Five properties near Cashiers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places—Camp Merrie-Woode, the Church of the Good Shepherd, Fairfield Inn, the High Hampton Inn Historic District, and the Mordecai Zachary House. Other sites, including those managed by the Cashiers Historical Society, offer a view onto the rich heritage and history that helped create what Cashiers, Glenville, Lake Toxaway and Sapphire have become today.
Church of the Good Shepherd
In 1878 when the Reverend John Archibald Deal came to the Cashiers Valley, he found a small community augmented in summers by the family and friends of General Wade Hampton from South Carolina. With the help of the Hamptons and their friends, an Episcopal Church was built in 1884. Disaster struck in August 1892 when the church was destroyed by fire. The present church, now on the National Register of Historic Buildings, was dedicated in 1895.
Visit their website to learn more.
Camp Merrie-Woode
Founded in 1919, Camp Merrie-Woode was directed for nearly thirty years by Mabel Day. Dammie, as she was known by campers, was born of British parents and established old English traditions at Merrie-Woode. “I knew I wanted an imaginative and meaningful name,” Dammie wrote, “and one night the name came so clearly to me – Merrie-Woode…for it is a merry wood and campers will always make it so.” Dammie’s legacy of honor and appreciation of simple living and acquiring “eyes that see” the beauty of God’s world was emphasized in activities which taught the importance of a life of service.
Camp Merrie wood is located at: 100 Merrie-Woode Road, Sapphire, NC 28774. For more information on the history of Camp Merrie-Woode, please visit their website or call (828) 743-3300.
Zachary-Tolbert House
The Zachary-Tolbert House in Cashiers, North Carolina is a rare example of vernacular Greek Revival style architecture in the North Carolina mountains. Remaining virtually unaltered for 150 years, the house serves as a monument to the pioneer settlers of Cashiers Valley.
Mordecai Zachary, the son of local pioneer Colonel John Zachary, started clearing land for the house in 1842 and presented the completed house as a wedding gift to his new bride, Elvira Keener, in 1852. The couple raised their family of twelve children in the home during the next twenty-one years.
The three families that followed used the house only as a summer dwelling, never adding electricity, plumbing, central heat, or paint to the interior walls. The plain-style furniture crafted by Mordecai was sold with the house and remains on display today. Through the years each resident family left messages (graffiti) on the walls, denoting business transactions, birthdays, visitors, and secrets yet to be deciphered.
The Tolbert family enjoyed and cared for the house through most of the twentieth century until its purchase and subsequent donation to the Cashiers Historical Society. The house is now listed on National Register of Historic Places.
In addition to viewing the eight-room house, visitors are encouraged to walk the trails which may date back to prehistoric times, see the two springs on the property, and view the archaeology exhibits.
Hours of Operation
The Zachary-Tolbert House is open for tours from 11 am – 3 pm Friday and Saturday, mid-May through mid-October. Group tours may be scheduled in advance for any day of the week. Trained guides conduct tours of the house and grounds. Also available are special interest tours on a wide range of topics including plain-style furniture, the Civil War, and the graffiti on the walls of the house.
Admission Fees
There is no charge guided tours, although a $5 is encouraged.
Hours of operation and fees are subject to change. Contact directly for most current information.
Location
The Zachary-Tolbert House is located on NC 107, approximately 2 miles south of the intersection of US 64 in Cashiers, NC.
Zachary-Tolbert House
1940 Hwy. 107 South
Cashiers, NC 28717
(828) 743-7710
Zachary-Waddell House
From its original location just north of Hanks House, it was acquired in 2012 by the Cashiers Historical Society and moved to the site of the Zachary-Tolbert House. Thought to be originally a Zachary home, the Waddell family purchased the property in 1925 and for several generations spent summers there.
High Hampton Inn
The High Hampton Inn Historic District is an estate and resort nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina, in the Cashiers Valley in Jackson County. Originally the summer home of the prosperous Hampton family of South Carolina, the property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Wealthy planter Wade Hampton II purchased 450 acres (180 ha) in Cashiers Valley as an escape from the summer heat, humidity, and malaria of the Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina region. The property became a favorite hunting preserve for the Hampton family and their friends. Young Wade Hampton III learned to ride horses at High Hampton, a skill that served him well as a leading Confederate cavalry commander during the American Civil War.
In the 1880s, the property passed into the hands of Hampton II’s three daughters, who in turn sold it in 1890 to their niece Caroline and her new husband, Dr. William Halsted, a prominent surgeon. Halsted purchased several adjoining farms and pieces of property, eventually exanding his holdings to more than 2,200 acres (890 ha). The Halsteds both died in 1922, and a North Carolina businessman, E. Lyndon McKee, purchased the estate two years later. In 1933, the present High Hampton Inn was opened for business. McKee’s descendants still own and operate the resort today, which includes a golf course, spa, recreational area, and restaurant.
The current High Hampton Inn and Country Club consists of 1,400 acres.
High Hampton is located at 1525 Highway 107 South in Cashiers, N.C. Visit their website for more information.
The Fairfield Inn
The Fairfield Inn was an historic wooden Queen Anne hotel located on Fairfield Lake near US Highway 64 in Cashiers, North Carolina. In July, 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The building was originally built in 1896 near a former gold mine on Lake Fairfield and added to in the early 1900s. It stood on Lake Fairfield near US 64 until 1986.
Never renovated, a fire in 1986 exposed the fact the hotel was unsafe and it was demolished later that year. It was a sad loss for the Cashiers Valley. It was one of the few remaining grand Southern Railway (U.S.) Resort Hotels.
The image to the left shows the photo as it stood in 1980, before the fire.