Monday, October 31, 2016

Bill Chappell Part of Fiddling Tradition

Music is an integral part of our local culture.  Appalachian mountain music derives from the traditions of the immigrants who came from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and settled in this region following the Revolutionary War. 

The fiddle was typically the instrument of choice among the first settlers.  The banjo was introduced to the South through African-American slaves in the 18th century and gained popularity in the mountains during the 19th century.  The fretted or mountain dulcimer originate in the Appalachian Mountains.  It has three or four strings and is traditionally played lying flat on the musicians lap.  Other instruments commonly used included the autoharp, mandolin, bass, and guitar.

The ballads and songs are often filled with emotion, telling of relationships, daily struggles, and tragic events.  Passed on from generation to generation with each individual performer adding their own unique style the same song may have several variations.

Transylvania County has been and continues to be home to many talented musicians.  Fiddler Bill Chappell was well-known throughout the area.  He got his start on a gourd fiddle but later bought a Stradivarius or a less expensive imitation.  Chappell often played in, and won, fiddle contests.  He was known to play up to three straight days at dances “with the help of a little moonshine and seldom a bite to eat” according to a July 29, 1999 Transylvania Times article by Tim Barton.  Chappell knew enough tunes to play for hours without repeating the same song.

William Martin Chappell’s obituary states that he passed away shortly after his 100th birthday on January 23, 1949 but his death certificate and other information list his birth as Christmas Day, 1847 making him 101 at the time of his death.

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.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Lookout Towers Played role in Preserving Forests

Lookout towers played a vital role in forest history for over a half-century.  In 1910 the U.S. Forest Service was devastated by the loss of 85 firefighters, 8 billion board feet of timber, and 5 million acres of forest from fires in Montana and Idaho.  Fire prevention and control would become an essential piece of forest management.

Lookout towers in Western North Carolina are normally located on the top of high mountain peaks or balds.  The first steel fire towers in the state were built in 1928.  During the 1930s the CCC constructed numerous towers in the mountains.  Some of the towers they built were made of local stone.  By 1940 North Carolina had a network of fire lookout towers.

North Carolina’s lookout towers ranged in height from 35 to 120 feet at the base of the cab atop the tower.  Cabs varied in size from about 50 to 200 square feet.  Fire and communication equipment, along with a bed and stove furnished the small cab.  Supplies had to be hauled up a steep staircase that wound up the inside of the steep tower frame.
Fire tower at Toxaway Mountain, 1964.

Towers were typically manned during the fire season, from October through May.   Because towers were located on remote, isolated mountaintops watchmen not only worked in the towers but lived there as well.  The location of the lookout towers also meant they were exposed to harsh weather conditions of wind, rain, snow and extreme temperatures during the winter months.

Watchmen stationed in the towers kept a sharp eye out for tell-tale smoke.  They could plot the location of the fire using a map and compass.  If the smoke was visible from multiple towers they used triangulation to determine the exact location.  They could contact each other and ground crews by phone or radio to investigate and dispatch fire fighters as needed.

Transylvania County once had five fire lookout towers, located at Fryingpan Mountain, Pilot Mountain, Rich Mountain, Sassafras Mountain, and Toxaway Mountain.  The towers at Pilot and Sassafras mountains have been removed.  The Sassafras Mountain tower was constructed in 1932 and stood 35 feet.

In 1935 Company 3448 of CCC Camp Sledge in Brevard constructed a 45 foot, 9 inch steel tower and a one-room cabin on Toxaway Mountain.  The cost was $880.19.  It is one of just two fire lookout towers in Western North Carolina that is still manned.

Rich Mountain lookout tower and watchman's cabin, 1963.
The 35 foot high Rich Mountain tower was also built by the Camp Sledge CCC camp.  It was completed in February 1939 and remained in operation into the 1990s.

The Fryingpan Mountain lookout tower on the Transylvania Haywood County line, built in 1941, is accessible from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is 70 feet high, making it the tallest USFS fire tower in Western North Carolina.  Like Rich Mountain it was manned into the 1990s.

Today visitors can climb the five flights of stairs and view Cold Mountain across the East Fork of the Pigeon River to the west, Shining Rock Wilderness to the southeast, Looking Glass Rock and John’s Rock to the south, and Mt. Pisgah is just north of the tower.  On a really clear day looking northeast Mount Mitchell, the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River is visible 38.4 miles away.  The Fryingpan Mountain lookout tower is on the National Historic Lookout Register. 

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.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Kersh Drew Cartoons Depicting County's History

In an interview for a 1997 article Kersh told John Lanier
 "The Boom Of 1899" was his personal favorite.
Earle Kersh had a 33 year career with Life Magazine before retiring to Brevard in 1972.  Kersh had begun his career as an office boy for the magazine.  He worked his way up through the organization, ultimately becoming the art director. 


Kersh was an amateur artist and from 1974-75 used this talent to create a series of illustrated short historical anecdotes for the Transylvania Times.  The column, "Old Transylvania Times", first appeared on November 25, 1974 on the editorial page.  Kersh had created 35 sketches which ran through March 1975.  At that time Kersh decided he did not want to take on the additional work and felt that local history was being well represented in the newspaper.

Kersh’s sketches feature Native Americans, early settlers and county leaders throughout Transylvania County’s history.  They depict boarding houses, buffalo, bushwackers, corn whiskey, country stores, stagecoaches, steamboats, and more.

In 1997 the Transylvania County Joint Historical Preservation Commission (JHPC) published the columns in booklet form.  Kersh actually had to redraw the sketches for the booklet as all of the originals had been lost.  He used the old newspaper columns for this but there are occasional variations between the newspaper version and those in the booklet.


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.








Monday, October 10, 2016

Architectural Surveys Provide Excellent Information

JHPC (Joint Historical Preservation Commission) architectural survey files are an excellent source of information for historical structures in Transylvania County.  Many of the photographs of homes and businesses used in Picturing the Past articles are from the countywide architectural survey taken between September 1990 and September 1991.


Structures surveyed included both small and large buildings on farms and in town,
such as the privy (left) on the Looney Banther farm in the Whitewater section of the
county and the former Brevard Lumber building on King St. in Brevard.


An outside consultant, along with local history experts, combed the county identifying properties that were at least 50 years old and that retained their historic and architectural integrity.

After the survey was completed an overview of the county’s history from about 1820 to 1941 was published.  It was divided into four periods defined by events that strongly affected the development, culture, and architecture of the county.  In addition, more than 50 local properties were added to a state-maintained study list identifying properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Close-ups of architectural details are reflected in some images,
like this carved sunburst bracket support on the overhang of the
polygonal bay windows of the Fitzgerald Patton House located behind Bi-Lo.

In 1995 the Transylvania County Joint Historic Preservation Commission began working on a book based on the survey data prepared by the consultant.  “Transylvania: The Architectural History of a Mountain County” was published in 1998.  It features over 200 of the county’s finest and most representative historic properties.

Exterior shots are included for all structures
as well as some interior shots (below), like Faith Chapel in Cedar Mountain.
Files for all 489 properties are located in the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room at the Transylvania County Library.  Nearly 1,500 images from these properties representing Balsam Grove, Brevard, Cedar Mountain, Lake Toxaway, Penrose, Pisgah Forest, Rosman and other areas of the county are now available online at DigitalNC.org.  Hundreds of images depicting farm buildings—barns, chicken houses, corn cribs, silos, smokehouses, and spring houses—reflect the county’s agricultural roots.  Bridges, businesses, camps, cemeteries, churches, gauging stations, mills, and residential homes are among the other structures included in the survey.

The property files also contain corresponding data which architectural descriptions, family names, historical background, and locations.  Interns from Rosman High School and Brevard College are currently working to scan this supporting information which will then be added to the photographs on DigitalNC.

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.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Sid Barnett and Sons Were Talented Tradesmen


Industry, large and small, has played a major role in the development of Transylvania County.  Throughout the mid- and late-20th century Ecusta and DuPont were the largest industries and major employers in the county but there have been, and continue to be, numerous other local industries and manufacturers.

Branson’s North Carolina Business Directories from the mid- and late-19th century list blacksmithing and wheelwrighting, carpentry, gun and silversmithing, millwrighting, saddles and harness, wagon and buggy, and wool carding as types of manufactories in Transylvania County.  In addition grist, saw, and planing mills are listed.  Listings include the name of the proprietor and the post office for the business.

The 1890 directory lists Brevard Lumber and Mfg. Co. owned by T.L. Clark, H.L. Pixly, and L.G. Siniard and a tannery owned by C.C. Patton.  These show the direction local industry would move during the early- to mid-20th century when logging, lumber, and tanning became the major local industries.  Joseph Silversteen and Louis Carr provided employment for hundreds of local workers for about 50 years.  For shorter periods Brevard Tannin, Moltz Lumber, and Shaffer Lumber also ran businesses related to the logging industry.

Other local manufacturers established in the early 1900s included Wheeler Hosiery (featured last week), Pisgah Mills, and Barnett’s Machine Shop.

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.

A November 23, 1939 Transylvania Times article announced the Barnett’s Machine Shop was being updated with new ultra-modern machines, including lathes, gear cutters, and planing mills.  A new 300-amp portable electric Westinghouse welding machine was now available for off-site jobs.  Barnett had also recently added space to the shop and a new supply building.  He had 11 employees at the time.

Inside Banett's Machine Shop.  Jim Lyday is second from left.
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.  After Sid retired his son Ned took over operation of the shop.  Barnett’s Machine Shop closed in 2000.

With the recent demolition of the old shop several members of the Transylvania County Historical Society shared memories of visits to Barnett’s.  Keith Parker described a “long drive shaft along the ceiling driven by an old engine out back (model A perhaps) with different belts coming down to drive lathes, drills and other machines as needed. Today safety laws would never permit such but I was fascinated by it all and how smoothly it ran.”   Mac Morrow added that, “Ned changed over to Bridgeport mills and CNC lathes by 1976.”

Jim Lyday’s grandfather, also Jim Lyday, was Barnett’s first employee.  He worked as a lathe operator at the shop for over 30 years until retiring at the age of 75.  Gene Baker remembered another long time employee, Fred Gillespie.  Gillespie was the caterpillar mechanic.

All agreed that Barnett, his sons and employees all had reputations as highly respected, gifted and talented tradesmen.

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.