Early Success At The Toxaway Inn

High Society

Social activities at the Inn during the 1905 season were numerous and often reported in the social columns, including which guests hosted and/or attended progressive euchre and other card parties, naptha launch parties, sailing regattas, hiking expeditions, bowling parties, billiards tournaments, and more.

There was frequent note of cotillion dances, or ‘germans.’ This was a complex dance in which one couple leads the other couples through a variety of figures with a continual change of partners.

One notable mid-summer event was described this way: “The dancers marched into the darkened dining room each carrying a pale-colored Japanese lantern, and the first figure was lit only by this vari-colored light. Then the electric lights were turned on and the effect was brilliant. Among the favors were riding whips, caps, steins, tiny skeletons, and Japanese parasols.”[5]

Excursions and Conventions

The 1905 season was a headliner for a number of reasons, not least of which was that Burrowes had negotiated weekend “excursion” packages and rates throughout the region, which brought in a significant number of day visitors, and he had also managed to snag several prestigious convention bookings.

Although individual guests were the Inn’s bread and butter, these large gatherings brought in a significant volume of cash at one time, helpful in managing expenses, as well as allowing broader access to the masses, resulting in more word of mouth reach, and, in the case of the conventions, a measure of prestige — not to mention some funny stories.

For instance, after one of the first excursion parties was allowed on grounds, there was considerable sniffling among the registered guests. According to a news report, “A number of them served notice to hotel management that if the [day] visitors were allowed to ‘flock over the grounds’ and ‘take possession of the hotel’, their party of 20 would leave.” While the exact meaning of the next comment isn’t clear, it doesn’t appear complimentary: “So far as these guests were concerned, the excursionist had slits in their ears.” [6] Fortunately, management was able to address the concerns of both parties and continue business.

A number of conventions hosted in Asheville or elsewhere planned day trips to Toxaway as a part of their agenda, among them the Press Associations of North Carolina and Virginia, the Audubon Society, and the Rural Letter Carriers Association.

But the ‘big get’ in the 1905 season for Burrowes and his Toxaway Hotel Company (not to be confused with the Toxaway Company, his lessor) was actually hosting the North Carolina Bar Association convention at the Toxaway Inn, an event which broke attendance records for the organization.

Although it appears the business of the convention was, in fact, attended to during the visit (including a memorable keynote address by Judge Pritchard), it was also reported that, “It seems an extravagance to sleep at this glorious place or to work. When a member of the Bar Association moved to adjourn the morning session till 9 o’clock tonight, an amendment substituting 3 for 9 was voted down unanimously. The lawyers, nor their wives, could not put their minds to routine business with the sapphire lake beckoning to them from every window, so they had the whole afternoon to explore the mountains and ride the lake in rowboats and launches.”

The Toxaway Frogs

A particularly amusing anecdote arose from the Bar Association convention, that of the Toxaway frogs.