The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-01-13
(By w. T. Massey.)

The editor spent a week or TWO the
ya,t Summer in series Of Summer In
Gtit1tee in the Pic imort and Molnt;iin
county Of North Carolina The first of
the series was held at Snow Camp, a
village. with a wooden mill near the
south foot of the Cane Creek mountain
2 foot hill in the county OF Alamance,
ana not far from where the tirSt blood
was shed in resistance to Brit Sh tyran-
nv that led to the Declaration Of Inde-
pendenc, at Charlotte in 1715. the battle
OF Alamance, between the colonists and
the troops of the Royal Governor Tryon.
In an old family residence there [ was
shown an old oaken arm chair on the
back Of which is a brass plate with an
inscription reciting that the chair was
brought to North Carolina by Simon
Dixon in 1151 and that it was occupied
by Lord CORVALLIS on his retreat from
the battle Of Guilford Court House in
1871 This battle was the turning point
in the Revolution and sent Cornwallis
to his fate of Yorktown. Leaving this
pretty valley and it's we'll cultivated
farms we went westward, holding an In
stitute at Guilford College, a beautiful
place in which the Friends or Quakers
conG !ct hIghl successful college. In
the auditorium Of the college We had
highly intelligent audience and a very
interesting meeting. Sunday was spent
IN the interesting town with the double
name Winston Salem. Winston is a
prosperous city that has sprung up along
side the quiet old MOravian town of
Salem. Here over a hundred years ago
came the Morayians from Pennsylvania
and established their settlement True
TO their love for education they built
great school for girls, which is still
flourishing institution with it's quaint old
brick buildings of ample size, shaded by
magnificent oaks, and with a park of the
original forest for the use Of the young
ladies. The old church. an ample struc
ture, still fills the needs of
the town, and on hill
back of the town is the beautiful
Gods Acre" where the dead of the
congregation repose, each with a simple
square slab over the head of the grave
and, nothing more. The avenue in front
of the cemetery is lined with ancient
cedars of great size and driving or
bicycle riding is allowed along this
avenue. Down in the valley below the
town are the factories of all sorts in
which the people are engaged, for the
Moravians are thrifty people and many
are wealthy. Soon after leaving Win
ston our party divided and two of us
took the Mountain series, going by rail to
the little town OF Lenoir, nesting among
the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Here
we found q comfortable vehicle with
team of four horses ready to take US to
the village of Blowing Rock on the crest
of the Blue Ridge. 1t was a drive of
twenty-five miles, first crossing the di
vide between the waters of the Catawba
and those of the valley of the Yadkin, up
which stream We rode through pretty
bottom lands with fields of waving corn
till we came to the foot of a long noun
tain spur up which the road climbed.
1t was a long continuous pull of ten
miles up and the top was reached jusf
as the hotels were having supper, which
was by that time welcome to US. At the
hotel that night we slept under two pairs
of blankets and a counterpane, for the
village is over 1000 feet above the sea
level. visit to the rock which gives
the place it's name was the first thing
before breakfast. This rock jutS out
over an awful precipice and one looks
down on the tops of the forest trees
thousands of feet below. and involun-
tarily draws back. Off in the distance
there are mountains piled on mountains
TO the shadowy outline of Mount MITCHELL
the highest point of land this side the
Rockies Not a leaf was stirring bat
holding ones hand over the edge of the
rock a strong upward draft is perceived
and al times it is so strong that hat
thrown over will come back to the rock.
The heated air of the valley is always
rushing UP that deep chasm From
Blowing Rock we drove in the early
morning to Boone, the county seat of
,Yoil nd
200 lower than Blowinging Rock and
in the drainage of the New River, which
rises in a Spring al Blowing Rock, and
flows north through West Virginia to
the Greenbrier and then to the Kanawha
and the Ohio But a hundred yards from
the New River spring is another spring
from which the Yadkin takes it's rise and
flows through North and South Carolina
changing it's name to the Pedee River
before entering South Carolina, and
emptying into the Georgetown Bay.
Boone is in q little valley surrounded by
lofty mountains and the valley itself is
5000 feet above the sea level. Here we
found our watches were an hour fast, as
the town keeps Central time, and is but
thirteen miles from Tennessee. Inc
mountain people came out and we had a
very interesting meeting. The next day
was spent in q journey through the noun
tains over the worst of rocky roads,
twenty-fv miles to Jefferson the county
seat of Ashe county, still on this high
plateau 5000 feet above the sea. The
forests CT white pine and hemlock made
the country look like Canada, and the
nights were cold enough to make us
think we were long way north OF the
old North State Jefferson is one wide
11-it III of
each side and two rows of great cherry
trees down the middle making three
roadways of the street, Back of the town
the negro mountain rises with crest of
black rock and makes one of the most
striking elevations above the plateau
Here we were in a grass and cattle
country. Haystacks were everywhere
IN the valley, and the cattle all gave evil