Facts About
Mitchell Co.
Mitchell County was formed
In 1861 from Yancey, Watauga,
Caldwell, Burke and McDowell.
It was named for Dr. Eligah
Mitchell, a professor at the
University of North Carolina
who was killed in 1857 on an
exploring expedition on Mt.
Mitchell.
The total land area embra
ces 140,800 acres, more than
50,000 acres of which are in
forests. It has an average al
titude of 2,500 feet, ranging
from about 1,700 feet to over
6, 300 feet.
Wateis include the North
and South Toe, the Toe, the
Nolichucky Rivers and numer
ous creeks. The water is of
excellent quality and abundance.
The county has a mean
annual temperature of about
52.1 degrees, an annual
rainfall of 51.25 inches, an
nual snowfall of just under 25
inches and a growing season
of approximately 154 days.
Wet County
Turns Dry
According to Jason Deytonl
History, in early Mitchell "dis
tilling, retailing and drinking
spiritow liquors were common
among all classes. " Ministers
fa many instances were said
to have made and sold whis
key, and it was considered
right to convert the surplts
com, rye and fruit into this
exportable form.
Aden Wiseman, a Civil War
sheriff, is said to have sold
1,200 gallons of whiskey in
the lowland towns, and with
the proceeds he was able to
discharge his share of the bond
of an absconding former sher
iff. There were 32 stills fa
the county fa 1804, and their
products were widely sold.
Mitchell was the first coun
ty in the state to vote for pro
hibition, and today it is one
of our driest counties, both
legally and actually.
Republican
Stronghold
When the question of seces
sion came up, the mountain
sections generally were strong
ly against splitting the Union.
The northern part of Yancey
County was most pro - Union
of all. This led to splitting
Mitchell off .from Yancey in
1861.
There were many fist fights
in this turbulent period and not
a single vote was cast for se
cession delegates to the con
vention. When war came,
however, many citizens joined
the Confederate Army.
When peace came,the di
visions were even more dis -
tinct than at the beginning of
the war, and it was sometime
before violent quarrels subsi
ded.
Ever since, Mitchell has
been strongly Republican.
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Architect's Rendering Os The Cloudland Hotel, A Mammoth Landmark Os Its Day
Cloud land Hotel-A Wonder Os Bygone Days
By Tom Martin
Beneath the pavillion atop
Roan Mountain where the Rho
dodendron Queen is crowned
lies the foundation of one of
the "wonders" of the Gay Nine
ties, a mammoth 268 -room
structure called the Cloudland
Hotel, built by a Yankee min
ing tycoon, General J. H.
Wilder.
The great white building '
could be seen from a hundred
miles in any direction, and In
its day it was the place 'Where
the action was. " European
royalty, rich and poor, famous
and near-famous came, ac
cording to hotel literature "up
out of the sultry plains to the
'land of the sky"' to enjoy the
magnificent views above the
clouds where the rivers are
been and to see the Rhododen
dron and other wild flowers on
the Roan.
fa its heyday the Cloudland
could accommodate around
five hundred guests, and was
advertised as not only a lux
ury hotel but a spot in those
pee-antibiotic days where one
could get "exemption from
Hay fever," and it was highly
recommended In testimonials
of the days
"Dr, D. B. Goodwin of
Pine Grove, Clark Co., Ken
tucky, takes pleasure in sta
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ting for the benefit of Hay
Cold Patients, that he has
escaped his annual on Roan
Mountain, N.C."
Cost per day for the "hay
fever brigade" as well as other
visitors was $2.50, with the
season usually lasting from
June until September. Child -
ren under ten years and ser
vants stayed at half-price.
The hotel according to a
company brochure was kept
fa "plain style," and was neat
ly and comfortably furnished
with carpets on the floors and
spring mattresses on all the beds.
The bedrooms were heated by
"hot air furnaces fa the base -
ment. " Apparently in const -
deration of the hay-fever vic
tims—the "dancing room" and
kindergarten were also located
in the basement to "keepdean
tiie noise."
Getting to the Cloudland ms
a bit involved by mid-tvventfcfi
century standards though Asa
Gray, the noted botanist, re
ferred to the Roan as the "most
accessible of mountains. " For
a while guests traveled by car
riage from a road that ran from
Buladean to the Cloudland.The
road was something of a "mar
vel" for its time as some of it
was built on stilts along the
bluffs.
Eventually a buggy road
THE YANCEY RECORD AND MITCHELL LEDGER JUNE 24, 1971
was constructed on the Tennes
see side, and the management
advised guests to go by rail
road to Johnson City, Tenn,
and there take the "Cranberry
(Stem-Winder) Narrow-Gauge
Railroad to Roan Mountain
Station, twenty-six miles from
Johnson City, passing through
Doe River Gorge, one of the
wildest rides fa the world. " At
the station guests stayed at
another hotel until they could
take a hotel-owned "hack"pull
ed by four horses along a wind
ing road for twelve miles along
the Roan to the Cloudland.
Hotel brochures and test! -
monials notwithstanding, the
Cloudland was not a money
maker and was abandoned in
the early 1900% being sold
off room by room and piece
by piece. No one in the Mich
el! area seems to know why
the hotel failed after 2S years
of operation. A testimonial
from that era seems to provide
a chie however. N. C. Blanchard,
a member of the U. S. House
of Representatives from Shrew
port, La., writes: "I often
recall with pleasure mysojeum
at Cloudland...The place
needs only to be extensively
known to be more lib erally
patronized." fa those days
before the advent of the mass
media, many people probably
had not heard of the grand
hotel sitting on top of a moun
tain in a rather isolated county
in North Carolina.
A by-product of the Cloud
land's demise are the wondrous
Rhododendron gardens admiral
by tourists and natives alike
every June. Wilder's heirs
sold off the Rhododendron atop
the Roan to shrubbery
but instead of dying out, the
beautiful red flowers came lack
not in wild, scattered clumps,
but in orderly garden-like pat
terns. By removing so many
plants, the flowers were pruned
and improved.
So, tiie Cloudland's gone
along with the nntlfag of long
skirts, tiie talk of the tycoons
—and the wheezing of the hay
fever unfortunates. Remaining
are the Rhododendron and of
course the Roan, and a de
scription from a long -gene
guest seems still one of the
most appropriates "The mur -
muring cascades dance down
the steep sides of the moun -
tain, adding musk: to the grand
scene, the setting sun slowly
lingering in the glowing west
sheds its softened tints over
the darkening valleys, and the
cool night creeps up the blue
mountains, as the twinkling
stars come out in myriads..
PAGE 15