Highlands First Nursery

Isabel Chambers

Since its earliest days, Highlands’ green has kept Highlanders in the green.

In the late 1800s, those who answered the KelseyHutchinson call to settle in Highlands purchased parcels of land that shared not only boundaries, but wonderful stories. Isabel Chambers, esteemed Plateau historian, knows all those tales and just about every creek, crack, and cranny that comes with ‘em. Here’s an account of one of Highlands’ first businesses, Harbison Nursery. Professor Thomas Harbison (a botanist/teacher/researcher from Pennsylvania) moved to Highlands and opened a garden center. Later, he sold it to Samuel Kelsey (co-founder of the community), who established Kelsey-Highlands Nursery in 1885. By 1892 Kelsey and his son, Harlan, launched a second nursery in Linville. From the very start, Highlands’ forests and native plants were considered valuable resources. There was a sizeable contingency of new residents who came from the North, They’d send North Carolina native plants back Northeast. In 1912 Harlan founded a third nursery in Boxford, Massachusetts. Highlands shipped regional plants including apples, Galax, and Shortia (Oconee Bells). Coincidentally, Kelsey, at one time, owned Kanonah Lodge, which became the Good House and was surrounded by hordes of Shortia. Sadly, in 1976 Good House burned down, but the chimney survived and was transplanted to Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park where Santa now holds court at Christmas.

You’ll recognize the family names: Harbison, Skinner, Ravenel. All lived in the area around Harris Lake, a water resource used by the nursery. Isabel recalls, “I remember Harris Lake with a dam, but the water crossed the road and you had to ford it on foot, in buggy, or car.” The nursery, by the way, was situated below Sunset Rock.

Harris Lake (formerly Harbison Lake, when Harbison owned it) did more than offer irrigation for the nursery. During Winter, blocks of ice were cut from several frozen lakes in the area, including Harris. Blocks were packed in sawdust and stored in ice houses. They stayed frozen well into the summer, because the ice houses were situated on the north side (where it was cooler) of mountains and lakes. Rebecca Harris, for whom the lake is named, purchased considerable land from the Ravenels. She came from Havana with her father and brother.

(An interesting aside: Rebecca’s father was extremely wealthy. Criminals took advantage and held her for ransom on a boat in Havana harbor. She took charge, jumped overboard, and swam ashore. Women of Highlands, take note of this amazing role model who helped mold the character of Highlands.) Stay tuned for a bookful of Isabel’s recollections. Or, if you can’t wait, read her book, Remembering Highlands: From Pioneer Village to Mountain Retreat (available locally). Or visit highlandshistory.com or email hhs@highlandshistory.com. Thanks to Jessie Sheldon, the granddaughter of Professor Harbison, for her contributions.

by Donna Rhodes

Laurel Tales

Mountain Laurel has been charming residents and visitors for centuries. (The gorgeous shrub of the Plateau, that is, not this magazine – we’ve only been around for 20 years.)

In the spirit of this magazine’s 20th anniversary, here are two books that discuss Kalmia latifolia, aka Mountain Laurel, which just now should be at its magical peak. The Latin name honors Swedish/Finnish Peter Kalm (17161779) who encountered it during his years exploring North America (and latifolia translates as “broad-leaved”). In 2007, Asheville resident and independent scholar Paula Ivaska Robbins saw her biography of the botanist, Travels of Peter Kalm, published by Purple Mountain Press; I met her in 2010 when she came to the Highlands Nature Center and lectured on The Man Behind the Laurel. (Alas, the charming author died this past winter, aged 86.) Kalm wrote that Mountain Laurel was known as “The Spoon Tree,” because Indians used its wood to make spoons and trowels and that in winter, when all the other trees “stand quite naked…these adorn the woods with their green foliage.” Margaret Morley (1858-1923) also enthused over the “fair and restful” bush in her 1913 The Carolina Mountains. Morley lived in Tryon but was particularly taken with our locale: “Nowhere in the mountains does one find more beautiful natural growths than at Highlands, where the laurel and rhododendron grow to trees, and flaming azaleas set whole mountain-sides ablaze.” Locals referred to Kalmia as ivy, or the calico bush, noted Morley, “the name ‘laurel’ being here bestowed upon the lordly rhododendron.” In Kalmia season, “the air is pervaded by the bitter-sweet smell of the flowers. The ground is white where the cups have begun to fall—or perhaps it is red, for there are bushes that bloom year after year as red as the rose, and others that clothe themselves in a garment of delicate pink.” The Carolina Mountains is illustrated with Morely’s own photographs. The 2006 paperback reprint by Bright Mountain Books has an informative introduction and extra photos. A rare, hardback version dates from 1926, when 250 unbound copies were shipped from the New York publisher to Asheville’s Grove Park Inn, where they were covered in wool from Biltmore Industries and placed in each guestroom. At Shakespeare & Co., we have a couple of both these editions, and as the notice inside the Grove Park one says: “No more delightful story of the Land of the Sky could be written than The Carolina Mountains. And no more fitting souvenir could possibly be conceived than a copy of it bound in hand-dyed, hand-woven homespun, the handiwork from start to finish of the mountain people, the story of whose lives make up this charming book.”

by Stuart Ferguson, Local Historian, Co-Owner Shakespeare & Company

Kelsey Kids Camp

Having passed through its own historic encounter with a global pandemic, Highlands Historical Society embraces its future with a fun focus on the past – Kelsey Kids Camp. For more information, e-mail Camp Leader Tammy Lowe at tammalowe@gmail.com.

Highlands Historical Society is back in full swing for the 2022 season. The Highlands Historic Village opened Memorial Day weekend and will remain open through October. Visitors can visit the museum and archives, as well as tour the historic Prince House, the oldest stillstanding house in Highlands. Hours are Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M. Back after a hiatus due to Covid is the Kelsey Kids Camp, a chance for children ages 8 -12 years to experience a taste of life in Highlands as it was in the late 19th century and early 20th century, as well as learn about Highlands history. Led by Highlands Historical Society Board member and South Macon Elementary school teacher Tammy Lowe, this camp offers two sessions. The first, for ages 8-10, held June 20-24 from 9:00 A.M. until noon. The second session is held June 27-July 1, with the same hours is for children ages 10-12. There is no charge, but pre-

registration is required, and spaces are limited. Tammy is a Highlands history buff who brings her enthusiasm to the task of making the past come alive for these day campers. They One day they might be will get a glimpse of life before modern conveniences. One churning butter and day they might be churning learning to make biscuits… butter and learning to make biscuits, the next playing oldfashioned games or learning about and hearing traditional musical instruments. Storytelling is a big part of our heritage and much of our history, legends, and lore will be passed on through stories. Interspersed throughout will be hiking on nearby nature trails and to historic spots around town. Tammy says that in past years campers have especially enjoyed spending time in the Prince House and imagining life as it was before modern conveniences. For more information, please email Tammy Lowe at tammalowe@gmail.com. by Mary Jane McCall

photo by Susan Renfro