Elaine

1540

DeSoto’s expedition comes through what is now Highlands.

1690s

Colonial traders, primarily from South Carolina, begin to penetrate the Cherokee Country.

1715

The provincial legislature of North Carolina passed some sixty laws to promote settlement of the remote regions of the colony. These incentives included land grants, timber rights to adjoining lands, and exemption from taxes and service in the militia.

1740s

The Third Wave of Immigration of the Ulster Scots starts migrating beyond Pennsylvania into the Carolinas.

1767

Thomas Griffiths, English adventurer, is sent to America by English potter, Josiah Wedgwood, in search of "Cherokee clay." He returns to England with five tons of dried clay--enough to produce Wedgwood mantels, cameos, vases and tableware for years to come. (I can certainly understand this--I loved nothing more than to make mudpies with the colorful clay on my family’s properties when I was a little girl.)

1775

Samuel McCall is born in Orange County, Carolina. His ancestors are said to have entered this country from Ireland through the Port of Charleston. He would be one of the earliest settlers in our area and was my great, great, great grandfather on my mother's side. He would later leave the Sylvan Valley area of Transylvania County and settle at the age of 70 in the Whiteside Cove area of Jackson County near Cashiers.

Spring, 1776

Botanist William Bartram passes through Macon County (Highlands) and writes priceless descriptions of the land published in his 1791 book, Travels.

1777

Captain William Moore builds a small log-cabin fort near Asheville. Called to service by the Continental Army, he returns with his family in 1784.

June 14, 1787

James Smith is born in what is now Asheville city limits. He is the first pioneer child born in Western North Carolina.

1793

The first four-wheeled vehicle, a wagon, is brought over Saluda Mountain and into Asheville, called Morristown at that time. The area was a Cherokee Indian Crossroads.

1795

Kentuckians and Tennesseans begin driving livestock through Asheville to markets in South Carolina and Georgia.

1796

A large part of what is now Transylvania County was included in one of the largest land grants in North Carolina’s history.

1797

N. C. General Assembly votes to establish the village of Asheville, to be named for popular governor, Samuel Ashe. Asheville is incorporated the following January 28. Isaac Sawyer is the first mayor.

1802

Meigs-Freeman Survey designates land to the west of line as Indian Country and to the east of line for white settlement. The line crossed through at Dodgen Ridge where we have a small development. White settlers were already crossing the line, and it was abandoned in 1819.

1803

Samuel McCall migrates, with his wife Eleanor, to the Cedar Rock area of what is now Pisgah National Forest. Samuel was a wagon maker by trade. They came from Orange County, North Carolina.

1820s

Early settlers continue to settle the headwaters of the French Broad River. Most have land grants for several hundred acres or buy the land for about 5 cents an acre. Samuel McCall's sons Robert and John start buying land on the Upper French Broad. My mother's family is from John's line.

1823

My father's great grandfather, Martin Mason, moves here from Troublesome Creek, Campbell County, Virginia. He will become the first pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church when it breaks from the Cathey's Creek Baptist Church in 1842. Stories from the era say that the break was not only for convenience, but that the settlers in the Upper French Broad area (my ancestors) did not agree with the pro-slavery stance of the lower basin.

1827

Buncombe Turnpike, a toll road, is completed linking Greenville, SC, with Greenville, TN. At the time, it is the finest road in North Carolina. It provides passage for drovers taking livestock to Southern markets. Planters begin summering in Flat Rock to escape the heat and disease of the Low Country.

Covered wagons pass through frequently carrying people westward.

1830s

William H. Thomas, long-time defender of the Cherokees, builds the primitive Oconalufty Turnpike from Webster to Sevierville, TN. Mr. Thomas had been adopted by Cherokee Chief Yonaguska as a boy.

1835

Col. John A. Zachary of Surrey County, NC, brings his family to Cashiers Valley to live having first seen the valley in 1783. He cannot get the valley out of his mind believing it to be the Promised Land. He was one of the first settlers of Cashiers Valley and my ancestor (through marriage). (Most books say Col. Zachary was the first settler of the Valley, but further research indicates that a Millsap family lived in the Valley as early as 1818. More accurately, Col. Zachary was the first to come and stay.)

An interesting note: Barak Norton, the first white settler of Whiteside Cove, had already been living between Cashiers and Highlands for close to 15 years. He resented Col. Zachary’s move to the valley as it made him feel crowded. Col. Zachary’s homestead included what is now High Hampton and Wade Hampton.

1838

Removal of the Cherokee Indians to reservations in Oklahoma--the Trail of Tears. Ironically, the Cherokees for the most part were living peacefully with the white settlers. Those who could, hid out in the mountains aided by friendly whites. Every summer the Cherokee people tell their story in Unto These Hills.

1839

Cashiers got its first post office operated my one of Col. Zachary’s sons.

1840

My great, great, great grandfather, Samuel McCall and his wife, Eleanor, move from Transylvania County to the Whiteside Cove area of Jackson County near Cashiers. He leaves behind three sons, Robert, John, and Samuel, Jr., and a daughter, Margaret. His second son, John, is the father of my great, great grandfather, Jahue Chasteen McCall. John and his wife, Elizabeth Glazner, are buried at the Macedonia Baptist Church cemetary. Robert's family is buried in what is now Pisgah National Forest near Cedar Rock where the family first settled.

The Robert (Bobby) McCall who settled in Cashiers is thought to have been Samuel's nephew. Family legend says that Samuel left the Cedar Rock area because his youngest son was getting into trouble. I think it's interesting that he moved so close to Bobby McCall.

His sons, Jonathan and George, began the Highland's McCalls and acquired land grants in the Clear Creek community. His daughters, Nancy and Jane, married the Pickelsimer men, Benson and Ransom.

1840

Asheville’s first newspaper, the Highland Messenger, is published.

1842

The Cherokees still living in our mountains were granted permission to stay--no longer having to hide out.

1845

Col. Wade Hampton II purchases land from Col. Zachary to get away from the Columbia, SC, heat and mosquitoes.

1848

Under the leadership of Will Thomas, the remaining Cherokees were paid the $53.33 each appropriated by the federal government for the trip west plus 6.5% interest since 1836. This total amount was used to purchase the mountain land which would become the Cherokee Reservation that we know today.

1849

A turnpike connects Habersham County, Georgia, with Macon County, North Carolina. There are no bridges or ferries so, when the streams are up, the traveler must simply wait for them to go down enough to ford. Who would have ever guessed how many people would travel this route 150 years later from Atlanta and farther south.

1850s

White settlement begins in the Tuckasegee Valley in Jackson County. Prior to then Tuckasegee was one of the largest of the Cherokee Middle Towns. One of the stockades to hold the Cherokees had been here during the Removal. You can almost feel the presence of those before us when hiking this wondrous area or enjoying Bear and Wolf Lakes.

1861 - 1865

The population of Asheville hits 1,000 in 1861.

The Civil War pits brother against brother as many mountain families have split loyalties. John McCall, my ancestor, has two sons fighting for the north and one for the south.

1867

Corundum is discovered in Macon County. This discovery prompts the formation of the Western North Carolina Mining and Improvement Co., which leads to the development of Lake Toxaway and Sapphire Valley.

1868

Brevard is incorporated as the county seat of Transylvania County.

1875

Town of Highlands is founded when Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson drew a line from New Orleans to New York and another from Chicago to Savannah reasoning that would become a great population center. They purchased 839 acres.

1876

Christian Reid’s romantic novel The Land of the Sky is published giving the Asheville area and all of Western North Carolina its favorite nickname. Upon entering Transylvania County from Flat Rock, she wrote, "The Valley of the River lies before us like a garden where there stretches along the entire western horizon a range of the most beautiful mountains which I have ever seen--the most beautiful, I think, which can be seen anywhere. " Christian Reid, The Land of the Sky, p. 94.

1877

Asheville gets its first telegraph line. Mayor Edward Ashton pushes for a new $33,000 courthouse at Pack Square. He also removes the whipping posts and public stocks from Court Square.

1879

Asheville’s first public library opens.

1879

The Ravenels of Charleston, SC, build the first summer home in Highlands.

October, 1880

The first train reaches Asheville prompting the tourist explosion of the 1880s. Also fueling the move to Western North Carolina was the belief that our climate and location was the cure for consumption. People are still coming here for the same reasons as well as the safety of our mountains. For people coming from the cities, coming here is like taking a much-appreciated step back in time.

1888

George Vanderbilt purchases thousands of acres in Western North Carolina to build the Biltmore House. Asheville also opens its first public schools.

1889

What is now Western Carolina University was started as a small school for mountain children. My grandfather went there. He met and married my grandmother as he walked from his home near Toxaway through Little Canada in the Tuckasegee community.

1890

J. Frances Hayes of Pennsylvania, a railroad man, moves to Transylvania for health reasons. Hayes became the founder of the Toxaway Company and built the Fairfield Inn and Lake, the Sapphire Inn, the Lodge, the Franklin Hotel in Brevard, and the Toxaway Inn. Just as the developers of Palm Beach went there for health purposes and then, upon recuperating, noticed the awesome beauty, J. Frances Hayes started what would become the Western North Carolina Resort District upon regaining his health.

1892

The Sapphire Valley Mining Company began mining corundum along the Horsepasture River.

1895

The Biltmore House is completed. Also, Joseph Silverstein came to Rosman. He was the founder of the Gloucester Lumber Company and a number of tanneries. Three men, George Vanderbilt, J. Frances Hayes, and Joseph Silverstein started a "boom" in Western North Carolina. Our beautiful area had been discovered by more than Indians and settlers.

1896

The Fairfield Inn and Lake were built becoming the first resort in the High Country. Hayes promoted the Inn as a modern summer hotel with all the conveniences and comforts. After all, it had electric lights and indoor toilets. I had the pleasure of staying in the old Inn in the 80s. The fun of staying on the third floor was that you had to get up an hour or so early to turn the hot water on to give it time to travel to your shower. The Inn was dismantled in the mid-80s and the land sold. It is hoped that at some time there will be a replica of this marvelous Inn.

1898

George Vanderbilt’s Pisgah Forest becomes the site of America’s first school of forestry.

FAIRFIELD INN

1901

Long distance telephone service comes to the area.

1902

George Vanderbilt loses much of his inherited fortune through a bad investment slowing down his forestry efforts.

1903

The Toxaway Inn opens. Advertised only to millionaires, its guest list included Edward Baccus, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, R. J. Reynolds, the Vanderbilts, the Dukes, the Wannamakers, and the Nunnally family of Atlanta. Lake Toxaway, once a mountain locked valley in the middle of nowhere was now promoted as The Switzerland of America. (Toxaway is the Cherokee word for "red bird").

Guests enjoyed boating, swimming, tennis, golf, fishing, hunting, and horseback riding. A first-class orchestra played daily. While the Toxaway Inn no longer exists, visitors enjoy the Greystone Inn in the present day Lake Toxaway Resort and Country Club.

1903

The Transylvania Railroad was extended to Lake Toxaway. The aristocracy of the Eastern United States made their way to the Inns in the beautiful Sapphire Country to enjoy the cool summers and the fresh mountain air.

1909

Cascade Lake is built in the Little River Community of Transylvania (Cherokee for "across the woods") County to produce electrical power for the town of Brevard.

1910

Mr. Silverstein acquires 30,000 acres of forest land from Vanderbilt. He builds a sawmill and a company store for his 300 workers. The store still stands in Rosman, and, until recently, served lunch. This acreage would later become part of Pisgah National Forest with the birth of forestry right here in our mountains.

1911

While seemingly prosperous, The Toxaway Company was forced into bankruptcy by the larger stockholders. E. H. Jennings, a Pittsburgh banker, purchases the company in foreclosure. For $100,000 he was able to purchase 28,000 acres including the Inns.

1911

Congress passes the Weeks Law providing for national forests in the Eastern United States, with the Great Smokies designated as one of the original purchases.

1913

A tourist guide identifies Brevard as the "City of Waterfalls". This is a fitting tribute as Transylvania County has over 250 waterfalls including Whitewater Falls, the highest cascade east of the Rockys. The reason for many waterfalls is simple: Blessed with many rivers and creeks, Transylvania County has one of the greatest differences in elevation in the Eastern United States -- 6,025 on Chestnut Mountain to 1,110 at the South Carolina line. Also, the county has one of the highest average rainfalls east of the Pacific Northwest with over 80 inches annually.

August, 1913

The original Toxaway Company is dissolved, and Mr. Jennings decides to sell land around Lake Toxaway for estates. Sales are immediate, including Lucy Armstrong, whose mansion would become the Greystone Inn over 70 years later.

During this period Carl Moltz, who would marry Lucy Armstrong after the death of her husband, operated Moltz Lumber Company logging the surrounding timberlands. Much of this property is now available to the hiker or mountain biker as Panthertown Valley, now owned by the U. S. Forest Service. The old logging roads make wonderful trails.

1914

Edith Vanderbilt sells 70,000 acres to the federal government for $433,500. The idea for a national forest east of the Mississippi is born.

1915

Pisgah Forest becomes the first national game preserve east of the Mississippi. Its name had come from the Biblical mountain from which Moses had viewed the Promised Land. Vanderbilt, like Col. Zachary, the Founder of Cashiers, had also seen this area as the Promised Land. Working as a Realtor through the present Land Rush, I work constantly with people who, over and over, agree with this assessment.

July, 1916

The French Broad River (so named because it flowed westward into French Territory) floods devastating Chimney Rock and Bat Cave and killing 29 people.

August, 1916

Another flood breaks the earthen Toxaway Dam and 540 acres of water rush toward Walhala, SC. Fortunately, no one is killed. Unfortunately, this puts the magnificent Lake Toxaway Inn out of business. With the Great Depression and World Wars I and II to follow, it’s the 60s before the beautiful Toxaway area starts to rebound as a tourist Mecca.

1916

Pisgah National Forest is created from land that was formerly owned by George Vanderbilt. Both the McCall and the Owen side of my family sold land to Vanderbilt. The mountain behind our family homeplace is now national forest, but our old deed shows it belonging to Vanderbilt after John McCall sold it.

1919

Camp Merriewood for girls is established at the head of Fairfield Lake. It is one of many camps which will shape this area and families are first exposed to our area through our camps then come back to vacation or to live. The importance of our numerous camps cannot be underestimated.

1920

Nantahala National Forest is established.

1921

Attorney Exum Clement of Asheville becomes the first woman to serve in a state legislature in the South.

1924

Asheville gets its first skyscraper when Developer L. B. Jackson builds the 14-story Jackson Building at the age of 27.

1930

The first railroad across the Smokies is completed connecting Cherokee with Gatlinburg, TN. With the recent opening of Harrah’s Casino on the reservation, that road is getting far more travel than could have ever been imagined.

1934

Brevard College is founded on the grounds of Brevard Institute.

1938

Harry H Straus comes to Transylvania County and establishes the Ecusta Paper Company on the Davidson River. His company pulls the area out of the Great Depression. Always community minded, Ecusta cooperates with the environmental movement of the 70s and takes significant steps to end the pollution caused naturally by the operation. Ecusta is said to be Cherokee for "rippling waters".

By 1938

The whole face of the Western North Carolina mountains had changed as the lights came on in every little cabin and store. Through the rural electrical associations such as Haywood Electric, most everybody had access to electricity.

April, 1939

The first sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway are opened. This has been a project of the CCC, one of Roosevelt’s programs after The Great Depression.

1940s

Brevard Music Center is established offering a 7-week camp for outstanding young musicians along with a series of 50 or more concerts, operas, and symphonies attended by people from all over the country.

1941

Lake Glenville is built. The Lake is 4.5 miles long and covers almost 1,500 acres.

1945

Carl Sandburg moves to Flat Rock with his wife Paula. Their home, Connemara, can now be toured. Mrs. Sandburg’s cheese making is almost as fascinating as her husband’s stories.

1945

Ecusta Paper Company purchases Camp Sapphire as a recreational area for its employees. Now in the hands of a private developer, Straus Park is a village in the making.

Sept., 1947

I was born.

Aug., 1953

I start school in a one-room schoolhouse built by Mr. Silverstein in the Toxaway community where my mother’s family lives.

1954

Bear Lake was built as part of Nantahala Power and Light’s hydro-electric system. It covers 476 acres and is a favorite of students at nearby Western Carolina University. Bear Lake and Wolf Lake are in the beautiful Tuckasegee Valley which was once a major village of the Cherokee Indians.

1954

George Cobb is in the area building golf courses at The Country Club of Sapphire Valley and High Hampton.

Summer, 1955

My family moves to Brevard to be closer to schools and my father’s work. The Silverstein community (also referred to as Gloucester Township) will, however, always be my home. Fortunately, my sister and I inherited the family homestead as my grandmother lived with us from the time my grandfather died in 1951 until she died when I was a senior in college.

GRANNY & ME

Granny Lillie Owen McCall always added hat and gloves when she dressed for church or town. She was quite the lady.*

*I could never figure out why Granny was such a fancy lady until I ran across a picture of her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother was out of the Reid family, Hogback Township. She was very obviously raised by ladies of the time. (She probably saved my skin as she would always say "Tans are for farmhands; ladies have pretty white skin." I got my first real tans after I entered college.) In my 50s I appreciate that.

1960

Lake Toxaway Estates is purchased by SC businessmen, R. D. Heinitsh and D. W. Boyd. They rebuilt the lake left untouched since the flood of 1916 and, once again, start selling the land around it.

Fall, 1970

I move to Atlanta after graduating from college. I-75/85 has just been completed through town. They are beginning work on I-285. Atlanta is still a pretty small town. To me, Asheville in 1999 is very much like Atlanta in 1970.

1975

Dillsboro residents began restoration of their town. The Smoky Mountain Railroad now runs from there through the Nantahala Gorge. Parts of The Fugitive were filmed here. The Jarrett House is also famous for its family-styled meals featuring little biscuits and fried apples.

Winter, 1978

I return to the home I love. Some of my friends are doing great selling real estate so I figure I'll give it a try. Give me a chance to get back out in the mountains.

Jan., 1980

My beautiful daughter, Alana, is born.

Dec., 1980

Fairfield Communities, out of Little Rock, AR, buys Sapphire Valley Resort and begins promoting the area once again. With interest rates over 13%, I join Fairfield.

Fall, 1985

Move with my husband and daughter, Alana, to Angel Fire, NM.

1986

Move back east to Hilton Head, then Edisto Island, SC. This resort business is fun.

1987

The movie, Dirty Dancing, is filmed at Lake Lure. To be closer home, we are living at Fairfield Mountains in Lake Lure at this time.

Nov., 1989

The beautiful 6,300-acre valley which encompasses the headwaters of the Tuckasegee River were added to the national forest system. Panthertown Valley includes much of the land Carl Moltz once logged. Now it is ours for the asking. While no motor vehicles are allowed on the old logging roads, it is wonderful for hiking and mountain bikes.

Summer, 1993

I start hiking Panthertown Valley with my good friend, Frances Bunzl of Highlands and Atlanta.

1997

The NC legislature authorizes the formation of a new western state park in the area. This is to make the purchase of approx. 10,000 acres in the Jocassee Gorge possible.

1998

The Temptations, James Brown and Jerry Lee Lewis perform at Harrah’s on the Cherokee Indian Reservation--160 years after the "Trail of Tears." Wayne Newton was here this year.

June, 2000

The Coasters, Drifters and Platters play at the Brevard Music Center. The stage show was fabulous, but the real show was all the baby boomers dancing in the aisles.

July 3, 2000

A real high point of my real estate career was when, at a company party, a young man who had come to me a couple of years ago for help in finding a particular mountain property introduced me to his young daughter as the "lady who makes dreams come true."

Sept. 11, 2001

We'll never forget.

Jan., 2002

A house closes on Lake Toxaway for $4,150,000, reportedly the highest-priced residential closing to date in Western North Carolina.

Spring, 2002

The renewal of spring in the mountains has never been more beautiful, more meaningful or more appreciated.

April, 2003

Centex Destination Properties purchases land on Bear Lake to start a beautiful lakefront community, Bear Lake Reserve. Bear Lake is about as beautiful as it gets, and the resort community they are creating will be second to none. Bear Lake has been very special to me since my days at Western Carolina University.

December, 2003

The movie "Cold Mountain" opens this Christmas, starring Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger. I'm looking forward to seeing it as the Cold Mountain lookout is one of my favorite spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Spring,

2004

After over 5 wonderful years at V. C. Smith Real Estate in Cashiers, my daughter Alana and I decided to open an office in the Lake Glenville area, Western North Carolina Real Estate, Inc.

September 2004

Some things are just not meant to be. The rains of Hurricanes Frances and Ivan together were more than the retaining wall behind our office in Glenville could handle. As a result of the damage, we moved back to Cashiers.

July, 2006

Despite all the negative press, sales remain strong on the plateau. As of July 20, our residential sales overall were down 8% from last year, but sales of homes over $2,000,000 were up 137%.

Land sales are also strong. I read an article recently called The Aspen Effect. It pointed out that our present government policy allows the richest amongst us to keep more of their money and that resort areas such as ours are profiting from it. This may help explain the jump in sales of the highest-priced properties.

February, 2007

I attended a training course on marketing luxury properties at the Biltmore Inn. The luxury market is still strong. Even a 29 year veteran can profit from spending time with the best in the business. The market is slowing in all except the luxury market.

August, 2007

The B-52s perform at the Biltmore House. About this same time, the Blues Brothers performed there for a private party. The South Lawn is the perfect place for an outdoor concert, and I highly recommend going there for a pleasant summer evening.

December, 2007

We're enjoying 70 degree days in December. Global warming or not, I remember wearing a sleeveless dress to a Christmas party in the late 60s. While we'll have a few days of really cold weather, most of the winter here is sweater weather or a light coat at the most.

February, 2008

This is my 30th year in real estate, and what a year it promises to be. Real Estate is once again seen as real estate and not a quick road to riches. While we have seen some speculation, we have not seen as much as most other areas of the country. We are not an area affected by subprime; and while we have had a few foreclosures, there have not been many and probably will not be. Reason has returned! Selection is great! Prices have leveled! Buyers are respected and sought after. It's a great time to check out the Western North Carolina Resort District.

Below are a couple of quotes from the Cashiers Chronicle, February 20, 2008:

"If you are a savvy person who has the resources to take advantage of opportunities, this is a unique opportunity that I have not seen here before, said Joe Pearson, president of Cashiers Mortgage Service, Inc. "I'm not saying we're seeing a price drop in all the houses, but if someone wants to purchase in God's country, now is the time to find an agent who will work for them."

"We are not in the same category as what the media is talking about," Pearson said. "We are in the second home market, a resort area. Our customers are wealthy for the most part, and we don't have a foreclosure issue. What we have are opportunities that people can take advantage of. Out of state contractors building spec homes - they may sell cheaper than what they would two years ago. Other people - their industry may slow down and they may decide to reduce their house price out of a desire to restructure their financial picture, given the economy." http://www.crossroadschronicle.com

May, 2008

A fun way to spend Memorial Day Weekend was the 5th annual White Squirrel Festival in Brevard. There were three days of free music along with lots of arts, crafts, and good food. The highlights of the festival were Saturday afternoon performances by Roy Chapman and Shannon Whitworth and a Sunday night performance by Edwin McCain, who grew visiting his grandmother, Ann Boatwright, in the See Off community.

June, 2008

We are eagerly awaiting the opening of our new office next to the new Wendy's in The Shoppes at CreekSide on Highway 64 just west of the Crossroads. Wendy's opened the first of June, and our new office in Suite 102 should be open by the end of the month.

Forever

Friends and relatives who have moved away and are now moving back often comment that while we were growing up here, we didn’t realize what we had. We took for granted the rivers, the waterfalls, the cool places to picnic on a hot summer day. Now, with a little age and a lot more appreciation, we know, like Col. Zachary, George Vanderbilt and many others, this has to be the Promised Land.