February 3, 1934
THE STATE
Page Five
THE CULLOWHEE LILY
A Beautiful Mountain Flower About Which Very Little is Known
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By HILLIARD H
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IN the Cullowlieo Valley, Jackson
County, and on the banks of the
Tuckascegee River at a place near
Whittier, Swain County, are the only
two places in the United States where
the beautiful Cullowhec Lily is known
to grow.
This particular kind of white lily,
so far as is known, has never been
given a botanical classification. It
comes up just as soon as the frost is
gone in the spring and blooms about
May 1*15. The plant has from 3 to
7 leaves that arc about three-eighths
of an inch wide. The flower stock
comes out of the center of this bunch
of leaves and grows to a height of
from 12 to 18 inches.
The bloom of the Cullowhee Lily
has 6 petals that are pure white and
a brilliant yellow stamen. It is usu¬
ally from 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
"Cullowhee" is the Cherokee word
for white lily. From that term the
beautiful Cullowhee Valley and the
Cullowhee postofliec received their
names. Cherokee legend has it that
scores and scores of acres of this moun¬
tain valley were once covered with the
growing lilies. Western Carolina
Teachers College is located on a high
hill that overlooks the Cullowhee Val¬
ley.
Under the impetus of the New Deal
and its own sterling character, the Jef¬
ferson Standard Life Insurance Com¬
pany, of Greensboro, in 1933 made ex¬
ceptional progress, and officials of the
company are highly elated over the
prospects of even better business con¬
ditions during the present year.
The 27th annual meeting of stock¬
holders and directors of the Jefferson
Standard recently was held in Greens¬
boro, and those in attendance heard
from President Julian Price reports
of splendid results achieved and ex¬
pressions of optimism for the future.
"I think that 1933 was the most
trying year in the history of the com¬
pany,” said Mr. Price, "but at the
same time it was one of the best years
that we have ever had.”
The Cullowhee Lilies that grow now
at the place of Cullowhee are located
on the picturesque Forest Hill estate
of Thomas A. Cox. Forest Hill is
the old home of Mr. Cox’s father-in-
law, the late Judge Daniel D. Davies,
for 29 years a member of the Board
of Trustees of Western Carolina
Teachers College.
By 1886 the beautiful white lilies
had practically disappeared from the
Cullowhee Valley. In only one small
rock plot on the banks of the Cullow¬
hee Creek were the delicate blossoms
making their May visits. In that year
Mr. Cox came to make his home at
Forest Hill and, knowing and appre¬
ciating plant beauty and realizing that
this particular kind of blooming plant
was very rare, he immediately took
steps to protect and extend its growth.
Great success has crowned his efforts.
To-day the Cullowhee Lily is growing
and thriving at two or three thousand
places on the extensive Forest Hill es¬
tate. In one plot near the rippling
Cullowhee Creek four or five thousand
of the lily bulbs are now awaiting
the call of spring. For one whole mile
up and down Bryson Branch they
grow. Their best habitat is black loam
soil that is situated along a water
course. They seem to thrive best
among rocks.
The company's cash position was
termed very strong, with more than
a million dollars in cash at the end
of the year. Assets, according to the
report, neared the $56,000,000 mark,
and values of stocks and bonds held
by the company increased during the
year.
The capital and surplus fund of tin-
company, aggregating $2,650,000, was
maintained without impairment, and
during 1933 insurance produced and
paid for amounted to $36.000.000, giv¬
ing Jefferson Standard almost $309,-
000,000 in insurance in force. The re¬
port disclosed that more than $74,000.-
000 has been paid to policyholders and
their beneficiaries since organization of
the company.
MOVES TO WASHINGTON
ROBERT E. WILLIAMS
Robert E. “Fleet” Williams, con¬
nected with the Raleigh News and Ob¬
server for fourteen years, nine of
which he served as City Editor, lias
been transferred to Washington where
he will bo in charge of the Raleigh
paper’s bureau in that city. Mr. Wil¬
liams pictured above will be succeeded
ns City Editor by Charles J. Parker,
who has served the paper consecutively
since 1927, in addition to intermittent
connections prior to that time. Both
Mr. Williams and Mr. Parker are well
and favorably known among the news¬
papermen of Raleigh and the entire
state.
SHE COOKS, HE EATS;
EVERYTHING IS
О.
K.
“Mv wife is able to do the cooking,
and I am able to the eating, so we are
getting along pretty good,” recently
said J. D. A. Secrest, who lives near
Monroe, in discussing the 60th anni¬
versary of his marriage to Mrs. Secrest,
which will Ite celebrated on February
17.
Friends of Mr. and Mrs. Secrest.
who are 86 and 84 years of age. re¬
spectively, got a little bit tired of see¬
ing various papers of the state print
so much about this and that couple
having been married 50 years, and de¬
cided that their venerable neighbors
should be given proper recognition, ac¬
cording to the Moore Count
у
News.
The health of the aged couple is
very good, considering the many years
they have lived. Mr. Secrest. accord¬
ing to The News , likes now to sleep a
little longer of mornings, but wlieu he
does arise, “he can carry a mill rock
on bis shoulder.”
Jefferson Makes Splendid Report
