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.