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    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley
    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley
    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley
    Ebook149 pages39 minutes

    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley

    By Swannanoa Valley Museum

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    About this ebook

    North Carolina's magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains have drawn people to the Swannanoa Valley since the beginning of time. Rivers and forests lured early hunters and gatherers; later inhabitants tilled the rich, fertile soil and logged the thick forests on the mountainsides. People also came to the mountains to enjoy the mystical beauty and enchantment of the area, the cool, crisp climate, and the sparkling waters of brooks and streams. Hiking, camping, and the tranquility of a woodland world provided escape from city life. The Swannanoa Valley is cradled between the Craggy Mountains to the north and the Swannanoa Mountains to the south. Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in America east of the Mississippi River, rises majestically nearby. Among the early visitors who decided to settle in the valley were those who purchased the land that later became the sites of the famous conference centers in the area-Montreat, YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, and Ridgecrest-and businessmen, who brought industry to the area.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 24, 2004
    ISBN9781439612613
    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley
    Author

    Swannanoa Valley Museum

    In Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley, the Swannanoa Valley Museum presents the region's social, cultural, and natural history with nearly 200 vintage images. The collection of historic photos and artifacts in Black Mountain's Swannanoa Valley Museum relates the rich history of this unique valley and preserves it for all who are drawn here in the future.

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the photographs in this book, partly because they're from the NC mountains! The pictures of Montreat and Lake Susan brought back fond memories of going to Music and Worship conferences (with people from my church) there a couple of summers when I was a teenager.

    Book preview

    Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley - Swannanoa Valley Museum

    110–111.

    INTRODUCTION

    The Swannanoa Valley is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina, reputedly among the oldest mountains in the world. No longer high, jagged, and snow-covered like the Rockies, the still majestic Blue Ridge peaks remain awe-inspiring and yet somehow seem more approachable and hospitable than their Western counterparts.

    It is impossible to conceive what these mountains were like in their youth. We can only guess at the species of plant and animal life that inhabited this part of the world millions of years ago. In this book, however, we hope to have captured the story of life in the valley since the American Revolution. What brought the early settlers to the Swannanoa Valley, and what continues to draw people here today?

    One obvious answer is the spectacular scenery, but the rugged pioneers who came to the valley after the Revolutionary War weren’t looking for great views. They wanted land they could till and forests in which to hunt. For years, the valley and surrounding mountains had been Cherokee hunting grounds, but the Cherokee allied themselves with the British during the Revolutionary War, and when the British were defeated, the new American government opened the land west of the Swannanoa Gap to white settlement.

    The Native Americans did not give up their territory easily. One legend is the story of Samuel Davidson, one of the first white settlers to come to the valley. Davidson staked a claim and built a cabin at the foot of Jones Mountain. He then returned to Old Fort for his wife, child, and a servant woman. Davidson kept a bell tied to his horse so he could easily locate it. A renegade Cherokee hunting party approached the cabin, grabbed the horse, and jangled the bell, luring Davidson outside. They shot him and left his body on the mountainside. The women and child escaped back to Old Fort and later Sam Davidson’s twin brother, William, and a party of men returned to the cabin, buried Sam’s body, and took revenge by killing many of the Indians.

    Treaties forced the Cherokee to move on, leaving the valley to the newcomers, who built homes and rustic churches/schools in the early communities of Bee Tree and North Fork. At one time, North Fork boasted more of a population than Asheville. The town of Grey Eagle gradually formed along the old wagon road that became the Western Turnpike, and when the railroad came through the Swannanoa Gap in 1879, the town changed its name to match the one given to the station: Black Mountain.

    Rail travel changed the economy of the valley from an agricultural base to one that encompassed logging, mining, tourism, and land development. Boarding houses, hotels, and inns sprang up in the late 19th century to accommodate the many tourists who came by train from lower, hotter climates. Some of these summer people returned to stay for good, starting businesses, building homes, and raising their families in the valley. The climate and peaceful ambience of the area appealed to those who were seeking sites to build religious retreats. Montreat Assembly, Blue Ridge Assembly, and Ridgecrest Assembly were all established before 1910.

    Visitors to the valley in the early 1920s resulted in new industry coming to the area. Charles D. Owen decided to relocate his blanket manufacturing facility, Beacon Manufacturing, from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Swannanoa. During the rest of the 20th century, the Owen family’s industry employed hundreds of valley residents. Raphael Guastavino II, a famed Spanish architect who came to Western North Carolina to work on the Biltmore House, decided to stay and built his own estate, Rhododendron, just outside of Black Mountain. Franklin Terry built InTheOaks as a vacation home.

    The valley continued

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