Arthur D. Huger's
Poetic Mountains
. . the mountains must also have a
memory off a kind and gentle man who
botanized their slopes."
By >1 Alt IE B. MELLI.XGER
Arthur Dcvemon Huger was some¬
thing of a recluse, and a hermit. He was
also one of North Carolina’s most out¬
standing botanists, as well as a sensi¬
tive naturalist and poet. Much of his
mountain poetry was published under
the name "Chucky Joe.” During the
years he lived at Clover Patch, near
Hendersonville. N.C.. he wrote reams
about the natural beauties of the area.
One of Huger’s favorite spots was
Herbert's Spring, "one rill flows to the
gulf and one to the ocean, he who
drinks of Herbert's Spring will remain
bewitched and wander in the moun¬
tains for seven years." And again. "I.
having drunk of Herbert's Spring,
where dogwood whitens, and azaleas
blush. I can’t keep away from the
ridges."
Huger traveled constantly through
his beloved mountains. In an editorial
in favor of the Smoky Mountain Na¬
tional Park, in 1899. he wrote. "I have
probably climbed more of our famous
summits than any other man. north or
south." "I will start in a few days for
Linvillc Gorge, below the falls. In the
bottom of this grand canyon is a great
wall of rock, named the devil's dyke.”
Whitewater Falls
He described another favorite spot,
"the Three Thunders of the While
Water River, the upper falls of a bold
mountain river, just north of the South
Carolina-North Carolina line, flowing
from the cold mountain Ostecnohlo.
some 6.063 feet high."
Huger described the "state of Bun¬
No» only on outstanding naturalist, Hugo wrote
mountain poetry under the nome "Chucky Joe."
(photo courtejy Mt. Clormont Lee)
16
combe, just over the ridge, its scenery
bolder, its blueberries bigger, its
breezes as bracing, its sunshine so
seductive — ” "Where Kullasaga’s
crystal fountains leap, southward not
far. stands Satula's sweep: a mountain
monarch frowns and purpling shadow's
touch the giddy heights where Isun-
dayga's precipices catch light of saf¬
fron dawns." He wrote of “weather
witches about the peaks of the Juna-
luskas."
Looking for saxifrages, a favorite
flower. Huger botanized on Cling-
man's Dome. Roan Mountain, and in
the Craggies. and w est as far as Wayah
Bald. He wrote of a sphagnum bog
with "climbing fern and Arethusa at
3.000 feet.” of Squawroot (Con-
opholis). on Bearfoot Creek, and fern
fronds live feet high on the side of
Whiteside Mountain, where he blazed
a new trail. Along the way he described
"some exceptionally fine maidenhair
fern, and the creamy white plumes,
large and numerous of Aruncus."
"I just came back from Grandfather
Mountain, from a stroll through the
clouds. How royally rich in color and
design is the Fhacelia fimhriaia. yet it
has neither name nor nickname."
Cherokee Preferred
Huger loved the Cherokee names,
and preferred them to more recent
names used by his contemporaries. To
him. the Great Smokies were the
Chcsscctoahs. Weatherman’s Bald
was Kolasko. Sugar Loaf was Salola.
the western North Carolina mountains
were The Overhills. Whitesides was
Tsundayga; the Valley River, the
Konaheeta. Mt. Guyot was Sornook.
and Clingman’s Dome was Majcsl-
onak. Some of his names for places
were probably pure Huger imagination
rather than Cherokee.
This fine botanist carried on an ex¬
tensive correspondence with many
other botanists, and especially with
Dr. J. K. Small. In one letter he wrote.
M
