The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-09-05

tS"cSih. pdily VI S'i
dlers and tories went to his house
there to arrest him he, however,
escaped, but they destroyed all of
the household property and shot
Mrs. Avery's nephew dead IN the
yard: Col. Avery had been sent by
the government at various times to
treat with the Cherokee Indians
and this probably gave him the first
view of the beautiful mountain
country, where he afterwards built,
and spent the remainder of his life.
Five miles west Of Morganton he
found a valley as lovely as a poets
dream, it was encircled by near
hills and distant mountains, and
had, in its emerald expanse several
pounds of which the wild swans
were floating. This place he Sc
cured possession of by entering and
named it Swan Ponds. I'm the veal
1912, there were several earth
quakes in this State and these
ponds disappeared, owing. it was
supposed, to some change effected
by the shaking of the earth. Col.
Avery entered a large portion of
this land in 1871, and IN 1887, he
built the first brick house in Burke
county. Like most of the early
settlers, he did not select an eleva-
ted site, but built on a level spot
near a good spring. And also like
the other early settlers, he did not
select merely a good spring, tut IA
good spring surrounded by every
accessory of natural lOveliness.
The house had five rooms, two
below and three above, and is still
standing. A workman from Char
lesion vas employed to do the wood
work, and the parlOr mantle piece
is a most elaborate specimen of the
ornamental style of that period. AS
the family increased, additions
were made, until there were fifteen
rooms in the whole house. In the
South, all the domestic offices were
formerly detached buildings and at
Swan Ponds, the out-buildings and
slaves cottages were SO numerous
that it Vas quite a village ; the sta
bles looked like these of a watering
place. rather than the hospitable
arrangements of a private gentle
man. No Eastern Prince ever eX-
ercised more generous hospitality.
All who came were welcome. Hav-
ing an acquaintance which extern
ded from his cultivated New Eng
land kindred to the Southern limits
of civilization, he entertained Gov
errors, Judges, and Generals, and
men of every lesser rank. Mrs.
Avery's life had been mostly spent
at Newbern, where Gov. Tryon held
his ~aristocratic and fashionable
court, and his beautiful and accom-
plished sister-in-law, Lady Wake,
was n of the bellies. The wild
life in Burke was a striking con-
trast to everything she had ever
been accustomed to. Her husband
was often absent for weeks att time
attending his courts. On n occa-
sion, when Col. Avery, was attend
ing court in Jonesboro, Tenn,
(then in North Carolina) the In
dams made a raid into Burke, on
Upper Greek and in the North cove.
They captured young girl, and
scalped a Mrs. Metals. Strange
to say, she recovered, but was SO
terribly disfigured that her husband
deserted her. While this raid was
in progress Mrs. Avery received a
fright which would have killed any
lady since the invention of nerves
She was seated alone in her house
with her only child in her arms,
when a man entered abruptly with
a gun in his hand. Too terrified
to speak she gazed at the intruder
for a moment and found, to hel
infinite relief, that it was not an
Indian come to scalp her, but (;
near neighbor come to offer his
services as a protector until the In
dams were gone. On Col. Avery's
return he narrowly escaped being
captured by the same party OF In
dams; he met them in crossing the
Yellowstone mountains nothing
but the feetness of his horse saved
him. Some time afterwards he wa
sent to treat with them, exchange
presents and recover the captured
girl. In returning with him, the
girl told him how the Indians haC
pursued a white man on Yellow
one mountain not s%uspecting tina
so was Col. Avery himself. He wa
it struck with the beauty and fer
tilitv of the Yellowstone mountain
that, on a subsequent trip, he car
ried clover seed with him and scat
tered over the whole top OF tn
Il L., o,-o cInnn hnnp