood empty.  It was torn down in 1947.

But long before the Toxaway Inn was built there were families living on small farms throughout the Hogback Township.  The Hogback Township, as it was first known, covers the southwestern part of Transylvania County.  It includes the area all around Lake Toxaway, west along Hwy 64 to the county line and south along Hwy 281 to the state line.

The Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory for 1890 lists the population for Hogback Valley as 50, in 1896 Hogback had a population 60.  This community was located between present day Lake Toxaway and Sapphire.  The post office name was changed to Oakland in 1911.

Lake Toxaway lakebed after the dam broke.

And after the glory days of the Toxaway Inn, although the tourists left the local families continued farming, worked in the logging camps and operated their own small businesses around the communities of Lake Toxaway, Oakland and Sapphire. 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Veteran's Day

VETERAN'S DAY

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed Armistice Day for November 11, 1919.  The United States Congress passed a resolution on June 4, 1926 requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.  On May 13, 1938 a Congressional Act made the 11th of November each year a legal holiday.

Local soldiers identified in this photograph include:  Coy Surrette, Tavie Hart, Jesse Scruggs, Avery Orr and Virgil Merrill.

Silversteen Community

Macedonia Baptist Church

Early settlers in the valleys and mountains in the Gloucester area of what was to become Transylvania County had to travel ten or more miles to attend church services at Cathey’s Creek Baptist Church.  On today’s roads it takes half an hour or more to travel those miles so imagine making the trip in the early 1800s.

By the 1840s there were several families interested in establishing a church closer to home.  They petitioned the Cathey’s Creek church to form their own congregation.  On July 6, 1844 they held their first service in the Gloucester school and selected the name Macedonia for their church.

The little congregation grew and soon constructed a church of split-logs.  Around 1900 the current Macedonia Baptist Church was built.  It is a typical white wooden country church with a gable roof, windows down both sides and a small belfry.

In the early 1900s Joseph Silversteen’s Gloucester Lumber Company logged thousands of acres in the area west of Rosman and north of Hwy. 64.  In 1923 he gave property to build a schoolhouse for the children in the area around Macedonia Baptist Church.  The large, three-room school was built by Jim Anders, Herbert Anders, Bill Anders and Kencie Meece.  It served the community for over 30 years until being closed in 1956.  The school and community became known as Silversteen and the name remains today.

Alligator Rock on Hwy. 215, photo courtesy of Bob Cole

Many of the men in the community worked in the Gloucester Lumber logging camps to help support their families.  Later they became independent truckers hauling logs to Canton several days a week.  In her history of the Silversteen Community Rowena McCall Ashe tells this story, “In the Gloucester community (as it was called back then) all the truck owners only had one tag for all their trucks.  When they would haul a load to Canton they always stopped on the way down 215 and got the tag from the top of Alligator Rock.  When they returned they would stop and put it back in its hiding place so the next trucker the next day could use it.  Times were hard and they all stuck together doing what they could to provide for their families.”

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Civil War 150 Events at the Transylvania County Library

The Transylvania County Library has been selected as a programming site for Civil War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning Through the Words of Those Who Lived It, a national public programming initiative designed to encourage exploration of the transformative and contested meaning of the Civil War through primary documents and firsthand accounts.  The project is presented by The Library of America in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institure of American History and is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Local support is provided by the Transylvania County Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library. 

The Library will host a panel display, two speakers and show three Civil War movies during November and December in conjunction with the Civil War sesquicentennial. 

Credit: Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Abraham Lincoln,

printed in San Francisco, 1864. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute)

The panel display, Emancipation and Its Legacies, will be at the library from November 10 - December 8, 2014.  The display is divided into five sections: Conflicting Visions of the Future of the United States: 1850–1860; War and Fugitive Slaves: 1861–1862; Emancipation: 1863; The Process of Emancipation: 1864–1865; and The Legacy of Emancipation: Civil War to Civil Rights, 1865–1964.  The panel display was developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and is curated by David W. Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of History at Yale University, and Susan F. Saidenberg, The Gilder Lehrman Institute.

In conjunction with the display the monthly Bag Lunch presentation on Tuesday, November 18 at noon will be "The Civil War and Aftermath: A Crisis in American Race Relations" presented by Dr. Gordon McKinney.  The program will discuss the role that African Americans played during the conflict including as runaways from slavery, as soldiers, as symbols, and as political actors.   The program will also examine the transition to freedom and the conflicts in American society brought about by these revolutionary changes.

Dr. McKinney is retired professor of history from Berea College and now lives in Asheville.  He is the author of several books about the Civil War and WNC including, The Heart of Confederate Appalachia:  Western North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstructing Appalachia:  The Civil War’s Aftermath

Image credit: Unidentified black Private, Company I,

54th Massachusetts Infantry, ca. 1863.

(The Gilder Lehrman Institute)

On Tuesday, December 2 at noon Dr. Lucinda MacKethan will present “Slave Voices in North Carolina.”  Her program uses the personal narratives, letters, poetry, and interviews of North Carolina slaves to explore how North Carolina slaves lived, worked, worshipped and sometimes escaped bondage. 

Dr MacKethan is the Director of Creative Writing at NC State University.  She recently retired as Alumni Distinguished Professor of English at NC State University, where she taught courses primarily in Southern and African American literature.  She is also the author or editor of six books.

Cookies and coffee from Blue Ridge Bakery will be available at both programs and are provided by the Friends of the Library.  The public is invited to bring along a bag lunch to enjoy during the presentations. 

The Civil War movies will be shown in the Rogow Room on Thursday afternoons at 2:00 pm.  Popcorn, juice and water will be provided by the Friends of the Library.  Movie attendees are encouraged to bring their own seat cushion.  Films will be:

November 20—“Shenandoah”.  In 1863, wealthy Virginia landowner Charlie Anderson (James Stewart), a man of peace despite his autocratic behavior, steadfastly refuses to take sides in the Civil War. Bit by bit, Anderson's isolationism--and his way of living--is torn apart.

December 4—“Sommersby”.  Richard Gere stars as Jack Sommersby, a wealthy landowner who returns to his small cotton farming town of Vine Hill three years after the Civil War's end. The defeated Confederate soldier is ready to resume his past life with his young wife Laurel (Jodie Foster). Thinking her husband long dead, however, Laurel has become engaged to Orin Meecham (Bill Pullman), an arrangement she quickly calls off, enraging and embittering Orin.

December 18—Lincoln”, as the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. This film chronicles the President's time in office between 1861 and 1865 as he dealt with personal demons and politics during the Civil War.

All events are free and open to the public.  For more information contact Marcy Thompson at 884-3151 x242 or marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org.

Quebec Was a Stop Along Passenger Railroad

The Quebec community extends from Quebec Mountain, east of Silversteen Rd, to approximately Reid Road along Highway 64.  In the late 1800s the area was known as Tiptop.  The Tiptop post office operated from July 31, 1886 - December 17, 1888 and then from October 29, 1889 until it was closed and service transferred to Lake Toxaway on February 1, 1930.  The name was changed to Quebec on February 10, 1904. 

Railroad at Quebec

In 1903 when the railroad was extended through Transylvania County to Lake Toxaway a depot was located in Quebec.  This was typical small station designed for receiving and shipping freight.  It was located 4 miles from Rosman and it was an additional 6.8 miles to Lake Toxaway.

Passenger trains headed for the Toxaway Inn did not make all the stops.  The trip from Rosman (still know as Toxaway in 1903) to Lake Toxaway took about 50 minutes with a stop in Quebec, 35 minutes non-stop.  Although passengers could board or disembark the train at Quebec there were no services available.  The depot was located just passed the junction of Old Quebec Rd and Silversteen Rd. 

The early Quebec school was a one-room log cabin located on Kim Miller Rd.  It also served as the first Oak Grove Baptist Church.

In 1903 the congregation at Oak Grove Baptist built a large one room church on property donated by G.W. & Millie Henderson.   The Hendersons along with John & Martha Jackson, John Whitmire and Henry Galloway were the Charter Members of the church in 1880.  Construction on the current church began in 1939.

When the new school was built in 1907 it was located about 1 ½ miles southeast between Highway 64 and the Southern Railway tracks.  It was a modern multi-room school.  The Quebec School District was the first in Transylvania County to vote for a bond to cover much needed school improvements.  Today T.C. Henderson Elementary is located near the old school site.

Visit the Local History blog at nchistoryroom.blogspot.com to see a map identifying the locations of Quebec, the Quebec School, Oak Grove Baptist and the Southern Railway line.

After the Toxaway Dam burst in August 1916 rail service from Rosman to Lake Toxaway was reduced to mainly freight.  The logging industry continued to use the track as a connection from logging camps to Silversteen’s lumber and tanning businesses in Rosman for several years.  Southern Railway officially abandoned the track in August 1953 and it was removed in March 1954.

The local story is that birds in the area make a sound of kwee-beck, kwee-beck which led to the name and pronunciation of Quebec.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Quebec area--blue line is Hwy 64, red line is Southern Railway line.

CCC Built Many Forest Roads And Bridges

The 1920s were generally a time of prosperity throughout the United States.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaked at 381.17 on September 3, 1929 but during September and October stock prices began to slip.  Then on just two days, October 28 and 29, the Dow dropped nearly 70 points.  October 29, 1929 is known as Black Tuesday and often associated with the beginning of the Great Depression.  During the early 1930s unemployment reached 25%.  Those who did have jobs saw their wages severely reduced. 

When Franklin Roosevelt became President in January 1933 he instituted numerous projects and programs, known as the New Deal, to aid in stabilizing the economy and provide jobs.  The leading program under Roosevelt’s New Deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps, popularly known as the CCC.  The work relief program provided thousands of manual labor jobs for unemployed, unmarried men from 17-28 years of age. 

John's Rock Camp

An April 20, 1933 Transylvania Times article states that a CCC camp will be built at John’s Rock on the Davidson River for over 200 men.  The men enlisted for six months initially.  They were paid $1 a day and provided subsistence.  The camp officially opened on May 20, 1933.

Balsam Grove Camp

    On June 22, 1933 a second Transylvania County CCC camp opened in Balsam Grove.  It was located on Shoal Creek Road, just above the Gloucester Bridge.  After the John’s Rock Camp closed in January 1938 the Balsam Grove Camp relocated to John’s Rock in June 1938.

The John’s Rock and Balsam Grove camps were both U.S. Forest Service camps.  There were a total of nine CCC camps located in the Pisgah National Forest, plus additional camps in the Nantahala National Forest and Great Smoky Mountains Park. 

The work included planting thousands of trees where lumbering had left bare mountainsides.  Hundreds of miles of roads, along with bridges and culverts, were built throughout the forest.   Trails and fire lookout towers were also constructed.   

The first group of men selected from Transylvania County to join the CCC was assigned to a camp near Barnardsville.  Older men from Transylvania County were employed to serve as foremen and supervisors at the John’s Rock and Balsam Grove camps.

Toxaway Mountain Cabin and Lookout Tower

On July 9, 1935 Camp Sledge from the North Wilkesboro area was relocated to Transylvania County.  The camp was located on the north side of Brevard, near the present day Blue Ridge Community College.  This was a private lands camp.  They worked on projects in Henderson, Jackson, Polk and Transylvania counties, including work on the Horse Pasture Watershed and construction of a fire lookout tower and cabin on Toxaway Mountain.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

PWA Constructed Brevard's Old Post Office

During the Depression the federal government built over 1,100 post offices throughout the country as part of the New Deal including at least twelve in North Carolina.  The Franklin Post Office was constructed in 1935, followed by post offices in Marion, Reidsville, Lincolnton, Louisburg, Newton, Warrenton, Boone, Leaksville, Weldon, Brevard and Madison.

Many of these post offices were built by the Public Works Administration and were similar in architectural style and design.  In North Carolina Brevard, Boone, Leaksville, Lincolnton, Newton and Marion all had post offices that resembled one another.

Brevard Post Office, 1941

On August 3, 1938 bids were received on ten sites available in the downtown Brevard.  A lot on the corner of Broad and Morgan Streets was purchased from Mrs. Beulah Zachary for $4000 on May 5, 1939.  Groundbreaking took place on May 6, 1940.  The Post Office began operating from the building in January 1941.

The structure was built of brick in the Federal/Greek Revival style.  The front featured a large central door with a classical surround under a segmental arch.  Limestone formed the lintels and sills of the twelve-over-twelve sash windows and the cornerstone.  There is a classical cupola with windows on the center roof ridge.

Brevard Post Office from Morgan Street side, 1941

The supervising architect for the building was Louis A. Simon and the government engineer was Victor J. Oliver.  J.L. Beam was superintendent for Boyd and Goforth contractors.  The PWA stressed the importance of high quality workmanship to ensure character and lasting benefits.

The building served as the Brevard Post Office for over 30 years until postal service moved to a new building on West Main Street in early 1972.

In 1973 the county purchased the building from the General Services Administration in order to provide a new home for the Transylvania County Library.  Renovations were undertaken to open the space up and lower the ceiling to provide better lighting and save on heating the building.  A 2300 square foot addition was also added to the north side of the existing 3500 square foot building.  Additions were also made on each side of the back entrance—for an office on the south side and the North Carolina Room on the north side. 

Transylvania County Library, 1995

The new library opened at 3:00 pm on Monday, November 11, 1974.  The marble faced charge desk was saved from the old post office, as was the “Most Wanted Criminal” bulletin board.  The basement was also renovated to include a large meeting room for programs for both adults and children.

Children's Wing construction, 1985

In 1982 another addition was planned for a Children’s Wing to be added on the back of the 1974 addition.  Due to “delays in processing of county tax collections” and a “cash-flow burden” construction did not actually begin until September 1985.  Additional delays in the construction of the 2000 square foot Children’s Wing stretched the project to nearly a year.  The new Children’s Wing, along with a renovated area for the Sarah Keels Tilson Historical Room opened in early September.

In May 2006 the library moved out of the building to its new location just two doors down Broad St. 

In 2013 County Commissioners voted to renovate the building once more.  The Transylvania County Administration Offices opened in the former Brevard Post Office, later the Transylvania County Library, on Monday, October 20, 2014.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Fire Department Always Located Downtown

October is Fire Prevention Month.  National Fire Prevention Week is observed during the week in which October 9 falls in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire.  That fire burned for three days from October 8-10, 1871 destroying over 3 square miles of the city and taking approximately 300 lives.  Also on October 8, 1871 a fire in Wisconsin, known as the Peshtigo Fire, wiped out 16 towns, burned over a million acres and killed approximately 1500 people. 

 In remembrance of those events the Fire Marshals Association of North American began working to educate the public about the importance of fire prevention.  In 1925 President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation observing the first National Fire Prevention Week.

The first Brevard Fire Department was organized in the late 1800s.  The fire station was located between the courthouse and the McMinn building, in the middle of what is today N. Broad Street. 

The 1911 Sanborn map shows a small wooden building approximately 170 feet north of the intersection with Main St. labeled “Fire Dept.”  Additional information states, “Volunteer Co., chief & 14 men.  2 fire stations.  1 combination wagon with 60’ of ladders, 3 Babcock extinguishers & 800’ 2½” hose (stationed near court house).  1 cart at Southern depot with 500’ 2½” hose.  Bell alarm.”

There is also a small structure on the east side of the building labeled “Fire Bell.”  According to Transylvania Times articles from May 31, 1984 and July 4, 1988 the fire bell was purchased in May 1911 from the Cincinnati Bell Company for $155. 

At this time the Transylvania County Jail was in a brick building about 100’ west of the Fire Department.  In the early 1920s a new jail was built behind the Courthouse and Citizen’s Telephone Company moved into the old jail building.  Apparently the fire bell was moved to a platform beside the Telephone Company.  When a fire call was received, the operator could pull a lever to ring the bell and notify firemen and anyone near enough to hear it tolling.

Brevard Fire Department, 1925 American La France engine, 

photo taken by William Austin 1928

The 1924 Sanborn map shows the same building without the fire bell structure.  Information included reads, “Volunteer.  Chief & 15 men.  1 American LaFrance equipped Ford auto truck carrying 1000’ 2½” hose.  600’ in reserve.  Auto truck has 40 gallons chemical tank & hose.  Alarm bell.”

 In 1925 the fire department was reorganized and relocated to a new brick building on W. Main St. across from the present City Hall.  City offices were located on the second floor.

In the late 1920s or early 1930s the fire bell was replaced with a siren.  The bell was purchased by St. Philip’s Episcopal Church but never used.  They gave it to Grace Baptist Church who eventually returned it to the Fire Department in 1984.  The old bell is now in front of the Brevard Fire Department as a display.

Brevard Fire Department, 1946

By 1945 the fire department and City Hall had moved to the south side of W. Main St. into the building where the City Council meets today.  Fire Department information from the 1931 and 1945 Sanborn maps state, “1 paid chief & 2 paid drivers, one on duty at all times.  13 volunteers.  1 American La France triple combustion auto truck, capacity 750 gallons per minute.  1000’ 2½” hose.  40 gallon chemical tank & 150’ chemical hose.  1 hand reel carrying 300’ 2½” hose.  Total amount of good hose 2000’.  Alarm by telephone & siren on City Hall.”

The current Fire Department on the corner of W. Main and England streets was built in 1969.  Currently the Fire Department has two paid staff members from 8 am until 5 pm.  The remainder of the personnel is comprised of volunteer firefighters.

If you have information or photographs telling the story of Transylvania County’s Fire Departments in Balsam Grove, Cedar Mountain, Connestee, Lake Toxaway, Little River, North Transylvania or Rosman that you would like to share contact Marcy at the Library.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Cannon Brought Medicine to Balsam Grove

Edward Gaine Cannon was born in the Calvert community of Transylvania County in 1900 to James and Anna Whitmire Cannon.  James Cannon was a physician who served the surrounding mountain area on horseback.  The Cannons moved to Pickens, South Carolina in the early 1900s where they raised their seven children.

Gaine Cannon graduated from Berea College in 1925, then attended the Medical College of Virginia at Richmond and studied at Northwestern University and in Denmark.  Cannon served in the Army for 12 years after graduating from Medical School. 

There were two doctors that Cannon held a great respect and admiration toward—Dr. James Alvin Cannon, his father, and Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

Gaine Cannon first learned about Dr. Albert Schweitzer through a magazine article in 1931.  He was inspired to learn all he could of Schweitzer and later met the revered doctor while travelling in Africa.  The two formed a close friendship that lasted until Schweitzer’s death in 1965.

In 1947 Gaine Cannon returned to Pickens where he started a three-room clinic.  The little clinic, named for James A. Cannon, grew quickly.  He typically saw 70-90 patients and made 10-20 house calls a day. 

Dr. Gaine Cannon in Balsam Grove

Realizing he needed a place to get away and relax Cannon bought property in the Balsam Grove community.  When the local people learned that they had a doctor, who was also a native Transylvanian, living nearby they flocked to his little cabin.

Dr. Cannon soon “retired” and made caring for the people of Balsam Grove and surrounding communities his sole purpose.   He lived Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy of Reverence for Life.  His dream was to build a 30-bed hospital; the only hospital in U.S. that Dr. Schweitzer allowed to use his name. 

Dr. Cannon did not turn away patients who could not pay.  He accepted whatever they could offer.  Patients were asked to contribute two or more river rocks for each visit to the doctor.  The rocks were used to build the hospital.

The people of Balsam Grove and throughout the mountains supported Dr. Cannon with volunteer labor and by organizing fund raisers.  Money flowed in from around the country and from all over the world.  Donald McCall, one of the early supporters of the project tells of taking “a big box full of foreign money” to the Rosman Bank where banker Rowell Bosse exchanged it for U.S. currency. 

Early Construction on the Albert Schweitzer Memorial Hospital

McCall’s Boy Scout troop was among those who worked tirelessly to dig and lay the hospital foundation.  Brevard contractor C.R. Sharp donated his time and skills to lead volunteers from Balsam Grove, Quebec and Lake Toxaway in completing the roof.

Unfortunately, Dr. Gaine Cannon died in 1966 before the hospital was able to open.  Stored in the building were 41 hospital beds and all the equipment for the unfinished hospital.

In 1980 the dream of medical care in Balsam Grove finally became a reality when the Balsam Grove Medical Clinic opened.  Staff included registered nurse, Juanita Butterworth and receptionist, Fran Whitmire.  Dr. James Keeley and Dr. Raymond Dunkleberg each visited the clinic once a month.  Services offered included general outpatient, immunizations, health education and illness prevention, monitoring chronic illnesses, physicals, prenatal care and even minor surgery and emergency stabilization.  There was also an in-house pharmacy so patients did not have to travel to Brevard for prescriptions.  Although the facility only operated for a few years Doc Cannon is remembered with love and respect in the community.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

A Train to Asheville

On this day in North Carolina History,

"The first train across the Blue Ridge arrives at Asheville, ending the city's isolation and igniting a tourist explosion. In the coming decade, Asheville's population will jump from 2,610 to 10,237." (1880)

Source: Powell, L. (1996). On This Day in North Carolina History.Winston-Salem, North Carolina: John F. Blair, Publisher.

NC Archives Month, October 2014

“North Carolina at Play: Health and Leisure in Our State”

Archives Month is an annual observance of the agencies and people responsible for maintaining and making available the archival and historical records of our nation, state, communities and people.

Two photographs from the Transylvania County are included on the poster.  The Pisgah Tavern photo is in the C and H of "Archives" and the July 4, 1895 photo is in the North Carolina map collage twice.

At the Pisgah Tavern, 1942

July 4, 1895

Balsam Grove Named After Natural Surroundings

Settlers began moving into the valleys and mountains along the North Fork of the French Broad River in the early 1800s.  Among the early settlers were members of the Bracken, Dunn, Galloway, Kitchen and McCall families.

Robert and John McCall were sons of Samuel McCall.  Samuel McCall had settled his young family in the area around Cedar Rock, south of the current Fish Hatchery around 1803.  Although Samuel McCall later moved the family west into Jackson County his oldest sons stayed in what would become Transylvania County.

Robert bought property along Shoal Creek and John purchased property along the North Fork in the 1820s.  Like the other early settlers the McCalls were farmers.  They planted vegetables and fruit trees, raised cattle, hunted the forest lands and fished the numerous streams around them while raising large families. 

According to McCall family histories Robert married Rachel Glazener, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Owen Glazener, in 1824 and they had 13 children.  John married Elizabeth Glazner, daughter of Abraham and Mary Ester Beasley Glazner, in 1827.  John and Elizabeth had 12 children.

McCall's Mill

John and Elizabeth McCall’s oldest son, Bill operated a grist mill on the North Fork of the French Broad River for many years.  The mill, constructed of round saddle-notched logs, is near the confluence of Shoal Creek and the North Fork.  It has been restored and is located behind the Camp at Living Waters.

Macedonia Baptist Church was established in 1844 by members of the Bracken, Galloway, Glazner,  Kitchen, McCall, Owen and Whitmire families who petitioned the Cathey’s Creek Church to hold church meetings closer to home.

Shoal Creek Baptist Church was organized in September 1867, although their first church building was not constructed until 1901.  The current church was built in 1964, with an addition in 1983.

The first post office, established in 1875, was named for the balsam grove surrounding it on property owned by the Galloways.  William Galloway was the first postmaster.

In the early to mid 1900s Joseph Silversteen’s Gloucester Lumber Company logged throughout the area.  Railroad lines ran up Gloucester Gap and near Devil’s Courthouse to haul the timber back to Rosman.  Many farmers in the community also worked for Gloucester Lumber.

Balsam Grove continues to be an active community today with a new Community Center, a Fire Department, a post office, Shoal Creek Baptist Church and McCall’s Grocery & Gas.

Next week’s “Picturing the Past” article will continue the history of the Balsam Grove area, featuring Dr. Gaine Cannon’s Albert Schweitzer Memorial Hospital and the people who helped build it.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.