The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-08-31
CENTRAL HIGHWAY.

that h people throughout n south
and a great many from other eecIions
of the country are Hooking to the diff
ferent resorts in western North Caro-
lima and this season has been an
unusually prosperous season with all
the resorts in all that mountain coun-
try. Our own North Carolina people
are recognizing more and more every
day that we have the most beautiful
scenery, the purest water, the finest
climate in western North Carolina
that can be found in any part of the
United States.
For a unmber OF years the Rresby-
terrain church of the south has had
a famous resort at Montreal, near
Black Mountain. They now have
something over 800 cottages, all of
which are full and they report the
greatest season in the history of Mon
treat. The Methodists are establish
ing a great resort near W~aynesville
in Haywood county. A few years ago
the Baptists bought something like
a thousand acres of land in Buncombe
county around Terrell station which
they call Bluemont and they now
have So beautiful homes and cottages
which are occupied by somthing like
500 people from eighteen different
states. 1911 has been their greatest
year and they haven't been able to
accommodate all the people who want
to &C there. They are now making
preparations to build a large. up-to-
date hotel and a number of boarding
houses, in order to accommodate the
people next year, in fact, when wes-
tern North Carolina builds a system
of roads, which they are now doing,
all that section is going to be a play
ground and there will be thousands
of tourists in the mountains where
they have hundreds now
A number of people from this &c
ton are interested in Bluemont. 1t
was the pleasure of the writer to at
tend q good roads meeting at Blue
mont last Wednesday, and, inciden-
tally, to look over that coming resort.
Prof. Harvey b. Craven, of New Bern,
a brother of Mr.. e. B. Craven of Lex
ington, has a beautiful home at Blue
mont and I heard it rumored that he
was thinking seriously about locating
there permanently. He is very much.
in love with the mountains. Another
Davidson county man who is very
much interested in that section is. Mr..
Ernest w. Koontz. the popular con-
ductor on the western North Carolina
railroad, running from Salisbury to
.Asheville. He owns about ITO acres
of beautiful mountain land on the
north side of the railroad adjoining
the Bluemont property. Rev. M. L.
Kesler, the popular superintendent of
the Thomasville Orphanage has a
beautiful cottage at Bluemont. In
fact, all North Carolina Baptists are
deeply interested in Bluemont.
The great Central Highway, which
is now being built from Beaufort
Harbor to the Tennessee line, runs
via Old Fort, Round Knob, splitting
E. w KnoCtz's mountain farm wide
open ON by Bluemont, Black Noun
tain to Asheville. This great road
when completed will mean a great
deal to that section, more than the
people can imagine. The fact is,
when the National Highway is per-
fected and the Central Highway COM
pleted and the Crest of the Blue
Ridge Highway and western North
Carolina is properly advertised, it
will be dotted with hotels and mag
GAAASOAJ AOGAO0 40 \ 4 0AA0OoSAOA
ably be. in my opinion, the most pros
porous section of the entire state. 1t
is not a great farming country, but
they grow the finest fruit in the
world, but their greatest asset and
the one that should be advertised is
the beautiful scenery, the pure wa
ter and the fine climate, fer with these
attractions and good roads leading
to them, there is no question about
the prosperity of the people who live
in the mountains. / am glad to say
that they are making great progress
along this line. The man who owns
a small farm and one OK is doing
to build roads in the mountains
than the ordinary man in PiedmC.1t.
North Carolina who is worth $25, 900
Or $4,000. They are going to have
good roads.
Probably the most difficult piece of
road on the Central Highway is a
of between z and 8 miles be-
tween Old Fort and the top of the
mountain at the Buncombe county
line. 1t is really too big a jc5 for one
township and the result is that Rev. !
B. w. Spillman, who is at the head
of Bluemont, agreed the other day
that they would build one mile of
road from the Buncombe county line
in Mcdowell toward Old Fort if some
body else would build a mile. A far
mer out in the woods asked him if he
meant business. He said that he did,
so Mr.. Pratt. the ~modntaineer said he
would build a mile and would COM
mence at once. The result is he is
now grading his mile of road and a
number of other mountain men who
are poor have agreed to contribute
81 mulch as 5000 a piece toward build
ing this road and the result is that a
poor pc lple Mhc have pluck and am
bition are going to build the most
difficult piece of road On the Central
and are going to do it ia a
short time. l am afraid some of the
rich counties like Davidson, Orange,
Catawba and Burke are going to fall
that poor section of country