Preserving the Heritage

Written By: Sandi Rogers, Cashiers Historical Society | Issue: June 2024

Since 2005 the Cashiers Historical Society has presented to the community the Jan Wyatt Symposium.  This event fulfills the Society’s mission to preserve the heritage of Cashiers Valley through education, stewardship and advocacy.  This year’s symposium topic will discuss the early settlers and the development of tourism and the creation of modern Cashiers.  The date for the symposium is June 20.

The greater Cashiers Valley area was one of the last places in North Carolina to be settled.  Until 1819 the area was part of the Cherokee Nation and later the area was part of Macon and Jackson County.  The Love Treaty signed in 1819 between North Carolina and the Cherokee Nation, allowed pioneers to apply for land ownership in the Cashiers area.

In 1833 Col. John Zachary, his wife Sallie and thirteen of their fourteen children came from Surry County.  They came down the Blue Ridge Mountains until they reached Pickens, South Carolina.  At that time, there were already several families in the Cashiers area when the Zachary’s arrived in Cashiers.  The McKinney and Norton families were living in Whiteside Cove and the Barnes, Burrills and Tilley families could be found living in Horse Cove. Three of these families, the Nortons, McKinneys and Zacharys were the earliest families to receive land grants.

In 1850, Cashiers Valley consisted of ninety people living in 15 households with 11 different surnames.  Thirteen of the households were headed by farmers and two of the households were headed by laborers.  It is interesting to note that most of the settlers of Jackson County were second or third generation Americans, with their parents or grandparents settling elsewhere, but later moving to the area in search of better opportunities.

According to CHS Historian Jane Nardy, “the Civil War made the mountain people stand still and even back up with any sort of economic development.”

A few decades later in the 1880s, the area and economy started looking up.  Investors and developers from the North discovered this remote “paradise.”

The Lake Toxaway Company was responsible for a series of elegant inns from Brevard to Cashiers.  There was a railroad spur from Hendersonville to Lake Toxaway that enabled travel to the mountains feasible.  Wealthy northeasterners could ride in their private train cars most of the way. The last few miles from Lake Toxaway to Cashiers was made possible by local men from Cashiers and their horse-drawn conveyance.
Finally, mark your calendar June 20 for this year’s symposium and check out the CHS site for additional information concerning time and location.