The Return of Lake Toxaway: A Video Documentary
In April 2012, the Transylvania Times published a feature on a video documentary project about the return of Lake Toxaway undertaken by John Nichols III of Charlotte and Lake Toxaway. John is a current HTF board member and graciously agreed to allow us to publish his video documentary in full here. Note that some elements from the documentary have appeared in our blog series elsewhere.
The feature in the Transylvania Times, April 5, 2012.
Filmmaker Explores Toxaway’s Rich History
April 5, 2012, Transylvania Times
Former county resident John LeRoy Nichols III is making a documentary film about one of Transylvania’s most fascinating tales: the creation of Lake Toxaway, the dam’s collapse, and the mountain lake’s resurrection.
The story of Lake Toxaway is more than just a passing curiosity for Nichols. He is the grandson of Reginald Davies Heinitsh, one of the key players in the purchase and rebuilding of the dam in the 1960s. Heinitsh had four children – Isabel (John’s mother), Reginald, John and Agnes – and the lake has always been an important part of the family’s history.
Nichols said he has always been bothered that much has been written about the original dam and Inn, and about the dam breaking in 1916, but very little has been written about the new lake. His grandfather, Nichols said, was an amazing character, a former WWII B-25 bomber pilot who achieved great success, despite the fact that he suffered from epileptic seizures.
Furthermore, he said, re-building the dam was a remarkable undertaking that had a tremendous effect on Transylvania County, although it goes largely under-reported in the county’s history.
“There was no history about my grandfather,” he said.
Nichols and his family initially discussed the documentary film project a couple years ago, and began some research. But with a wife and three children – and a commercial real estate business in Charlotte – the project kept getting put off.
He was drawn back to the county, however, when tragedy struck: his mother was diagnosed with cancer. He and his sister, Isabel, returned to spend time with her and to support their father, John Nichols Jr.
During that time, the family resumed work on the project, going out and conducting interviews, and then coming back to share the stories with their mother.
“We were lucky,” he said. “We got to spend more time with her in the past three or four months than we had in 10 years.”
His mother passed away last December. Nichols said the experience left him with a profound sense of how fleeting life can be, and the project has taken on even greater personal importance. He hopes to finish the film this fall, approximately 50 years after his grandfather finished rebuilding the dam.
Nichols has enlisted the help of Whit Hensen, a Charlotte native who has worked in Los Angeles, Calif. with both NFL Films & Network and Oprah Winfrey’s network OWN. They have been scouring the county for photos and historical documents, and have begun interviewing people with personal experiences and memories about the lake.
“What we’re trying to do now is interview local people who actually worked building the lake,” he said. “We’d love to find someone who has recollections of the original lake. Maybe either a grandchild or child.”
They’ve already had some fascinating interviews with Toxaway residents, including Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Rigsbee and son, Dwight, who built the roads for the new Lake Toxaway; Ruth Whitmire, whose husband, J.B. Whitmire, helped clear the lake; G.A. Butler, who worked for the Toxaway Company; Hazel Fisher, his grandfather’s secretary; and the family of Tolvin Miller – Tommy and Gay Willix, and Barbara, and Tammy Gillespie, and Linda Galloway. Miller was the caretaker of The Toxaway Inn until it was torn down in ’47, and the Millers used to live in the oldest house on the lake, built in 1909, which is now the Nichols’ family home.
Other interviews have included Emory Gash, son of Judge Gash, who was one of Heinitsh’s good friends and neighbors; Dick Jennings, whose grandfather owned approximately 30,000 acres and who partnered on the original lake, and was the sole owner of the lake and The Toxaway Inn when the dam broke in 1916.
Nichols and Hensen have also interviewed some of the key financial players who made the lake’s reconstruction possible: Ray Simmons, former head of the Brevard First Union National Bank; Ed Crutchfield, former CEO/chairman of First Union; and Hugh McColl, former CEO/chairman of Bank of America. And of course, Nichols has interviewed some of his greatest sources of information, members of his family such as Reg Heinitsh Jr., Reg Heinitsh III, John S. Heinitsh Sr. and John Heinitsh Jr.
“We’re dying to find a true account of the original dam breaking, but everyone tells a different story,” said Nichols.
There are conflicting accounts about what time of day the dam broke. There are rumors that people stood nearby and took pictures as the dam broke. There are stories of people coming to collect the dying fish. Another account tells of two men working in the old hydro-electric plant, and that people were yelling at them to get out before the dam broke.
However, there is one thing that everyone seems to be in agreement on: no people died, and that the only victim was the blind mule.
“Everybody tells us that the only death was the blind mule,” said Nichols.
According to Nichols, the interviewing process has turned out to be a great experience. “The journey of making the film is just as interesting as the content,” he said. “It’s the fun of the scavenger hunt.”
“The people in Lake Toxaway have all been so nice and helpful,” he said. “I feel very proud and lucky to have been raised there.”
