The following information was obtained from archaeologists, archaeology journals and reports, and many other sources. For more information, visit http://rla.unc.edu/Publications/NCArch.html Special thanks to archaeologist Benjamin A. Steere for his interest in Cherokee archaeology and studies in Henderson County. For hundreds of years, the Cheraw and Catawba fought the Cherokee. They were bitter enemies. The lands […]
Horses and cattle graze in the green pastures. Vegetables and trees grow in the fields and nurseries. The scenic and fertile Etowah valley is nestled between mountains separating the community from Crab Creek, Big Willow and Mills River. This community was not known as Etowah until 1895 when the new train depot was named Etowah. […]
The Upward community was a “crossroads” in the early history of Henderson County. It is where the Howard Gap Road crosses “the Ridge.” This crossroads was traveled by American Indians and the early settlers. Early settlers into the community began calling the community Crossroads, and sometimes Jones’ Crossroads. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, […]
Original story written for the Hendersonville Times-News can be found at http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20070729/NEWS/70729005/0/search By Jennie Jones Giles The mysterious hiding place of an oddly shaped, mammoth granite rock is guarded well by rattlesnakes and copperheads. Few people can tell you how to find the rock. Those who can issue dire warnings: It’s on private property. Even […]
The following article was written in the Hendersonville Times-News about 2000 or 2001 by Jennie Jones Giles. It was published on the “Editorial Page” as a commentary to aid in raising funds for the National World War II Memorial. Generation Saved the Nation By Jennie Jones Giles From the mountains, coves and valleys of Henderson […]
Nestled in the mountains of southern Henderson County are communities that date back to the county’s first settlers. They built their log cabins and cleared the fields in the valleys between the tall mountains of the region and along Green River and its tributaries, such as Bob’s Creek, Rock Creek, Gap Creek and Cabin Creek. […]
Agriculture/Food The Appalachian Mountain people were self-sustaining farmers. Even those who had other skills or professions were still self-sustaining farmers. The vast majority of the early settlers moved into the region in late winter or early spring. They immediately had to plant crops and seedlings for the next winter’s survival. They usually had oxen and […]
One of the most popular legends passed down through the generations in Henderson County is the story of Polly Mills Stepp. Polly and her husband, James, were among the first pioneer settlers in the county. It is told that during the Revolutionary War, when the couple lived along the Green River in old Rutherford County, […]
1808: The Cherokee, who already have a national council, establish a law code and “Light Horse Guards” to maintain law and order. Two years later, they abolish clan revenge as a mechanism for social control. 1814: Cherokee aid Gen. Andrew Jackson in defeating the Creek Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. Afterward, […]
The Cherokee controlled 140,000 square miles throughout seven present-day Southern states when Europeans began arriving in the 1600s – western sections of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, east to middle Tennessee, southwest area in Virginia, small southeast area in Kentucky, and northeast area in Alabama. In 1670, the British began to colonize South Carolina. […]