The Story of the Toxaway Falls Stand
A faded red ramshackle piece of history sits on the edge of Highway 64, right at the lip of Toxaway Falls. Travelers approaching the spillway of the dam have probably seen it many times, or in some cases, not seen it at all, passed it right by, since it has been there long enough to blend right into the background.
The Toxaway Falls Stand has a story, though, and one long-time local family, the Owens, still tell it when someone is interested.
Vincent Owen (called Vince, Vint, or sometimes V.C. by the locals) opened the stand in 1947 as a one-room store on the west bank (Cashiers side) of Toxaway Falls. At the time, he was working for a pipe mill in Brevard; but with his eyesight failing, and a wife and children to care for, he needed to find something else he could do to pay the bills.
According to local writer Marjorie Willingham, his daughter-in-law, “Thirty-some years had passed since the pent-up waters of the lake had broken free and plunged wildly down the gorge and into South Carolina. The abandoned lakebed had grown up in blackberry briars and white pines, and the children played softball in the bottoms that once lay under the deep.
The magnificent Toxaway hotel had fallen from grace to neglect and decay, finally suffering dismemberment as her beams and planks and timbers were sold, ripped out, and hauled away.
It was a time when there seemed no hope or likelihood that the lake would ever be rebuilt or that prosperous times would return.
Nevertheless, Vincent Owen had hope. In 1947, when U.S. 64 was barely more than a gravel road leading pretty much to nowhere, he opened his little souvenir stand on the side of the road.”[1]
Fortunately, that hope paid off. Vince operated the stand for the next decade, doing a pretty brisk business selling to locals and the summer people who came to stay in the area. Many made a point to stop in and visit with Vince and see what was new at the shop.
Vince Owen, right, with a friend at the Toxaway Falls Stand. Photo courtesy of Marjorie Willingham.
Jonnie Fordyce, one of eight Owen kids, recalls that she was six years old when her father opened the stand, and she and several of her siblings often helped him there on weekends, holidays, and through the summer. She remembers the first time she helped a customer: “I was shy and when that customer left, my dad pulled me aside and told me I was going to have to learn to run my mouth. He said if they look like they’re going to leave, you just say, you need to try out this furniture over here, it’s real comfortable. Or you need to see this Indian craftwork. Well, I did learn, and he probably was sorry he said that, because I haven’t stopped talking since! And I never did have a customer after that who didn’t end up buying something!”
Three of the Owen kids – Joe, age 6; Jonnie, age 11; and Jerry, age 9. Photo courtesy of Jonnie Fordyce.
She also recalls a time when her father went on a shopping expedition for new items for the store, leaving sisters Joanne and Jonnie in charge. “I was 8 or 9. A storm blew in, it was raining and hailing, and I was scared out of my wits. I went behind the door and put one of those braided rugs we sold over my head. All of a sudden there was this huge clap of thunder. Lightning had hit the rocks up the hill, and a ball of fire rolled down and hit the stand. When I took that rug off my head, there was yellow smoke around us.”
Despite the rain, the girls ran outside and flagged down the next vehicle to pass, which happened to be a big black Cadillac limousine. “It was driven by a black chauffeur, with this white couple inside, and they stopped and tried to help us pull up the front of the store and lash it down. Then they offered to drive us home, but we said, no, just take us to McNeely’s and we’ll walk the rest of the way. And we did, and when Dad came home, he took us back to the stand, and when he saw how we’d left it wide open, there was nothing missing but of course, he got onto us for that.”
“That place was Dad’s life. He just loved talking to people.”
The original Toxaway Falls Stand is pictured behind this river baptism. Photo courtesy of Jonnie Fordyce.
When the Lake Toxaway dam reconstruction began in the early 1960s, Owen struck a deal with the developers to relocate his stand back up the road on the Toxaway side, on the site of an old rock quarry formerly used by the highway department in road construction. The stand remains there today, though it’s no longer open for business.
When Vince Owen passed away in 1995, Jonnie Fordyce took over operations for a number of years, carrying on the same family traditions of stocking the shop with unique merchandise and talking to everyone who stopped in.
The Mountain News, a short-lived Upper Transylvania County newspaper, published a feature on the stand in its November 1997 issue. Check it out here.
Eventually, eldest brother Jack took over the stand’s operation and, after marrying his wife Marjorie in November 1999, together they added even more merchandise to the open-air shop.
Among the kitschy and practical items for sale were boiled peanuts, soft drinks, and candy; an assortment of jams, jellies, relish, sourwood honey; Amish butter and eggs; mountain arts and crafts such as locally made birdhouses, walking sticks, painted saws, miniature landscapes, and even rustic rockers and other wooden furniture. Kids loved to visit too, for the always-popular coonskin hats and other inexpensive toys offered there.
Jack Owen with the flock of chickens maintained for Henroot Farms, an egg business that was also family-owned. Photos courtesy of Marjorie Willingham.
One of the stand’s best features seems to have been the conversation you could have with its proprietor. Like his father and sister before him, Jack could answer many questions about the area and generally knew about whatever was going on locally.
He, or other members of his family, could also help visitors with information for day trips, or even longer stays. In fact, at one time, the stand doubled as the check in/check out location for a related family business, Panther Ridge RV Park, which is still operated today.
HTF Board member John Nichols recorded a brief meeting with Jack Owen in 2011 as he went about business at the stand:
It was shortly after this video was recorded that Jack’s health began to fail, and he decided to shutter the local landmark. Now it stands silent above the falls, abandoned but still much-loved and remembered.
So much so that Marjorie took to her blog in March 2016 with a humorous post about some gossip that was circulating then about the old Toxaway Falls Stand:
“I did not intend to say anything on this subject, but I must put a pin in the hysterical hot air balloon that is inflating up at Toxaway Falls. You notice I did not say ‘historical’… When construction began recently on the road improvements in the vicinity of Toxaway Falls someone looked at the Highway Department’s map and noted that Jack’s little store, Toxaway Falls Stand, had been labeled a historic structure by the highway folks. In almost no time Toxaway Falls Stand’s status became elevated well beyond that of a little slapped together antique building, not even as old or historically significant as some local barns, to a place on the National Register. So now there are a lot of folks around here who actually believe that…”[2]
For a time, a chainsaw artist, Eddy Hoots, worked at his carving near the stand, attracting tourists to stop for a look at his work. The video below was recorded in the summer of 2008.
Eddy tells the story: “I carved in Cashiers for about six months, and I always drove by Jack’s place and nobody was ever there. I thought it would be a nice place to set up and carve, since Cashiers was not going to be a permanent location.
So on my way home from the last trip to Cashiers, there was Jack at his stand. First time I ever saw him there. So I pulled in and met Jack. He was sitting in his rocking chair inside the stand. I told him I was a chain saw carver and had driven by his place many times and asked if he would be interested in letting me set up and carve at his place. Jack said he had been looking for a chain saw carver.
So I unloaded some wood I had on my truck behind his stand and told him I would be back in a couple weeks. I came back and set up there and carved bears for a weekend. Ended up carving there for ten years. I became very good friends with Jack and his family and we kept each other company. And I met many local people and became friends with them in the Lake Toxaway Area. I was able to set up at Jack’s place until they widened the highway and had to close the stand.”
Eddy Hoots is now carving at Sugar Mountain resort, or you can reach him on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/bears.denn).
With all the sweet charm and history on this small piece of real estate, it’s just the kind of story we want to believe! If you have fond memories of the Toxaway Falls Stand, please submit your stories, photos and videos here so we can tell more of this local landmark’s past.
SOURCES:
[1] From a former website, now inactive, toxawaycountry.com
[2] https://toxawaytellit.com/2016/03/27/of-chief-toxaway-hysterical-sites-and-re-ali-tea/
