Pisgah Fish Camp Approaching 50 Years

For nearly 50 years Pisgah Fish Camp has served residents and visitors alike.  In 1968 Dan Hawkins opened the Brevard Fish Camp in the former Club House of the Brevard Country Club on Country Club Rd.  While fish camp restaurants were plentiful throughout the coastal and Piedmont areas of North Carolina Hawkins’ restaurant was the first of this type in the mountains.

Fish camp restaurants were designed to serve fish and seafood at reasonable prices.  The Brevard Fish Camp offered catfish, flounder, ocean perch, shrimp, oysters, and crab; plus hamburgers, hamburger steak, and fried chicken.  The most expensive meals on the menu were either a seafood platter of oysters, flounder, and shrimp or a dozen fried oysters for $3.25.  Both were served with sides of coleslaw, french fries, and hushpuppies.  The only other side available was onion rings for fifty cents.

The Yesterday photo of the former Pisgah Fish Camp
was provided by Dana Hawkins.

Within a year Hawkins decided to relocate the restaurant.  He leased a building at the intersection of highways 64, 276, and 280 near the entrance to the Pisgah National Forest.  At the time there was very little that far out of town.  Renamed the Pisgah Fish Camp, the restaurant offered inexpensive food that wasn’t available elsewhere in a relaxed family-friendly atmosphere where the customers and staff knew each other well.  Locals were more than willing to drive the short distance from town and folks regularly came from surrounding counties.  The restaurant also delivered to workers at Ecusta.

On August 7, 1977 a middle of the night fire did extensive damage to the interior of the restaurant.  The structure remained intact though and with the help of the community and friends the Pisgah Fish Camp was able to reopen in less than two weeks. 

The mountain in the background of Don Voltz's (above)
and Chuck Gilmore's (below) photographs line up with the mountain
in the early photo to show the location as Pizza Hut today.

Over the years Hawkins owned a total of six different restaurants from Buncombe County to Greenville, SC.  It was a family run business.  Dan’s wife, Fran and their children all worked at the restaurants as well.  After the fire in 1977 Dana Hawkins took over as manager of the Pisgah Forest location.

In 1991 Hawkins bought property a few hundred yard to the east along Hwy. 64, remodeled an old auto repair shop, and moved to the Pisgah Fish Camp’s present location.   On November 16, 1991 the Brevard Fire Department conducted practice burn on the former building and other nearby stores in advance of construction for Forest Gate Shopping Center.

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 828-884-1820.