Creating the Land of the Sky: Tourism and Society in Western North Carolina

Creating the Land of the Sky

Creating the Land of the Sky

Tourism and Society in Western North Carolina

RICHARD D. STARNES

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS

TUSCALOOSA

Copyright © 2005

The University of Alabama Press

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Typeface: ACaslon

∞

The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Science—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

ISBN 978-0-8173-5604-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-8173-8302-2 (electronic)

A previous edition of this book has been catalogued by the Library of Congress.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Starnes, Richard D., 1970–

      Creating the land of the sky : tourism and society in western North Carolina / Richard D. Starnes.

          p.  cm. — (The modern South)

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 0-8173-1462-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Tourism—North Carolina—History. 2. Tourism—Social aspects—North Carolina—History. 3. Mountain life—North Carolina—History. 4. North Carolina—Social life and customs. 5. North Carolina—Social conditions. 6. North Carolina—Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Series.

    G155.U6S66 2005

    338.4´791756—dc22

2004029036

For Barbara, Emily, and Nathan

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Sanitariums, Railroads, and the New South

2. Building Image and Infrastructure: Tourism, Development, and Regional Identity, 1875–1930

3. Metropolis of the Land of the Sky: Tourism and Urban Development in Asheville, North Carolina, 1880–1931

4. The Fellowship of Kindred Minds Is like to That Above: Religious Tourism in God’s Country

5. National Parks, Ski Resorts, and Second Homes: Mountain Tourism Development after 1930

6. Life, Labor, and Culture in the Land of the Sky

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Illustrations

FIGURES

1. Map of western North Carolina

2. Hot Springs Hotel

3. White Sulphur Springs Hotel

4. Battery Park Hotel

5. Swannanoa

6. Round Knob Hotel

7. Resting

8. The Old Field Cabin

9. Stripes but No Stars

10. Construction at the Grove Park Inn, 1913

11. Cross overlooking Lake Junaluska

12. Mountaineer Inn, Asheville, North Carolina

13. Biltmore weavers produce cloth for the tourist market

14. A Biltmore weaver demonstrates his craft to visitors

15. White mountaineer musicians and Cherokee chiefs

TABLES

1. Asheville City Population, 1870–1930

2. Charges for Selected Crimes in the City of Asheville, 1916

3. Annual Visitor Traffic to Selected Western North Carolina Attractions, 1940–1949

4. Second-Home Ownership in Selected Western North Carolina Counties, 1970–1990

5. Income (in Dollars) Generated by Tourism for Selected Western North Carolina Counties, 1983–1986

6. Female Tourism Workers by Race and Occupation, 1880–1920

7. Male Tourism Workers by Race and Occupation, 1880–1920

8. Tourism Workers by Place of Birth, 1880–1920

9. Western North Carolina Population, 1880–1920

10. Tourism Workers by County, 1880–1920

Acknowledgments

History is a collaborative enterprise, and I would like to thank those who helped me as I worked to complete this book. My intellectual debts are many and must begin with the men who guided me through graduate school. Max Williams taught me so much, both inside and outside the classroom. His teaching, scholarship, and presence continue to shape my life. He is a second father to me. At Auburn University, Wayne Flynt was more than a model major professor. His scholarly example, integrity, and reform vision for the region he loves continue to inspire me in many ways. I hope to one day live up to the high standards both these mentors set.

Historians often thank archivists for their assistance, but I think North Carolina has the best anywhere. Anyone who did research in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina during Alice Cotten’s tenure will tell you that Alice knows more about North Carolina history than just about anyone else and shares that knowledge unselfishly. Her colleagues at the Southern Historical Collection made my time in Wilson Library extremely productive as well. At Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library, George Frizzell and Pricilla Proctor helped locate sources for this and several other projects, always with great skill and good humor. Librarians at Pack Memorial Library in Asheville gave me the benefit of their knowledge of their stacks and of local history. At the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Helen Wyckle manages a great collection and embodies a contagious passion for regional history.

Others contributed to this project in various ways. Nina Anderson generously shared her excellent unpublished history of the Western North Carolina Associated Communities with me. Bren Martin’s important work on mountain tourism shaped mine in many ways, even if we disagree in some of our conclusions. Anne Miller, editor of the North Carolina Historical Review, and Donna Kelly, historical publications administrator with the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, both encouraged my work and allowed me to reprint portions of an essay that appeared earlier in the Review. Two able graduate assistants, Rob Ferguson and Tammy Frizzell, assisted me with census research and, with Keith Alexander, Dan Menestres, Joel Evans, and Ngaire Smith, debated and discussed many of the ideas contained in this book. I remain grateful to the North Caroliniana Society for an Archie K. Davis Fellowship that allowed me to complete much of the research for this book. Likewise, I spent the 2003–2004 academic year as Hunter Scholar at Western Carolina University, completing revisions that would have taken much longer without such support.

My colleagues at Western Carolina University make our department a very pleasant place to teach and write. For many years Jim Lewis served as a sounding board, mentor, and cheerleader, just what a department head should be. Tyler Blethen and Curtis Wood graciously shared their knowledge of Appalachian history, a field of inquiry they helped to pioneer. Curtis gave me my first job teaching history, and I hope he does not regret it. Scott Philyaw, Vicki Szabo, and Gael Graham offered much-appreciated advice and support along the way. Suzanne McDowell, curator of our Mountain Heritage Center, gave me the benefit of her friendship and her knowledge of regional history. Dean Robert Vartabedian showed interest in my work and assisted in the completion of this book in many important ways. David Dorondo and Clete Fortwendel tolerated many conversations related to this book when they probably would have rather talked about anything else. Nevertheless, they remain my dear friends. Elizabeth Gillespie McRae took time away from her own work to read drafts, cajole, challenge, and give me the benefit of her careful eye and impressive grasp of southern history. Her friendship and insight made this a better book.

Friends beyond Cullowhee also aided the completion of this project. John Inscoe is perhaps the most positive and encouraging member of our profession. His friendship and insight remain most valuable to me. George Tindall planted the seed from which this book grew during lunch one day in Chapel Hill. The kindness he showed a young historian made a deep impression on me. Doug Flamming, Bryant Simon, Jim Cobb, David Goldfield, Stephanie Yuhl, Alecia Long, Mark Souther, and Harvey Newman challenged me to revise my thoughts at various professional conferences, and this book is better for their advice. Former teachers Steve McFarland and Robin Fabel continue to shape the way I view the past. My former colleagues at Mars Hill College also deserve mention. Phyllis Smith, Jim Lenburg, and Kathy Meacham made my brief tenure on the hill a very pleasant one, and they remain my friends. Dan Pierce read drafts, suggested sources, kept the faith, and constantly reminded me that everything good comes out of West Asheville. Since our graduate school days, Mark Huddle has been a confidante and comrade. His friendship remains dear to me. Eric Tscheschlok provided a model for scholarship and good writing and was there in good times and bad. Gordon Harvey was a constant source of encouragement, a collaborator, and a good friend. Brooks Blevins’s ideas and conclusions, although based on work in his native Ozarks, shaped this book in many ways. Dan Ross and his staff at the University of Alabama Press have been outstanding at every stage. Dan especially has walked this path with me, offering sage advice and good humor along the way, and the journey has been easier because of it. Thanks also must go to Nicole Mitchell and Mindy Wilson for encouraging this project early on.

My father was my first history teacher. From documentaries on public television to tramping around Civil War battlefields, he taught me to appreciate the past. For that and many other lessons I remain forever grateful. My mother gave me love, encouragement, and support in all aspects of my life. I have great parents. One of my biggest regrets is that my grandmother, Connie Gantt, did not live to see this, but her memory and spirit remain with me always.

The last mentions are the most important. Emily came along just as I began my doctoral studies, a tiny little thing with an indomitable spirit and will to live. Nathan joined our family during my first year at WCU, a scrappy little boy with a great sense of humor. Both have taught me new ways to view the world and new joys that life brings. Barbara remains my best friend, confidante, and love of my life. She suffered much as I worked on this book, but she remained steadfast in her support. I couldn’t ask for a better family. This one is for them.

Cullowhee, North Carolina

Introduction

Catastrophe struck western North Carolina in the summer of 1997. After weeks of heavy rain, tons of rock, mud, and debris plunged down cliffs along the Pigeon River gorge in the early afternoon of July 2, completely blocking Interstate 40 in both directions. Luckily, no one was injured or killed. Nevertheless, this was an economic disaster of the highest order for this predominately rural section of North Carolina. The landslide occurred at the very height of the tourist season, and the mountain counties were faced with the potential of severe financial losses. Once news of the slide spread, visitors began choosing other destinations to spend their vacation time and money. To counter this public perception, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, the largest and most influential business organization in the region, sponsored an advertising campaign in major newspapers across the South, attempting to convince potential visitors that travel was still possible. The North Carolina Department of Commerce created similar ads, purchased radio spots, and placed information on alternative routes on the World Wide Web. These efforts met with little success. The business community pressured political leaders for action. State representatives from mountain districts toured the slide area and vocally criticized the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the slow pace of cleanup efforts. Hampered by poor weather and the potential for additional slides, state engineers pleaded for patience. The local media joined the criticism of the DOT and gave detailed coverage of the economic havoc caused by the decline in tourism for businesses large and small. Curiously, comparatively little was said concerning the problems the blocked highway caused residents moving agricultural produce to market, receiving goods shipped from other parts of the country, and merely getting from place to place within the region. The focus was on tourists, the lifeblood of the regional economy. As the cleanup wore on, three counties qualified as economic disaster areas, and other individual businesses received state grants to help them cope with the economic losses incurred because of the rockslide. Interstate 40 was completely reopened to all traffic in December, too late to aid the regional tourist economy but in time to fuel hope of recouping losses during the next season.¹

But tourism as a force in the region’s history stretches much further back than the rockslide that caused so much disruption in 1997. Since the early nineteenth century, visitors have traveled to western North Carolina to enjoy the region’s scenery, mild climate, and other attractions. After the Civil War local boosters and outside investors united to develop tourism as the cornerstone of the regional economy. This early focus on tourism had pronounced effects for the society, economy, and culture of western North Carolina (figure 1). Although tourism brought visitors, capital, and the trappings of modern life to relatively isolated mountain counties, it also threatened traditional patterns of living, restricted other forms of economic development, and placed residents under intense scrutiny from outsiders. Tourism also exacerbated tensions between classes of mountain residents, some of whom sought profit in catering to visitors, developing resort properties, and preserving the traditional landscape, and others who opposed their land and culture being appropriated to serve and entertain outsiders. As the twentieth century progressed, tourism further divided mountaineers. Residents of more rural western counties came to resent the city of Asheville, the region’s primary urban center, for its self-professed progressive vision and domination of the regional tourism market. Following the Second World War, rural leaders organized to counter Asheville’s economic and political power and to carve a share of the tourism profits for themselves. Others cooperated with outsiders to preserve and profit from mountain music, crafts, and culture, which were being steadily eroded in part because of the economic and social influence of tourism. Still others capitalized on bringing visitors to western North Carolina permanently, inaugurating a large second-home movement, which dramatically changed the demographics and culture of the mountain region.

Until recently, the history of American tourism received little attention from historians. Instead, social scientists conducted much of the research on this illusive topic. These sociologists, anthropologists, and economists examined the role of tourism in economic development, the tense, nuanced relationship between hosts and guests, and the social and environmental impact of a tourist economy. By the 1980s, historians also recognized the importance of tourism in understanding the social and economic history of the United States. Yet, as tourism has emerged as one of the most important industries in the South and the nation, few scholars have investigated its historical development on a local, state, or regional level. This study examines the history of tourism in western North Carolina from 1800 to the late twentieth century, emphasizing the period following the Civil War, tracing its role in creating what one visitor in 1874 termed The Land of the Sky, a powerful regional economic and cultural identity in western North Carolina.

The story begins with the social and economic context of early-nineteenth-century North Carolina. Visitors began to arrive in the North Carolina mountains by the early nineteenth century. Prominent planter families from South Carolina, Georgia, and eastern North Carolina often left their low-country estates during the summer, seeking solace in milder mountain climes. Some even relocated their entire households to elaborate summer homes to escape the fever season. Others with the desire to summer elsewhere, but without the means to maintain two households, relaxed at hotels that emerged to meet their demands. At these early resorts the wealthy mingled, took in the natural attractions, engaged in faddish treatments for various diseases, and generally were entertained in a manner accorded to their station. Even in this early phase mountain tourism had important cultural and economic implications. Not only did these early tourists provide employment and infuse cash into the local economy, but they also reinforced the region’s economic and ideological links with the lower South. This period also saw the establishment of tuberculosis sanitariums, mineral springs, and other health resorts as the base for the expansion of the tourism industry following the Civil War. After 1865 the development of railroads and the burgeoning Victorian consumer culture led to the expansion of the tourism industry across the region. The economic spirit of the New South was alive and well in the North Carolina mountains, and tourism was the industry of choice among regional leaders as the best route for economic prosperity and social progress.

Image and infrastructure, key elements in establishing a regional tourism economy, dominated the next phase of development. Local boosters, resort owners, and civic leaders realized the importance of advertising in attracting visitors. The written descriptions and visual images of these advertising campaigns gave visitors their first impression of the geography and culture of the North Carolina mountains. The development of the tourist image of western North Carolina occurred at the same time Appalachia itself was emerging as a region in the national imagination. The process of developing and propagating a regional image gives us important insight into the cultural perception of natives and outsiders alike.

Without attractions, resorts, hotels, and other businesses to support the tourist trade, the process of image making goes for naught. Partnerships developed between state and federal government agencies, local boosters, and outside developers to create the attractions necessary to attract visitors to the region. Through the establishment of state and national parks, regional attractions, and famous resorts, the foundation was laid for a regional tourism economy in western North Carolina. Everything from resort hotels to religious retreats emerged as regional leaders hoped to offer travelers of all descriptions attractive amusements. This expansion of infrastructure not only solidified the area as a tourist destination but also exacerbated tension between leaders in the tourist industry and local residents who opposed this type of development.

After 1930 the tourism industry took on renewed social and economic importance in the North Carolina mountains. New Deal projects, including the development of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, increased the local infrastructure. The development of state parks and private attractions, including the opening of the Biltmore Estate, brought more visitors to the region despite difficult economic times. Efforts to promote the region as a tourist destination gained strength and reflected the latest in marketing techniques. For the first time, state authorities in Raleigh recognized the emerging importance of tourism as a component of the state economy. Agencies such as the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Industry began to showcase mountain resorts as part of a national campaign to develop the state’s tourist industry. Asheville continued to play significant political and economic roles in the region, but improvements in transportation brought rural counties farther west into the race for tourist dollars. In 1946 business leaders and government officials in the far western section of the state organized the Western North Carolina Associated Communities, a development consortium that embraced tourism as the route to regional prosperity. This organization did more than simply promote the area as a travel destination. It rated and regulated tourist accommodations, trained workers for the hospitality industry, and worked to develop sustainable attractions. These efforts built on earlier development strategies and played a key role in establishing tourism as the most important industry in the North Carolina mountains after World War II.

Much of this tension resulted from the position of Asheville as the social, political, and economic center of the region. Since the Civil War, tourism had played an important role in shaping the form and pace of urban development in the city of Asheville. By the 1870s, city leaders pursued policies designed to improve Asheville’s image as a resort, to both the advantage and the detriment of city residents. These included municipal improvements, favorable tax rates, zoning, and advertising. By the 1880s, leaders realized the city’s growth was tied to tourism and began intensive campaigns to increase both visitor traffic and immigration. These campaigns inaugurated a second-home movement that raised property values precipitously, led to exponential population growth, and placed considerable strain on city services. To improve these services, the municipal government issued tens of millions of dollars in bonds, placing the city in tremendous debt. By the mid-1920s the real estate market collapsed, and the city defaulted. The resulting financial problems inhibited economic growth until the 1950s, when city leaders again turned to tourism as the best hope for urban prosperity.

Of course, tourism altered the traditional patterns of mountain life and work. Women and children, particularly African Americans, found employment as maids, as waitresses, and in other types of service work at resorts, hotels, and other businesses catering to a tourist clientele. Men worked as porters, bellmen, and waiters, although their relative numbers among tourism workers were much smaller than that of women. These jobs were usually low paying, seasonal, physically difficult, and made the workers particularly susceptible to abuse by their employers. Tourism did increase entrepreneurial opportunities for many white women in the North Carolina mountains. Women like Julia Wolfe, mother of novelist Thomas Wolfe, realized the profit to be made in catering to tourists. By the 1890s women began to open inns, boardinghouses, and, later, hotels and motels to cater to visitors. Often these were family businesses, but women performed the majority of the management functions, thus mixing traditional domesticity, economic progress, and gender liberation. As the tourist industry became increasingly important, agriculture began to decline and, with it, the traditional patterns of life in the region. Land prices increased as elites from across the South and the nation began to purchase homes in the region, forcing many mountaineers onto smaller plots or out of the region altogether. The timber and pulp paper industries, major sources of employment for many mountain residents, locked in a struggle with tourism developers over the economic and environmental future of the region. Tourism brought tremendous social and economic change to this section of the southern mountains.

Tourism also had pronounced effects on regional culture. By the early nineteenth century, outsiders had developed a market for native crafts in New York, Boston, and other larger cities. Missionaries and wealthy immigrants who were enamored with mountain culture and sought to preserve it in the face of modernization encouraged this craft production. Edith Vanderbilt, Olive Dame Campbell, Frances Louisa Goodrich, and other social activists founded schools in western North Carolina designed to teach mountaineers native crafts and to market those crafts to outsiders. Native-born mountaineers also realized there was profit to be made by marketing culture to tourists. Bascom Lamar Lunsford founded the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival to encourage the maintenance of traditional music, dancing, and storytelling, at the same time profiting from it. The Southern Highland Handicraft Guild performed a similar service for mountain crafters, regulating production techniques, certifying authenticity, and distributing crafts to retailers. Others, like Cherokee tribal leaders and the white Cherokee Historical Association, hoped that a mix of historical tradition and fabrication would bring tourist dollars to the impoverished Cherokee Indian reservation. This complex process of cultural conservation and alteration took different forms and changed the perception of mountain life, brought profits to the region, and fueled a debate concerning the relative importance of cultural authenticity and economic development.

From its modest roots in the early nineteenth century, tourism emerged as the defining force in western North Carolina. Its effects in terms of employment, economic development, and local tax revenue are indisputable. Many residents profited immensely through hotels, attractions, restaurants, guide services, and related businesses. Of course, not all residents were pleased with the roles tourism played within the region. Even today, native-born residents sometimes resent outsiders, whom they feel view mountaineers as backward and ignorant. Manufacturing interests frequently battle tourism developers over issues such as air pollution, water quality, and timber clear-cutting. Second-home development inflated property values out of reach of many local residents, especially those employed in low-paying, seasonal tourism jobs. These local effects simply mirror the issues facing many tourist communities across the South. This study seeks to understand how a region develops as a tourist destination and how that process shapes the lives of the people who live there. Hopefully, my conclusions will help to broaden our understanding of southern social and economic history. As some predict that tourism will be the region’s and the nation’s largest industry in the twenty-first century, studies such as this one stand to have important implications for both the history of the South and its future.

1

Sanitariums, Railroads, and the New South

On July 21, 1886, the Charleston News and Courier announced that [t]he dream of the dwellers by the seaside and of their friends by the snow line has at last been realized. For the first time travelers enjoyed unfettered rail access from the South Carolina low country to the mountains of western North Carolina. In a pamphlet issued to commemorate the completion of the Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad, recent economic development in this mountain town and in surrounding counties was held up as an example to be emulated by other southern communities. According to the News and Courier, economic growth in the North Carolina mountains had been rapid and stunning since the arrival of the Western North Carolina Railroad in 1880. The large expanse of virgin timber and abundant mineral resources had begun to attract industrialists from across the South and beyond. A lucrative tobacco processing industry spurred the expansion of tobacco cultivation in Buncombe, Yancey, Haywood, Madison, Henderson, and neighboring counties. Between 1884 and 1885 the amount of regional tobacco processed more than doubled from 1,500,000 pounds to 3,400,000 pounds, with predictions for future crops reaching still higher.¹

But industrial development and progressive agriculture, the classic formula for southern economic development emphasized by Henry W. Grady, Henry Watterson, and other pundits, was not what prompted the editor to label western North Carolina a conspicuous example of what is termed the New South. Instead, this pronouncement rested on the popularity of the North Carolina mountains among tourists. Since the Civil War, large numbers of people seeking a healthy climate, rugged and beautiful scenery, and respite from daily life flocked to the region. And who could blame them? The region provided a compelling mix of modern amenities, traditional culture, and beautiful landscapes almost sure to attract visitors. Asheville offered an orchestra during the summer season, as well as balls, receptions, and mountain excursions to entertain guests. At nearby Hot Springs, the Mountain Park Hotel offered accommodations of the first-class order, including billiard rooms, pool rooms, reception rooms, smoking rooms . . . all done up in the most elegant of modern styles (figure 2). While staying in these luxurious accommodations, tourists could enjoy the natural beauty of the region through hiking, fishing, and hunting, followed by a therapeutic dip in one of many mineral springs. Those prone to respiratory diseases enjoyed equally the mild winters, the cool summers, and the invigorating mountain air. The railroad, according to the editor, opened this area for the delight of all people, regardless of economic means. Resort hotels catered to the elite, and boarding houses at which modest people may be accommodated at a very modest expense catered to the less affluent. Regardless of the status of the visitor or the activities enjoyed during the visit, the mountains of North Carolina were guaranteed to leave a thousand happy memories.² Clearly, the New South ideas