CHIMNEY ROCK
RECORD
PUBLISHED BY K.I.M. PUBLICATION
ROSE SENEHI, EDITOR
P.O.BOX 132, CHIMNEY ROCK, NC 28720
EMAIL: [email protected]
FEBRUARY 2013
Community Spirit Soars in Chimney Rock in 2012
T
he Christmas Walk on Saturday,
December 8th was a delightful ending to
a year filled with special events...from
the kickoff “Spring-Go” festival this past
spring to the crowd-pleasing Scarecrow
contest, and from the concerts at the
Gathering Place to the Christmas Walk.
These welcomed events were the result of a committee of volunteers who
spent hours planning and executing them.
The five-member group was made up of
an impressive array of talented folks …
some relatively new to the community.
Mary Jaeger-Gale, General Manager
of Chimney Rock Management, LLC,
has worked to promote our area for over
30 years. In fact, she was one of 5 distin- The Chase High School Jazz Band from Forest City directed by Michael Henderson
guished North Carolinians inducted into performed at the town’s Christmas Festival this past December 8th. The Angel
Band, a trio formed from the Fairfield Mountain Chapel Choir also performed.
the Winner’s Circle at the 2012 North
Carolina Governor’s Conference on
Travel & Tourism.
Aileen Kelly is owner, with her husband, of The Esmeralda Inn. Megan Medina is the owner, with her husband, of
Medina’s Village Bistro, Bruce Godzik is
the owner of Coffee on the Rocks, and
Aileen Kelly
Megan Medina
Mary Jaeger-Gale
Ann O’Leary is the owner, with her husband, of Bubba O’Leary’s.
The Special Events Committee has
already met to begin planning events for
this year, that will include at least 4 concerts to take place at the town’s Gathering Place. They will occur on the 3rd
Ann O’Leary
Bruce Godzik
Thursday of the month. Tentative dates
are: June 20, July 18, August 15, and
HO...HUM...WHAT’S THE BIG FUSS ALL ABOUT
Sept. 19.
Elizabeth Elise (Izzy) Brown, (born Dec.
Another “Spring-Go” Festival is
7, 2012), Chimney Rock’s newest citizen, is
planned with a tentative date of May 18.
being proudly shown off by her big sister,
This committee is hoping to get as many
Stella, a first grader in Lake Lure’s Classical
of the folks in town involved in planning
Academy. Both daughters of Ned & Frances
and working on these events. This year’s
Brown of Chimney Rock, they are among
co-chairs, Aileen Kelly and Megan Methe ten children now living in our hamlet,
dina will welcome any help they can get.
including the three O’Learys, two Abel boys
Also, it is hoped that all the folks who
and 3 Phillips girls.
have vacation places here in town will
mark these dates on their calendars and
plan to enjoy these events with their
friends and family.
December 2012:
Chimney Rock All Lit Up Like a
Christmas Tree
Gateway to “The Rock”
The photo at the top is distorted because it was taken
with a wide-angle lens. The
park entrance is in the center
and Rt. 74 is on the right and
left. The picture on the left is a
blow-up of the left side of the
picture and the one on the
right is a blow-up of the right
side. The old Mountain View
Inn is visible in the background.
PROPERTY SALES from Oct. 16, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2012
BUILDING or LOT ADDRESS
SALES PRICE
TR 6, Area 2,
Mtn. Village
Off Hwy. 64/74A
$25,000 12-31
RECORDED
DESCRIPTION
11.13 Acres
$500,000 12-18
60.4 Acres From William McBrayer to Connor Hughes
This land is located on the North side above the town where the Indian Village
was located off Silver City Rd.
Chimney Rock land can be researched on line at:
www.rutherfordcountync.gov/ Then hit GIS Website at top of page. Hit ArcIMS GIS in middle of
the page. Hit Search at top of the page.
I can’t help wondering who
those folks were who
climbed to the top of the
rock with no railing. I imagine they’re members of the
Jerome B. Freeman family
around 1896.
Precious Memories
Virginia Dalton Wilson has written a wonderful book on the history of the Bill’s Creek Community and Lake Lure. This 470
page, 8 1/2 x 11 tome is jampacked with photos and facts that
trace the history of that part of
our community. She traces the
early families, churches, cemeteries, farms, businesses, etc. There
are 61 pages alone of photos from
old Lake Lure School Yearbooks.
This book is beautifully done and
of top quality from the paper to
the production and would be an
entertaining addition to every
home and cabin. Just call or
write: Virginia Wilson, 1364 Bills
Creek Rd., Lake Lure, NC 28746.
828-625-4575. Price is $40 including postage.
HANGING BRIDGE OVER THE ROCKY BROAD
Hanging bridge over the Rocky Broad taken in 1921.
Note the man on the bridge wearing knickers.
John V. Flynn (Your Friendly Real Estate Man) had a small
office at the east end of Fibber Magee’s front parking lot.
It Will Pay Us to Patronize
our Post Office
The United States Postal Service has reduced our
hours to Noon to four, Monday to Friday. Sometime
this coming fall, they will again reappraise the
amount of usage our post office receives and decide
whether or not to close the post office, increase
hours, or keep it at four hours Mon. thru Friday.
There has been a post office in Chimney Rock since
1843. Everyone is urged to purchase your stamps at
our post office on Main St. when you are in town so
this 170-year history doesn’t come to a sad end.
EARLY SETTLERS IN CHIMNEY ROCK TOWNSHIP
Editor’s Note: Following is a summary
of the research I have assembled about
Chimney Rock’s earliest beginnings to
use in a book I am working on. This information has been culled from over 250
deeds I scanned in the County Court
House and a myriad of references which
I will be happy to supply to anyone who
is interested. I would welcome additional
information or corrections since this is a
work in progress. I am also in the process of preparing a map showing the lands
purchased up until 1900. Anyone wanting to see it, just email me. Rose Senehi,
Editor.
In the last half of the 1700s, David
Miller of Rutherfordton was one of the
first settlers in the region. Of the dozens of tracts he amassed in the Rutherfordton area, several were located in
Chimney Rock. In 1804, his sons,
John & Andrew, and his son-in-law,
Allen Twitty, were among the heirs to
many of these properties. (Please
note that in1660 King Charles II
awarded eight allies land in what is
now North & South Carolina. The Proprietary form of government went out
of existence in 1729 except for Proprietor Lord Granville. In 1768 it was
probable that his line was partially surveyed west of the Catawba in order to
establish a northern boundary of the
newly created Tryon County of which
Rutherford was part of; however,
Tryon County did not become altogether functional until 1774 because
of the indeterminate status of its
southern boundary. In spite of the fact
that Granville’s line was extended to
the Blue Ridge in 1774, it is probable
to assume that there was little if any
Lord Grandville grants in Rutherford
County and that most of the lands in
Chimney Rock were initially bought
from the State.)
In April 20, 1838, Allen Twitty sold
the 100-Acre Tract in Chimney Rock
known as the Pumpkin Patch to Isaiah
Watkins. This tract ran along both
sides of the Rocky Broad, starting
from what was to become Short Street
at the village’s northwest side to just
west of Johns Rd. at the eastern end,
and would eventually contain most of
the village. Among the early families
speculating on land, and in some
cases, settling here were: Whiteside,
Harris, Buxton, Miller, Searcy, Twitty
and Shitle. It wasn’t until the 1880s
when the Freeman’s, who hailed from
Fairview and Henderson County,
started operating in the Chimney Rock
area.
Starting in the 1820s, Dr. John W.
Harris (1791-1859), who married
Sarah Whiteside, settled in Chimney
Rock Township and began amassing
hundreds of acres in the Chimney
Rock and Rutherfordton area. Sometime between 1782 and 1800 Harris
built one of the first inns in Rutherford
County on the Hickory Nut Gap Road
that became known as the Harris Inn
or Harris Tavern (now Pine Gables on
Boys Creek Road.) He was also instrumental in developing early trade
routes. Dr. Harris was a son of James
Harris, a prominent political figure and
at that time one of the largest land
owners in Rutherford County. The entrepreneurial spirit of this family was
then locally famous. Around 1839, the
family tradition of innkeeping was fur-
100-Acre PUMPKIN PATCH TRACT
thered when Dr. Harris' daughter and
son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Bedford
Sherrill, built Sherrill's Inn at the Hickory Nut Gap, ten miles west of Chimney Rock.
Dr. Harris and several other prominent men petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to help with
improving the Hickory Nut Gap road
and to let them develop a toll road
from Chimney Rock to Asheville. In
1823 the General Assembly authorized an expenditure for the purpose
and appointed Dr. Harris as one of the
first commissioners. In 1841 the Assembly incorporated the commissioners as the "Hickory Nut Turnpike Company", empowered it to issue capital
stock, set construction standards, and
establish rates of toll. The turnpike
was completed sometime before May
10, 1847. Several members of the
Freeman family on Hickory Nut Creek
were contracted to build parts of the
road. The Harris Inn was used as the
tollgate for travelers going west to
Asheville. The first post office to
serve the Chimney Rock community
was established at the Harris Inn (in
what is now the kitchen) on December
19, 1843, with John W. Harris as postmaster.
From 1796 to 1817, The Speculation
Land Company, founded by Tenche
S. Coxe was active in the development of local mountain land. Coxe
bought 209,710 acres in Rutherford
County by way of Land Grants from
the State of N.C. from June 13, 1796
to Sept. 1817. Tench Coxe was one of
many wealthy and politically powerful
land speculators from New York and
Pennsylvania operating after the
Revolutionary War. He owned 3/4 of
the original Rutherford County in
1796. The Speculation Land Company
appointed James Dyer Justice, a well
respected pioneer citizen of Rutherford County as their southern commissioner. Joshua Forman, originally from
New York, was the first resident
agent. The local agents were based in
Rutherfordton. Many of the claims
were handled by Company Agent
Joshua Forman in the 1800s, and
much of the surveying records were
created by the Justice family. By
1910, over 927 deeds had been dis-
tributed.
In the 1850s, Jarvis (1820-1902) &
Anna Buxton (1822-1896) were buying up large tracts of land along the
Hickory Nut Gap Road in Chimney
Rock Township, including 100 acres
adjoining the Pumpkin Patch to the
west and 420 acres adjoining this
tract, plus another 53 acres known as
the “Hunkler Lands” adjoining the
420-acre tract, which included Parris
Gap. Basically, they bought all the
land from what ended up as Short
Street to almost into Bat Cave. In
1847, Reverend Jarvis Buxton, who
was the Episcopal minister of St.
James in Rutherfordton, was directed
to commence monthly services in
Asheville. He rode his horse the 40
miles through the mountains to Asheville and must have passed these
lands along the way. In 1849 Buxton
moved his family to Asheville and became rector of the newly founded
Trinity Episcopal Church, where he
served for 42 years. He also founded
Freedman’s Chapel in 1865 as part of
Trinity’s mission to newly freed
slaves, holding monthly services there
until 1872. Later called Trinity Chapel,
it eventually became St. Matthias’
Church in 1896 when the black congregation built St. Matthias Episcopal
Church on the chapel site. Inspired by
Jarvis Buxton’s missionary zeal, other
Trinity volunteers provided lay readers and teachers to establish mission
churches in outlying communities.
In the 1850s, visitors to the Hickory
Nut Gorge began to arrive in greater
numbers. This died down during the
Civil War, and during reconstruction
the gorge was regarded as a radical
Republican stronghold, owing in part
to Republican Judge G.W. Logan’s
ownership of the Harris Tavern. However, in the 1870s and 80s it picked
up again. But for the most of 1800s,
the Hickory Nut Gorge was a remote
place with a few hardscrabble farmers
and an occasional guest at the Old
Harris Inn. (It took the coming of the
automobile and highway improvements around 1915 to bring tourism to
the Chimney Rock section on a large
scale. Traffic through the gorge increased exponentially over the period
from about 1914 when road improvements first became significant, until
the Depression ended the boom,
about 1930.)
In 1866, Judge G. W. Logan (18151889) bought the Harris Inn and it
then became known as the "Logan
House". An interesting benchmark for
the frenzy of land speculation that
took place in our area was the sale in
1869 to G. W. Logan of an 800-acre
tract that John Harris had cobbled
together over the years from various
sources and called The Chimney
Rock Plantation. This tract included
the 100-acre Pumpkin Patch, which
ran one mile beyond its eastern edge
along the Broad River (much of the
northeastern edge now under Lake
Lure). The 800 acres reached north to
the top of Bald Mountain and south to
the top of the Cane Mountain, Pool
Creek area. (Keep in mind, there was
no Lake Lure and the river ran along
the north shore to the dam.)
Judge Logan acquired both fame and
notoriety during his lifetime. He was
the son of John and Martha (Harton)
Logan, and the grandson of a noted
Revolutionary patriot, Major Francis
Logan. At an early age he became
active in the study of law and county
politics. He served as Clerk of
County Court, County Solicitor, member of the Confederate Congress
(1863-1865), delegate from Rutherford County to the State Convention
(1865) and Brigadier General of the
Division of North Carolina Troops. A
Whig, Judge Logan was a staunch
Unionist during the secession crisis. He kept this position during the
Civil War and it determined the rest of
his political career. As a member of
the Confederate Congress, Judge
Logan was one of the strongest opponents of Jefferson Davis and he
worked quietly to restore peace and
to return North Carolina to the Union. Opponents identified him, probably correctly, as a leader of the proUnion Red String Order, which was
widespread in western North Carolina
during the latter part of the Civil War.
The "Red Strings” was created with
the aim to bring down the Confederate government. After the war, the
"Red Strings" actively supported the
federal Reconstruction activities in
North Carolina.
From 1866 to 1874, Judge Logan
divided his time between his home in
Rutherfordton and the Logan
House. During this time, Logan was a
member of the House of Representa-
tives of North Carolina and Superior
Court Judge. On the bench he gained
fame as an uncompromising foe of
the Ku Klux Klan. After his last election, Judge Logan spent his last years
at the Logan House and held unto
most of his lands, a great deal of
which were sold by his estate after his
death. Five-Hundred of the 800-acre
tract was sold to M.C. Toms in 1896
for $3,000. This same tract was sold
by Toms to Lucius Morse’ Chimney
Rock Mts., Inc. in 1924 for $21,000.
In the 1880s the Freeman’s: Joseph
H., Jay W. & Peter O., started buying
land in Chimney Rock Township.
These families originally settled along
the Hickory Nut Creek and operated
in Gerton, Fairview and the Fruitland
section of Hendersonville County.
Jerome (Rome) B. Freeman, son of
Joseph H., and grandson of Jay W.,
started purchasing land in Chimney
Rock Township in 1890 when he
bought 85 acres on Chimney Rock
Mountain above the Pumpkin Patch.
By that date, that tract of land had
already changed hands 5 times, starting in 1882 when the Speculation
Land Company sold it to H.G. Ewart.
Then in 1896, J.B. Freeman purchased 67 acres above the 85 acres
along with 64 acres containing the
monolith above that tract from the
Speculation Land Company for $330
and started developing the Chimney
Rock Park. He probably began building the stairway & trail called the
“Appian Way” before the lands were
actually surveyed . He engaged
Danile Watson, “Watt” Foster, F.M
(Bud) Bailey and several others to
help plan and carry out making a trail
from the town to the base and erecting a stairway to the top of the rock. It
wasn’t until 1902 when he sold the
tract containing the monolith to Lucius
Morse for $400. During the years this
property was owned by Jerome Freeman, the land above and below Chimney Rock was covered with giant virgin black walnut trees, four and five
feet in diameter. A firm in London
bough the lumber on the stump and
contracted with Freeman to cut and
deliver the walnut logs to the railroad
that had recently been completed
from Charleston, S.C. to Hendersonville. It took Freeman two years to cut
and deliver the logs to the railroad
siding in Hendersonville. The logs
were so enormous that often one
huge log made a load. This magnificent walnut
timber was cut by sweat and muscle
and the logs were snaked off the
mountainside with oxen and loaded on
the ox-drawn wagons by the same
sweat and muscle.
In 1893, J.H. Freeman purchased 14
Freeman Camp
acres located on the north side of the
river between the Pumpkin Patch and
the Buxton Lands and built a two-story
log building known as the Freeman
Camp. Jerome Freeman purchased
the property in 1902 and ran it as an
inn called The Red, The White, The
Blue. A poem written about the camp
stated: “…Jerome B. Freeman is the
host, Of statue large is he, With corresponding heart and brain, —A mountain prodigy.” It goes on to describe
the camp: “Then why go out the Old
North State, To seek your summer’s
rest, When you can find in Freeman’s
Camp, of everything the best? His orchards team with all the fruits—Large
apples unsurpassed, And Cherries,
Apricots, and Pears, For many months
to last. And ice-cold milk, —the best
on earth, —Both butter-milk and
sweet, And stall-fed beef, and poultry
fat, And juicy lamb to eat.” It ends
with: “There is no fairer spot on earth,
Than that romantic glen, It’s just the
place for belles and beaux, For
women and for men. Then come and
have a joyous time, And there your
health renew, Yes, spend two months
at Freeman’s Camp, The Red, The
White, The Blue.”
In 1874 James Mills Flack, age 20,
and his brother George came to Chimney Rock and operated a store at the
old Harris Inn. James Mills Flack, born
March 10, 1854, was the greatgrandson of the first William Flack who
came to N.C. with his brothers about
1760. James M. Flack married Lavena
Davis in 1876 when he was 22, and
he and his wife lived at the old Harris
Inn, and continued operating a store in
the front. Two of their seven children
were born there. In 1898 when J. Mills
was 44, he & Lavena purchased the
Pumpkin Patch property, which included a house and other buildings,
that with additions, was to become the
Mountain View Inn. They ran it about
fifty years and sold it in 1947. The
property is now the Chimney Rock
Parking lot.
As president and main stockholder in
the Chimney Rock Improvement Company, James Mills Flack and his wife,
Lavena, controlled the 100-acre
Pumpkin Patch property bought from
the G.W. Logan estate in 1889. The
tract ran 1650 ft. south to north and
3,330 ft. east to west, stretching just
over ½ mile from Short St. to just west
of Johns St. in Chimney Rock, and
included most of Southside Drive and
the lands above Terrace Drive.
Through their corporation, they were
active in developing and selling the
downtown and village property from
1889 to well into the 1930s. They also
purchased large tracts of land
throughout Chimney Rock Township
and at one time
owned most of
the town’s northfacing mountain,
with the exception of the tract
that contains the
monolith.
James Mills
Flack was one
of the founders
of the Chimney Rock Bank and Trust
Company that opened in August 1924
and closed Feb. 4,1930 as a result of
the stock market crash. In 1920 he
built a cement and timber dam across
part of the Rocky Broad River below
the Chimney Rock bridge and erected
an electric turbine power plant. This
plant furnished power and lights for
Chimney Rock and all of the surrounding area for 25¢ per month and
brought not only lights to the hotel, but
hot water, a dishwasher, electric
churn, mangle and washing machine.
Flack operated his plant until the
power plant of the Carolina Power and
Light Company at the new Lake Lure
dam went into operation in 1927 and
started selling power to the whole valley 1928. Mr. Flack’s power plant was
permitted under an agreement with
C.P. & L. to furnish power for the
Mountain View Inn and residences of
the immediate Flack family, until the
Inn was sold in 1947.
In 1890, Col. Thomas Turner, who
came from New York City, purchased
the old 520-acre Buxton tract of mostly
original forest from J.H. McRee and
his wife, Kate, who was the Buxton’s
daughter. He built and opened an inn
in 1892. Frances Hodgson Burnette
had written a book while staying at the
old Logan Inn and titled it Esmeralda,
which was made into a play that had a
year’s run on Broadway. Col. Turner
named his new inn The Esmeralda Inn
from that book. It attracted some wellknown celebrities as early as 1899,
among whom were Lew Wallace who
wrote Ben Hur while a guest there.
After a fire in 1917, a new Esmeralda
was built on the original foundation.
Turner family operated the inn until
1937. Edgar Flack (1877-1967) purchased the Inn April 19, 1937 when he
was 60 from Thomas Turner’s son,
and after his death, it was sold to K.J.
Kindley and wife in 1947.
In approximately 1898, D.L. McAlhaney, who at one time owned a large
section of land in Chimney Rock, ran
the following ad: “Real Estate for Sale!
One hundred fifty acres on the north
side of Chimney Rock mountain. One
half million feet of the very best hardwood timber. Saw mill, corn-mill and
shingle saws. Large 2-story mill
house. Thirty inch Turbine wheel under 25 feet of water. Seven hundred
fifty, best variety apple trees, 4 years
old. One thousand peach trees in full
bearing. Two story residence 25 x 60
(Suitable for Hotel). Store room 25 x
40, shelving and counters. Well established trade. Two story barn and stables, 50 x 50, 70 feet of open sheds,
and four 10 x 15 rooms. One acre of
bottom very fine for gardening or
trucking. The above land is situated in
the famous Hickory Nut Gap on Broad
River. And is the most picturesque
spot in Western North Carolina.”
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send $5 for postage to: Rose Senehi,
P.O.B. 132, Chimney Rock, NC 28720