This was
rough country. . .
Tryon, snug
in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, used to be Indian
country - peaceful and otherwise.
Before the
American Revolution, there were scattered settlers here. The old
Block House, now scene of Tryon's annual nationally known
Steeplechase, used to be a peaceful trading post with the
Cherokee Indians.
In the
mountain vastness beyond the borders of the Carolinas, when
whites began to encroach on the Indians' hunting ground, clashes
followed. So North Carolina's Colonial Governor William Tryon
(held office 1764-71) extended the state boundaries to the
foothills to give protection to the Indians.
Legend is
that Big Warrior of the Cherokee chiefs then named the mountain
on one side of the line for himself, and the mountain on the
other side of the line for Governor Tryon. At any rate, Warrior
and Tryon mountains are landmarks to all Tryonites, and splendid
mountains they are.
Tryon
mountains haven't budged. . .
For two
centuries, homesteaders here have delighted in identifying their
mountains. Here is a reliable guide as to which is which, as
given on the U.S. Department of the Interior geological survey
map, (N.C. - S.C., Saluda quadrangle):
The Tryon
range, which culminates in Tryon Peak at the north, lies in a NE
by SW direction, and the northern portion, easily visible from
the town, extends for about 10 miles.
Starting at
the south, the mountain bearing the radio towers with their
blinking night lights, is Hogback, 3226 feet; then Rocky Spur,
2500 feet. Melrose, 2638 feet, is next and can be identified at
night by its green light. Beyond Melrose comes the Saluda Gap,
which brings highway, river and railroad down from Asheville.
Next mountain to the north is Warrior, 2466 feet. This
attractive little mountain rises to a smaller peak at its
southern rip, which is sometimes called Little Warrior. Beyond
Warrior is a lower peak, in shape a perfect cone. This is Round
mountain, 1831 feet. Through the gap to its north will pass,
when constructed, U.S. Interstate Highway 26.
On the
further side of the gap is a large mountain known as Miller.
From many points it appears to be a part of its next neighbor,
our highest mountain, Tryon Peak, 3231 feet. The radio
installation on its summit may easily be seen. The northern
portion of this ridge is known as White Oak, 3102 feet.
In
revolutionary days. . .
With the
American Revolution, real troubles began between the Indian and
the white settlers. British Redcoats and Tory sympathizers used
the Cherokees to raid and massacre the pioneer homesteaders.
After three
massacres, Capt. Thomas Howard gathered his men at the Block
House and organized a campaign against the Cherokees. Skyuka, a
Cherokee, led Howard's men over a secret trail to Round
mountain. Here Howard defeated the Cherokees.
There was a
stone monument marking the scene of the battle. The secret trail
in modern times has become Howard Gap Road. The name of Skyuka
(whose gallantry is still debated pro and con) is perpetuated by
Skyuka Creek, scenic Skyuka Road, and the Y.M.C.A. Camp Skyuka
on Tryon Mountain.
Tryon's beginnings. . .
The City of
Tryon, granted a charter from the State Legislature in 1885, was
then incorporated into Polk County.
However, in
1920, a second charter was given, one reason being the changing
of the name from City of Tryon to Town of Tryon, since the
municipal population was, is and will continue indefinitely -to
be, less than 10,000.
The Town,
named for Tryon mountain, is geographically small. Its boundary
is established by a circle with a radius of three quarters of a
mile, giving it an area of 1.7 square miles. The elevation is
1067 feet.
Tryon,
almost on the South Carolina border, developed on this
particular spot because construction of the railroad to
Asheville stopped here for two years. In fact, the Southern
Railway station is close to being the geographic as well as the
actual center of Tryon. (Incidentally, the railroad grade from
Tryon up to Saluda is known to railroad buffs as the steepest
east of the Rockies.)
Tryon
was early cultural center . . .
In 1889,
Tryon was the same little town it had been nine years before,
when famed poet Sidney Lanier came here for the last two months
of his life. The streets were still just slashes through the red
clay.
However,
the Lanier Library was opened to the public in 1890 -admittedly
at the time little more than a shelf of books. Lanier Library is
the last subscription library in North Carolina and one of 16 in
the United States. This institution, the oldest civic
organization in continuous operation in Tryon, gives remarkable
insight into Tryon's history.
On its 75th
anniversary, -the library published "Lanier Library Diamond
jubilee' - must reading for anyone interested in Tryon's early
days. A few lines from the book concerning the library's
community programs will show how visitors from the turn of the
century found an intellectual center in a small town:
"John
Burroughs, inheritor of Thoreau's title as the great American
naturalist, was a well-known figure in Tryon -'a little old man
with a long white beard.' Hans V. Kalrenborn, editor of the
Brooklyn Eagle, addressed the club on problems of national
interest during two winters he spent here. Robert B. Peattie of
the Chicago Tribune, gave a most interesting talk on the making
of a newspaper. The son of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Emerson,
an artist and head of the Boston Art School, lectured . . . Luis
Agassiz, Swiss author and scholar, contributed two fascinating
lectures on astronomy." And so on.
Actor
Williazn Gillette built a home here; Historians Charles and Mary
Beard, and Donald Cullmn Peattie and Roderick Peattic are among
Tryon's widely known former residents. Present-day Authoress
Margaret Culkin Banning wrote a recent novel with the locale
Tryon. Jazz legend Nina Simone was born in Tryon, just a few
blocks from downtown.
Folks
keep coming here. . .
From the
turn of the century, drovers and traders traveling from Kentucky
and Ohio, came through here by the Howard Gap Road, on their way
to the markets of South Carolina.
Beginning
about 1925, Northerners came increasingly, for health reasons,
of to find a quiet spot in an interesting community. The trend
has never stopped.
Today's
population is unusual because it brings together citizens for
varying reasons. Few communities can count such a high
percentage of defendants from its first settler families; many
of today's residents bear the family names of pioneers of four
generations back. Retired men and women continue to come from
all parts of the country, and young people come too.
Tryon's Weather. . .
We quote
from the U.S. Weather Bureau climatologically survey: "The Tryon
area is . . . protected by a series of..... barriers which tend
to hold back the flow of cold air..... The weaker of the winter
outbreaks are turned aside and prevented from reaching Tryon,
and even the strongest are modified in passing over the
mountains. While the temperature drops below freezing on about
half the nights in December, January and February, it is rare
even in the coldest weather that it fails to rise above freezing
during the day. There has been only one case of zero weather . .
. in the past 50 years.
"Summer
afternoons are warm, but rapid cooling takes place after sunset,
so that even at the warmest time of year early morning
temperatures average below 66.
"Precipitation is abundant in the Tryon area, and well
distributed throughout the year . . . . Some snow falls at Tryon
almost every winter, but the average amount is less than half
that which falls in many areas of (the state). The sun shines
more than half the daylight hours . . . . Average relative
humidity is around 70%."
Morris the Horse
The
19th-century surveyors who laid out Tryon stuck a compass in the
map and drew the town boundaries as a circle a mile and a half
in diameter. At the center of that circle stands the Tryon
Horse.
Today's
landmark is the fifth-generation Tryon Horse. A jumbo version of
one of the most popular toys they made, the Tryon Toymakers and
Woodcarvers built the first Horse in 1928 for the Tryon Riding &
Hunt Club.
In season,
the Tryon Horse serves as a downtown billboard for the club,
with dates for the Tryon Horse Show or the Block House
Steeplechase Races displayed on his saddle pad. In earlier days
when school let out and the stores closed for the horse show,
the Horse was rolled down the road for signpost duty, giving
visitors directions.
The
original Tryon Horse was destroyed in the 30s when the building
in which he was stored burned. The next Tryon Horse was ravaged
in 1946 during a wild getaway ride when he was kidnapped --
not for ransom, just for the devilment -- by a few fellows
who were enjoying a jar or two of white lightening. The third
succumbed to age and weather in the 60s; and the fourth Horse
was totally restored in 1983, when he acquired a fiberglass body
made by a boat builder. He stands twenty two hands high.
Occasionally the Tryon Daily Bulletin prints a letter from a
reader who has had a conversation with the Tryon Horse. In those
letters, the Horse is always referred to as "Morris," the name
given him by a group of friends, the "Wilderness Road Gang," who
put holiday garlands and a rakish top hat on the Horse every
Christmas.
