Stories

Each of our blog features stands alone as a story of its own, and some of the collected stories create a chronological series. If you prefer to read all of the stories on a particular subject, see the blog series information below.

“Out of shared telling and remembering grow identity, connection, and pride, binding people to a place and to one another.”

— Tom Rankin, folklorist

INDIVIDUAL BLOGS

McNeely’s Country Store

Do you remember when McNeely's Country Store served the Lake Toxaway area?
eiffel tower

A European Grand Tour Diary – Part 3

Join us for the final installment of a 1930 European Grand Tour through Dresden, Meissen and Berlin, Germany; then Paris, before a sea voyage from LeHavre, France, to New York harbor.

A European Grand Tour Diary – Part 2

Enjoy the second installment of a 1930 European Grand Tour with travels to Budapest, Vienna, Munich, and Oberammergau, Germany.
M.V. Saturnia

A European Grand Tour Diary – Part 1

Experience a 1930 European Grand Tour through the eyes of young Frank Bennett, nephew of Lucy Armstrong Moltz, the grande dame of Lake Toxaway and Savannah, GA.
Toxaway Falls Stand

The Toxaway Falls Stand

Long-time local owners Jack Owen and his wife Marjorie pose in front of the Toxaway Falls Stand in a photo taken around 2000.

An Interview With Exie Wilde Henson

We celebrate Women's History Month with the first of several features on local women with important stories to tell. This one features Exie Wilde Henson.
shamrock

Early Immigration to Western NC

In honor of St. Patrick's Day: The tale of how many Scots-Irish Americans found their way to Western North Carolina.
The Return of Lake Toxaway

The Return of Lake Toxaway: A Video Documentary

In April 2012, the Transylvania Times published a feature on a video documentary project about Lake Toxaway history undertaken by John Nichols III of Charlotte and Lake Toxaway.
Boyd and Heinitsh

The Return of Lake Toxaway: Boyd and Heinitsh

Lake Toxaway Company partners Donny Boyd and Reg Heinitsh Sr. could not have been more different, and that may have accounted for their friendship and balanced working relationship.

The Return of Lake Toxaway: Refilling the Lake and Building Roads

With the dam construction complete, Lake Toxaway Company employees, many of them locals, got to work on the lakebed clearing trees in advance of the refilling water and/or around the lake on road construction projects.
Heavy Equipment

The Return of Lake Toxaway: Clearing the Lakebed and Rebuilding the Dam

Rebuilding Lake Toxaway presented many challenges - initially many of the same ones that the Toxaway Company faced at the turn of the century.
Donny Boyd and Reg Heinitsh Sr.

The Revival of Lake Toxaway

Darnell "Donny" Boyd and Reginald Heinitsh Sr. are generally considered the catalysts for the revival of present-day Lake Toxaway. Here's how they got started.

BLOG SERIES

Turn of the Century Toxaway

The Toxaway Company and the Great Resort Era
The Fairfield Inn: Then and Now
The Sapphire Inn & Cottages: Then & Now
The Lodge At Mount Toxaway: Then & Now
The Franklin Hotel: Gateway to the Sapphire Country
The Building of Lake Toxaway and the Toxaway Inn
Opening Day at the Toxaway Inn
Early Success at the Toxaway Inn
Financial Foibles in the Sapphire Country
The Lake Toxaway Dam Burst
The Lost Years of Lake Toxaway

RELATED
Life & Work of Early Area Photographers
A 1900s Transylvania County Home: R.H. Scadin

The ’60s Rebirth of Lake Toxaway

The Revival of Lake Toxaway
The Return of Lake Toxaway: Part 1
     Clearing the Lakebed and Rebuilding the Dam
The Return of Lake Toxaway: Part 2
     Refilling the Lake and Building Roads
The Return of Lake Toxaway: Boyd and Heinitsh
The Return of Lake Toxaway: A Video Documentary

RELATED
Neighborhoods: Burlingame

The History of the Greystone Inn

A Biography of Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz – Part 1
A Biography of Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz – Part 2
Local Historian Showcases Lucy Camp Armstrong Moltz
The Evolution of The Moltz Mansion
The Birth Of The Greystone Inn
The Greystone Inn: The Lovelace Years
Re-Imagining The Greystone Inn

RELATED
A European Grand Tour Diary (3-part series)
A Greystone Inn Extended Family Story (4-part series)

WHAT A TIME…

And don’t forget to check out our What A Time… stories in issues of The Quill Newsletters—featuring smaller historical bits you might also find of interest!