The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-16

(By w. T. Massey

Tie editor Spent week or two the
pa>' summer in ! series Of Summer In
GtitJtes in the Pic mont ana Mountain
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
foot hill in the county OF Alamance,
and not far from where the first blood
was shed in resistance to British tyran-
nv that led to the Declaration of indie
pendenc, at Charlotte in 1775. thesbattle
of Alamance, between the colonists and
the troops of the Royal Governor TryOn.
In an old family residence there l was
shown an old oaken arm chair on the
back OF which is brass plate with an
Inscription reciting that the chair was
! brought to North Carolina by Simon
Dixon in 1851, and that it was occupied
| by Lord CORVALLIS on his retreat from
the battle of Guilford Court House in
| 1881. This battle was the turning point
| in the Revolution and sent CORVALLIS
to his fate Of Yorktown. Leaving this
pretty valley and its well cultivated
farms we went westward, holding an In
stitute at Guilford College, a beautiful
place in which the Friends or Qual1ers
| conGlc a highl. sCccessfr' College. In
the auditorium of the college we had
highly intelligent audience and q 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 Moravians from Pennsylvania,
fah gpttl1mnnt
to their love for education they built a
great school for girls, which is still
fourishing 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 no driving or
bicycle riding is allowed along this
avenue. Down in the valley below the
town are the factories of all sorts in
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 Il 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 Yadllin, 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 long continuous pull of ten
miles up, and the top was reached just
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 counterpart, Tor the
village is over 1900 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 leaf was stirring, bat
holding ones hand over the edge of the
rock a strong upward draft is perceived
and at times it is so strong that a hat
thrown over will como 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
Watauga county ten miles away, and
1900 lower than Blownging Rock and
in the drainage OF the New River. which
rises in a Spring at 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 Now River spring is another spring
from which the Yadkin takes its 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 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. The
| mountain people came out and we had
very interesting meeting. The next day
was spent in journey through the noun
| tains over the worst of rocky roads,
| twenty five miles to Jefferson, the county
seat of Ashe county, still on this high
plateau 1900 feet above the sea. The
forests Of white pine and hemlock made
the country look like Canada, and the
nights were cold enough to make us
| think we were a long way north of the
old North State. Jefferson is one wide
street with a row of sugar naples on
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 q crest of
| black rock and makes one of the most
striking elevations above the plateau.
| Here we were in grass and cattle
| country. Haystacks were everywhere
| in the valley, and the cattle all gave evil
dence of Short Horn blood But little
corn is grown, and to the passer by the
! whole country seems in grass. On this
L