The Village of Flat Rock
The exact date that settlers began to make homesteads in Flat Rock is not know, but the first recorded mention of Flat Rock was in 1807. We do know that late in the 1700s, veterans of the Revolutionary War came to claim land grants awarded to them for their valiant wartime service. By then, the Cherokee, who had long claimed “the flat rock” as theirs, had been evicted. The Cherokee had sided with the British against the tough and hardy Americans in the war, and as the country won its independence, they found their vacation and trading lands were no longer theirs. North Carolina ceded all lands claimed by the Cherokee to the government in 1783. The Cherokee had been the first to discover the summer glories of pure mountain air, an abundance of game for the taking, clear water and the convenience of a huge expanse of flat rock on which to camp and hold ceremonial rites. From here, they established trade routes to the south and east.
The homesteaders were hard working, educated and industrious people, building saw mills, homes, churches and inns to serve drovers traveling through Flat Rock to South Carolina. Access to Flat Rock was by old Indian paths and dangerous trails until 1828 when the Buncombe Turnpike was completed, and connected to the State Road of SC. This road became known as the Drovers Road, because every fall, farmers would drive their herds of animals through Flat Rock to markets in the south and east. Soon Flat Rock began seeing more visitors from Charleston and the Low Country. They were looking for a pleasant, cool, and healthy climate for their families during the disease-ridden summers on South Carolina and Georgia plantations, as well as a possible rail route from the seacoast to inland waters and beyond. By 1827, even with the lack of easy transportation, the settlement that would become the “Little Charleston of the Mountains” had begun in earnest. Charles and Susan Baring, he of the British Baring Bank Co. and she the wealthy widow of cotton broker James Heyward, built what is acknowledged to be the first of the grand summer houses, Mountain Lodge. It was the Barings who built St. John in the Wilderness Church 1833, the oldest Episcopal Church in Western North Carolina.
Soon the affluent of Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans visited Flat Rock, and many bought land to establish their own summer homes. Travel was easier, and as a result, Flat Rock thrived. Gracious summer homes were built on land that afforded privacy and views, usually at the end of long, tree-lined drives. Soon it was the summer destination for many influential families from not only the south, but the nation. Among its residents were Christopher Gustavus Memminger and George Trenholm (first and second Secretaries of the Confederate Treasury), Judge Mitchell King (lawyer and judge in Charleston and Savannah), Edmund Molyneaux (the British Consul to Charleston), Count Joseph Marie Gabriel Xavier de Choiseul (French Consul to Charleston and Savannah). These were the halcyon days of Flat Rock, ranking in popularity with the northern summer colony, Newport, Rhode Island.
There was no particular architectural style adhered to, making Flat Rock’s historic homes an interesting mix to please all who care to visit or call our village home. Luckily, a great many historic estates are now well cared for year-round residences. As a result of a survey by North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Flat Rock was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. An updated re nomination of all historic structures, sponsored almost entirely by Historic Flat Rock, Inc., was completed in 2015. This document solidified the Village of Flat Rock as a National Historic District. HFR was formed in 1968 for the sole purpose of preserving Flat Rock’s historic homes and vistas for future generations.
By: Galen Reuther






















