DuPont State Recreational Forest Holds Deep History

High Falls in present day DuPont State Forest has long been a popular destination.  Beginning in the 1850s the Little River Turnpike ran from the valley through Grange, Buck Forest and Cedar Mountain to Jones Gap Road.  Along the way travelers could stop at the Buck Forest Hotel and spend several days exploring nearby sites.

Early newspaper accounts provide numerous stories of adventurers.  A 1929 Brevard News remembrance states, “In the days of our grandparents and great-grandparents, it was a favorite amusement for the young bloods to get up a party and spend a week or two at Buck Forest, with side trips to Caesar’s Head, Table Rock, Cedar Mountain, Rich Mountain and Connestee.  The parties often contained twenty or thirty couples.”  They spent their days exploring and their evenings dancing at the Buck Forest Hotel or lounging on its long shady piazza.

High Falls is located on the Little River downstream from Bridal Veil Falls and above Triple Falls.  At approximately 120 feet it is the highest fall on the river.  The river drops down an incline plane of granite and fans out in a sheet, divided by projecting portions of the ledge with a few small, hardy trees.  At the base of falls are masses of boulders varying in size, some weighing thirty to forty tons.

The Little River could by forded on a natural rock base,
except on rare occasions when the water was high.
Both photos are from a Bromfield family album and
were taken in the early 1900s.

The 1929 article includes a description of access, “The road crosses the river, by ford, about fifty yards above the top of the fall.  You have to be almost to the fall before you can see it.  Many cross the ford without even realizing that they are at the falls, although the roar tells them there are falls not far away.”

By the early 1900s changes had left the hotel off the beaten path and it had fallen into ruin.  The article concludes, “The scenery and the falls, still make the section a most attractive one, and it has numerous visitors every year.  But the noise and dust of the passing herd, the rumble of the old stage coach, the halloo of the hunting parties, the wailing minor chords of the old string band, and the calling of the figures of the Virginia Reel and others of the old fashioned dances, are no more.”

Today, High Falls and the surrounding Buck Forest area is part of DuPont State Forest.  Staff from the Transylvania County Library will be at the Friends of DuPont Forest Festival on Saturday, September 28 sharing a few stories and photos from the Buck Forest of yesteryear.  Stop by and see us!

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.