
Giving Tuesday 2021 We Need New Signs
Have you noticed? Giving Tuesday is arriving early in 2021 on Tuesday November 30th! Giving Tuesday is a special day each year to support all Nonprofits. The date is the first Tuesday following Black Friday which appears to have already descended upon us. For HFR we...

Early transportation in Western North Carolina, Part Two
The Carolina Special — note the steam coming out of the helper engine in the rear of the train. Image courtesy Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society. The story of transportation in Western North Carolina began with drovers traveling on foot and...

Early transportation in Western North Carolina, Part One
“The Drovers’ Roads” map from Terry Ruscin’s book, A History of Transportation in Western North Carolina. Images by the author. In the early 19th century, there were few roads in the North Carolina Mountains. More often than not, what qualified for a road was a...

“Encounters at Flat Rock” The NEW Novel by Local Flat Rock Author, David Sullivan
Local author and HFR Inc member David Sullivan has completed work on his second novel, the first book in a trilogy titled “Encounters at Flat Rock”. The book is a SciFy-themed crime thriller set in… you guessed it! Partial proceeds from the sale of the book will go to...

African-American history in Henderson County, Part Two
Memorial stone for Henry Simmons. Photos by Missy Schenck unless otherwise stated. The Society of Necessity What Happened to the Promised Land?The dissolution of the Kingdom of the Happy Land was gradual. Work was a driving force, and residents began to drift away to...

African-American history in Henderson County, Part One
The Kingdom of the Happy Land Several years ago I mentioned to my dear friend, John “Chip” Laurens of Charleston and Flat Rock, that I was writing a book on the summer camps of the Green River Valley. He immediately responded to my comment with “Miss, you’ve got to...

Flat Rock’s St. John in the Wilderness
Nestled on a wooded hilltop above the northern gateway to Flat Rock, sits the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, the oldest Episcopal Church in Western North Carolina. Like a shepherd keeping watch over his flock, St. John’s appears to stand guard over the Village...

Dolce Far Niente by Missy Schenck
A Lowndes family history Since the early days of the colony that became known as “The Little Charleston of the Mountains,” the Lowndes family of Charleston was here. Of English descent, they were planters who made their fortunes in sugar and rice and public servants...

Captain John and Elizabeth Caulfield Stoney
The 4th of July (Independence Day) is a day of celebrating the birth of our Nation. It’s a day to reflect on brave men fighting for freedom from England’s tyranny. Today, I’m honoring my ancestor John Stoney, born in Tipperary, Ireland to English Protestant...

Lives and locales bound by preservation by Missy Schenck
Anne “Annie” Guerard Coletta was born and raised in Charleston and spent her summers in Flat Rock, North Carolina, where her family has gathered for generations. She is the direct descendant of six former South Carolina governors: Thomas Smith, Rawlins Lowndes,...

Argyle, since 1830 by Missy Schenck
Seventh in a series on Flat Rock by the Charleston Mercury Recently, my husband, Sandy, and I had the most delightful visit with Alexander Campbell King III, owner of Argyle in Flat Rock, North Carolina. It was Mr. King’s 91st birthday, so we celebrated in social...

“AUDACIOUS” The NEW Historical Fiction Novel by Local Historic Flat Rock Author, David Sullivan
Local author David Sullivan has completed work on his historical fiction novel “Audacious” of which he spoke at last summer’s annual meeting of HFR, Inc. A portion of proceeds from sale of the book will go to Historic Flat Rock, Inc. As you may recall the book is...

The Dam House by Jane Izard
“Flat Rock was one of the places my grandfather was the happiest,” says Frank Maybank. That grandfather, Dr. Joseph Maybank, along with his wife, owned the Dam House at Highland Lake in Flat Rock. Highland Lake and the Maybank, Rhett and Aiken families have a long...

The Little Hill by Jane Izard
The Little Hill has “always been a welcome place for everyone,” says Patty Laurens Adams. This beautiful property near the center of Flat Rock has been a part of the Laurens family since 1907. Her great-grandfather, Henry Rutledge Laurens of Charleston, purchased the...

Unchanged Springtime by Ella Oursler
Robert Cuthbert’s book, Flat Rock of the Old Time, takes us on a journey through the largest historic district in all of North Carolina, as reflected in letters penned by the people who founded it. I would like to thank Mr. Cuthbert for generously permitting HFR...

‘Many Pines’ home of many Flat Rock memories by Jane Izard
“My family has owned this house for over 100 years,” says Langdon Edmunds Oppermann. The house she is referring to is Many Pines, a beautiful complex consisting of a main house and its outbuildings in Flat Rock. Langdon jokingly tells me the house is “constant...

Flat Rock’s Elliott Place by Jane Izard
“A house should have a purpose, as should all people,” says Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell, Charleston native and nationally recognized artist. She was telling me this when we spoke about her beautiful home in Flat Rock called Elliott Place. She and her mother, Mrs....

The Holy City’s long shadow upon Flat Rock by Jane Izard
Flat Rock or “Little Charleston in the Mountains” is a special place for many Charlestonians, as most readers know; hence, it deserves a series about many of the historic homes dripped in pluff mud. Located 22 miles south of Asheville, this quaint village was “named...

Connemara’s charm, Charleston connections by Jane Izard
In the mid 1830s, Charles Memminger of Charleston ventured to Flat Rock is search of a summer home. Unable to find something that he liked, he purchased land and hired an architect to build a large dwelling he named Rock Hill. Today the house is known by a different...

Visiting Our Past: Flat Rock’s antebellum Golden Age by Rob Neufeld
Photo Above: A historic driveway on North Highland Lake Road, threatened by NCDOT road-widening plans, displays a “Don’t Urbanize Flat Rock” sign, part of an effort by Flat Rock’s Cultural Landscape Group (clgflatrock.org) to persuade the village to vote down the road...

Visiting Our Past: Traveling back in time on a Flat Rock Road by Rob Neufeld
Photo Above: Mountain Lodge, 1827 home of Charles and Susan Baring, pictured in Blanche Marsh’s 1961 book, “Historic Flat Rock”; photo by Kenneth Frederick Marsh, now held in the Marsh Photograph Collection, housed at South Caroliniana Library, U. of...