Join your neighbors for a HOLIDAY PARTY
on December 19, 2-4 p.m.
Early Stages of Work on the Kelly Hill Bridge
President's Note
Welcome to fall!
Autumn leaves are falling and the air is getting crisp these days. Even better, we’re past the September anniversary of Hurricane Helene! Things are certainly not back to normal, with highway crews and other equipment at work throughout the area, and a continual array of stoplights and one-lane roads toward Bat Cave, Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.
But it’s a renewal. And soon we will see the work beginning on our new Pavilion. The work is lined up, contractors signed, and volunteer builders ready. We’ve been told by the state that the Kelly Hill Road bridge will start in January. One part of the community center work will start next month at the chimney hearth seating area. That part won’t be affected by the state’s work, so it can begin.
At the recent “Gerton Gathering” at Laughing Waters, Jim Earnhardt Sr. made a comment we can all agree with. He’d grown up in a house with a cemetery on one side and a chair factory on the other. When he first came to Gerton at age 7, he said there were so many trees, flowers, and beautiful mountains, “I thought I was in heaven.”
Some of us are lifetime residents and love this beauty, and others of us have found this gorge and felt it was heaven. We are friends and neighbors who work together to shepherd this amazing place.
Chuck Mallory
President, UHNGCClub
Fall Meeting of UHNGCClub for Vote to Move Forward
Questions asked and answered at the meeting included the following:
When will the bridge be completed?
· Unknown. Steel beams for the bridge are not available. The culvert has been removed so we are hopeful the building will begin soon. The Board has contacted several resources to get answers about when construction will begin. Building time is projected to be 3-4 months; our consultants have advised doubling that time to 6-8 months.
Can anything be done before building is started?
· We have asked our General Contractor to begin work on the hearth before bridge construction begins. We are evaluating placement of the Bocce ball court and would like to begin construction of the court before the bridge is completed.
Are the septic system and well usable?
· Both will be evaluated. At this time, we do not expect concerns with either, but both will be tested and approved before the building is occupied.
Will the building be usable in cooler weather?
· Although the building will not be used in the coldest weather, we will have thick plastic sheeting and heat lamps (as used in restaurants) for cool weather use.
Will there be opportunity to recognize donors by naming parts of the building?
· Yes. More information will follow.
What are plans for the lower garden?
· We have contacted Warren Wilson College to determine their interest in planning the garden.
If the budget is passed, what are next steps?
· E-voting will end at 11 pm on Sunday night. Voting results will be sent to members by e-mail on Monday morning (September 13).
· If the budget is approved, our General Contractor will be notified. He will send Chuck a contract to sign.
· Our contractor will then begin work on the chimney and hearth.
· We will continue to contact state and local authorities about updates on the bridge.
Work Begins on Clearing the Trees to Restore the Creek Flow
At the beginning of October, crews began to clear the trees between Bearwallow Baptist and the remains of our community center in order to help the flow of the water.
An Evening of Storytelling about Old Gerton Days
Gerton Gathering Event Draws Good Crowd
Gerton and Bat Cave folk gathered at Laughing Waters on the evening of Monday, October 12, for “A Gerton Gathering.” This event of telling old-time stories was coordinated by Julia Considine-Pierce and Jane Lawson, with Tom Milroy leading the talks. About 40 area residents were in attendance.
Neighbors were delighted to see Barbara Earnhardt, 92, who came from Black Mountain. She spoke of when she first came to the area from “flat Ohio” and marveled at the enchanting gorge, beautiful streams, mountains, “with green hills and curves everywhere.”
Her son David, who also attended, was born at Bat Cave Valley Clinic & Hospital. Yes, there really was such a medical facility right here, founded in 1948. George Bond, a Navy captain and doctor, started the clinic. In 1955, Dr. Bond was featured on the NBC-TV show “This Is Your Life.”
Water for Swimming and Hockey
David was the last lifeguard at the Chestnut Hills Pool, and Dr. Bill Douglas (though not a doctor then) was the first. The pavilion in Chestnut Hills is named after Dr. Douglas. Early lifeguards were also Barbara’s late husband, Gene, and Jim Earnhardt, brother to Gene. The pool was not heated and many in attendance shared stories about how cold the water was, even in summer.
Jim Earnhardt mentioned that Annie Ager was five years old when he was a lifeguard at the pool. Annie and her husband John, both in attendance, got a laugh out of that. John Ager served as a state representative of the 115th district of North Carolina from 2015 to 2023.
John Ager told a story about a hard winter in the gorge. It was so cold that he and friends decided to play ice hockey on the “Earnhardt Pond,” as it was called then. It was frozen solid and supported them. They got the idea the next time to play hockey on the Chestnut Hills Pool, which was also frozen over. That happened only once, because John skated into the diving board and broke his nose.
Jim Earnhardt said that his family first visited the gorge when he was seven, coming from their home in Thomasville, N.C. Their home in Thomasville, he said, had a cemetery on one side and a chair factory on the other. Jim said that when they arrived in Gerton, with the quiet, natural beauty, and cooler summer weather, “it was like heaven.”
Another story was of Jinx Asbury, an early year-round resident who lived in Gerton with his wife Winnie. As most folk in Gerton were summer visitors then, he was asked what he thought about the summer visitors. He said, “I was glad to see them come, and I’m glad to see them go.”
Some residents at the gathering were surprised to hear that the commons in Chestnut Hills was once a nine-hole pitch-and-putt golf course.
The Draft Dodgers
One of the old-time stories was more “recent,” about the late 1960s. On the trail leading from Silverbell Lane in Hickory Nut Forest toward Laughing Waters, near Hickory Nut Forest, there’s an old chimney that stands alone. But there was a cabin with that fireplace then. In the late 1960s, a young man familiar with the area named Mark was going to be drafted for the Vietnam War. He came and lived at that place, figuring no one from the draft board would find him. A few other draft dodgers came later, and they all lived there. The place was so remote, they got away with it!
The Earliest Residents
Jane Lawson and others talked about the earliest residents of this area, people from the Cherokee and Catawba tribes. The Cherokee are credited with originally forging the trail through the Hickory Nut Gorge. When Jane and her late husband John Myers were envisioning the Laughing Waters area, tribal leaders came to them and asked them to build a sweat lodge! They didn’t do that, but Jane mentioned her and John’s respect for them and their traditions. Those tribal leaders said to them that the gorge was always considered a sacred space.
Fred Nappi mentioned that one reason they considered it sacred was because the area contained an abundance of medicinal herbs the tribes used. Also, he’d heard that the tribes living in the gorge agreed there would never be warfare in this area because it was sacred land.
The talk veered to near Konatoga Road, behind the Bearwallow Baptist Church, where there was once a community baseball field. Long before it was a baseball field, nearby was a burial ground for three important Chieftains of the tribes.
Plays and Arrowheads
Ruthann Nappi said that her grandfather built a house here in 1966. She remembers Art Rhodes being a lifeguard at the pool around then. She also recalled that the pavilion at the pool had jukeboxes brought in, and music was playing at the pool. Someone asked, “Does anyone have those jukeboxes now?” Barbara Earnhardt said, “We didn’t buy them, they were just brought in for the summer.”
Ruthann also talked about the many plays her mother, Helen Hudson Brown, wrote for the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center. This brought much talk about the plays and how popular and enjoyable they were. Ruthann was asked when her mother started writing the plays. “At first we used published plays,” she said, “but got tired of paying the royalties, so Mom decided to write them herself.” She also told how they got volunteers to act in the plays: “We’d recruit people by asking them to play a ‘small’ part in the play.” Once they got into rehearsals, they were having so much fun they didn’t mind if a part was not as small as they thought. Ruthann added, “In the first play we put on, I was pregnant with my daughter, and years later, that daughter starred in a play.”
As the talk turned to arrowheads, many at the meeting remarked about how many arrowheads were found in the area. Whether digging for a household project, a garden, or other reasons, most residents have discovered arrowheads of various sizes. J.D. Nappi, it was mentioned, discovered a perfect arrowhead made entirely of brilliantly white quartz.
The Gerton Shopping District
A couple of tales were about the local stores. A couple named Searcy, who were both deaf, had a grocery store here and retrieved items when people pointed to them or handed them a list. Back then, grocery carts weren’t a thing. The store owned by Nita Owensby and her mother Margie was popular. “You couldn’t just go in and have a Coke and a short chat with Margie,” one commented. “Pretty soon you were on your third Coke and she was still talking.” There was even another store here, since both Chet and Mary Lee Rhodes had a store with their gas station.
Barbara Earnhardt mentioned, “Every time we had a community club dinner, Nita’s mother Margie brought beet salad. Every time. It was her favorite dish, so she always brought it.”
Community Club
The Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center was built in parts, Jim Earnhardt said. The oldest part, near the fireplace, originally was a residence. Ladies in the community who wanted to add on to the building started to cook for the summer visitors and made money that way. Eventually, Barbara Earnhardt said, they raised $5,000 and bought the community center from Chestnut Hills. After ten years, they had the money to build the big room. Some at the meeting talked about the place when it was a square dance hall. One end later became the Gerton Fire Department.
Post Office
After talk about where the original post office was located, further southwest on Gerton Highway, Franklin Sides mentioned that he was the last full-time postmaster. Syble Freeman had been postmaster before him and always had a candy bowl at the counter.
When Franklin began his stint, he didn’t have a candy bowl. People would come in and say, “Where’s the candy bowl? Syble always had one!” So he figured he’d better follow suit and supply candy. One day, he said, one of Chet Rhodes’ grandsons came in and asked if he could have a piece of candy. After Franklin said yes, the boy grabbed all the candy out of the bowl and took off!
Bat Cave
Teresa Garrick mentioned that her grandfather had been inside of the Bat Cave. Then someone asked, “There’s really a Bat Cave?” The story was told about how the Bat Cave, now controlled by conservationists and not open to the public, once had tourists. John Ager said that he and Annie actually led tours inside the Bat Cave many years ago. The reason the cave became closed to the public was when the bats developed white-nose syndrome, a fungal condition that has harmed bat populations in various places.
Though we’ve survived and are rebuilding from Hurricane Helene, it was mentioned that the 1916 flood here was much worse. That was a time when there was far less help for natural disasters, and many fewer people in the area. Franklin Sides said that he’d heard about a man from the Merrell family who lived here then. He and his father were fishing several miles away from here when the 1916 flood happened. The only way to get home was to walk. It took them eight days.
The crowd enjoyed the great old stories and hope that there will be more events like this where the community can get together and share our history. Special thanks to the folks who worked to put together this fun and informative gathering!
Gerton Fire and Rescue 4975 Gerton Highway Gerton, NC 28735
Jay Alley, Chief
I hope everyone had a great summer and enjoyed this beautiful weather we have had over the last month. We have been busy at GFR, preparing for the fall and winter seasons. As many of you know, this is the time when fires become more prevalent. We see more brush fires and structure fires. We deal with more power outages from lines down and trees across roads. We are busy making sure we can traverse in inclement weather. Our firefighters are busy getting equipment like saws and other tools prepared for whatever may come. It is a great time of the year, but we are usually busier through these seasons than during the summer months.
As we start into fire season, we would ask everyone to take time to make good decisions about fire safety. Please, look around your home and remove leaves and downed fuel that would allow a brush fire to come near your home. Also, this is the time to clean out your chimney and flue. We usually see several homes that have chimney fires in the winter, and we don’t want it to be you! As far as those ashes you remove from your stove or fireplace, place them in a metal container and then fill it with water and stir until they are soaked. After they have cooled from this, you may dispose of them outside. We have already had a brush fire this year from hot ashes someone poured out into the woods. Our woods are prime for a large brush fire due to all the downed timber and litter from Hurricane Helene. The NC Forest Service is warning us that we have about eight more years of potential large brush fires due to this condition. We are asking for everyone to be fire conscious. If you see an outside fire, no matter how small, please call 911.
We do ask everyone to call 911 when you have an emergency, we have had several calls into our station and to members of the department. This slows down response and doesn’t always get the resources we need responding in a timely manner. We are glad to be here to serve this community, and we train hard every day to make sure we are prepared for whatever the next call may be. Thank you for all of your support and for knowing that we are here to serve you. Please feel free to come by and visit the station. We have a firefighter on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Take care and call 911 if you need us.
A side note, if you are using a cell phone and call 911, it will go to Buncombe County dispatch. Tell them immediately that you are in Gerton’s fire district in Henderson County. They will transfer you immediately to the correct dispatch center.
[Editor's Note:] For those of you new to the community, if you have a beeping smoke detector, you may call the Gerton Fire Department for help in changing out the battery, should such help be needed! For this service, call 828-243-0411.
