• Creator
  • Unknown
• Contributor
  • Woody, Jonathan, 1896-1981
• Format
  • Manuscripts (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1973-02-27;
• Extent
  • Pages: 13 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • Woody, Jonathan, 1896-1981
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • Cataloochee History Project
• Identifier
  • GSMNP_Cata-209a_Woody_1973_02_27

Jobnathan Woody interview 2/27 /73 J Story of the Holves/Iand Its an old Enr l ish custom they C'.all them aunt and uncle, even the fathers and mothers. This Has a Valentine, born on Valentine's day - they call him Tine - he was born on I .ittle Cataloochee. We thought that. the old t·~ esser Place was the Tine Woody Place - the!1 we found it was the ~~esser Place - a.nd that the T:i.ne Woody PJ.ace was - Did you all f!O up to Little CataJ.oochee Church or did you go to Big Cataloochee? We went to Big Cataloochee - called Palmers Chapel and we have a family re­union there the seco.nd Sunday jn August - we don't. put it in t he p3.per because so many free loaders come over if we -put it j n the paper. We had 1400 - counted by the :r:ark people. T guess the benches or the picnic tables were taken down weren't they? They were down there next to the creek - they take them down and put 1n the church. ~y grandfather LaFayette Palmer, ne 1-ra.s called Fate PaJ. mer - he was a very distinguished old r:entleman - I remember him quite well - he had a beard down to here and short cropped mustasche and the wolves were in there eatin{"' up all the people's hogs and cattle so he f Ot on his horse and went down to see the governor. It took him about a week to ride down there. Of course, there were very few trains that led down that ~o~ay and pror.ably he didn't have the money, but he went dmm there t o see the governor, and the secretary told him that he could see him 1a ter. We11, he waited and waited and governor didn't get to see him that afternoon, so he came mck the next morning early . He went jn to see the governor and the secretary saj.d th; s old distingu jshed gentleman has ridden a horse a n the way down from Haywood County and he Hants to see you , So my grandfather v.rent in and the governor asker.'! him what he VJanted. He says the wolves a:r.e eating np all the people's ljvestock up in Cat.aloochee Valley and J've got a propositjon - a way I think the people can get rid of these wolves . The governor said, what's t.hat? He said put a bounty on them and tl:e people v.r :i JJ trap thf"lm and hunt them Nlth t.he dogs and get rid of them; so the governor said ;-rell, do you think $10 waul il be e rwugh bounty? Oh yes, that'd be a pJent:.r . S~ o h. e r od. e l ·0..c:•;: a 11 ·,",.h, e •my an,d of. course , th e b1. g c1, ay HasjoRvunedr a1v n .,_., .a t .a 1. oocu1.. ee Valley. And they'd alJ rnBet there and ge+. tJ-,ere about an ho'Jr before Sunday School and t.hey had -preaching once a month. He was te}ljng the story t"~Jat the q-overnor had put a bount./ on them - so my gro.ndfather Woody and my father, Uncle Steve Hoody, they had some bear dogs and one morning about 4 O'Clock they heard a she-wo1f whippin ' her whelrs that meant she vms vrean:i ns them - so they turned the dogs loose on her and they treed her under a b5f'" hem1ocJ~ or pine that had turned up and the dor:s - she-wolf was sna pp:i n~r at thP. dorrs and they had the hog rifle and they kDJP-d the she-HoJ.f and they got t.he 8 whe1p..s s o they scalped them and sent the moth8r and the 8 v:helps down to Rale:i R;h . And :i t wan' t lone'" until the check came h:l.ck for $90. I i-- \ Johnathan l~oody interview 2/2?/?3 Story of the t-lolves/Iand _(continued) ' - -~ ' .:- ::: That was a lot of money in those days and so they came to '\tfaynesville 1 '-' and a lot of that land there which is Smoky Nountains National Park was the Love Speculation Lands - it had been granted to them by the King for some reason that their forefathers had done a favor to the King, or somet.hing, and so they brought the money to tm-m, the check, and went to the Love family here in Waynesville and told them he wanted to buy some land. Says, have you got any money? Says, we've got a little. Says, where do you want to buy? We want to buy it from t.he top of the Wash Ridge, up to the big pine on Spruce Mountain, and down Woody Creek to Sue:ar Creek and in a straight 1ine "te.ck to the Jim Branch and from the Jim Branch to the next corner. And said wel1, about how many acres is that? They said about 170 or 180. Said 'tl'el1, have you ,'Cot that much money? Said we've got $90. Said l-re'll sell jt to you for 50 cents an acre and that is how they got most of the land and when the Smoky Mountains Park measured the 1and out - the property was then jn m~r name - and they were neazly 250 acres. See, they didn't. make a deed or send a surveyor or anything else over there so that's the story on -part of the Woody land. Did Tine l~ oody - was he your father's brother? Yes. my father's brother - he was the oldest son. When did your grandfather first come into the Valley? vle11, there's no record of it - you might find it from the deeds at the courtho~se, but. its pro"te.b1y around 18)0, something like that. He built that cabin about 1840, best vre can telL There's a cabin here on t he home place that I'd like for you t.o see and take s ome pictures of it. It was in the barn and when jt became the Great Smoky !v1ountains National Park they didn't want any vacant houses or cabins because people wou1d 1i ve in it - they didn't mind that so much but for fear they would set the woods on fire and burn up the park - that's what they dread more than anything - j_s the fire and they were se1ling these buildings and I went over there - going to have an auction and I was the only person present and I bought two cabins and the old barn on the Woody place but it cost me $18 and over $90 to get. them hauled out because they had the roads on Sugar Creek where one of the cabins was had grown up and had to snake them out on sled and then attach t.he sled to a truck to get it down to where it cou1d be loaded. And that's where I got the cabin. Were those hand heHn logs and everything? Oh, yes, I'll show you the cabin. I think you'd like to see it. I 1ive up here on the 18 fa j_rway and that's one story - just about 2 storjes. Johnathan Woody interview 2/27/73 Post Office, Politics, general, ram You said that Sunday was a big day? Just once a morii\ :t}i~ ·ip:t,rf~~~~, came in? -- !' Yes. Where did he come from? Over on Johnathan's Creek- he was .what they called a circuit rider - he had four churches, you see, and he'd preach at one church each month and the biggest day we'd have there then was at the quarterly meeting that they had once a year and everybody would bring their dinner on the ground and hitch up the horses and it was quit.e a day - They'd brinr<: a lot. 6£ fish down? Yes. Did these circuit riders rotate very much? They served 4 years - that's a f•lethodist. Circuit Rider. Now the church on LHt,le Cataloochee :is a Baptist Church and the one on :Ei.O' Cataloochee is Jl.~ethodist Church. There was 3 post offices there :in one day - the post office was down at gra.ndpaw's place, grandfather Palmer, and they named the other post offices - the man used to come from the mouth of Johnathan's Creek - the Cove Creek - over - they first carried it across on their back and later then they were able to have a horse and carry it in and then they put up another post office and named it Nellie - that's just below Palmers Chapel - NelUe Creek? And that was named for Nellie Palmer - she Has born then - a very pretty l"ittle girl about 3 or 4 years old - s:be ·Has Turkey George Palmer's daughter. That vTOuJd have 't-een Glenn Palmer's f:i.rst cousin? YPs. And then later t hey establj sr,ed a post office on U+.tJ e Cataloochee in Vfj]] Messer's borne and he had a daughter horn about that t:ime and named her 01a so t.hey named that post. office Oly. Wasn't there an Ola school? Yes, in Lit.tJ.e Cataloochee. ~!ere there a lot of kids up 5n there? Yes, before the :9'1rk came jn there must have been 50 or 60 families on T·ittle Cataloochee and Bir Cataloochee but the voting place Has at Nellie. Never did have a voting place at Big Cataloochee. Were the people mostJy Democrats up in there? Yes, t,here Here a few Republjcans, very few. ,J ohna than Woody interview 2/27/?3 Post office, politics, f-"eneral, ram (continued) Did they ever f"et into hjg arguments over there? No. They were all kinfolks, The VJoodys Palmers and Caldwe11s all lived in Big CataJ oochee? ves - and Burrises and Lochmans and then jn those days we had some ranchers too, 'J'hat.'s what they call tenants this day and ti.me, They were r:wre or less - well, v1orked on t.he place - cut p:rass with a mowi ng blade for 50 cents a day, Then my father becalT'e a pretty bie; landmmer and he would have a lot of hogs and once a year kill a beef or two and they would work say 2 days for a ham of meat, Pretty good farm ]and? Oh yes, beauti f ul farming land. The va11ey is klnda smal l. It's all grown up, So you had a l ot of it cleared? Lot of it cleared, The ol der people Here allot-red to live there as long as they llved but they put so many restrictions around it they couldn't tell whi ch land to plot-r up and t hey couldn't plow up the hillside and they planted those in trees or let them grow up, Here there any other restrictions besjdes what land they could plow up? Yes, they couldn't cut any green Umber - they would let them cut the dead timber or chestnut - and I've got some chestnut J:Rnelinf< , Was that before the blight? ' : 1 Oh yes, that was many years ago, Clear chestnut? Yes. 11Tas there a lot of logging up t here? Yes, They had a lot of logging, Sawmills - and nearly every person had a grist mill - corn mill - we had one and my oldest brother and sister - I can't remember that. Hy :r:arents had gone away down the creek to see some­body and we had the mill dam.~and a big walnut tree at the mill dam and they took a maul - that's a big locust thing about that big around and cut it ~· down to a handle and split logs with it - and get locust gluts - What's a glut? • J ohna than Woody interview 2/27/73 . ' . Post office, politics, general, ram (continu~}C:' t.•, ~l/{j Wi"' .· --'--'----'--'-~----'---""'--'-'----_.___ . "" 'tJ. Btrtctl.:~- i ,, ~':;; WeJl, its a '1-Iedge and my brother and sister -we. hadf"a:.ff':m .,.~h~r,(;,.,. . .... t~t chased them, so they put a ~an's. suit on th1.s maul.~'«D~~d .;:tt'i..( V!L~;-· t1.ed up on a rope there and had 1 t sw1.nging and they opened t h'e"\ba.rn .. , d door - the gate to the barn lot - and had a string they'd pull this maul dressed up like a man and the ram took a shot at it and missed the maul and they jerked it and he went into the mill dam and nearly drowned, Sorr;e people were allowed to live in Cataloochee after the park was founded, How many people did remain? A bout 6 fami1ies. -'r The Hannahs up in Little Cata1oochee? Yes, Did your fa t her live at the Hoody Place? Yes, but he died jn Waynesville. Came u-p here to visit us and passed away up here. And the rark now keeps up all the cemetari es. We used to go over there and have a cemetary cleani ng but finally we got a hold of a Congressman - Congressman i.Jeaver - Zeb Weaver in Ashevi.1le. The grandfather, I guess, of the present Zeb \>Ieaver over there. And he would come over there fishing and he eelped them out a lot. So he got the rark to keep the graveyards cle So he got the park to keep the graveyards cleaned and mowed? No, a later Congressman did. Taylor? No, . the one before him - And another interesting story i s that - J ohna than \·l oody int.erv:lP-H 2/27/73 . Schoolhous e s t.orv ' _ ,_~ · fl.~)~ ~1y father and Bi.g George CaJ.dHe11 and Turkey George Pal mer came{ :!:-<?,·.. . Waynesville. ive had a one-room log schoolhouse - and they had talkeq at Sunday School that they were going to vlaynesville and get a neH '-:< ,'·,. ,-~it..> schoolhouse. So they came up to Haynesville and the Commissioner told'':'"·.:J' v ' ,.., them, I'm sorry we don't have the money and Cataloochee :pays such a little · r;./) tax that He can't afford to build a schoolhouse overc there noJoT - he says, well if you'll build it Hhy we've got a sawmill 1-re'll furnish all the lumber and a11 He need is money for the carp€nter and the nails. And they said no, v,re can't afford that. Well, there ·1-1as a in Waynesville almost across from the First Union National Bank which was then the First National Bank and they bought a pint of whisl:ey and got on their horses and -rrent back to Cove Creek Gap - divide between Johnsons Creek Va1ley and Cataloochee Valley. And they s a id, well Hhat in the world Hill rre tell them? So they bought some cheese and ate i t and drank this pi nt of Hhiskey and one of them said, I 'll ten you rrhat Jet's do - l et's go in there and burn it down. So they vrent in and struck a match to the old log schoolhouse and burn it up. And my father went up t-Joody Creek and Turkey Georr:re went up Indj_an Creek and Big George CaldweJ.l rrent up Shanty Branch. And my father said when they got about a mile from the schoolhouse and looked back it looked 1ike the whole world was on fire and t.hey had agreed beforehand that none of them would ever telJ until the last man surviving could tell it. And my father said that he used to go out to the I,edpe BaJd Hhich is the divide between Swain County and Hayrrood County to salt their cattle - out on the range - and they had a litt1e pine bark leanto that t-hey'd sleep under and said there Hasn't anybody in f i ve miles of them and they never d j.d mention it and my father told the stOT'J then aft er the other t:wo passed away. And I said to him Hhy din 't y ou t.eJ.l me - and he said they took a l l the books - they had a little table in the log schoolhouse and took it out and put all. the children's clothes, boolr..s, sweaters on the table and they took this J.eanto blackboard and put H over them and so it wouldn't rain on them and hurt them. And I asked my father then why they didn't ten me and he told me about the pledge they'd signed - so all walked dmm to the schoolhouse the next morning a bout a mile and a hald and the schoolhouse had burned. And that's the way He got a new school building . Is the net-T one rlght there at Palmer Creek - the Beech Grove School now? Yes - two room school. They use it now as a trail riders cam:p - sometimes fishermen camp 1n H. The other one was just up above that? No - go on u:p Woody Creek in the ~woded place there at t he bridge. .. Johnathan Woody interview 2/27/73 Iron Horse story Now here is another interesting story that my father and great uncle Hiram Caldwell - the train - they got on the horses and rode to - came about to Old Fort and it took them 2 days. They spent the first night in Asheville, but they charged them a quarter to spend the night and feed them and they took the horse feed with them. They went on down to see the iron horse and they rode all night - one day and night coming b:l.ck - they didn't. have the money - had given out - and they were .just young chaps. And when they went down to church and was telling about this iron horse and how many people was t.here and said it was the biggest crowd you ever seen - there must have been 250 people t.here and the preacher was there and they'd gathered around - had d j n"er on the ground and had preaching and the~r Here telljng the $tCJry about H. and asked them hoH t'ast it'd run and about the big crowd etc. - and one of them said :i.t could out.rnn a horse. And the preacher said Hjram, you and Steve just qu1.t lying. God never has and never will make anything that wi 11 outrun a horse. A bout when Has that'? Oh, I don't kncH tt was before my day - I'se born in '96 so it must have been around -well, I can't guess but it v.ras a long time ago. You said your dad and Hiram Caldwell Here just young, so it must.' have been in t.he. early or middle 70's. Guess so. Johnathan t~oody interview 2/27/73 I,umbermi11 story We found an old land map that one divided up in · ~ the 30's when N.C. a Suncrest Lumber Co. down around ;· '•· ·. :?"'('' ....... ?· """ . of the park fellows had - as the l_and ~ wa.s}A was starting to buy the ]and - Is .t here ·!;__--/ Cataloochee t-oo. Yes. It/ere they in there logging? Yes. They had a Suncrest Lumber Co. They didn't have a sawmill in Cataloochee Valley but they cut the logs and the power dam was not there then and they would get a big - the creek would get up and they'd put these logs in the creek and they'd float them down to the mouth of Cataloochee and from there they would go down and catch them out and load them on - That's going toward Little Pigeon Ri ver? Yes. They'd load them up and take them to the sawmill at Sunburst. Not Sunburst - it was Crestmont they called it. Sunburst was head of Pigeon - toward Brevard. Was there a Citizens Co. down there? Not that I ever heard mentioned. Do you remember a Tine Woody that had her place just above where the Steve Woody place is? Little Steve Woody - that's your father? No. Little Steve was a first cousin, Uncle Tine Woody had no children. Did someone marry a woman called Valentine? One of the Woodys - we found records of a female called Tine Woody and He were really confused. I don't ~~ow about that. Yes. There was one and we called her Aunt Tint. Tint? She was a Hannah. So she came from Little Cataloochee then? Yes. Do you remember Johnathan Hannah? J. H. Hannah? ~las he !"lark Hannah's grandfather? I believe that was it. Did you get tor:ether with a lot of the people in Little Cataloochee? Johnathan Woody :i nterview 2/2?/?3 ' ,·; i ' Lum berrnill story (continued) Oh yes, Well H vras a good thing that the park came along because they was so many kinfolks - some of them intermarri ed, you know, relatives. And after a while they got close, What was the general attitude of the people about the park moving in? They were forced to sell and they didn't ray a decent price for it even in those Umes and lots of them cried and moaned and everything else. How much did the government IXl-Y an acre? Well 1 :it depended on the ] and. I owned the old homeplace. It was customary then for the youngest child to p;et the homep1ace. And when I had to sue them - Federal court in Asheville - they offered me about $6,000 for 250 acres of land hut I sued them and pa:ld $1,000 lawyer fee Rnd got $11,000 net for it. Not rod in thos e days. 1ihen did you come dmm to l~aynesv:i J le? Well, the first time I came to iolaynesville T rode behi.nd my father on a • horse. He brought '!'e up to see a railroad traj_n, Never had seen one but I cou1d draw a picture of one. The Sears Roebuck catalogue and the Toledo Blade came in there then and I came to see this tall buildj_nf: which is the First National Bank and I later became president of it. But we would come up to Waynesville and my father bought some little houses and we lived j_n one of those - there was a 5 rnonth school in those days in Cataloochee - all the rural schools were. We came up and would - my father stayed over in the place and mother came up and cooked for the children - there was 6 of us then - 8 i..n the fam:Dy - 8 children but the 2 older ones were married and gone away. And we Neni: to school up there then, but we had to pay tuition. I think it was about 50 cents a month for each chHd. Thi.s was when we carne to WaynesvHle. Went to Cataloochee for 5 months tben came down here and went, School was out the first of A prU and over at Cata1oochee we would close school - Hould start about middle of August, as soon as we got the hay up and then would close for 2 weeks a bout. the last of September to pull fodder and cut tops. The boys had to help their fathers out and then the girls even would pu11 fodder and they would also scatter the hay when He were stacTd.ng hay. We finaJ.Jy got a mowing machine and a hay rack. We found some pictures of - Do you remember a ~'lr. Grossman, or Wilburn? He took some pictures of the hay. H. C. Wi1burn. He wrote some .books too. And then while mv father was alive they was a fellow came i.n fro:n C'..ali.fornia w:i.th a tape recorder and he sent me one of the records and I got the record at home. Johnathan Woody interview 2/27/7'3 Lumbermill story (continued) Joseph Hall? Yes, from California. He's supposed to be coming back thru here pretty soon. Mark Hannah said he is supposed to be coming back through here. We found a set of those records - bout 8 or 9. Did he come into Cataloochee? This one is about killing a bear. Is that Turkey George Palmer? Yes. Do you remember Turkey George? Oh, yes. Was he a pretty good hunter? Yes. A fine hunter. They was two George Palmers - Turkey George quite a hunter. They were first cousins - the other one was George Palmer - he was raised down the old rangers house as you to to the old Palmer place. Jarvis Palmer place? Yes. But he later moved up on Davi dson Branch. Where 1s that? That runs - the Indian Creek forks just below the Turkey George place and then the Davidson Branch l s nearly as big as Indian Creek. Has it dried up? No, but its grown up. What was Woody Creek named before it wo.s Woody Creek? Straight Creek. Do you know how it got that name? It ran straight for about 3 miles - the most of them are crooked. J ohna than H ooclv "i n terv iew 2/27/73 . r .nmber111:i 11 story. (. cont:i nued). \-That were the 12T1mts - when you are in pa:in. That was when your h'lck wonld 'be hurting and you would grunt. You had the c:runt.s , Oid EnR:lish words were used - my father had a word ljke when shoeing horses­t. be most valuable thing in those days was the wapon Hres - the metal off that Hhen he Hould be s hoe:ing a horse or T'1ule why he'd say - give me the hammer - its over there for-nan-ce - and that meant in front of you. Hant to go up t o t he cal)in? Corn shucki nr.: - they 'd haul the corn ; n and rut 5 t in tr1e ra rn } qft then every famn v i·reulcl. ha,,e a corns}v1Cking and they'd he about. one a week and the Hj_ves .,, Honld f ix a h :lrr di nner - have dumplinp:s, chic}:en & du.:npl:lngs and you'd shuck corn - it Has always on Saturday and when school was closed and they'd have a contest - Hh1ch one could shuck the most and tl:':row it int-o the crib and tren :if you woul.d have your girlfrjend·there- she'd be a cous:i.n , of course, and :1.f you shucked one that had some red grai.ns jn i.t you got to hug her neck, The girls vrore lonr- skirts - couldn't. see the ankle r.arcny. Then the chj]dren would play jn the shucks. Did they have a lot of music then? Yes. Qu:it.e a bH of banjo pickinp;, ~.Jho played most of the music ln that area? The St1tt.ons vrere the rms:i.c players, There wasn't much white liquor made :in t:hose da,rs. They Here ver<J religious people - the'r'd TT'ake :it for medj cine and toddys f'or colds for stuff like that and I remel'l'!ber one time that my father '1--wuld get a team of LJ, horses or T'!u1es and r~ut one team at tongue of rra.cron and tre hest marY:et then was Knoxvj]J e, Tennessee, and I can remember vre'd GTO in a covered waf"On - take the dog along - beautiful :9jcture - it didn't nean anything to me in those days and they'd go over there - take near1y 2 days to go over to Knoxville j_n the '1--Iaf"on - better roads then than Haynesvi11e and wo11ld trade out that afternoon and sell their apples and 3 or 4 dressed hogs, and beef, and trade and cayne back in - and they'Ei buy sacks of rr:reen coffee and grind it - parch H. i'"Y mother would say, well, I went down t.o Suzy's and she parches her coffee too stron~ and she'd go to Aunt Charlotte's and say her coffee j_s too weak and go down to Aunt Lizzie's and she'd say there's something wrong w:1.th her coffee, Coffee was expensive and cost money and the children drank milk. 1/ ! '"I I f. t J ohnathan \{oodv jnt ervieH 2/27 /?3 " Daniel Cook prea cher stor-1 Was there a hos pital anywhere nearby at all? Any type of clinics? No. They had a little hospital when I was a boy in Waynesville - just an ' old house and there was a doctor at. Cove Creek - that's down on Jonathan's Creek - and you'd go over and v.et him and he'd ride back in and it took a bout 8 hours before the doctor got there. Do you remember bis name? Yeh, Dr. Medford. Was he Big Charley l"iedford? No - a relation. There's a lot of Nedfords in Haywood County. Look in the telephone directory - a lot of Medfords, Like Caldwells, Palmers and the l",essers. Do you remember the Nessers tn Litt1e Cataloochee? Yes. Didn't Mark Hannah marry a Messer? Yes. She got the place from the Cooks? What. do you remember about the Cooks? The old man Daniel Cook was a preacher - a homemade preacher. I'd rather not give the story on that. He just studied the Bible - had very little education - a very fine gent1eman and this fellow, WHl Messer, had bought a Jack - everybody had a stallion or .Jack over there. Do you call a male horse a Jack? No, a mule. I mean a mule is a hybrid - cannot rebreed. A mule j_s a cross between a ,Jack and a stallion - I mean a more - and he - the old man Cook was up on a stump - he didn't like to work - and his wife - and he was up there preach:tng - studying his Bj_ble and the Jack started braying - you know how a Jack brays - go-'1-rak, go-wak. He went doNn and told his wife, says - I've gott.a go preach - she says you haven't got a horse to ride and he said, yes - the Lord's called me to preach - I heard him call me and say 11 go-wak'' 11 go-Hak11 • Let's go up to the cabin. ;J. J / .Johnathan Woody interview ~ 2/2?/73 c Fish Storv \ ~ ------"----------- - ·- Old Dr. B, F. Smathers, in fact, his son was a dent.jst - he's rassed on and some of the grandchiJdren have and they called him a tooth dentist :in those days and I had a tooth in the lower jaw - had too many teeth - and he said, Steve, that's my father, have that boy and his brother catch me a big mess of fish and bring them to tmm and I'll pull that tooth free so 1-re went up Woody Creek and then went up Horse Creek and caught 202 fish that. day - and on a horsehair J.ine - and sUck bait and redHorms - and brought them to town and he pu11ed my tooth for me - pu11ed it for free for 202 fish. Cow Story The old man Connard from Lj_ttle Cataloochee came over to buy a cow from my father, and t.hey finally agreed on a price - my father Hanted $30 and he said I'11 give you $2_5, so they finally agreed on some price and he pulled out the cash and paid him and said, well, I've got to go now. My father said to him, says, ,Jim, you don't have a lantern and that cow's not used to being led and it's a long ways over Bald Gap Mt. over to Little Cata1oochee and you'd better spend the night. So fina1ly he decided to spend the night and we put him in the preacher's room. That was the parlor in those days, when company came and the preacher stayed. When the preacher come over there he'd come in a buggy and he couldn't go back that day and he'd spend the night with us. Ole man Connard got up the next morning and he asked him - ,Jim, how'd you sleep last night'? Just 1ike I always do - with my eyes shut. That vras a family joke then. Blood Story It was customary in Cataloochee when a young man married that they would serenade him - when Jack Grooms got married he lived up at the Messer Place on Sugar Creek - a place that my father mmed - he owned about all the land that was ti1Jab1e on Sugar Creek. So my brothers and some of my first cousins - alJ. of them older that I was - they went up to serenade Jack and they had taken - m.ade a big squirt gun and put a1derberry ju:i.ce which Has about the color of b1ood and they Hent and c,al1ed him to the porch arid one of them had a rifle and just as he opened the door one shot the r i fle and the other one shot him with t.he squirt eun juice and they had a littJ.e lamp there in the door and he feJl mck :in the floor hollerinp- 9 my goo:l.ness come to me, come to me - I've been shot and bleeding 1:i.ke a hog. Of coursA, he never did know for a long time the prank they played on him and it. f;Ot t.o be a reP."ular .jokA in all of Cataloochee Va11ev. That was t.he nj_ght. .e.fter he got marri.ed. It. was berry .1uice - alder berry. ,Tui. ce and kinda deer red .iuice. He'd reach un on hi.s face and pull it down and look on t.he light and t.he hl ood wou] d j ust fly. ·: ~~~ ~\ ~ \ \ - ~~

This 151.5 acres in Cataloochee tracts 209 and 209a were owned by Jonathan Woody. Along with these documents are several photographs relating to the tracts. While, in general, the Great Smoky Mountains region was sparsely populated, the Cataloochee Valley remained an exception. By 1900, the population of Cataloochee had grown to 1,000 residents living in hundreds of log and frame homes. A few historic buildings have been preserved on site, including two churches, a school, several homes, and outbuildings. The North Carolina Park Commission was tasked with purchasing land for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and people living in Cataloochee were among those displaced. Cataloochee families continue to return for annual reunions. In 2001, the National Park Service re-introduced elk into the valley.

• Creator
  • Trout, Ed
  • Grossman, Charles S., 1900-1972
  • Unknown
  • Flaugh, Dianne L.
  • Sloan, W. N.
  • Wilburn, Hiram Coleman, 1880-1967
  • North Carolina Park Commission
• Contributor
  • Woody, Jonathan, 1896-1981
• Format
  • Clippings (information artifacts)
  • Land surveys
  • Manuscripts (documents)
  • Maps (documents)
  • Photographs
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • StillImage
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1928; 1930; 1935; 1937; 1940; 1973; 1981; 2000;
  • Date digitized: 2015-09-22
• Extent
  • Dimension: 3" x 5.25"
  • Dimension: 11" x 8.5"
  • Pages: 90 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • Abstracts of title
  • Acquisition of property
  • Buildings
  • Dwellings
  • Government purchasing of real property
  • Land titles -- Registration and transfer -- North Carolina -- Haywood County
  • Landowners -- North Carolina -- Haywood County
  • Maps
  • Real property -- North Carolina -- Haywood County -- Maps
  • Reports
• Location
  • Haywood County (N.C.)
  • Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.)
  • North Carolina, Western
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • Cataloochee History Project; Historic Photographs Collection; Historic Structures Reports;
• Identifier
  • GSMNP_Cata-209-209a
• Repository
  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park