Glen Cannon Was Home to Several Camps

Camp Brevard activities with
1—Mrs. H.E. Lassiter, 2—Mrs. Luella Gibson Joiner.

In 1921 Mrs. Luella Gibson Joiner of Alabama started Camp Brevard for girls.  The camp was located just a couple a miles outside of town on property owned by C.M. Siniard near Glen Cannon Falls.  The camp is included in a Red Book Magazine publication about 1926 summer camps.  However, Mrs. Joiner died on November 25, 1925.

W.W. Waters took over management of the camp in 1926 and renamed it Camp Cohosset.  The name was said to be an indian term for “by the pines”.  It operated for just the one season.

Camp Perry-Ann mini-golf.

Mrs. Luther Pushell opened Camp Perry-Ann, “the only camp in the South exclusively for Jewish Girls”, on the property in 1927.  Camp Perry-Ann brochures describe the property as 200 acres on a gently sloping pine-covered hill overlooking the French Broad River and bordering Williamson Creek and Glen Cannon Falls.  It included the lake, tennis courts, a lodge and cabins.  Camp Perry-Ann operated through 1931.

In 1936 it was announced that a Girl Scout Camp would operate on the former Camp Perry-Ann site.  The property was then own by Mr. & Mrs. T.J. Wilson.  Camp Cateechee was affiliated with the Girl Scouts of Asheville, Charlotte and Greenville, SC but served Girl Scouts from throughout the Southeast.  Camp Cateechee operated for about 10 years.

Cabins at Camp Ivy Hill, 1922.

Another little known girls’ camp on the outskirts of Brevard was Camp Ivy Hill.  Located on a low wooded hill it included the Ivy Hill Nursing Home (today The Oaks) property.  The camp was operated by Mrs. Harriet Davis and her daughters, Miss Mary McPhail Davis and Mrs. Elizabeth Mauldin.  It included swimming, tennis, basketball, baseball, volleyball, track and hiking excursions. Music, basketry, weaving, clay modeling and illustrating were also offered.  Camp Ivy Hill operated from 1921-1923.

Next week Picturing the Past will take a look at some of the summer camps in the Cedar Mountain area.

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.

Camps Have Drawn Children For a Century

Tourism in Transylvania County in the early 20^th century increased dramatically when the railroad reached Brevard and then Lake Toxaway.  People from the lowlands and from the North spent the summer months in the cool mountains of Western North Carolina. 

Occurring to a 1920s tourism brochure it was an ideal destination for families as camps provided children “the pleasures and benefits of an outdoor life” while “parents are enjoying the pleasures of the hotel or boarding house at which they may be staying, and at the same time are relieved of the responsibility of looking after their lively offspring.”

It has long been reported that the first summer camp in Transylvania County, French Broad Camp, opened in 1913. Camp Sapphire followed in 1914.  However a recent search of the Sylvan Valley News proved that Camp Sapphire actually began in 1913 and French Broad Camp in 1914. 

Camp Sapphire was located at the foot of Elk Mountain on property originally leased from W. H. Allison and included Deer Park Lake.  It was an athletic and educational camp for boys, ages 10-20.  J.R. Sandifer, “Captain” Bill Fetzer, and Bob Fetzer were the first directors of the camp.  

Camp Sapphire closed around 1940.  In 1945 Ecusta purchased the property to use as a recreational area for their employees and families.  It was renamed Camp Straus.

Camp Sapphire

French Broad Camp tents, 1916

Major Henry E. Raines visited Brevard and Camp Sapphire in August 1913 with the intention of starting a boys’ camp here.  Major Raines and the camp were associated with the Citadel in Charleston, SC.  In addition to traditional camp activities inspections, drills, reveille and taps were required.  Named the French Broad Camp, it was located on 60 acres near Wilson’s Bridge east of Brevard.  The camp operated until the 1930s.

Winthrop College operated Camp Joy for girls in 1916 and 1917.  They offered swimming, tennis, basketball, nature study, outdoor sketching and conversational French.

Swimming at Keystone Camp

Keystone Camp for girls was established in 1916 and moved to Transylvania County in 1918.  It is the longest running summer camp in the county.  Keystone Camp was founded by Miss Florence Ellis and Miss Fannie Webb Holt.  Miss Ellis was the great-great aunt of Page Ives Lemel, the current owner.  They moved to the present location in 1919.

In 1921 there were “eight camps forming a circle around Brevard.”  By 1929 there were twelve, five of which are still in operation today.  They are Camp Carolina, Camp Illahee, Eagle’s Nest, Keystone Camp, and Rockbrook Camp.

To learn more about Transylvania’s Summer Camps visit The Museum of Transylvania Heritage on West Main St.  Next week Picturing the Past will feature some of the lesser known camps of the county.

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.

Phone Booths Were Commonplace in Town

 The Citizens Telephone Company was started in 1921 by a group of Brevard businessmen.  Their main objectives were to provide electric telephone and telegraph lines, as well as light and power in Brevard and throughout Transylvania County.  Originally each purchased five $100 shares in the company.  J.S. Bromfield became the principal owner and operated the company.

The first switchboard was located in the McMinn Building.  Then for many years the company operated out of the old jail, located behind the current Transylvania Times office.

In 1936, Joseph H. and Charles W. Pickelsimer, Sr. bought the telephone company from the Bromfield family.  Initially they did not manage the business but after Joseph’s death in 1941 Charles became President and took over its operation. 

Phone booth, corner of South Broad and Jordan Streets, 1961.

In the early days calls were placed through an operator who rang the individual or business requested.  Beginning in March 1945 callers were asked by operators to provide the “number please.”  The Local History Room at the Library has a collection of Citizens Telephone Company directories.  The earliest is from May 1947 and lists the Transylvania Times phone number as 7.

Phone booth, corner of Broad and Main Streets, 1968.

On December 6, 1951 Citizens Telephone officially transferred service to their new Exchange Building with its modern equipment.  It was located on Probart St., also behind the Transylvania Times and is the office of Harris Architects today.

Phone booth and 31₵ gas,
corner of East Main and Johnson Streets.

These updates brought dial service to the county.  Each customer had been assigned a phone number beginning with the letters TU.  TU on a telephone dial is represented by the numbers 88, which is why many Transylvania County phone numbers begin with 88.  Customers now had rotary dial telephones and the need for operators to place calls ended.

The company grew rapidly, establishing service in Rosman in 1954 and continuing to expand throughout the county.  They opened their current office on E. Main St. in October 1962.  In 1971 party lines were eliminated. 

From the 1960s through the 1990s telephone booths were commonly located on street corners in downtown Brevard and in other busy business areas.   Today everyone has a cell phone and telephone booths are a rarity.

In January 2008 “one day shy of the 60 year anniversary of the day Charles Pickelsimer, Jr. went to work for his father” it was announced that the company would be sold to Comporium out of Rock Hill, SC.  Citizens Telephone Company had 80+ employees at that time.

The Library is interested in donations of Citizen’s telephone books prior to 1947 and for the years of 1948-1951 and 1961.

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.

Brevard Had Two Movie Houses in 1919

Early moving or motion picture shows were first presented in Brevard in 1907 by W.M. Bradley and Company.  Bradley offered moving pictures during the summer months for about four years.  They were shown in the Dunn’s Rock Building on South Broad Street.

In 1911 motion pictures were offered at the Court House, with the money earned going into a fund for clocks to be installed in the Court House tower.

Beginning in 1912 picture shows were presented in the Auditorium on the second floor of a new building on West Main Street.

A 1919 article in the Brevard News mentions that there are two moving picture houses in Brevard.  Vern Clement was the movie operator at the Auditorium.  His brother, Ted, operated a theater on the third floor of the Aethelwold Hotel.  These were all silent movies as sound was not introduced to feature films until 1927.

The Clemson Theater, 1930s.

On June 17-18, 1929 Verne and Ted Clement showed the first “talking pictures” in their theater on the corner of West Main and Caldwell Streets.  It was reported, “The Clemson, is the center of attraction just now, large crowds having attended Monday’s and Tuesday’s performances to hear and see the all-talking pictures.”  

The Clemson Theater got its name from Clement and Sons.  Frank Clement operated a jewelry and photo shop in the building with his sons’ theater business.

Clemson & Co-Ed Theaters, 1941

In 1938 the Clements bought the building next door to their theater and renovated it.  On June 26, 1939 the modern, air conditioned Co-Ed Theater opened.  It included a side entrance with a separate ticket office and balcony seating for colored people.

Bryan Shiflet, Vernon Davis and C.B. Carter purchased the Clemson and Co-Ed Theaters in 1942. Carter soon bought his partners out. He sold the buildings  to the City of Brevard in 1980.

The Clemson had closed in 1956.  After years of neglect, efforts were made by the Arts Council to renovate the Clemson in mid-1980s.  It was soon discovered to be too costly though.  The building was demolished in mid to late 1990s and the property remains as a green space downtown.

Today the old Co-Ed Theater is known as Falls Theater.

The Local History Room at the Library is interested in photographs or information about drive-in theaters in Transylvania County.

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.

Department Stores Were Main Street Fixtures

For many years Patterson’s and Plummer’s Department Stores were fixtures on West Main Street in downtown Brevard.

Plummer’s Department Store on West Main, 1941 

Henry Plummer and Fred Johnson opened Johnson and Plummer dry goods store in Brevard in 1911.   In 1914 Plummer bought Johnson out and continued to operate the store as Plummer’s.  In 1918 B.W. Trantham went into business with Plummer.  The store grew quickly and in May 1919 Plummer and Trantham Department Store moved to a larger building.  In 1922 the store again changed ownership and became Plummer-Cobble.  By the late 1920s it was just Plummer’s.

Robert Plummer took over the family business from his father under the name of R.H. Plummer Company in 1932.  In 1957 they began selling clothes and shoes exclusively.  Robert Plummer died is February 1969 and the store closed in 1970.

The building on the north side of West Main St. where Plummer’s was located for most of its existence was built in 1912 by Shipman, McMinn, and Weilt on the site of the old McMinn house.  The 3-story brick building had offices on the upper floors. 

The building also has a large auditorium, officially named “The New Auditorium”, on the 2^nd floor at the back.  It had a 40’ x 20’ stage, with space for an orchestra.  There were two dressing rooms and a property room.  Entertainment, consisting of “first class shows” or “first class moving pictures”, was offered every night throughout the summer.  A “first class moving picture machine” was installed in the gallery for the movies. 

The first performance in The New Auditorium was “An Evening in Dixie” presented by the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a fundraiser for the new U.D.C. Library.  The auditorium was also available to rent for meetings and performances when available. 

Today the exterior of the old Patterson building
has been restore to the way it looked prior to 1970
when this photograph was taken.

Alex and Bessie Patterson opened Patterson’s Department Store across the street from Plummer’s in 1940.  After Alex’s death in 1952, the Patterson’s son Ben managed the store and specialized in clothing.  At its peak in the mid-1970s Patterson’s occupied about 7,500 square feet and had entrances on both West Main (Ladies’ Apparel) and South Broad (Men’s Shop).  Patterson’s operated until 1989.

Alex Patteron’s uncle, Harry Patterson, operated a department store in Hendersonville for many years.  In 1922 he opened a second store in Brevard on South Broad St.  It closed in 1929.

Next week’s Picturing the Past article will feature the Clemson and Co-Ed Theaters.

Men's Department inside Patterson's.

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.