Appalachian Summit
34. Rough Accommodations
Asheville, North Carolina attorney Augustus S. Merrimon, who later became both a United States Senator and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, kept a journal as he traveled to the various county courts throughout Western North Carolina from October 1853 to January 1854. A year later Fredrick Law Olmsted, landscape architect and designer of New York’s Central Park, visited the Appalachian Summit.
A.S. MERRIMON
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
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JOURNAL OF THE CIRCUIT, BEGINNING WITH THE FALL TERM OF THE SUPERIOR COURT FOR BUNCOMBE COUNTY, OCT. 8th. 1853.
Buncombe Superior Court, Monday Oct 10th. A.D. 1853.
This morning the Fall Session of the Superior Court of Law and Equity for Buncombe opened, Hon Judge David F. Caldwell presiding. Judge C. is a man possessed of a good deal of official dignity. His appearance indicates his age to be about sixty five years. His figure is tall and rather slender and his face is much wrinkled. One would judge that he has indulged himself too much in the bowl, and I understand from those who know him, that this is a fact. He is very stern in his commands, full of energy and usually sees that the law is executed properly. –He is quite sensitive and punishes any one, who infringes the least upon the dignity and privileges of the court. The Court was opened this morning in the usual way. – The judge’s Charge was short and dictatorial. The Charge to the Grand Jury being over, the Criminal side of the Docket was taken up first. There was but few cases of the criminal nature and hence this business was disposed of in a short time. –The civil side of the Docket was taken up after dinner and all cases beyond fifty were continued over the present term. The Court then adjourned until tomorrow morning.
Col. John Baxter of Hendersonville, Genl. J. G. Bynum of Rutherfordton Wm. M. Shipp Esq. of Rutherfordton, G. W. Bates Esq. of Rutherfordton W. W. Avery Esq. of Morganton, Col. B. S. Gaither of Morganton J. P. Jordan Esq. of Hendersonville and David Coleman Esq. of Burnsville, are in attendance from abroad. The resident Lawyers are also in attendance. The names of resident Lawyers are N. W. & J. W. Woodfin Esqrs. W. Williams Esqr. Genl. B. M. Edney, M. Erwin Esqr, P. W. Roberts Esqr. Col. Z. B. Vance Joshua Robert Esqr. & G. W. Candler Esqr. To speak of these gentlemen generally they are a clever, generous class of men; many of them men of talents and some of them men of some distinction; and others again are rapidly acquiring good reputations.
It would not be well for me to particularize too much in regard to the gentlemen whose names I have mentioned above; for although this Journal is intended for my own eye and amusement, yet it might by accident fall into the hands of some one of the gentlemen, and very, probably my opinions of them would not correspond with the opinion they entertain of themselves.—It can do no harm however, to give at outline of what I conceive to be their character, and if they and others differ with me in opinion it will, I hope be an honest difference.
lst. Then of Col. John Baxter of Hendersonville. I know very, little of this worthy gentleman’s origin. I presume however, from what I have heard that he came to the Bar under many unpleasant circumstances and inconveniences and I may say with truth that his success has been a little remarkable. Col. B. is persevering and industrious, has most excellent sense, and I might say that he is a man possessed of a good deal more than ordinary talent. He has labored hard and industriously and has made an honest reputation so far as he is known.—As a lawyer, he ranks among the best at the Bar in this Judicial District, and I am of opinion that he endeavors to inform himself more than any other lawyer of his age as a lawyer in the District.—He will eventually, if nothing interferes, make as good a judge of what really is law, as the privations under which every lawyer in a country like this will permit a man to be.—He is spoken of as a Candidate for one of the Judgeships of this State at the next Session of the Legislature; and the Legislature could do a great deal worse than to elect him. Col. B’s political principles are Whig, and he may well be styled a man of liberal principles and liberal feelings in regard to every thing that has a tendency to promote the public welfare, and he is a man upon whom, the public, as individuals may rely. Col. B. in his private and social relations, is one of nature’s noblemen. Liberal, honest and highminded.—I think that he scorns any thing that is low and mean and he never endeavors to conceal his opinions in regard to any subject, not even from the public.—He is by no means a polished man. Quite the reverse, though he is not clownish.—His manners are simple and he is well adapted to mingle with the masses of mankind. He is fond of little anecdotes and often endeavors to amuse his friends by telling them. This he does not do however very effectually.—He has too much good common understanding to be a clown or mimic. Upon the whole he is a noble fellow and if he should live to be and old man, and I hope he will, he may be a man of no mean notoriety, may become a great stay to his State and to his country.—I will continue such outlines as this, of the different gentlemen whose names I have mentioned, until I shall have spoken of all.—I have neither seen nor heard any thing to day very worthy of remark.
Wednesday Oct. 12th. 1853.
I do not consider it the duty of a Lawyer to bewilder a Jury or the Court and lead their minds astray. This is not what a lawyer ought to do, and I consider it highly dishonorable for him to do it. It is every lawyer’s duty to seek after the true and just rights of his clients, and to present his case in the most forcible light to the court and jury and he has not done his duty until he has done this; but it is not a part of the duty of a lawyer to assist a scoundrel at law or in regard to the facts whenever this is done, the man who does it is to some extent and accomplice.—I hope we have few such men in the profession and I would hope that the day is not far distant when the legal standard of the legal profession will be so high that there will be none. A lawyer, in the true sense of the term, never studies Chikenery and low cunning. No, a man who is a lawyer, never fears to meet the question and battle face to face. I can see no impropriety in giveing daily, until I exhaust the number, the outlines of what I conceive to be the character and standing of the different gentlemen of the Bar in my Circuit; and in view of this I will select N. W. Woodfin Esq. for this evening : - Mr. Woodfin is a man of medium height, rather slender and lean, and from constant study, his face is become a good deal emaciated.—He has bushy hair, rather inclined to be kinky, a black eye, a little piercing, and his appearance indicates the age of fifty. His hair is considerably mixed with gray. Mr. W. has a very intelligent countenance I have learned that his early opportunities were bad and hence his early education was not what he probably wished. Nevertheless, he commensed the study of the Law, and has succeeded in making himself one of the best lawyers, if not the best in this Judicial Circuit. Mr. W. has labored excessively hard and has greatly weakened his physical constitution thereby.—I do not consider him naturally talented, but a man possessed of most excellent natural sense or understanding and that well cultivated by constant labor and unceasing persevereance. He is considered, and justly so one of the very best lawyers in this circuit
Thursday Oct. 13th. 1853.
I noticed a good deal of drinking going on today, and whisky drinkers have to day, I suppose, been carrying out this very consistent principal of that class: That to drink in damp, and cool weather will warm them and to drink in hot weather will cool them. Ah! Consistency thou art a Jewel! It is strange to me, however common a thing it is, that men, rational, intelligent men, will drink and become intoxicated. Why men get drunk, degrade themselves, destroy their physical system ruin their minds, blast all their hopes and prospects, disgrace themselves, their families, their friends and neighborhood is something that I cannot account for. It is surpassingly strange.
Friday Oct. 14th. 1853
This evening the first Agricultural Fair opened for Buncombe County; and this is no compliment to Buncombe, to the intelligence, industry and County pride of her citizens. Some handsome young horses were exhibited and also some verry fine Hogs, large and verry fat.—It is to be hoped that the fair that is had this year will infuse a proper spirit of emulation in the bosoms of the hardy Citizens of this noted County.
John W. Woodfin Esqr. is a man of medium height, a little inclined to corpulency. His appearance indicates the age of about thirty or thirty five years. Mr. W. has been at the Bar about ten or twelve years and has succeeded well. He has more taste for his farm than for his law Office and should he live he will be a fine and an accomplished farmer. He is already one of the best farmers in the Western part of the State. He is fond of fine Stock of which he has a good deal for this country. There is nothing very striking in M. W’s appearance. He has an intelligent face and one that bespeaks great firmness. M. W. is impulsive and always resents an injury at once. He is high minded and honorable and scorns any thing that is low and fawning. He makes a good citizens. His disposition does not seem inclined to political life and his great predelections for his farm will most probably keep him from becomeing a very distinguished lawyer. He is kind and hospitable and is also, fond of pecuniary acquirements.
Saturday Oct. 15th. 1853.
This evening the Fare closed. The farmers of Buncombe made quiet a display of their Stock, Agricultural and domestic productions. Cows, Bulls, Hogs, Boars, Studs, Jacks, Sheep, Corn, Wheat, Boots, Quilts, Butter, &c. &c. were exhibited.—Evry thing passed off pleasantly and creditably. . . .
J. P. Jordan Esqr. is a Young man. Mr. J. has not yet accomplished much, has just entered the profession, has only been a lawyer three or four years. He is industrious and in the end, I think, will become a useful man. He is not a large man and there is nothing remarkable about his appearance.—He is kind and courteous and quite a clever fellow. With his habits of industry and the ambition he is possessed of, he will probably attain some distinction.—He probably deserves more credit and commendation than many are disposed to give him. I shall be glad to see him prosper, and he deserves encouragement.—He will receive it in the end.
Sunday Oct. 16th. 1853
This evening I left home for Madison Court. –I had a pleasant ride down the river. There can be no more romantic trip than up or down the French Broad River from Asheville to Paint Rock, indeed far bellow this latter point.—The River seems to force its way through a solid ledge of mountains and one can see but little distance unless he look up. Large cliffs jut out at many places, projecting sometimes across the road. The bed of the River is a complete shoal and when it is swollen its ravings are truly sublime. I know of no road that I love to travel over as well as this. There are several good houses on the river, and one is delighted with the comforts at his hotel and the beautiful river that rolls and roars along by him all the time.—I reached the house of Smith & Baird tonight after dark, found a good fire and a number of gentlemen on their way to court.—Got a clever supper and then enjoyed a sort of miscellaneous conversation, which was interspersed with many anecdotes, some good and some indifferent. –The day has been rather cool.
David Coleman Esq is a man about twenty eight or thirty years old, tall and slender and has quite a youthful appearance.—He has had the advantages of a good education, and since the age of twenty-one, until within the last two or three years, he has been in the U. S. Navy. He studied law two or three years ago and of course, has not done much yet. Coleman is a man of some sprightliness, though I cannot say that he is talented. He has gentlemanly manners and is a verry pleasant man. His political opinions are contracted as yet.—I think him a man, who will succeed well if he tries and I think he has the respect of the whole Bar. He is liked by all who make his acquaintance.
Monday Oct. 17th. 1853.
This morning I reached Jewell Hill about ten O’Clock. Had a rough ride over mountains and hills. -I found quite a crowd of people awaiting the arrival of the Court Judge Caldwell arrived about the same time as myself and opened Court in a verry bad house. -Open, without seats fit to sit on and without any place to do business. Judge C. seemed discouraged and but for his stern disposition to do his duty every where and on all occasions, he would have adjourned the Court without transacting any business. -He gave the Grand Jury a short and explicit charge however and proceeded to dispose of the State Docket – Several unimportant cases were disposed of during the day. -Court adjourned until tomorrow morning, about one hour before night this evening. -The Crowd in attendance were “getting in a weaving way” about night. Some twenty or thirty women were present and most of them were drunk, or partially so, and the majority of the men were drunk.—I do not know any rival for this place in regard to drunkenness, ignorance, superstition and the most brutal debauchery. I regret that it is so, yet it is true. Scores of women attend this court for the sole purpose of drinking and pandering to the lustful passions of dirty men, and I regret exceeingly to say, that some men, I will not say gentlemen, are guilty of intercours with these dirty, filthy strumpets, that ought to be, and one would think they are far above doing such things. The contrary is nevertheless true.—It is unfortunate for such a place as this, that dignitaries will not set good examples instead of bad ones. They take encouragement from men who pretend to be gentlemen, and thus, reform is greatly delayed. When will men learn to be men!
Tuesday Oct. 18th. A.D. 1853.
Court met this morning at 10 O’Clock – A great crowd of people in attendance – Little business had been done today. -Yesterday the Judge ordered the whisky wagons to be removed, and thus we have not been so much disturbed by drunkenness as yesterday. As soon, however, as court adjourned this evening the whole crowd hurried to the Court House Door - and such a drunken crowd, I have seldom seen. As I passed along to my lodgins I saw several persons so drunk they could not walk, and their friends were dragging them along to their homes. What degradation!
William Williams is rather a small man, and verry generous He is a man of thirty eight or forty years. He is generous to his own injury, has been in the practice about three or four years, has not distinguished himself yet, is fond of business, not fond of study. I do not consider him a man of much talen[t], a sensible man however. He, like other men has imperfections and cannot see them. He might have been a man of wealth, but for his generous disposition. He is a verry clever man.
The night is cool and the moon shines down on the river and the cliffs along its sides, in majestic splendor. O, it is a pleasing sight to see the French Broad rolling over the rocks in the moonlight.
Wednesday Oct. 19th A.D. 1853.
This morning is cool and bracing—The Court met at the usual hour. - I transacted some business in Court and left Jewell Hill at 12’0 Clock for Home. My friend P. W. Roberts Esq. was my travailing companion, had a pleasant ride up the river and reached home at dark.
P. W. Roberts Esq is a young man of two or three years standing at the bar. He has not formed a reputation yet. He is not a man of a great deal of talen[t], respectable enough however, and he is remarkable for his uprightness of character, Frank honest and accommodating. He is modest and retireing. He will not get an early practice. He has a high standard of morals and lives up to the same. I believe he is a rigid member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a man that will always be respected for his uprightness of character. He will make a good citizen and member of society It would be well for all if we had many more such men. I am at home tonight and tired into the bargain and will retire to rest.
Cherokee County Court
Winter Term A.D. 1853.
Thursday Dec. 1st. 1853.
This morning, in company with P.W. Roberts Esqr. I set out for Cherokee County Court; a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from Asheville. The day has been cloudy and cold. Our ride however, has not been altogether unpleasant. We have conversed entertainingly to ourselves on various subjects. It was not my intention in forming my circuit at first to include Cherokee Court; but I find that the lawyer who makes money at the practice of the law in this country, must attend several courts, attend them closely and get all the business he can. In view of this, I shall hereafter attend Cherokee and Franklin.
We travailed thirty five miles today, over bad roads. This is a good day’s ride for this season of the year. We stopped at a house, that did not look the most inviting in the world and stayed all night. We expected rough accommodations and we received them. Our expectations were fully realized. The house was small, a common log cabin, not put up in the best style by any means and not the most comfortable Our host was kind and accommodating however, and we made the best of our evening. Several gentlemen of a similar apperance and disposition to our host were spending the night. All were exceedingly loquacious. The topics of conversation seemed quite interesting to the whole cercle, ladies and gentlemen. Our hostess was a plain and unfashionably dressed old lady that did not have much to say Several lasses, enlivened the scene. These were the daughters of our host. They relished the various topics of conversation, which were principally “unmarked hogs,” “wild hogs,” “boars,” “mountain boomers,” and the like. It was astonishing to me to see how eagerly every one heard the opinions of those around. The gravest senator could not be more interested in the most important interest of the Country than was this group of ladies and gentlemen. I listened to all that was said by them. Many tales and anecdotes were told that served to produce great laughter among them, though none of them had any funny part to them. Our old landlord told some extravagant stories. A boy about 16 or 18 years old was quiet offensive to me. He was dirty, impolite and ungenteel. A real ruffian. The beds were all in the same room. Our covering was stiff as pasteboards and our pillows about as large as my fist. We made the best of the night, learned something of the ways of many of this world, slept tolerably well as we were fatigued and woke in the morning, thankful to kind providence that we were so well provided for. Our host only charged fifty cents. He endeavored to do the best he could for us and we thanked him. He did the best he knew how and this was all we could demand May we never have a worse place to stay at. -The night was dark and cloudy and it snowed in the mountains above us.
Friday Dec. 2. 1853.
To day we have had a plesant ride a portion of the day. A portion of our road has been delightful. -We crossed the Cowe Mountain this evening. This is a considerable mountain, though we have a bad view of the valley bellow. It is surrounded by too many other mountains, to enable us to have a fine view. -We reached Franklin at sundown and took lodgins at Jesse Siler’s, a good place to stop at. We had a good diet, a good room and a good bed. Our lodgins last night and tonight are the reverse of each other. Nothing of importance occurred to day or tonight. We have been kindly treated by our host and hostess. Peace be with them and their household.
Saturday Dec. 3. 1853.
This morning we started at about 8 ˝ O’Clock. The morning was cold, so cold that we had to throw our blankets around us. We started in full view of the Nantahala Mountain, reached the foot of the same about 10 O’Clock.
Monday Dec. 5th. 1853.
The people gathered into Court to day verry slowly, indeed, there has not been many people at Court to day. –Court was opened to day abour 12 O’Clock. The Grand Jury was Sworn and charged by A. T. Davidson Esq. The County Solicitor for Cherokee – Little business has been done to day – none of importance. I have noticed nothing of interest to day neither in court nor out of court. -The people of Cherokee are excited very much about Copper Mines in this part of North Carolina. I think it is probable that there is Copper here and that there are vast mineral resources, -- gold, silver &c. &c. Gold mines have been worked to advantage in this Country.—Cherokee has ben verry slow in improvement heretofore. It is beginning now, however, to improve rapidly. The new State road traversing the country from Asheville to the extreme Western limit of the State, has greatly improved the county and it travail will be felt more sensibly every year. Several Rail Road projects are comeing forward that are expected to benefit this part of N. C. greatly if carried out. The country is beautiful, the soil verry productive, the mountain rich and the range in summer unsurpassed. The County deserves to be improved and it will be. Murphy is a small place and poorely improved There are several small stores here that seem to do a small business. All of them together would not make one good one. This situation of the village is beautiful, and a most beautiful town might be built here. I hope this will be done before a great while. The town is situated between the Hiwasie and Vally rivers at their confluence _______
Joshua Roberts Esq. is a middle aged man, rather low and heavily built. I do not consider him a man of much talent. He is a man however, that every one may rely upon fully. What he says is true. He is honest and modest. Mr. R. has never gotten a heavy practice though, he has been a lawyer for many years. The cause of his not having gotten a heavier practice seems to be that he never endeavored to get one. I know little of Mr. R’s professional attainments, he not having a great deal of business in Court. He is an excellent citizen liberal minded and conducts himself so as to be respected by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintence. He has raised a respectable family. His oldest son, P. W. Roberts Esq. is a young lawyer just come to the bar and a verry worthy young man he is
Tuesday Dec. 6th. 1853.
I have seen a good many drunk men today. I had hoped better things of this place. . . .
Z. B. Vance Esq. is a young man, has just entered the profession. Rather tall, his hair black and it comes low down on his forehead. There is nothing very striking about his appearance. I consider him a sprightly man, though not talented. He is not an ordinary man however. He has had some advantages, some of which, he has not improved as he should He may make himself a respectable lawyer. I think he is not fond of study and hence, will never make a profound lawyer. He is active and has a good deal of pride. In his social intercourse, he is disposed to be friendly. In conversation, he is rather interesting than instructive.—I hope he will do well—To night I read Chitty on Pleading—I have had some friends in my room until late.
Wednesday Dec. 7th 1853.
This evening I have been amused at an effort of Rum sellers to procure a license to sell spirits by the small.—John Rollin, who was about half casked appeared for the applicants, and G.W. Hays against the motion. Hays made some sensible and amusing remarks and ran over the applicants and their abettors ruff shod. The result was, no license was granted. Well done for the Co. Court of Cherokee! I have seldom seen a worse disapointer crowd, or a more angry one. Many raved and cursed like madmen. The truth is, they were mad with & for whisky. There has been no little of the most brutal drunkenness this evening. Many have tried to see how drunk they could make themselves.
Thursday Dec. 8th. 1853.
We started for Asheville to day. –Started about 10 O’Clock It commenced raining last night about 11 O’Clock and has continued to rain ever since. We have ridden in the rain all day, since we started. Have found it very unpleasant, and therefore have made but few observations. -This evening we met some hunters in the mountains returning from a hunt. -They had been fortunate enough to kill five deer. Soon after we passed them, we met an ox wagon that had the booty. -The first time I ever saw five deer in a pile. We arrived at Mr. Jarrett’s, a comfortable house on the Nantahala River, between the Nantahala and Valley River Mountains. I feel quite fatigued and will retire early. -
Friday Dec 9th. 1853.
This morning was cold. We had a cold ride up the West side of Nantahala Mountain. It was quiet cold on the top of the Mountain. We reached Franklin about 3 O’Clock this evening.
Near Webster. Jackson County.
Jackson County Court.
This has been a disagreeable Court week. In the first place we have had no accommodations here and hence I have to write my Journal at the close of the week instead of doing so daily.—We have had to hold Court in an open house with no floor in it and the weather has been verry cold. There has not been much business done, but I have been greatly wearied all week. Almost every man at court had some business with me, and in a majority of cases the business amounted to nothing. I have also, been greatly pestered with persons wishing to become prosecutors on Indictments. I think I can say with safety, that I have never been at a place, or in a County, where there seemed to be as much Mallice and diabolical revenge.—Revenge seems to rankle in the bosom of every one. Few, even of the best citizens of Jackson County, seem to be free of it. . . .
George W. Baxter Esq. is a young man, has been at the practice about six or seven years, is a good lawyer for his age and is industrious. He is a heavy built man, not tall but thick.—He is pleasant in his manners and social in conversation. He has a good deal of pride and will stimulate him to study. His prospects are flattering at this time. - I hope he will do well. He has not yet distinguished himself to great extent. In the last Presidential Canvass he was the Scott Elector from this District and canvassed a good portion of the same. His political speeches were creditable to himself. He has some aspirations, I think in a political point of view.
Haywood County Court.
We have fared a little better at this place than at Jackson. There has not been much business to do. Both the State and Civil Dockets were disposed of in two days. P. W. Roberts Esq. Is Solicitor in this County. This court, I consider, not a good one. There is not a great deal of business, and what there is, is not verry profitable. Haywood is a poor county, though it is susceptible of being a verry rich one. There is a great quantity of good land in Haywood and when it is once properly developed, it will make the proprietors of the same rich. Haywood is probably the highest county, above the level of the sea, east of the Rocky Mountains. I have never received much encouragement from this county. At this term of the Court I have had some business. The weather has been cold during the whole time of court and last night and today there has fallen a verry heavy snow. I have ridden nearly all day in the snow and my feet have suffered not a little from cold. To day is Wednesday. I left Waynesville about ˝ after ten O’Clock and rode home, a distance of thirty miles. –The snow had been comeing down nearly all day. I reached home after dark sometime, cold enough. Waynesville is a dirty small village and there is no place of entertainment in it fit to stay at. - One would suppose it to be a large negro quarter to see it from a distance. The buildings are poor and decayed. The Court house is a verry bad one. The best building in the place is the jail, a new building. It is made in a verry substatinal manner, after the plan of the Jail in Asheville, which is strongly built first and then caged with iron inside.
W. M. Shipp Esq. is a young man. Has not been long in the profession.—He is of the ordinary hight of men, verry stern in his appearance, and rather backward. Mr. Shipp is a man of excellent mind, and has informed himself well. He is a first rate lawyer of his age, and he does not get the encouragement he deserves in the counties in which I practice with him.—This is oweing, I think, principally to his reservedness of manner He is modest and all the Bar like him. He is pleasant in conversation and when called upon, expresses his opinions freely upon any subject. He has not yet distinguished himself, but he will, if he should live. He has some of the elements of greatness. His father is a lawyer and used to practice this Circuit.
Monday Morning Jan’y. 2nd. 1854
This morning I started early for Hendersonville, had a cold ride and reached there about ten O’Clock. I met several legal gentlemen there on my arrival and others came during the day. -Few people had reached the Court when I arrive, This is owing to the verry cold morning. Court opened about 12 O’Clock. Little business had been done to day. The Court organized and adjourned until tomorrow morning 10 O’Clock. –I met several kind friends and was glad to see them. To night I have had clients in my room until a late hour and I have been haelf freezeing almost all the time, it being impossible to get a servant to attend to me. I cannot say any thing complimentary of the Jones Hotel. Every thing is wanting. The night is cold and unpleasant.
Tuesday Jan’y. 3, 1854
This morning was extremely cold. –I was compelled to lie in bed until late, because I had no fire until about 8 O’Clock. The State Docket was taken up this morning and has been disposed of to day, with the exception of one or two Cases, that are left open for tomorrow. No case of interest has been tried to day Almost all Assault & Battery Cases, caused by drunkenness. Drunkenness is the bane of social happiness.
Buncombe County Court.
Tuesday January 10th. 1854.
The Democratic Party of this County held a Meeting in the Court room at noon. The proceedings were characterized by demagogueism as usual in that party. The Whigs held a meeting yesterday. I did not approve of all the proceedings of that meeting. I thought some of the resolutions in regards to the Central Rail Road verry improper and I fear I shall not have reason to change my opinion. I believe a general system of Internal improvement to be the policy of every State, indeed, the policy of our whole country and I am desirous that all sections should have what is justly due them. Now the resolution to which I refer, advocates the extension of the Central N.C. Rail Road from Goldsboro’ east to Beaufort and west from Salisbury to the Tennessee line. By the Tennessee line is meant the Tennessee line at the Paint Rock, where the French Broad River passes out of North Carolina, and the intention is to bring the road to Asheville and them turn it North down the French Broad River.—West of Asheville there are four large Counties in North Carolina, growing Counties, rich Counties in mineral productions where these are developed and the soil is rich, and besides they lie in the direct course of the great South West. Therefore, I think this Central Road ought to extend to the extreme Western limits of this State, so as to connect with Chattanooga and secure to the Central road in N.C. the great South Western trade as well as the great North Western and the Western trade by means of the road down the French Broad.
Thursday January 12th. 1854.
This morning was clear and the heavy rains of last night smoothed the streets.—This morning finds the streets completely saturated, but not muddy. The Court met persuant to adjournment and the Civil Docket was taken up. Most of the Cases were disposed of, either continued or compromised. Few Cases were tried. I tried one case of a trifling character, yet I felt a goodeal interested in it. At 12 O’Clock he friends of the College in this place held a meeting for the purpose of promoting the endowment of the College.—I learn five hundred dollars was the amt subscribed today.—This evening is calm and clear.—There is not much interesting at county courts.
Wm. Bryson Esq is a middleaged man. He was unfortunate when quite a young man, had his knee shot and it has been crooked ever since. Mr. B. is not a deep lawyer by any means and does not get much practice. In fact he does not pretend to live by his practice. I know little of him. He is with the regular members of the Bar but little. I learn that he is industrious when engaged in his regular business.
Madison County Court.
Sunday January 15th. 1854.
Today I left home at noon for Madison Court.—I had a cool ride down, that romantic river, the French Broad. Rode 22 miles this evening. Stopped on the river at the house of Smith & Baird, a comfortable place. Quiet a crowd of Lawyers, travelers &c. sojourn here tonight. Tonight I have been greatly amused at the conversation of different ones of our party. The conversation has not been instructive, save in one way, that is we learn from it the nature, that is often hiden of a certain class of men. The river roars tonight, the moon shines beautifully and the rugged hills around awake one to contemplation when he walks alone. I love to be alone in an hour like this. All is silent save the continual roar of the river, and the moon shine comes down so softly.—The night is cool, not cold. It is late at night.
Monday January 16th. 1854.
As is usual for this place, drunkenness is carried to an incredible extent.
A crowd of filthy whisky drinkers collects around a wagon and drink and curse and blackguard beyond description, women and men, and women sell themselves to prostitution of the basest character not infrequently for whisky.
Tuesday January 17th. 1854.
This morning it is raining, last night it rained heavily and the road from here to the place where we hold Court is all mud. How unpleasant such a day at such a place.
The day has been verry unpleasant and the drinking population seemed to enjoy it to the fill. Drinking has increased about 20 pr. centum today over yesterday.
Yancy County Court
January Term A.D. 1854.
Tuesday January 24th. 1854.
I feel confident in saying that I have never seen a court behave so badly and keep such confusion. There is during the Session of the court a continual fuss, a continual talking, so that the Court, the Council nor the jury cannot hear the testimony. It is disgraceful, that in a country like our own, distinguished for its freedom and equality, justice is permitted to be trampled upon.
There has been a crowd in attendance today and they have tried to see how badly they could behave themselves. Scores were drunk and tonight are snoring away over the drunkenness of today. I saw two women drunk and one cursed and swore desperately and proposed to whip some of the male friends that did not please her.
Wednesday January 25th. 1854.
I have seldom seen such scenes in a Court-house as I have seen today – Only two or three cases have been disposed of and they have been handled in the rudest manner. The more I see of the County Courts, the more I wish to see them abolished. Drunkenness has reigned today. A portion of the Court has been drunk all day. How shameful! A portion of the time, while suits were trying the whole court were off of the bench. The populace have been unusually noisy today. The day has been dark and cloudy and this evening and tonight, it is raining. I have conversed tonight. –One can learn little by conversation here, save how depraved men are.
Saturday January 28th. 1854.
Reached home at ˝ after 3 O’Clock, after having attended a Court, the like of which I never attended before. The week has been unpleasant and the Court and the people have done as badly as they could. This ends my winter circuit. I have about a month to spend in my office. This I want to devote to constant reading and legal study. My Winter Circuit had not been of the most pleasant character, nor yet of the worst. –I suppose I have no reason to complaint at the share of practice I have received. –I have gotten far more of less at every Court, and the weather has been as good as one could reasonably expect at this season. This closes my journal on the Circuit at the Winter County Courts. [1]
Thomas Clingman –
Extract from a letter
written in 1855, to Professor Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution
From the head of the Swannanoa, at Mr. Stepps’, where an angler can find speckled trout, there is an easy way to the Mountain House, built by William Patton, of Charleston, South Carolina. Its present occupant will provide one with pleasant lodgings, and, what mountain journeys render so welcome, all such comforts “for the inner man,” as this region affords, with fresh salmon from Scotland, and champagne from France, to make them go down easily. After resting here awhile, at the height of five thousand four hundred and sixty (5,460) feet above the sea level, two miles of travel on horseback, as hundreds of ladies can testify, will bring him to the top of Mount Mitchell.
When one is upon this peak, he appears to be on a center, from which there run off five immense mountain chains. To the northward stretches the main ledge of the Black with a succession of cones and spires along its dark crest. On its right, from the far northeast, from the Keystone State, across the entire breadth of Virginia, seemingly from an immeasurable distance, comes the long line of the Blue Ridge or Alleghany; but when it passes almost under him, it is comparatively so much depressed as scarcely to be perceptible, save where at the point of junction, stimulated by the presence of its gigantic neighbor, it shoots up in a pinnacle so steep, that to use a hunter’s phrase, it, would “make a buzzards head swim if he were to attempt to fly over it”. Thence it runs southerly, till it touches South Carolina, when it trends to the west, and is soon hidden behind colossal masses that obstruct further vision in that direction. As the chain of the Black sweeps around westwardly, it is soon parted into two immense branches which run off in opposite courses. The northern terminates in a majestic pile, with a crown-like summit, and numerous spurs at its base; while to the south there leads off the long ridge of Craggy, with its myriads of gorgeous flowers, its naked slopes and fantastic peaks, over which dominates it great dome, challenging in its altitude ambitious comparison with the Black itself.
Let the observer then lift his eye to a remote distance, and take a circuit in the opposite direction. Looking to the southeast and to the east, he sees beyond King’s Mountain, and others less known to fame, the plain of the two Carolinas stretched out over an illimitable space, in color and outline indistinguishable from the “azure brow” of the calm ocean. Nearer to him, to the northeast, over the Linville Mountain, stands squarely upright the Table Rock, with its perpendicular faces; and its twin brother, the “Hawk-bill”, with its curved beak of overhanging rock, and neck inclined, as if in act to stoop down on the plain below. Further on, there rises in solitary grandeur the rocky throne of the abrupt and wild Grandfather. This “ancient of days” was long deemed the “monarch of mountains,” but now like other royal exiles, he only retains a shadow of his former authority in a patriarchal name, given because of the grey beard he showes when a frozen cloud has iced his rhododendrons. Westward of him stands a victorious rival, the gently undulating prairie of the Roan, stretching out for many a mile in length until its green and flowery carpet is terminated by a castellated crag – the Bluff.
From this extends southerly the long but broken line of the Unaka, through the passes of which, far away over the entire valley of East Tennessee, is seen in the distance the blue outline of the Cumberland Mountains, as they penetrate the State of the “dark and bloody ground.” In contrast with the bold aspect and rugged chasms of the Unaka, stands the stately figure of the Bald Mountain, its smoothly shaven and regularly rounded top bringing to mind some classic cupola; for when the sunlight sleeps upon its convex head, it seems a temple more worthy of all the gods than that Pantheon, its famed Roman rival. As the eye again sweeps onward, it is arrested by the massive pile of the great Smoky Mountain, darkened by its fir trees, and often by the cloudy drapery it wears. From thence there stretches quite through Haywood and Henderson to South Carolina’s border, the long range of the Balsam Mountain, its pointed steeples over-topping the Cold Mountain and Pisgah, and attaining probably their greatest elevation towards the head of the French Broad river.
Besides these, the eye rests on many a “ripe green valley,” with its winding streams, and on many a nameless peak, like pyramid or tower, and many a waving ridge, imitating in its curling shapes the billows of the ocean when most lashed by a tempest. [2]
Fredrick Law Olmsted –
The climate of this mountain region appears not to differ very greatly from that of Long Island, southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is perhaps more variable, but the extremes both of heat and cold are less than are reached in those more northern and less elevated regions. The usual crops are the same, those of most consequence being corn, rye, oats, and grass. Fruit is a more precarious crop, from a greater liability to severe frosts after the swelling of buds in the spring. The apple-crop has been thus totally destroyed in the year of my journey, so that in considerable orchards I did not see a single apple. Snow has fallen several inches in depth in April, and a severe freezing night following, even young shoots, which had begun to grow, forest trees, and leaves which had expanded, were withered.
The summer pasture continues about six months. The hills generally afford an excellent range, and the mast is usually good, much being provided by the chestnut, as well as the oak, and smaller nut bearing trees. The soil of the hills is a rich dark vegetable deposit, and they are cultivated upon very steep slopes. It is said to wash and gully but little, being very absorptive. The valleys, and gaps across the mountain ranges, are closely settled, and all the feasible level ground that I saw in three weeks was fenced, and either under tillage or producing grass for hay. The agricultural management is nearly as bad as possible. Corn, planted without any manure, even by farmers who have large stocks of cattle, is cultivated for a long series of years on the same ground . . . .
Horses, mules, cattle, and swine, are raised extensively, and sheep and goats in small numbers, throughout the mountains, and afford almost the only articles of agricultural export. Although the mountains are covered during three months of winter with snow several inches in depth, and sometimes (though but rarely) to the depth of a foot or more, and the nights, at least, are nearly always freezing, I never saw any sort of shelter prepared for neat stock. In the severest weather they are only fed occasionally, hay or corn being served out upon the ground, but this is not done daily, or as a regular thing, even by the better class of farmers. One of these, who informed me that his neighbor had four hundred head that were never fed at all, and never came off the mountain, in consequence of which “heaps of them” were starved and frozen to death every year, said that he himself gave his stock a feed “every few days”, sometimes not oftener than “once in a week or two”. The cattle are of course, small, course, and “raw-boned”. They are usually sold to drovers from Tennessee when three years old, and are driven by them to better lowland pastures, and more provident farmers, by whom they are fattened for the New York market. . . .
In some parts of the mountains the young swine are killed a great deal by bears. Twenty neighbors, residing within a distance of three miles, being met at a corn-shucking, last winter, at a home in which I spent the night in North Carolina, account had been taken of the number of swine each supposed himself to have lost by this enemy, during the previous two months, and it amounted to three hundred.
Bears, wolves, panthers, and wild-cats are numerous, and all kill young stock of every description. Domestic dogs should also be mentioned among the beasts of prey, as it is the general opinion of the farmers that more sheep are killed by dogs than by any other animals. . . .
Extreme poverty is rare in the mountains, but a smaller proportion of the people live in a style corresponding to that customary among what are called in new England “fore-handed folks,” than in any other part of the civilized world which I have visited. The number who can be classed as moderately well-informed, using the New England rural standard, is extremely small. I did not meet in a whole month more than two or three natives who seemed to have enjoyed equal advantages of education with the lowest class of New England (native) working people. Each of those above the average in this respect I shall speak of distinctly.
The great majority live in small and comfortless log huts, two detached cabins usually forming the habitation of a family. These are rarely provided with glass windows, many are even without a port; yet the winter is more severe than that of England. The interior of one frame house, in which I spent a night, forty by thirty feet in dimensions, and two stories in height, occupied by a family of much more than the usual wealth, received light in the lower story only by the door and the occasional interstices of the boarding, and in the upper, by two loopholes unfurnished with shutters.
The table is usually abundantly provided, its only marked difference from that of the lower country being the occasional presence of unleavened rye bread, made of saleratus and fat, unlike any rye bread I have eaten elsewhere, but more palatable to me than the usual corn bread. Butter is always offered in the mountains, and is usually good.
The women, as well as the men, generally smoke, and tobacco is grown for home use. They are more industrious than the men, often being seen at work in the fields, and at spinning wheels and hand-looms in almost every house. I was less troubles by vermin than in the low country, yet so much so that I adopted the habit of passing the night on the floor of the cabins, rather than in their beds. The furniture of the cabins is rather less meager than that of a similar class of habitations in the lower region. In the northern parts, it is common to see a square frame in which are piled a dozen bed quilts. Notwithstanding the ignorance of the people, books are more common than even in the houses of the slave owners of the planting districts. They seemed fond of reading aloud, those who were able – in a rather doleful and jolting manner. Their books are generally the cheapest and tawdriest of religious holiday books. . . .
---
At night I was again troubled to find a house at which my horse could be suitably fed, and was finally directed to a place at some distance off my direct road. To reach it , I followed a cart path up a pretty brook in a mountain glen, till I came to an irregular-shaped cattle yard, in the midst of which was a rather picturesque cabin, the roof being secured by logs laid across it and held in place by long upright pins. The interior consisted of one large “living room”, and a “lean-to”, used as a kitchen, with a sleeping loft over half of the living room. For furniture, there were two bedsteads, which occupied one-third of the room; a large and a small table, on the latter of which lay a big Bible, and other books; several hide-bottomed chairs, two chest, shelves with crockery, and a framed lithographic portrait of Washington on the white horse. Women’s dresses hung as a curtain along the foot of one bed; hides, hams, and bunches of candles from the rafters. An old man and his wife, with one hired man, were the occupants; they had come to this place [Tennessee] from North Carolina two years before. They were very good simple people; social and talkative . . .
There were few [blacks] in this district, but where they came from there were more niggers than whites. They had had three themselves; when they decided to move up here into the mountains, the niggers didn’t want to come with them, and they sold them to a speculator.
I asked if it was possible they would prefer to be sold to a trader, who might take them off and sell them to a cotton planter.
“O, yes, they had a great fear of the mountains; they would rather, they said, be sent to a cotton farm, or a rice or sugar farm - any thing else; so we sold them to the first nigger-speculator that come along.” . . . .
Their notions of geography were amusing. They thought that Virginia lay to the southward, and was a cotton growing State, and they supposed that one reason their niggers were willing to be sold, was that their mother came from Virginia, and they had heard her talk of it, and that they thought they might be sold to go back there upon a cotton farm. New York, they thought, lay west of Georgia, and between them and Texas. They asked about Indiana, and said that I must have passed through it coming from Texas, confusing it, probably, with Louisiana; and they asked if New York were not the country the yankees came from - “the people that used to come peddling.” They supposed also that New York had a much warmer climate than Georgia. The younger man informed me that “the United States had lately annexed a new country that was called Nebrisky. It was large enough to make thirteen States, and they had a great commotion as to whether it should be free or slave States. The people here all wanted it to be slave States, but because they might want to move out there, and a fellow might get a nigger and have to sell him. If a man moved into a free State, he’d have to sell his niggers; if he didn’t, they’d be free as soon as he took ‘em in. He didn’t think that was right; a man ought to be able to take his property where ever he pleased.”
I replied that it would be a great deal better place for non-slaveholders to move to, if slaves were excluded, to which he made no reply.
We had supper, cold corn bread, cold bacon, and hot coffee.
The old woman remarked she had got so warm she could’t eat anything, but she drank much coffee. . . . When we rose, the old woman took a single clean sheet from a chest, spread it on one of the beds, and told me I could take that one. I began to undress, and she stepped out of doors until I was under counterpane. They young man climbed into the loft, and the two old people took the other bed. There was no window at all in the house; they closed both doors and kept a considerable fire burning on the hearth. There did not however, appear to be any want of ventilation, the logs and roof being sufficiently open. It was the first time, with one exception, in more than a month that I had been furnished with a clean sheet. (The luxury of two sheets I have never had in a private house since crossing the Mississippi;) and I slept better than I have done before, for weeks.
My horse was well cared for, voluntarily, by the hired man; cleaned and fed generously with corn, fodder, hay and sheaf oats. Charge for all, including two of the notable Indian slap-jacks, which I carried in my haversack, sixty-two and a half cents. When I wanted to wash, I was directed to “the spring”, the old woman having the wash basin in use. In fact, she was mixing the cakes in it. . . .
---
I stopped at what is considered the best public house. When I asked for a bed, I was pointed to a room in which there were seven beds, and told that I could take my pick. Two gentlemen immediately called out to inform me which of the beds they had used the night before, hoping that I would respect their claim to hold them. All the beds had been slept in by others, without change of sheet. Being the first to withdraw from the bar room, I had my choice, and found one straw bed among them, which, of course, I appropriated. Fortunately, I had no bed-fellow; the other beds were mostly double occupied.
---
A little boy on a mule, carrying a mail-bag, here overtook me. He said that he carried the mail from Asheville to Murphy, one hundred and fourteen miles, traveling each way once a week. He starts from Asheville Monday morning and returns there Saturday night, rests on Sunday, but during the week travels an average of nearly forty miles a day on the mule’s back. Last winter, he said, the snow was often up to the mule’s shoulders on the mountain, but he did not fail to accomplish his stated journey every day. When I asked him how old he was, he said “he believed that he should be about fifteen in three or four months.” He had two mules, but only changed from one to the other on alternate weeks. He was paid $5 a month, and board.
Speaking of mountains, he asked if I “had ever been on old Balsam?” He had; he was up on top of it one morning at sunrise. I asked how he could sleep there - was there a cabin? No, but he had been coon hunting with some fellows all night, and toward daylight they got to running a wild-cat, for they had a dog that would kill any wild-cat if he could catch it. They did not succeed, however, and just at sunrise they gave it up and found themselves close to the top of Old Balsam. Then he had to go down the mountain and get up his mule, and ride for forty miles with the mail before he could go to sleep. It was as much as he could do to keep awake that day.
Hearing that I belonged to New York, he asked if I knew a man there by the name of Poillon. Yes, I did; he lived a little out of New York city, though - in the country. “The man I mean lives in New York center - right in the village itself,” he replied. I knew that there was a man there of that name, I said. “Well he went from Asheville.” “Yes, perhaps so.” “Oh he did, he went there over two year ago. Do you know a man there by the name of Ogee?”
“No.”
“There was a man at Asheville, came from somewhere in that country - Charleston, I believe ‘t was - by that name.”
“Charleston is not very near New York.”
‘Ain’t it? well, ‘t was Charleston he said, I believe; Charleston or New York, or some place out there.”
Another man near Waynesville in this region, asked me if I knew Mr. White, of New York. I did not. “Why, he belongs in New York.”
“Very likely, but New York is a large place. There are probably a hundred people of the name of White there, but I don’t happen to know any of them.”
“Reckon you’d know this man if he came from there, for he’s a man of talent; must be one of the first men; I never see a man who knew so much about all sorts of things, and who could explain every thing out to you, as well as he. Expect he must have come from some other place. I thought he was raised in New York, too.”
“Very possibly he was, but I know but very few indeed of all the men of talent in New York. You don’t consider how many people there are there.”
“Its a right smart business place, I know; it must be. You know Mr. ____, don’t you?”
“Who
is he?”
“Why the little man that keeps store in Waynesville; reckon you know him, he goes to New York every spring to buy goods; seen him there, hain’t you?”
“I don’t think that I have; you see, there are seven hundred thousand people in New York, and there are thousands and tens of thousands whom I never saw. It would be impossible for me to see one in a thousand of the people who come there every year. In fact, though I have lived in New York some years, I have but very few acquaintances there, not nearly as many as you have in this country probably.”
“Such a big place; I suppose there’s some people been living there all their lives that don’t know each other, and never spoke to one another once yet in their lives, ain’t there?”
“Certainly, thousands of them.”
“’T ain’t so here; peoples more friendly, this country.”
---
Asheville, July 11th. - This is a beautiful place among the hills, with a number of pretty country-seats about it, which, I suppose are summer residences of South Carolina planters. A great many of these “Southerns”, as they are called here, are now traveling farther north, to spent the heat of summer at the numerous sulphur springs and other pleasure haunts, where good boarding houses have been established for them along the cool region of the Blue Ridge. I passed one of these, a sulphur spring, yesterday. It was a white, wooden building, with a long piazza for smokers, loungers, and flirters, and a bowling alley and shuffle board; with coaches and trotting wagons at the stable; poor women picking blackberries, poor men bringing fowls, school girls studiously climbing romantic rocks and otherwise making themselves as pretty as possible, children fighting their black nurses, and old gold spectacles stopping me to inquire if I was the mail, and if I had not got a newspaper.
It is very odd, by the way, what old news one keeps getting in these places far from telegraphs. I inquired here for a late paper, and the clerk of the hotel went to a store to get one. It was the Asheville News, with the same articles copied from New York papers, which I had read a month before.
---
These balsams are thirty of forty feet high, and under their shelter flourishes a variety of smaller trees and shrubs. A great many of these trees have fallen down, and the nearer I came to the top the steeper became the ascent, the more frequent the prostrate trees, and the thicker and more impenetrable the undergrowth, a large part of it being blackberry briars. I crept under and climbed over, and pulled myself along slowly, and at length came to the knob or pinnacle, across and upon which trees, and shrubs, and stumps, with the roots uppermost, seemed to have been hurled by a whirlwind. . . .
At present there is no public conveyance to any point within thirty-five miles of the base of “Balsam Mountain.”
---
“Slavery is a great cuss, though, I think, the greatest there is in these United States. There ain’t no account of slaves up here in the west, but down in the east part of this State about Fayetteville, there’s as many as there is in South Carolina. That’s the reason the West and the East don’t agree in this State; people out here hates the eastern people.”
“Why is that?”
“Why you see they vote on the slave basis, and there’s some of them nigger counties where there ain’t more’n four or five hundred white folks, that has just as much power in the Legislature as any of our mountain counties where there’ll be some thousand voters.
---
July 16th. - I stopped last night at the pleasantest house I have yet seen in the mountain; a framed house, painted white, with a log kitchen attached. The owner was a man of superior standing. I judged from the public documents and law books on his table, that he was either in the Legislature of the State, or that he was a justice of the peace. There were also a good many other books and newspapers, chiefly of a religious character. He used, however, some singularly uncouth phrases common here. He had a store, and carried on farming and stock raising. After a converstion about his agriculture, I remarked that there were but few slaves in this part of the country. He wished that there were fewer. They were not profitable property here, I presumed. They were not, he said, except to raise for sale; but there were a good many people here who would not have them if they were profitable, and yet who were abundantly able to buy them. They were horrid things, he thought; he would not take one to keep if it should be given to him. ‘T would be a great deal better for the country, he believed, if there was not a slave in it. He supposed it would not be right to take them away from those who had acquired property in them, without any remuneration, but he wished they could all be sent out of the country - sent to Liberia. That was what ought to be done with them. I said it was evident that where there were no slaves, other things being equal, there was greater prosperity than where slavery supplied the labor. He didn’t care so much for that, he said; there was a greater objection to slavery, than that in his mind. He was afraid that there was many a good man who had gone to the bad world, who wouldn’t have gone there if he hadn’t had any slaves. He had been down in the nigger counties a good deal, and he had seen how it had worked on the white people. It made the rich people, who owned the niggers, passionate, and proud, and ugly, and it made the poor people mean. “People that own niggers are always mad with them about something; half their time is spent in swearing and yelling at them.” . . .
---
I overtook upon the road, to-day, three young men of the poorest class. Speaking of the price of land and the profit of farming, on of them said, believing me to be a southerner,
“We are all poor folks here; don’t hardly make enough to keep us in liquor. Anybody can raise as much corn and hogs on the mountains as he’ll want to live on, but there ain’t no rich people here. Nobody’s got any black ones - only three or four; no one’s got fifty or a hundred, like as they have down in the east. [3]