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Get to Know High Glen
Written By: Stuart Ferguson - Shakespeare and Company | Issue: November - 2022
Tony Chambers’ pair of novels set on the outskirts of “High Glen” recall a gentle time on the Plateau.
Winter is coming—why not spend it in the cozy confines of Maxwell Hall, a few miles outside of High Glen, North Carolina?
To get there, you’ll drive through a pair of old stone gateposts and down a long tree-shaded drive. The car fords a shallow stream, the forest gives way to rolling fields, and a large, shingle-sided house with slate roof appears; great views of the mountains beyond.
Inside: “Look at this fireplace…hand-cut granite blocks done on site! The paneling is clear chestnut. Cut before the blight. The house is even framed in chestnut. Look at the tall paneled ceilings…the rooms are good size.”
This is the setting of two novels by Overton Chambers, The Inheritance (2005) and its sequel, Lost and Found (2015). I would describe these charming books as cozy mysteries/romances/real-estate intrigues, with lots of travel to Scotland and small-town southern Appalachia, from the newspaper to the library and church.
“High Glen” will probably be very familiar to you, except that every single inhabitant appears to be a communicant of the Episcopal Church and a member of the Rotary Club.
The plot has New York editor and recent widow Cynthia McKenna inheriting the dilapidated family estate created by her great grandfather, Lord Jeremy Maxwell, who immigrated – complete with gamekeeper – from Scotland in the early 20th century. The Maxwell family tree has many branches, and some hang over the neighbors’ fence. Complications ensue!
Cynthia decides to visit the place (she’s never been there) before selling it. Reader, she decides to keep Maxwell Hall—and the local real-estate agent, John McCloud, too. I treasure my inscribed copy of The Inheritance from his signing at Cyrano’s Bookshop; Mr. Chambers was a true gentleman, in the best sense of that word.
Growing up, Overton “Tony” Chambers II (1931-2013) spent his summers in Highlands after his father, a Chicago lumber broker, bought 350 acres between Buck Creek and Flat Mountain Roads in 1936. I recently spoke with Tony’s widow, Isabel Hall Chambers (together, they co-authored that wonderful history, Remembering Highlands). Mrs. Chambers told me that her husband always wanted to be a writer, and to live in Highlands year-round. After graduating from Dartmouth College and working for Life of Georgia in Atlanta, they moved here full time with their three sons in the ‘70s, starting The Chambers Agency Realty and Insurance Company.
