McNeely’s Country Store
D id you know that a single stretch of land just off Highway 64 on NC-281 — roughly between Haywood Electric and St. Andrew’s Chapel — has seen more than its fair share of history?
McNeely’s Country Store operated for decades in first one, then a second nearby location, providing goods and services that were vital to the community.
And in the early 1900s, the same land was home to the Lake Toxaway Train Depot, with both passenger and freight service into the Sapphire Country.
Step Back In Time With Us…
Lake Toxaway Railroad Depot
The railroad to Brevard opened in the fall of 1895 but soon fell into financial trouble. By 1897, it was in receivership and had been purchased by the Toxaway Company and renamed the Transylvania Railroad. The sale included 22 miles of track, all bridges, trestles, and buildings, two locomotives, one first-class car, one combination car, three boxcars, one flatcar, and two handcars.
By 1901, the line was extended into Rosman, and soon after to Lake Toxaway to support the burgeoning tourist industry in the area around the late 19th century into the early 20th century.
There was both passenger and freight terminals, with a separate track built to accommodate the private Pullman cars of many of the wealthy visiting guests. As well, extensive roads were built for carriages and wagons traveling in the area.
Check out our blog series about the heyday of The Sapphire Country
for many more memories of this time.
McNeely’s Country Store
The McNeely family has a long legacy in Historic Toxaway. Patriarch Charles Rosselle (“C.R.”) McNeely was born in Morganton, NC, in 1872, and spent much of his life in Transylvania County before his death in 1943.
In 1890 he married his first wife, Fannie Josephine McNeely, and they had five sons (Robert, Fred, Walter Sr., Henry, and Lu) and two daughters (Carie and Maud).
According to descendant Bill McNeely Jr. (C.R.’s great-grandson), a young C.R. worked as an electrician on the Toxaway Inn build in the early 1900s, helping to wire the then-mammoth structure. He remained associated with the project even after the dam broke in 1916. In fact, C.R. was identified as a “witness” in a May 1921 court filing (Comrs. vs Jennings) when representatives from South Carolina sued then-owner E.H. Jennings over the resulting damages.
Sometime between 1910 and 1925, the year that Fannie passed away, the McNeelys made their permanent residence in the area. In 1926, C.R. married again, to Lela V. Brooks.
According to Bill Jr., C.R. was able to use leftover materials from the Inn to build the original McNeely’s Country Store, a wooden structure which was located near the site of today’s Haywood Electric. The exact timing of its establishment isn’t clear, though a cash register from the store bears a stamp of 1925.
McNeely’s became a community fixture and could be counted on to supply almost anything that locals or summer guests might need, including clothes, hose, and shoes; farm and wagon gear; and a variety of food staples of the time.
One of C.R. and Fannie’s children, Walter McNeely Sr., married Dorcas Beulah Fisher in 1916. Beulah was the daughter of other well-known locals, Isaiah Slick Fisher and Caroline Dorcas Lee. Over time, they had five children: Mabel (b. 1917); Walter Jr. (b. 1919); Harold (b. 1920); William (b.1922); and a latecomer, Donald Davis (b.1940) who died in an unfortunate accident at the age of eight.
By the 1930 census, Walter McNeely Sr., then 34, was noted as a “retail merchant/grocer.” When his father passed away in 1943, he and Beulah took over the country store, also home to the post office, and it remained a busy establishment where everyone convened to purchase what they needed and hear of the latest news.
Beulah and Walter McNeely Sr in front of their country store. Photo courtesy of the estate of Jo Ann Alderman, their granddaughter.
Mable and Walter McNeely Jr, eldest children of the country store’s owners. Guesstimating from their birthdates, this photo was taken in the early 1920s. Photo courtesy of the estate of Jo Ann Alderman.
Just six years later, in 1949, Walter Sr. passed away at the age of 53, leaving Beulah to grieve the loss of both her husband and their youngest son in the span of two years.
She continued to operate the store, eventually building a new store in the mid-1950s and moving operations there, in the building currently housing the Blind Mule restaurant.
Bill McNeely, Sr. (Walter Sr. and Beulah’s son) is quoted in the July 1965 Transylvania Times article below.
Bill McNeely Jr. recalls that the railroad ended right at the store (which you can see in the map above). “The train used to come right next to Rex Dillard’s house. They called it a Y – the train would come right up the side of the mountain and then turn around there.” Having the railroad and roads nearby helped the McNeelys do a lot of wholesale business, from as far away as Glenville.
He also recalls the country store had the only phone in the region (originally a crank phone which ’60’s-era developer Donnie Boyd describes here).
“The exchange there was Toxaway 1, but there wasn’t any Toxaway 2 or 3. That was it. People would come in from all over to use that phone. Back then, anywhere you called was long distance. The caller would connect with an operator and say they would need the charges for the call. The call would be put through, and about 30 seconds after they hung up, the operator would call back to tell them how much to pay the store.”
“We never charged any fee, it was just what the call cost. The store took messages, too, especially in emergencies. It was a real lifeline.”
McNeely’s Country Store in its original location, which was demolished in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of the estate of Jo Ann Alderman.
Above: The Asheville Citizen Times, December 13, 1957.
The second location of McNeely’s Country Store closed down in 1974, though Buelah continued to live in the upper level of the building until she passed away in 1979 at the age of 81.
The property was eventually sold to John Nichols Jr. in 1982, and he leased it to a series of restaurants, including The Blind Mule, The Captain’s Table, and The Brown Trout. In 2021, Nichols opened his own restaurant, The Grand Olde Station, on the site.
Despite the years since it was open, many local families have fond memories of the old country store. And today, of course, the McNeely family remains well known in Historic Toxaway for operating a range of important retail and service businesses in our area and other regional locations.
The Grand Olde Station brings the past full circle, exhibiting many historical artifacts of the area, including a caboose purchased in 2015 by John Nichols Jr. and his son, John Nichols III, which they brought to the property as a reminder of the site’s railroad history.
If you enjoyed this post, check out our Then & Now Gallery to see more places you might recognize! And if you have memories of one of these places — or any other local stories or photos — please share them with us here.
The Historic Toxaway Foundation is pleased to continue VOICES OF TOXAWAY, our video series featuring one-on-one interviews with guests that can provide historical insights and a local perspective on the Historic Toxaway corridor.
SECOND IN OUR SERIES
This video was created by HTF Board Member John Nichols from a 2011 interview with Bill McNeely Jr. and other information from the McNeely family.
