Un Bloggo Breve su Brevard

This post WILL be "breve" because it's been a full week since I visited Brevard, NC, and my memory is already dimming, also because I've just returned from another great day trip to the North Carolina Mountains that I want to share, and will do so in the next day or two, I promise.

 Main Street, Brevard NC

Brevard is lucky in its location, nestled into as lovely a spot as the Appalachians produces. It has a tree-lined Main Street, pleasant to stroll through, stop into a shop or three, and have a light lunch, as I did last week. I prefer Greenville's Main Street, and Saluda's is certainly more cute and quaint, so while I'll say a word or two about the town and its history (you can't get away from a blog from Dottore Gianni without a history lesson!), I will probably have more to say about the area around it.

I too am lucky in my location, as there are several towns like Brevard a little less or more than an hour north of me. 

Brevard is the westernmost of the places I've seen so far and because the route I took winds up and around the mountains it took me a good hour and a half to get there. There are other ways to Brevard, but the drive through the mountains is worth every minute, in spite of many hairpin curves, because it is lushly forested with dramatic gorges and at this time of year the leaves on the tall trees are just beginning to change color.

Why Brevard? Why the NAME Brevard? That's made me curious for years, as in 1965, just after I graduated from high school, my family moved to Brevard County, Florida, and while I stayed with them only a short period of time, I have visited on and off throughout the years, the last trip there just earlier this summer. Of course the two Brevards are not only separated by geography, they are also worlds apart geographically speaking. As mountainous and forest-filled as is Brevard, NC, as flat and swampy is Brevard FL. Of course the Florida branch has long stretches of beach to recommend it, and also the Kennedy Space Center. Anyone who's been to both places can tell you that, and anyone with half a mind who has never been to either place can guess.

Unfortunately, when I'd finally satisfied my curiosity about the name, I found it not all that interesting! But as Brevard is my subject it's probably worth relating here. Brevard NC was named to honor Dr. Ephraim Brevard, a revolutionary war colonel and surgeon who died before the war ended. He spent time in Charlotte, NC and was a signer of the alleged Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, supposedly written there in 1775, a year before the Declaration we all know and love -- but WAS it written in 1775? A verified document called the Mecklenburg Resolves was written that year in Charlotte, but it fell short of being an actual declaration. Some persons, including John Adams, thought that Thomas Jefferson had borrowed from the Resolves when writing the 1776 Declaration of Independence.  Quite a controversy surrounds the suspicious document Mecklenburg Declaration -- was it produced from the Resolves in 1775 and thus our first declaration of independence, or was it written a good bit later, and a hoax? 

The story could continue and is not uninteresting, but it won't continue in this blog post. If you're a good student, and Dottore Gianni certainly hopes you are, you'll do further research on it yourself. At any rate, that's what Dr Brevard is best known for, other than a street named for him in Charlotte and a town named for him called...Brevard.

The area was settled in the early 1800s by mostly Scots-Irish emigrants, mostly farmers. 

The Transylvania Times

In 1860 the population of the area had grown to the extent that a town should be created, and so came about Brevard, in 1861. It was placed in a new county as well, called Transylvania, carved out from parts of two adjacent counties, Henderson and Jackson. The word "transylvania" literally means across woods or forest, and so seemed an appropriate appellation. Some theorize that residents who were thinking of the Transylvania  colony in Kentucky suggested it. 

My own theory looks farther back in time, and across an ocean to an area known as Transylvania in Carpathian mountains, found in the eastern portion of the continent of Europe. In fact, when I spotted two old geezers sitting on

City Hall

the steps of the Brevard City Hall (in my 7th grade Texas History class -- oh, yes! In Lubbock Texas in the late 50s Texas History was required, and may still be -- my colorful teacher, named Odie Faulk, called geezers such as these members of "the whittle 'n' spit club"), I decided to test my theory of the TRUE origins of Transylvania County and approached the old boys saying, 

"Pardon me boys, but where's the Transylvania Station?" 

They looked at me darkly, whittled and spat, and one reluctantly muttered:

"Track 29?"

Then both of the geezers turned into bats and flew away...

Dottore Gianni's theory: Confirmed! With apologies to Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, and anyone else I may have offended, but then "I never drink...wine..." Apologies as well to Bela Lugosi.

A look down Main Street, Brevard NC

Anyway, Brevard: nice Main Street. The intersection of Main and Broad is busier than you'd expect, and the offices of the local rag, The Transylvania Times are just down Broad Street.

O.P. Taylor's Toy Store

Lots of fun shops, including a very popular toy store called O.P. Taylor's, and restaurants like Mayberry's where I was lucky enough to dine outside, on a great tuna fish sandwich and a mighty satisfying bottle of Yuengling... 

hmmm...Mayberry's? and across from it O.P. Taylor's? Shades of Andy Griffith's Mayberry perhaps? And famous director Ron Howard who started his career as Opie (O.P.)? More than just shades I think -- while I'm on it my favorite character from that show was not Andy or Ron, but DON! As in Don Knotts, who played Andy's bumbling deputy...ah youth...Opie's and my own!

Also several antiques and similar kinds of quaint shops, even an antiques MALL…

The Antiques Mall on Main Street, Brevard

"Nice town, know what I mean?" Name that play. Hint: apologies to Thornton Wilder.

But in addition and perhaps more importantly, Brevard also hosts an important music festival every summer, 

Next to Mayberry's, a hip shop
that specializes in music& art

which is at least partly responsible for the community of musicians in the area and the excellent concerts given by them and guests from elsewhere throughout the year. Artists and crafts persons are also in evidence, most obviously in galleries on and around Main Street. And the town is also the locus of a respected college also called Brevard. Add that to the verdant and dramatic setting, and there’s a lot to like about Brevard.

I actually passed through the city and headed north about nine miles into the Pisgah National Forest. I'm feeling lazy and found the following excellent description of the forest:

Just off the road in the forest -
lovely!

"The Pisgah National Forest is a land of mile-high peaks, cascading waterfalls, and heavily forested slopes. Comprised of over 500,000 acres, the Pisgah is primarily a hardwood forest with whitewater rivers, waterfalls and hundreds of miles of trails. This national forest is home of the first tract of land purchased under the Weeks Act of 1911 which led to the creation of the national forests in the eastern United States. It is also home of the first school of forestry in the United States, now preserved at the Cradle of Forestry in America historic site, and boasts two of the first designated wilderness areas in the east. The Pisgah, Grandfather and Appalachian Ranger Districts are scattered along the eastern edge of the mountains of western North Carolina and offer visitors a variety of opportunities for outdoor recreation and enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains."

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48114

Concise yet comprehensive, yes? Better than the good doctor could have done, he is quick to admit it. Anyway, I drove into the forest to have a look at the first sight/site I'd chosen for the day: Looking Glass Falls. To drive through Brevard and head into the national forest is to clearly recognize one of the attractions of Brevard: its proximity to beautiful country. Looking Glass Falls is only one of many waterfalls in this area, which includes what have become called "the Hunger Games Falls" because much of the movie was filmed in this literal neck o' the woods. 

Sidebar on The Hunger Games: after a long wait to see it, and having been barraged on facebook and elsewhere by excitement about the novel (which I've not read and don't intend to) and the film, I was quite underwhelmed when I finally saw it the other night. The plot was contrived and obvious, and irked me inordinately. However the scenery was great, and I admit to loving the young lead, as good with bow and arrow as she was beautiful:

"I shot an arrow into the air.
It fell to earth, I knew not where.
Oh! Yes I did -- 
STRAIGHT into the HEART of my NEMESIS!!"

With apologies to Longfellow, and to many of my readers who thought the film much better than did I.

Of course another reason to like the heroine of The Hunger Games, at least for me, is the goddess reference -- I adore goddesses in general, and Artemis, later Diana, goddess of the forest and the hunt, has always been a favorite of mine, and certainly the filmmakers exploited the connection twixt heroine and goddess. BUT! Enough of Hunger and back to Looking Glass!

The falls were easy to find and I was surprised to see that I could see them from the road, so close were they to it.

Looking Glass Falls from the road

Whereas when I went to Pearson's Falls (see Dottore Gianni's brilliant recent post on Saluda) I had to climb to see them, 

in order to get the best view of Looking Glass I had to instead descend 60 to 80 wooden steps (and great thanks to whoever built them) with a viewing platform about halfway down and another at the bottom. By the way, not to run the Hunger Games references into the ground, when I arrived at the bottom of the staircase there were two attractive and athletic young women cavorting about the boulders in front of the falls. I almost asked them to snap a picture of me, but I suddenly thought, "What if they have bows and arrows?" Thank the gods (or goddesses) they had none! Still, I shied away from the request and they smiled at me (for which great thanks) and left me on my own at the base of the falls. 

The falls is named for Looking Glass Rock, to the right of the falls, as seen in the photo on the left. While it's not all that apparent in this photo, my sources tell me that, particularly in the winter, and even more particularly when water freezes onto the rock and the sun hits it, Looking Glass Rock seems to reflect, mirror-like, Looking Glass Falls, adjacent to it. 

I think this is my best shot of the full Looking Glass Falls

It is wet and more than a little slippery at the foot of Looking Glass, a light mist from the falls dampening ever so slightly

Looking Glass Creek

the wooden platform, the rocks, the trees, my clothes, face and glasses, but it was a warm day and the cool moist air was welcome. The flow of water over the rocks along Looking Glass Creek, the stream that leads from the falls is simply bellissima... "Wondrous cool, thou woodland quiet..." The falls and environs were beautiful and I could easily see why they were so named, and why so many people flocked to them. I'm certainly glad I did. 

Then back the short distance to Brevard, which I've already discussed as much as and perhaps more than necessary. On from there to the twists and turns of the drive back through the mountains. However, I decided to make one more stop along the way, as it was precisely on my way, at the peak of the mountainous drive home.

This peak is back across the South Carolina Border. It's called Caesar's Head, for no earthly reason that I can discern, 

The view from Caesar's Head

though it offers an imperial view, one fit for an emperor. 

Sign showing the exact elevation of Caesar's Head

At a wee bit over 3200 feet this state park is the highest view I have had of the Appalachians, and a rewarding vista it is. Caesar's Head State Park is a simple affair, and just off Route 276, a welcome relief from half of the hairpin curvings than needed negotiating. There is a rangers' office which also houses a shop, toilets, picnic tables and...the view. And it's free! This little gem is maybe 45 minutes from my apartment and I assure you I will return, probably in a few weeks, as the colors of the fall foliage are not yet quite at their height.

Another view from Caesar's Head

Again, what a view!  Had the day not been somewhat hazy, and had a large group of over-zealous birders not hogged most of the viewing platform, for far too long, it would have been a perfect cap to my day trip. As it was it was near perfect, and I'll take that any day.

Not so breve, this post, eh? It seems that the good doctor can make much ado about, if not nothing, very little...but he hopes you've enjoyed the visit!