Dairy Farming Was Important in Transylvania County

June is National Dairy Month and while Transylvania County is not known for dairy products today throughout much of the 20^th century there were local farms with dairy operations.  That typically had a small dairy barn for milking and storage.

Frreman Nicholson's dairy herd in front of the concrete block dairy, brick silo
and large timber-frame barn on his Little River farm in 1954.

When Transylvania’s architectural survey was undertaken in 1990 there were are least seven farms identified that had a separate dairy barn.  These ranged from small cinderblock structures with attached sheds to large two-story barn with gambrel roofs like those built by W.T. Whitmire and C.K. Osborne. 

In the late 1930s Whitmire built a two-story dairy barn on his farm located along the Old Hendersonville Highway between Enon and Penrose.  The fieldstone first story is finished with a dry-mortar appearance, and the loft has German siding in the ends.  The rounded roof has flared, boxed eaves and two circular metal vents in the roof.  Whitmire milked 12-15 dairy cows.

C.K. Osborne’s Eastview Dairy was located just south of Pisgah Forest, at the intersection of present day Old Hendersonville Highway and Osborne Rd.  Claude Osborne established Eastview Dairy on the farm he had owned for nearly 30 years and built a large dairy barn in 1928.  The molded concrete block barn had a bank of fourteen four-paned windows with a central axis which tilted open horizontally down the long sides.  A large wood frame loft with a metal roof ran the length of the barn. The Osbornes milked about 80 head of dairy cows. 

Eastview bottled their own milk and sold to homes and businesses.  Local restaurants used Eastview milk, cream, butter, butter milk, and cottage cheese.  In 1941 Eastview Dairy was sold to the Pet Dairy Products Company.  They took the milk to their Waynesville facility for pasteurization for retail and wholesale markets through southwestern North Carolina.  Frank Osborne managed the Brevard business.

Sunnyside Dairy, located on Country Club Road outside of Brevard, was owned by W. Davis Glazener and Sons.  Walter and Paul Glazener operated the business from the late 1920s until 1940 or 1941.  In 1931 they introduced chocolate milk to the Brevard market.  Miss Beatrice Green of Penrose won $5.00 for providing the name “Choc-O-Pep” for their product. 

A 1934 advertisement for Eastview  and Sunnyside Dairies announced new prices of twelve-and-one-half cents for a quart of milk, seven cents for a pint and four cents for a half pint.  Buttermilk was six cents a quart. 

Notices in the newspaper also reminder folks that, “It is a violation of State Law, and punishable by a fine of $50.00 to use milk bottles that belong to either of the dairies.”  A $5.00 reward was offered for providing evidence to convict any person using the bottles for any purpose other than that intended by the dairies.  People were strongly advised to return the milk bottles immediately after use.

Both dairies had a Grade A rating from the state and federal Board of Health and an A-1 rating from the U.S. Army.  They provided milk for the three CCC camps located 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 828-884-1820.