Fisher Reunions Facilitate Community Improvements

Slick Fisher Road in the Lake Toxaway area of the county winds 4.5 miles beginning at North Toxaway Baptist Church on Blue Ridge Rd. (Hwy. 281), travelers climb approximately 341 feet in elevation and then descends about 660 feet before connecting back up with Hwy. 281.  The route along the highway is longer (4.7 miles) but a quicker drive.  The road gets its name from Isaiah S. “Slick” Fisher.

 Fisher, a grandson of James Washington Fisher, was born June 7, 1851 to William and Harriet Sims Fisher.  He married Caroline Lee in 1876 and they had ten children.  The Fishers acquired a large amount of property in the northeastern part of Hogback Township in Transylvania County.

According to a brief family history submitted by his grandson, Warren Eugene “Dick” Fisher for The Heritage of Transylvania County, volume 2, “It is not known exactly how Isaiah received the nickname ‘Slick.’ Some say he was a fine dresser.  This seems hard to believe for country folk.  Most likely his middle name was Sylvester or Sylvannus, though neither name appears in any documentation or other family names.”

Fisher was a farmer and prominent in community affairs.  He served as school commissioner for Hogback, District 4, was a longtime Board of Elections judge in Hogback Township and was also a delegate to the Democratic State Convention in Charlotte in 1908.

A group gathered for the Fisher Reunion at the old 
Lake Toxaway Baptist Church.

The Fishers were also long-time members of Lake Toxaway Baptist Church.  Church members regularly maintained the church cemetery but many graves did not have headstones. In 1924 Isaiah Fisher, along with Rev. Wade Nicholson and Lee Norton presented a fund raising plan through an annual event.  Officers and committee members were elected and the event was named the Fisher Reunion.  “Uncle Slick” served as chairman of the Arrangement Committee for many years.

Slick and Carolina Fisher surrounded by 
grandchildren.

In addition to the traditional picnic lunch and visiting, there was typically one or more speakers and a collection was taken.  The first new monument purchased and placed was for James and Dorcas Fisher. While the main objectives were to maintain the cemetery and mark as many graves as possible, other projects were also undertaken occasionally.  In 1929 funds were used to buy materials to build picnic tables for the church grounds and in 1940 to put a fence around the church grounds so livestock would not damage the property. 

Isaiah S. “Slick” Fisher died on Dec 10, 1936 and is buried at Lake Toxaway Baptist Church cemetery, which he worked to improve and preserve.  Descendant of Isaiah and Caroline raised money for concrete tables and a marble tablet in their memory in 1960.  The base was inscribed with the names of their children.

The Fisher Reunion continues to be a regular event to bring family and friends together.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact NCRoom staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

First Car Appeared in County Around 1907

The first cars began to appear in Transylvania County around 1907 when it was noted that Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt visited the Pink Beds by automobile.  In February 1909, the Sylvan Valley News teased that Brevard would be getting its first auto owner and the editor had been extended an invitation for a ride.

An April 9, 1909 article boasted, “Brevard is to be congratulated on having within her borders an up-to-date, high-toned, first-class, 25-horse-power automobile as a permanent fixture.”  The vehicle belonged to H.P. Clarke.  The editor was given his promised ride and declared, “An auto ride is exhilarating, and as we didn’t have any hair to ‘hold on’ it was enjoyed to the full limit.”

Two months later two additional Brevard men purchased vehicles in Columbia, SC and had them delivered.  A June 11, 1909 Sylvan Valley News article reported, “Two auto-buggies, the property of Dr. E.S. English and J.L. Aiken, have arrived in town.  They were driven overland from Anderson, S.C., coming first by Saluda Gap.  At Green River they were met by high water, and had to go around by Jones Gap.  Again they were detained over night at H.P. Clarke’s by high water, reaching Brevard Thursday morning.”  English and Aiken took driving lessons so they could serve as their own chauffeurs.

A year later Mr. Clarke purchased two new automobiles, a hup-mobile and a Stearns 7-passenger car.  The Sylvan Valley News proclaimed the hup-mobile as “the classiest little car we have seen this year.”

Articles announcing injuries and deaths caused by automobiles were a weekly feature in the newspaper.  Although these occurred all across the country, most often in cities, safety was of great concern by local officials, as well.  State law set the speed limit at a maximum of 10 mph in business districts, 15 mph in residential areas and 25 mph on public highways.  State laws also required all vehicles and drivers be licensed. 

The Town of Brevard passed speed limit ordinances with hefty fines for those who did not comply.  In 1913, the speed limit was lowered from 10 mph to 8 mph on straight streets and 4 mph at crossings and corners.  Drivers were also required to sound their horn when approaching intersections.  In addition, vehicles had to have two white lights on the front and a red light on the back after sunset and before daylight.  Automobiles were also required to have mufflers.

Brevard businessman Jim Bromfield, pictured here driving
 one of several vehicles he owned, was another early 
automobile enthusiast.

North Carolina’s “Good Roads Campaign” had been around since 1899 but grew with the popularity of the automobile.  It promoted road building through quality methods of construction leading to the state nickname of “Good Roads State.”

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact NCRoom staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

Rockbrook: P.T. Barnum's Connection To The Camp

H.P. (Henry Peck) Clarke was from a prominent Bridgeport, Connecticut family.  In his late twenties, Clarke bought a large property outside of Columbia, South Carolina, known as Goodwill Plantation, in hopes of improving his health.

Clarke’s first wife, Julia Caroline Hurd, was the granddaughter of P.T. Barnum, founder of Barnum and Bailey Circus.  After her death, he married Mary Jane Macfie, daughter of Captain James Macfie.  Macfie commanded Company H “Congaree Troop” 2^nd Regiment South Carolina Cavalry, part of Wade Hampton’s Legion. 

The Clarke family began spending summers in Transylvania County in 1898.  Numerous newspaper tidbits tell of H.P. Clarke leading recreational activities, including camping, sightseeing, hiking, fishing and hunting with family and friends. 

The Clarke home at Rockbrook faced west and sat on a 
rise with a wide lawn.

Clarke purchased the old Chisholm place on the French Broad River and named it Rockbrook.  He build a large, stately home designed by Asheville architect, Richard Sharp Smith.  The front entrance of the Neoclassical Revival style house has a semicircular portico on Tuscan columns.  The house is two-and-one–half stories with a decorative widow’s walk topping the low hip roof.  Five dormers and two brick chimneys protrude from the roof as well.  The interior was comprised of large rooms flanking a central hall.  The third floor was originally servant’s quarters.  Some of the architectural drawings can be viewed at ncroom.buncombecounty.org/.  

The Clarkes regularly entertained at Rockbrook.  Mrs. Clarke hosted social gatherings, such as the Ladies Book Club.  Daughter, Nancy would invite friends to dance in the parlor or to a Christmas Day play performed in the main hall.  The grounds included a tennis court and a baseball diamond with games between local teams. 

 In 1912 public schools in Transylvania County began offering domestic science classes.  Nancy Clarke stepped up to provide equipment and materials as well as pay an instructor for girls from the Round Top and Island Ford schools.  The classes were held in one of the Rockbrook outbuildings.

On April 30, 1913 Nancy Barnum Clarke married Henry Nash Carrier at the Rockbrook home.  The wedding description read, “The bride was attired in a wedding robe of white charmeuse, en train, with trimmings of duchess and princess lace and bridal veil of tulle and orange blossoms.  She wore a magnificent pearl crescent, the gift of the groom.  The bridal procession formed at the head of the main stairway leading to the profusely decorated hall and thence entered the drawing room where the ceremony, in the presence of a large company of local and out of town guests, was performed.” 

In 1921, Mrs. Carrier established Rockbrook Camp for Girls on the property.  The camp will celebrate its centennial next year.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact NCRoom staff at ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

Tobacco Farming in Transylvania County

According to “North Carolina Atlas” by Jule B. Warren and L. Pole Denmark published in 1952 “North Carolina ranked fourth in the nation in the value of farm crops, not including livestock.”  The leading product by far was tobacco, which had been cultivated in the state since colonial times. 

Different varieties of tobacco grow best in different climates and soils.  They are also cured in different ways.  North Carolina was the leading producer of flue-cured bright leaf tobacco, most of which was grown in the eastern and northcentral part of the state.  Burley tobacco, which is air-cured was grown in the mountain counties of Western North Carolina. 

While the burley variety accounted for a very small proportion of the total tobacco crop grown, it did bring a higher price.  Burley was valued as a flavoring ingredient in tobacco products, especially cigarettes.

North Carolina’s burley tobacco production amounted to only about three percent of the national total in the early 1970s.

Locally, County Agent R.E. Lawrence began promoting tobacco as a money crop around 1920.  S.E. Verner planted an acre of tobacco as a demonstration in 1925.  By the early 1930s there were several farmers in the Little River area raising burley tobacco.  Although it could be grown in heavy red clay soils, the bottom lands in the river valley provided good fields for the crop.

A group of Little River farmers listen to a discussion
on tobacco, 1957.

Little River community scrapbooks from the 1950s through the 1970s provide information and photographs related to tobacco farming. The community regularly held demonstrations and planted test plots to learn about tobacco varieties; control of weeds, insects and diseases; and to provide other educational opportunities for farmers. 

Tobacco hanging in Martin Shipman's drying barn, 1960.

In 1952 Martin Shipman, Lynch Moore, E.W. Medford and H.M. Merrill attended a field day in Waynesville where they saw a gas burner used for curing burley.  Shipman purchased nine burner units to install in his 1,200 square foot barn with controlled ventilation.  It was the first of the improved type of tobacco barn in Western North Carolina. 

Transylvania County farmers never produced large quantities of tobacco.  Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 a quota was established setting the number of acres of tobacco that could be planted in each county.  Transylvania County’s quota was around 33 acres throughout the mid-to-late 20^th century.  When the quota system was eliminated in 2004 through the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act it was no longer profitable for small farms to raise tobacco and ended tobacco production throughout the mountain region.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

Bringing The History of the Pisgah Inn to Life

George Weston was raised in Buncombe County and served as Biltmore Estate’s superintendent of farms in the late 1800s and early 1900s before moving to New York for several years.  After returning to Western North Carolina, Weston obtained a concession permit from the U.S. Forest Service to build an inn near Mt. Pisgah in the newly established Pisgah National Forest.

The entrance to the original Pisgah Inn featured exposed log
trusses and bracing.  To the left of the entrance was the 
exterior of the field stone fireplace, which was the focal 
point of the lobby.

Weston and his wife, Mary Cynthia, spent the summer of 1919 camping nearby while their rustic inn was being constructed.  The large, two-story structure sat on a stone foundation with log piers supporting the porch.  Rough-sawn timber was used as board-and-batten exterior siding. 

In the interior the wainscoting, bookshelves, post-and-lintel ceiling supports and other woodwork was made of chestnut.  The inn included a lobby with a large stone fireplace, a dining room and kitchen, and eleven guest rooms.  Porches and terraces offered specular panoramic views.  Mrs. Weston’s native plant gardens were always open for a pleasant stroll or for botany students to study.  There were four cottages for visitors, as well.

Originally known of the Pisgah National Forest Inn, references to the Pisgah Forest Inn, Old Pisgah Lodge, Pisgah Motor Lodge and Pisgah Inn are also found.  By whatever name, the inn was popular among leading businessmen, architects, foresters and wealthy tourists.  Many guests braved the difficult journey to return year after year.

After the Westons retired in 1937 ownership and management of the Inn, which had several years remaining on the original 30-lease, changed a couple of time.  In October 1951, Leslie and Leda Kirschner took over its operation. 

In the early 1960s, when the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville to Wagon Gap Rd. was finally scheduled to be completed, the property was transferred from the U.S. Forest Service to the National Park Service.  Anticipating an increase in visitors and concerned about the condition of the old inn the National Park Service demanded major improvements, including a new inn before extending the concession contract.

The old Pisgah Inn served as 
employee housing for many years,
1984.

The Kirschners joined with several investors to construct the current Pisgah Inn, which opened in 1966.  Although efforts were made to save the original structures, they were eventually taken down in 1990. 

A detailed architectural description, with historical context, can be found in a Historic American Buildings Survey by the National Park Service and in the 1982 National Register of Historic Places nomination form.  Both are available in the Local History Room at the Library. 

Historical photographs of the early inn and cabins, the present inn and the surrounding area are featured in Marci Spencer’s new book, “Pisgah Inn”, which is part of the Images of America series.  Although Spencer’s presentation on the history of the Pisgah Inn for the Library’s June 2020 Bag Lunch program was cancelled we hope to reschedule it at a later date.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information contact the NC Room staff at 828-884-1820 or ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org.