The Lodge at Mt. Toxaway was a rustic hostelry first developed by the Western North Carolina Mining & Improvement Company, an outfit associated with Charles N. Jenks, a mining engineer who had a hand in some of the early corundum mining in the area.
In 1890, the corporation had purchased 4,000 acres from multiple landowners in order to develop a huge mountain preserve “just for their benefit, to enjoy hunting and fishing to their delight, all while boarding and dining at a brand new hunting club built on the top of [then-named] Hogback Mountain; they were naming it, simply, the Lodge.” The clubhouse was a double log house, having a kitchen at one end and a living room at the other, with a commodious hall completely dividing the two, and the property was centered on the dividing line of Jackson and Transylvania counties.[1]
An 1897 newspaper reference referred to the Lodge: “As far back as 1882, hunting and fishing parties from Pennsylvania and New York traveling through this section hit upon Sapphire and were so impressed that they erected a club house where they could come in season and spend a vacation in the delightful climate of the region.”[2]
It’s unclear when the property was purchased by the Toxaway Company, though a best guess is relatively soon after their incorporation in 1896 – especially since, later in the same article, a specific reference to the Lodge actually calls it by another name: “From Sapphire Inn, which has an elevation of 3,300, it is but an hour’s ride to the crest of Toxaway mountain, formerly Big Hogback, where Mountain House is located at an altitude of 4,790 feet.”
With its high elevation and rustic environment, the Lodge often played host to groups interested in hunting and fishing, as well as those who appreciated the incredible view from the summit.
All of the Toxaway Company resorts – including the Lodge – had frequent mentions in the press. For instance, the August 3, 1902, issue of the News and Observer (Raleigh) noted: “The view [from Mount Toxaway]…is the most extensive (it being an isolated peak) of any mountain point of vantage in the Allegheny chain. From its summit more than a hundred peaks are visible, among them being Mount Mitchell, Mount Pisgah, Old Whitesides, Rabun, and a host of others… The spectator’s eye can take in the whole of the beautiful Piedmont plateau, and in the distance the rugged and picturesque outlines of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.”
Check out this topographic rendering of the view from the summit here.
That height (and view) came with associated risks, as evidenced by the Asheville Citizen-Times account of a lightning strike from a summer storm in 1901 (above). Aside: The news cycle was a little slower in those days – hard to imagine now, but this wasn’t reported until four days after the fact!
Several years later, another tourism brochure adds, in part:
“At the summit of Mt. Toxaway is a most picturesque Lodge where rest and refreshment may be had after the long pull up the mountain. It is important that no one should miss this trip for the view is unsurpassed.”
It continues: “It is advisable always, when possible, to spend the night at the Lodge, for then and then only can one get an appreciation of the glory and beauty of this world: The sun setting behind the mountains, the gorgeous coloring it imparts to the clouds, the indistinctness of outline of the peaks as the glow slowly passes away is positively thrilling and inspiring…”
We’re lucky to have these lovely images of the lodge from the early 1900s; some taken by noted photographers William Henry Jackson and R.H. Scadin.
Pictured at the Lodge above are L-R, Mrs. Patton Crisp; Lucille Munden Monteith; Jim Monteith (with dog); Patton Crisp; and an unidentified man.
One writer for the Charlotte Observer (Sunday, September 6,1903) appears quite taken by the Lodge:
“Two weeks ago I spent a night at the Lodge. To me, Mount Toxaway is a very attractive place. The Great Creator made it an exceptional spot, and the Toxaway Company, aided by Mrs. Crisp, has done much to improve it…
“No place that you have to exert yourself to get to is complete without a refreshment house. I have found that the first thing a person wants after climbing a mountain is something good to eat. The commonest of foods, well-prepared, will taste well on a mountain peak.
“The Lodge, therefore, is a perfect place. It is managed by Mrs. Crisp, one of the best housekeepers in WNC. She has learned what the weary traveler needs and knows how to serve it. Everything around her house is clean and inviting. Her kitchen and cooking utensils are well-kept. That is why the milk, butter, bread and meat are toothsome, wholesome, and good to look upon.
“There is a sweet simplicity about the place and the woman that makes one want to linger there and sleep, and eat, and rest. I do not know a more delightful hotel. The table fare is fine. You get a regular old-time meal, well-prepared and well-served. The night that we took supper there, we had fried chicken, tender and brown; country ham and light gravy; wild honey in the comb, big, fat milk biscuits, corn bread, sweet and butter milk, coffee and tea, plus potatoes and beans.”
[Editor’s Note: The writer continues, using terminology that would have had Facebook followers up in arms 😳; please no bad notes for us as we are just quoting here.] “Mrs. Crisp is a large, strong woman, with pretty iron-gray hair. To assist here she has her husband, as well as a buxom mountain girl and a 16-year-old Macon county boy. The girl is one of the finest specimens of robust womanhood that I ever saw. She is as fat and plump as a partridge and as full of the freshness and bloom of life as a beautiful May morning…The boy is a unique chap, quiet but quick. He met us at the gate and took our horses. He seemed willing and able to help in any way… Mr. Crisp, the husband, acts as guide to fishermen and as caterer for the Lodge. He has a first-class horse and knows the country. The rattlesnake is his one source of trouble. He does not like that mountain curse. But, when accompanied by his loyal dog, the Colonel, Mr. Crisp fears not the dangerous viper. The Colonel is a brindle mongrel but his master banks on him in times of trouble. They roam the mountains together.
“With these occupants, how could the Lodge be anything but attractive? I should like to stay there a month.”
A local mountaineer and the redoubtable Mrs. Crisp are also noted in the column about The Lodge below:
The summer season of 1905 was incredibly busy. In mid-August, a traveling reverend, R.J. Hunter, who had spent time at Lake Toxaway reported that “every nook and cranny of the mountains are crowded with visitors.”[3]
The account, left, reported by the Charlotte Observer, details the sail-hike adventure of some twenty-five of the Toxaway Inn guests to the top of Mount Toxaway. [4]
Another article, subtitled Autumn Beauties of Sapphire Region, describes the Lodge’s extraordinary view: “The ascent is made on a well-graded mountain road, and after a beautiful three-mile drive, we find ourselves within sight of the company’s low, rambling lodge at the top. We climb the winding stairway of the observatory and gaze about us with that feeling of awe and reverence which always comes from a soul deeply stirred…The valley with its harmonious blending of colors lies at our feet and in the distance, sharply defined against the blue heavens, ridge after ridge and peak after peak lie exposed…”[5]
According to author Carol M. Bryson, “The Lodge on top of the Great Hogback Mountain was closed down with the dissolution of the Toxaway Company.”[6] This was presumably in 1911, when the company was bought out of receivership by E.H. Jennings, the largest stockholder. There was a reference to the lodge as part of a potential but unrealized deal some years later (1926); but but at some unknown point, the structure likely became too dilapidated to inhabit and was razed.
Today, the Preserve at Rock Creek neighborhood spreads across Toxaway Mountain.
At the summit where the Lodge once stood is a handful of radio antennae and what was until recently one of only two remaining manned fire lookout towers in the mountains, plus a small ranger cabin, both built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. You can see 2012 photographs of them here; at that date, the ranger watch was still in place, but no more. If you’re in the area, drive Tower Road and visit the summit yourself!
[1] Glenville and Cashiers…From the Records, Vol. 2, Carol M. Bryson
[2] Asheville Citizen-Times, Thursday July 15, 1897
[3] Concord Daily Tribune, August 15, 1905
[4] Charlotte Observer, August 20, 1905
[5] Asheville Daily Gazette, October 30, 1900
[6] Glenville and Cashiers…From the Records, Vol. 2, Carol M. Bryson
