Grand¬
father
^fountain
One of the grandest of
all scenic spots in North
Carolina may soon be
taken over as a state
park, if a legislative
committee thinks well
of the idea.
«1/
LULA ill. WEIR
WHEN the groat French botanist
ami explorer, Ander Miehaux
visited the scenic Grandfather
Mountain region of Western North
Carolina in August, 1794. lie climbed
to the summit of what he thought
was the highest mountain in all North
America; sang the Marseillaise hymn
and cried, “Long Live America and
the French Republic! Long Live
Liberty!" Ho was in error as to the
elevation hut exultant perhaps over
one of the wildest and most scenic
regions in all eastern America.
That the Grand fatber-Linville
area may be acquired for a state park
at some date when conditions will
permit is now regarded as a certainty.
Undoubtedly the beauties of this
area with spectacular Linvillc Falls
and gorge. Table Rock 4,000 feet
above sea level, Hawk’s Bill, Sugar
Loaf Mountain, the mysterious Brown
Mountain lights and Blowing Rock,
should not remain in the background,
while other areas far less interesting
are lauded far and wide. Grand¬
father Mountain, sky-soaring 5,964
feet above sea level, undoubtedly is
the grandsire of all the mountains of
the world. Famed geologists em¬
ployed to make careful survey of the
region have decided that this peak of
the Appalachians, a depot on the
divide between the Atlantic slope and
the Mississippi Valley, is approxi¬
mately 140 millions of years old and
that its surface rocks indicate on age
of two hundred million years.
Scholars tell us Grandfather is
older than Ararat where the Ark
rested after the flood; far older than
Sinai where Israel camped on the way
to Canaan. The only mountain in the
United States from which rivers run
directly in all four directions.
It is true that other peaks of the
Blue Ridge soar above Grandfather’s
elevation but no other has the in¬
dividuality; the personality of Grand¬
father.
No visitor to this Patriarch of the
Appalachian region has ever painted
a picture of this scenic region in the
language of a returned Tar Heel, Dr.
Hight C. Moore, on the occasion of a
visit hack home from Nashville,
Ten n.. to North Carolina. It was
while he was serving as Editorial Sec¬
retary of the Sunday School Board of
the Southern Baptist Convention.
Here is his description:
"To see Grandfather, the Great,
perch on Blowing Rock; drop down in
John’s River Gorge; or climb to the
crest of Hibriton. See the patriarch
reclining in peaceful repose, face and
shoulders silhouetted against the sky;
a most remarkable profile of forehead,
nose, mouth, lips, chin and flowing
beard ; the body modestly tucked under
cover; the head resting ou a mountain
pillow fluffing higher heavenward.
“Grandfather, Mount of the high,
broad, forehead unflinching beneath
scorching sun and searing storm;
Mount of the upward look as if peer¬
ing into Job’s Coffin and scanning the
Milky Way; Mount of the open mouth
as if drinking out of the Great Dip¬
per; Mount of human thrill and chal¬
lenge, rugged as Sinai ami as rever¬
berant with the thunder and light¬
ning of the Divine Presence.
“Different from other personality
peaks you may have journeyed afar to
see, Grandfather is akin to you; looks
down lovingly, upon you ; welcomes
you; entertains in high-peak style;
yet himself sits or reclines at the head
of the table and sleeps alone in his
own big lied.
“He is your Grandfather.
“Grandfather occupies an upper
berth in Appalachia; stretches him¬
self on a mattress of granite; lays his
head, Jacob like, on a pillow of stone;
spreads over his form a coverlet of
balsam and pine; draws about him a
curtain of clouds and falls to peaceful
slumber under the twinkle of the eve¬
ning star. Nor «loos he arouse until
Aurora reddens the east and the morn¬
ing stars sing their waking melody.
"In the Great out-doors Grand¬
father performs his toilet : he poses
under the unframablc sky mirror,
lighted with Sol or Luna. He washes
his face in living vapor; massages
( Continued on page twenty-nine)
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