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A Tribute to Toxaway
Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: 2021/05 – May | Photograph By: Susan Renfro
Lake Toxaway has been inviting people to slow down for over 100 years.
Lake Toxaway and the community of Toxaway that’s sprung up around it have always served as a respite from the cares of the world.
This pristine portion of mountain beauty has been offering sanctuary and respite to those in need. Back then, it was personages like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Nowadays, it’s celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Steve Martin, and Stephen King.
When J Frances Hayes founded the Toxaway Company in 1896, he envisioned a grand resort built along the lines of the great European inns. His Toxaway Inn was marketed to millionaires and sat upon the shore of Lake Toxaway, the first large artificial lake in Western North Carolina. He even built a railway that would carry guests from Brevard up to the doors of his resort.
The inn boasted electricity and long-distance telephone service, an orchestra for evening dances, exclusive French cuisine, a bowling alley, miles of hiking trails, and guided fishing and hunting services.
Unfortunately, all of this luxury was predicated upon the beauty of Lake Toxaway, which was established by constructing an earthen dam upon the Toxaway River.
Heavy rains during the summer of 1916 were compounded by a hurricane that pushed up from the Gulf of Mexico and flooded this corner of Western North Carolina. The dam that had created the lake collapsed in spectacular manner (you can see evidence of the mountain-scouring disaster in US 64 at Toxaway Falls.
That marked the end of the lake and the end of the resort lifestyle until 1960 when the Lake Toxaway Company bought the 8,900 acres of land and rebuilt the dam (this time with proper engineering to ensure safety regardless of the weather).
