THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Knlered
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iKOndel»»» inaiirr. June I. 1033. >1 the I'oitofllc* >1 RateiRh. North
Carolina, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Vol. X. No. 15 _ September 12, 1942
Polk County
It is located in the thermal belt,
which gives it an unusually fa¬
vorable climate. Many IVoiih-
erners have helped to develop it
into an outstanding residential
section.
THIS week wo come to Polk
County, of which Columbus is the
county seat.
For whom were they named ?
Chances are that many of our read¬
ers would say that Polk was named
for President James K. Polk and
that Columbus was named for Chris¬
topher Columbus.
But that isn’t so. Polk was named
for General William Polk, of Revo¬
lutionary fame, and the county scat
was named for Dr. Columbus Mills,
who had been active in the bill which
formed Polk from Rutherford and
Henderson counties.
By the way, Polk is the only county
in North Carolina that was twice or¬
ganized. The first time was in
184*».
Everything proceeded smoothly until
the folk* got together to decide upon
the location of a county scat. They had
an awful row about that, and the act
was repealed three years later because
of the dissension. The second act was
not ratified until 1855, at which time
although there was still some
grumbling — it was decided to build
the courthouse in Columbus, and it's
been there ever since.
Wiiek wc arrived in Trvon recently,
the flags of the Allied Nations were
-till strung across the main street.
You may recall that we ran a pic¬
ture of these flags a few weeks ago.
The idea was originated by the Wom¬
en’s Flag Committee of Trvon. The
ladies made the flags themselves and
they were turned over to the Tryon
Rotary Club. Mr. Charlie Lynch,
head of Civilian Defense in Polk
Comity, received them and had them
put up. They attracted an immense
amount of interest and attention on
the part of visitors. So far as we
know, they’re still flying.
We ran into several old friends
shortly after our arrival at Tryon:
Carroll Rogers, who has served in the
legislature; Colonel Burkhead, who
used to be stationed at Fort Bragg
several years ago; Charlie Lynch, the
real estate man and one of Polk
County's lending boosters, and Seth
Yiiiing, publisher of the Tryon Daily
Bulletin, which enjoys the distinction
of being the smallest daily newspaper
in the world.
You really don’t see Tryon when
you drive through it, and the average
visitor has no idea of the many beauti¬
ful homes that are located on the sides
of mountains, practically hidden from
view. Most of these homes are owned
by Northerners. One of the most
distinguished among regular visitors
is Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, who spends
a part of every winter with her friend,
Miss Adams, at Slick Rock Estate.
Gillette Estates, once the home of Wil¬
liam Gillette, noted actor and play¬
wright. has boon converted into a
most attractive residential suburb.
Gillette came to Tryon about 25 or 30
years ago and purchased 650 acres of
land. His estate was known ns “Thou¬
sand Pines” and he occupied it for
about ten years.
Friendly Hills, on Country Club
Road, is the winter homo of the
famous writer, Margaret Culkin Ban-
The courthouse at Columbus,
Polk County.
ning. Other writers associated with
Tryon include Anne Bosworth Greene,
musician, author and playwright, and
Thomas Dixon. Dr. David L. Edsall,
former dean of medicine at Harvard
University, also has a home here.
Tryon has an atmosphere which, in
many respects, is different from that
which you find in any other section of
North Carolina. As we said a moment
ago, most of its population comes
from other parts of the country:
horsemen, huntsmen, writers, crafts¬
men, prominent business and profes¬
sional men and others who have re¬
tired from active work. They were at¬
tracted by the mild winter climate.
Tryon, as you probably know, lies in
the thermal belt, where there is seldom
frost or dew.
“Compared with some of the other
towns in Western Carolina.” Charlie
Lynch informed us, “Tryon’s climate
is from 10 to 15 degrees warmer dur¬
ing the winter months. During the
summer, it is within .7 of one degree
as cool as Asheville. You can’t find a
grander climate anywhere."
On Broad River, the elevation is
only 700 feet above sea level, but on
the crest of Wildcat Spur the eleva¬
tion is 3,239 feet.
Hog Back, White Oak, Tryon Peak,
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