The Swannanoa Valley Museum in Black Mountain NC has several hiking series throughout the year. They are most known for presenting a series of Swannanoa Valley rim hikes. The rim of the valley is over 50 miles. The series encompasses the entire rim each year. Today's hike was not in that series. The ruins of Mountain House are located on Asheville Watershed property. The watershed is tightly controlled and access is granted vary sparingly. The museum has been allowed to access other areas within the watershed on occasion, but this is a special hike not offered previously. In celebration of Mt Mitchell State Park's centennial, permission to bushwhack up the old route was granted this year.
To begin, we carpooled from the museum to the watershed property. From here we jammed into 4 wheel drive vehicles for the several mile drive on gravel and dirt roads. There was not enough room in all the vehicles so 4 of us sat in the bed of a pickup for the bumpy ride.
The Black Mountains have been a tourist destination for over 150 years. Dr Elisha Mitchell began his wanderings and barometric elevation measurements in the 1930's. Once the mountains obtained the reputation as the highest peaks in the east, tourists began to visit. Traveling by train or coach to the area, tourists would make their way to the town of Black Mountain for the ascent up the Blacks. The spot at which we disembarked from the 4 wheel drive vehicles was in the vicinity of a cabin owned by William Patton, known as "The Depot" built in 1850. From here visitors would hike or go on mule or horse back up to visit the mountains, often spending the night before returning. Patton built a cabin further up at 5200' in 1851. By 1854, he opened it to the public. It is our destination today; the Mountain House. A few years later, Patton dies and the Mountain House closed. Eventually, it was purchased by Alf Tyson and opened again. The tourist house was rustic as you can see from the sketch lower on this page. It was supplied by mules and featured fine foods in a rustic atmosphere.
Visitors would stay in the structure prior to heading up higher. A rough trail from here went on to Clingman's Peak which was thought to be the highest peak. When Mt Mitchell (known then as Black Dome) began being thought of as the highest point, a trail was extended to it.
The trail from the Depot to the Mountain House has not been in use for over 100 years. Finding it was difficult. One of the watershed employees, using old maps, reconstructed the route as best as possible. It was quite clear to me, we were on an old trail at times but most of the time it was impossible to tell. The pace was slow as there were 28 of us and we had to remain as a group. Finally, we arrived at the ruins of the Mountain House. The remains are in the photos below. We were supposed to meet Wendell Begley here. He was to hike down from the Blue Ridge Parkway and give a presentation but we never saw him. Attempts to call via cell phone were made to no avail.
After lunch among the ruins, leader, Van Burnette told some stories. Some I believe to be true. Van's Great Great Grandfather guided Dr Mitchell on his trips to the area in the 1930's and 1940's. Mitchell and Thomas Clingman had a falling out which began in the mid 1850's. Using barometric pressure to come up with elevation was an inexact science at that time. Measurements varied by several hundred feet for the same peak, at different times. Clingman asserted his measurement was for the true tallest peak and Mitchell had measured another peak. In June of 1857, Dr Mitchell returned to the area to put the controversy to rest. He left the Mountain House with his son Charles for a day of exploration. They split up later in the day with Dr Mitchell heading to Big Tom Wilson's home. That evening he, apparently, slipped and fell into a pool of water and died. His watch had stopped at 8:20pm. It would have after sunset and it had rained during the day. When he did not return a search party was formed. It was not for 10 days until his body was found by Big Tom Wilson,
As an added bonus on our hike, one of the participants revealed that he was the great great grandson of Big Tom Wilson. He gave an interesting account of the search and Big Tom's life. Big Tom is credited with tracking the route of Dr Mitchell and finding his body. As his G.G.Grandson tells it, he tracked Mitchell's route to a small creek. There they noticed claw marks in the moss on a rock. Big Tom identified them as human finger marks, not claw marks as someone else suggested. After, searching the area below, his body was found in the plunge pool for a 40 foot waterfall. His body was tied to a pole like a bear's would have been, and he was carried off the mountain and eventually to Asheville. His body was initially buried in Asheville but later interred and re-buried on top of the peak which became know as Mount Mitchell.
Back on the mountainside, we retraced our route down. Through the trees we could clearly make out Potato Knob, almost directly above us, then Pinnacle, Greybeard and finally the Seven Sisters.
The route up measured 3.2 miles. A long day for 6.5 mile hike.
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