Monday, March 11, 2024

Starr Mountain Spring Wildflowers & Waterfalls 2024

 

Looking at the back side of an oconee bell bloom


Starr Mountain  Spring Wildflowers &  Waterfalls 2024


Friday March 8, 2024


Dana & Kenny Koogler


Photos are Here Starr Mountain Pix 



     Last Spring I went down toward Etowah to try to catch some flowers in bloom, but was too late. They were already spent for the year.    I was stuck trying to figure what to do this past weekend.  Kenny suggested we try to head south.   He had an unexpected Friday off so we wanted to take advantage of it.  The next day was forecast to be very rainy and cool.  He had a couple ideas of stuff we could do.  I was good with it so down the road we went.  


        I had a theory that the oconee bells I wanted to see might be in bloom. Despite being in Tennessee they were supposed to have been transplanted from elsewhere many years ago.  I knew from friends photos that the oconee bells were in bloom in South Carolina.   Maybe they'd be in bloom in East Tennessee now as well?  I figured it couldn't hurt to check.     Last year even though I missed the flowers in bloom it provided me with a chance to begin a systematic botanical inventory of Starr Mountain.   It also proved to be a fruitful day in turning up a couple new waterfalls to us!  The scenery was lovely and we enjoyed it so much. 


        I let Kenny sleep in and we got going at a leisurely pace.   He surprised me with one of his plans. He asked me to check on my phone to see if The Farm House Restaurant was open in Etowah?    I looked and they were.  He suggested we go have some lunch before we went hiking.  I was happy with that. I'd heard so much boasting from Jared and his friends about how good this place was.  It is an area destination!  Everyone loves The Farm House for meals.   I did NOT know Kenny Koogler had already been without me.  👀   


Below:  Front porch of Farmhouse 


Below: Welcome flag on the porch.  My kind of place!  Country! 








Above: merchandise at the front counter and cash register in the restaurant 


Below:  More of their decoration up in front of the place. 





Above: You can look straight back in this view to the additional large dining area.  
Above: Cell phone shot of the dining area around us.  

Below: Kenny across from me at our table.  This restaurant is one we first became aware of when our son was at Miracle Lake getting recovered.   Hearing him tell about going there after church with his buddies really blessed me.    It was some of the first healthy, wholesome things he began participating in.  Farmhouse Restaurant will forever have a special place in my heart because of this. 




  Kenny had barbecue with macaroni and cheese and green beans. I had a house salad with a baked potato.  Their sweet tea is silky smooth. Perfection!    We enjoyed it and went on the rest of our adventure with lots of energy.    We were in and out of there in the time it takes to go to McDonald's, but with a wholesome meal that is NOT fast food!   If you haven't tried this place you should!  I almost hate to tell people about it. If I go the next time and find it covered up busy I will feel like I should have kept it secret, but it is far from a secret.   It is well known and loved. 


        We headed to Mecca Pike to begin our adventure.   On our way I did keep watch for wildflowers, but since we covered this ground in early April last year I didn't expect to see much.  We didn't see any wildflowers at all along our route.   The road is rougher than last year and more rutted out.    At least it was not muddy.   The first thing I saw with any color was periwinkle blooming near the site of the former White Cliffs Hotel.    I also learned today that the hotel did not sit where I believed it did. It was opposite of that area.  Down over the mountain side by about 200 feet is the spring where they got their water.       

      I did see a few trout lilies this season.  The ones here are very tiny and seem to have more reddish brown coloration than most others I've seen.  They are the Dimpled Trout lily variety.    
Above: close up view of trout lily
Above: Trailing arbutus was along the roadsides and in the forest.  It was such a pretty pink.   It was one of the few flowers in bloom. 

Below:  The black water of a swamp atop the mountain.   This flat, sandstone mountain is an oddity.  

Above; Beautiful clear stream of water flowing. This creek flows year round.  I've never seen it dry up.

Above: another cluster of trout lily blooms.  They weren't more than a few inches high.


  We kept looking as we went along. Nothing in bloom to speak of, but I did find my oconee bells I'd hoped for.    They were done last year. This year they were just getting started good.   These are globally rare and endemic to a few locations primarily in Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. 






The three photos above are oconee bells blooming. (Shortia galacifolia ) They are so delicate and beautiful! 


 

 We proceeded toward the rest of our route. We knew there wouldn't be much blooming besides the few things I'd  hoped to find.   We'd go see some waterfalls on the rest of the journey to fill up the day.

Recent rains have our streams flowing wonderfully!   

Below:  a partial view from the road off of Starr Mountain. It was sunny one moment, gloomy the next.  This pattern was repeated all day. 




Below:  Yellow Creek near a "camp site" that was very trashy. I'm not sure it is actually a legal campsite. 



Below: a layered cascade near the campsite.  It is about 12 feet high.  












Above:  a lovely hole of water and powerful cascade just below the first one.  Yellow Creek was one pretty cascade after another today! 





Above: Upper, upper Yellow Creek Falls.   

Below: a side view of it and the jade green water hole with it. 
Below: Ellis Branch Falls is a roadside beauty.  

I am pretty sure this waterfall is on private property, but there is nothing that says I can view it from the road.   

  

 We eased down toward the Hiwassee River and Reliance.   Kenny initially wanted to stop at Webb's store and get ice cream, but thought better of it.   We motored onward. I checked the areas along the road where I'd seen flowers last Spring. Not much out yet.  I will have to head back down there once things start blooming good if I get the chance.   I did not bother to hit up a lot of areas in the core of Starr Mountain because there was nothing blooming April fifth of last year. I knew full well there wouldn't be anything out this early.


         Below is a video of the various cascades we visited on Starr Mountain today.  


    






Notes to Self for Future Trips


Get video of Hiwassee River and Railroad bridge 

Get photos of the old store building along Mecca Pike

Located White Cliff Hotel site and spring down over the mountain

Take RZR and cross Sheehan Branch to look for additional waterfalls 

Webb's Store for a popsicle and a t shirt


Drive Spring Creek Road to see cascades and wildflowers

Stop by Starr Mountain Outfitters for a Bigfoot shirt

Lowry Falls

Left Prong Falls

Reliance Fly & Tackle

Towee Creek Picnic Area 

Check for T flexipes on the slopes near river

Spring Branch Falls

Water Tank Branch Falls

Stairway to Heaven and Bluffs view




Sunday, March 3, 2024

Valley So Wild Blog Series-- Scona Stories by Guest Author James Buchanan

     Valley So Wild Blog Series-- Scona Stories

 by Guest Author James Buchanan



Above:  Mr. James Buchanan 









March 3, 2024



  I posted the first in this blog series.   I had a good bit more to include, but the entry was growing long.   I decided to give it a separate entry.  The book Valley So Wild was to be a folk history of the Little Tennessee River.   Mr. Buchanan's stories are perfectly in keeping with that theme and spirit so I feel they are more than worthy of recording.   I am including some of the others here below.
I am working on obtaining a photo of him to include.     

      I am also including the photo gallery and some info on sights in the area people may want to visit.




AUNT MATTIE’S BISCUITS ARE AWFUL

(The story was one of Beverly Buchanan told to James Buchanan from her childhood.)


   In the old days in the South, the nineteen forties and earlier, Southern women really prided themselves in their biscuit making. A cook’s worth depended on the quality of their biscuits.
Shortly after WWII my family as well as my Uncle Pete, just back from the war, and his new bride Mattie were all living with Granddaddy and Grandmother Cain at their place in Oxford Mississippi. One morning after Aunt Mattie had made the breakfast biscuits, my brother Bobby
and I decided to play a trick on her. We took one of her leftover breakfast biscuits
out to a place on the back porch that was clearly visible through the screen door to
those finishing breakfast, including Aunt Mattie, supposedly to feed our dog Rex,
but we had other plans. We had found one of the very in the basement when we
moved in with our grandparents, and we had quickly discovered it generated a
voltage when the call crank was cranked. The voltage’s purpose was to ring the
bells of any other phones on the line when you wanted to call someone, but
we had found all sorts of interesting applications for it. In this case, we put the wires
from it in the leftover biscuit and hid nearby waiting for our dog Rex to find the biscuit.
When Rex found the biscuit and took a bite, Bobby gave the crank a few good turns and
Rex gave out a terrible yelp, dropped the biscuit, and took off. It appeared to all that
new bride Aunt Mattie’s biscuits were so bad even a dog couldn’t stand them.




SMOKING IN THE GREAT SMOKIES

Jim Buchanan



      When I was in the middle years of grammar school, this would have been around 1946;
my family lived on the grounds of Scona Lodge, a private retreat for the top executives
of the Aluminum Company of America, Alcoa, and guests that they wanted to influence
such as US senators, Air Force Generals, and other big wheels. My dad was in charge
of general maintenance and we lived in a house that was next-door to the main lodge building
that is shown in the picture. Scona was deep within the Smoky Mountains. It was located a little
 South of the most southern part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the southern side of the Little Tennessee River across from Calderwood, Tennessee. Access to it was by a ferry
owned and operated by Alcoa, so access to it was strictly controlled.


    It didn’t function as you mightthink a lodge would with guest there all the time,
 it only hosted Alcoa executives and their guests on weekends. Typically, by late afternoon Sunday all the guests, cooks, maids, and butlers were gone and my mother would make a tour of the lodge to see that it was all secure, doors locked, lights out, and any leftover food taken care of. 
Taking care of any leftover food typically meant taking it to our house for our dinner. 
If there were a lot of leftovers, Mother would take some to the other two families that lived on
site or the ferryman, Jim Edwards. The standard entrée at Scona was Cornish hens and
the regular dessert was strawberry shortcake with rum in the whipped cream. We had
lots of both. Whipped cream with rum in it was a little different taste than us kids were
accustomed to, but we still liked it.

    My younger sister Rebecca and I would typically accompany Mother on these closing
up inspections and one of the things I noticed right off were lots of packs of cigarettes
left about. Some were only missing a cigarette or two. Why the guest left the cigarettes I
have no idea but they did. The lodge provided them free to the guest so I guess they felt
they were the lodges’s. Whatever the case, it was a much too tempting situation for me.
I would put a pack or two in my pockets each time. Soon I had a good supply of
cigarettes of all kinds – Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Marlboro, Kool, you name it.




    Shortly after we had moved to the lodge, I had built myself a club house a little ways up
the mountain behind our house. It provided me a good place to stash my cigarettes as
well as smoke them. Of course I never inhaled – I just puffed on them. I would also take
some with me when I went fishing at the mouth of Tallassee Creek which was only a
couple hundred yards from our house. I would sit on the bank fishing and puffing away.
My parents seemed to have had no idea I was doing this. And I didn’t see it as a big
issue since most adult males smoked at that time – I was just getting a head start.
When summer came, my cousin Eddy who was about the same age as me came to
stay with us for a little while. I quickly introduced him to my cigarette supply and
smoking and provided him with a good supply when he went home. That was a big
mistake. It wasn’t long until his dad caught him smoking in the shed behind their house
and he ratted on me. He told his dad where he had gotten the cigarettes and it wasn’t
long until my parents heard about it. That was the end of my smoking in the Smokies.

        


SAVING ME AND DAD FROM THE  RAPIDS


  When I was in the middle years of grammar school my family lived on the grounds of
Scona Lodge, a private retreat for the top executives of the Aluminum Company of
America, Alcoa, and guests that they wanted to influence.  My dad was in charge of lodge grounds,
buildings, and ferry operations and maintenance, but not the lodge staff. The lodge was right by the Little Tennessee River and to get to it you needed to take a ferry owned and operated by Alcoa across the river to it. 

     
  My dad got the part and we went back to the landing and got in a rowboat to take the
needed part out to the ferry. I volunteered to row but my dad insisted he would do the
rowing so off we went. It soon became obvious we were not making good progress
toward the ferry. Dad’s rowing was not very good and the river current was taking us
downstream faster than he was getting us in the direction of the ferry. I kept asking him
to let me row but he kept insisting he would do the rowing. The problem was there were
some very serious rapids a little farther downstream and we were getting closer and
closer to them. When the situation was getting really critical, I guess my dad finally
decided I wouldn’t do any worse than he was doing and handed the oars over to me. I
quickly got us out of danger and to the ferry. The two guys on the ferry couldn’t hold
back from ribbing my dad about being saved by his kid even though he was their boss
and someone that they should have known did not take things lightly. I am sure it was
an awfully embarrassing situation for him to be saved from the rapids by his 10 year old
son.
Below is a photo of old Niles Ferry from the McClung collection of UT. 








Here is a link to the info for Tallassee Creek Falls which is over at Scona.  It is a paddle and hike trip.  Below is a photo of it.  If you stand facing the falls.. and climb up the left side you can reach the top. There is a "bath tub" up there you can sit in safely as long as the water levels are normal.   





Here is a link to Miry Branch Cascade which you can paddle to from Scona or from Tabcat bridge put in.   This is a beautiful spot.   I did not have a photo of the cascade, but here is one of the take out.







Thursday, February 29, 2024

Valley So Wild Blog Series-Scona Lodge and Calderwood

 Valley So Wild Blog Series ---Episode 1

Scona Lodge & Calderwood 




Above: Mr. James Buchanan







Guest Author Mr. James Buchanan

Dana Koogler

Feb. 24, 2024


Scona Lodge 1946 --Description of the lodge during Mr. Buchanan's time living there.  


   My reading of the book Valley So Wild    began around Christmas.  I  finished it today.    I  recommend this book for anyone who loves history.   I love reading anything written by Carson Brewer.  The book was authored by Carson and his wife Alberta.  They were both journalists.   The TVA commissioned the two of them to write this book which came out in 1975. 

      

   The book outlines the entire Little Tennessee River from its source in the north Georgia mountains.

It proceeds through the entire watershed  It focuses on the geology, nature of the land, and the people who lived there in the past and up to the time of writing.  I learned more in reading this one book than I ever imagined.  It is a life enriching book.   I am  a nature lover and  history enthusiast so  it was very meaningful. 


      I have decided to write a blog series focusing on the areas mentioned in this publication. 
  The reading of this book coincided with another rare opportunity.  A fellow named James Buchanan read my blog and reached out to me.  He did part of his growing up at Scona Lodge.  He is eighty-eight years young and is a consulting engineer in Annapolis.  He is married to his wife of many years, Beverly.  He graciously shared with me short stories he has written and historical accounts of Scona Lodge and Calderwood.    He agreed to be a guest author and allow his stories to be posted here.     It was providential.     Episode one is about Scona Lodge and Calderwood.  I made a repeat visit today with Kenny.     It doesn't get anymore Little Tennessee River than this! 

            Scona Lodge & Calderwood Revisit Today

Feb. 24, 2024

Scona Pictures are Here 



Below is the first story Mr. Buchanan shared with me. 




RIDING TO SCHOOL IN HIGH STYLE
(BUT SOMETIMES NOT SO HIGH)
Jim Buchanan


    When I was in the fourth and fifth grade right at the end of WW II but before car
production had gotten restarted, my family was living on the grounds of Scona Lodge a
private resort owned by Alcoa. My dad was the on site manager, and with that came the
task of getting the kids of the lodge employees to and from school. The lodge was
located across the Little Tennessee River from the Alcoa Company Town of
Calderwood Tennessee where the school was located. Calderwood was right near the
start of the infamous “Tail off the Dragon Road” on the southern side of The Great
Smoky Mountains National Park. It was in a very private location with the Little
Tennessee River on one side and miles of the wilderness of the Cherokee National
Forest on the other side. Due to this isolated location and requiring a ferry boat crossing
to get to and from the lodge to Calderwood, there was no school bus service for the kids
that lived on the grounds. Thus, my dad would take me and my younger sister and two
or three girls and a couple of boys about our same ages, who were kids of the other
employees of the lodge, to and from school. We were just early elementary school kids,
so we didn’t require a lot of space. The school at Calderwood only went to the sixth
grade.
Sometimes we got to ride in real-high style. The lodge had two 1942 four door Buick
Roadmaster sedans used to transport the guests to and from the lodge, and sometimes
my dad had the use of one of them to  take us to school. They were the newest and most 
elegant cars around since car production had been shut down in early 1942 due to the shift to
war production and hadn’t restarted.   How Alcoa got some of the very last cars produced
 I have no idea, but  we really felt fancy when we got to ride to school in one of them.













   The lodge also had a 1942 Chevrolet coupe and sometimes my dad used it to take us to
school. Although called a coupe it did have a small rear seat. The problem with riding in
it was that most of the time it was used by Johnny Gibson the lodge hunting guide. He
 transported the hound dogs and bird dogs around in the passengers compartment. 
The interior smelled really strongly like a wet, unwashed dog, especially on hot days. 
I am sure we must have smelled that way all day at school after we rode in it. 








    Our arrivals and  departures in it must have been a spectacle. It sat at a funny angle 
because one of the rear springs was broken and  couldn’t be fixed because no spare parts had
been made for the few 1942 models produced. Sometimes when we would arrive at
school in it the kids would bark and say such things as “those dogs sure weigh a lot”
implying the lodge had been hauling something else that caused the rear spring to
break. The lodge did have a good supply of bootlegged alcohol.  Sometimes my dad had to
 resort to our family car which was a 1935 Chevrolet single-seat coupe to get us to and from
school. The girls would ride with dad in the car on the single seat and us boys rode in the trunk. We had some wooden boxes to sit on and a plank to prop the trunk lid open so itdidn’t come down and hit us in the head if Dad hit a pot hole. This arrangement certainly wouldn’t have
met any of today’s safety standards.  The trunk lid gave us boys in the trunk a little protection from the elements but not much. It certainly didn’t help when it was cold, but the girls and Dad did not did not have it a lot better in the car. The little Chev didn’t have a heater. It was a standard model and it seemed you had to buy the deluxe model to get a heater. It got us to and
from school just as well as the fancy Buicks, but we must have looked like a clown act
when we all pilled out of the little single-seat coupe at school.













  My Revisit to Scona Lodge and Calderwood 

Feb. 24, 2024




    Kenny and I revisited Scona Lodge site and Calderwood last Saturday.   It was not the most fun visit we've ever made there.  I mainly wanted to revisit with a fresh set of eyes after all Jim's wonderful descriptions of the area  from 1946.    I could see a good bit more of how things used to be based on his stories and photos.   It was Winter and there wasn't a lot to see this time of year especially if you've been before in Spring or Summer.    We managed to make it across the lake without taking an unintended swim which is a plus.     Kenny was too big for kayaks. He is still too big for a canoe.  We need to get a different water craft.   Something a bit more stable like a small model bass boat.    I bet it wouldn't take much to convince him.   

    I am going to let the pictures and captions tell the story.    I still have to go back and take Paul and Amanda. We'll go in Spring when the flowers are out and it is prettier.    It will be more fun with more people.  


Above: Beautiful Chilhowee Lake looking across to where we are heading. 


Above: Looking at the boat launch.  
Above: We've made it across and are looking down the lake toward the dam. 
Above: The tarmac where we got out. There is a fire ring there.  


Above:   out on the tarmac looking at the embankment above us.  


Below: We set out to the west following this faint path to the former lodge site.  English ivy was planted here and it is taking over the world.  This and mahonia shrubs were found.  






Below: A crossing of a spring branch on the walk to the old lodge site.  It used to be bridged, but has collapsed. 







Above: Stairs  that led up to the patio.  





 We hiked up Maroney Branch a little ways to where the trail plays out and you can see the little dam. The dam was a reservoir for water to use in the fish pond and in the lodge.   It has partially crumbled and the stream has filled in a lot with sediment.  The plumbing can still be seen in the creek bed and running down to the lodge.  

Below: Kenny ahead of me on the walk heading from the former patio to the stream.


Above: Old dam on the branch back of the lodge site.  You can see it is very shallow now. I'm sure that wasn't always how this looked. I'd say a lot of sediment has filled in. 


Above: lots of brush and brambles on the little path up Maroney Branch. We're heading back.



Above:  the bow of the canoe with my paddle.   
Below: Once we shoved back off we went up the lake toward the dam across the mouth of Tallassee Creek.   We went a little past that.  I could see the area where the ferrymans house used to sit. It was just to one side of Tallassee Creek.  He could look across and see if people needed the ferry. 


We went up the lake a short distance.   Just nosing around.   We tried to stay in closer to the edge of the lake.  Use caution doing this because there are lots of weeds in the lake bed.   It could tangle up the prop of a motor or snag your paddle.     


       We turned and began crossing back to the landing.   I was very nervous. Kenny is unwieldly in a canoe and that's no lie.     We started getting a strong head wind making it harder to get back to shore.    After some paddling and course adjustments I managed to get us close enough for me to step out.  I was so happy to be on land.  I dragged the canoe up enough for Kenny to step out.   Rejoice! We made it!    Not the most exciting trip, but it was okay.   We loaded our gear up.

    We sat in the truck out of the strong wind and ate a quick lunch.   Then we headed back toward Calderwood to have a look around.   Jim told me the school he attended in Calderwood was four rooms divided by ages.  Each had a wood stove for heat.    It sat across from the Methodist church.      We started off at the Methodist church having a look around.  I spotted a stone retaining wall down from the church, but across the road.   I wondered if this was the school site? It didn't seem large enough and I saw no foundations left.    I later learned from checking USGS Historical Maps that the school sat on the same knoll the church did though directly across from it.  It is shown on the 1935 Calderwood Map.    

Below: I had never visited Calderwood during this season.  It is lovely with more Easter flowers in bloom than you can count!   

Below: the former Methodist Church
Below: down at the intersection of roads below the Methodist church there are sidewalks and numerous house foundations. 

Above and below: The retaining wall of stone that I spotted.  Not sure what was here. Maybe just houses.   Lots of rock lily plants here.  
Below: I was told that this building down along the main road came to serve as the school later on.  I guess that is possible, but I am not certain.  I wouldn't know why or when the four room school house moved to this building? 


Above:  The quonset hut by the little brick building was the movie theater!  

  I would love to have seen Calderwood when it was at its peak.  I am sure it was quite pretty and a happening little place!  I've read descriptions that make me nostalgic.  Children roller skating on sidewalks and jumping rope.    People out walking and visiting.  Coming and going from jobs.  
Attending church services and school.   Heading to the movies.   It must have been quite nice.




  We didn't linger too long today.  We headed home.    I will return and make sure Paul and Amanda get across the lake to see the old lodge site. We can walk back to the waterfall also! 

    
I have posted Jim Buchanan's account of how Scona was in 1946 with its own link at the top of this blog entry.    He has a remarkable memory!  It is part of history and worth preserving. 
Below I am posting one other story he wrote about catching a big gar that was tearing into his fish at his favorite fishing hole!  


Capturing a Big Gar 

 by Jim Buchanan 





     When I was a youngster and my family lived on the grounds of Scona Lodge near
Calderwood, Tennessee one of my favorite activities was fishing. Scona Lodge was
located right on the Little Tennessee River and Tallassee Creek ran into the river near
our house. Anyone that has done any river fishing knows that at the mouth of creeks is
a good place to fish and that was the case at the mouth of Tallassee Creek. Our first
day at the lodge, I rigged a pole and went fishing at the mouth of the creek and soon
caught two small pan fish that Mother cooked for our first dinner there.
After that I regularly fished the mouth of the creek and generally did well. My parents
actually let me layout of school and fish all day sometimes in the spring when fishing
was exceptional good. I kept the family supplied with fish. Then I noticed something else
had discovered my good fishing hole. A big GAR had moved in. GARs are really
glutinous eaters and grow to 6 foot size on further south. This one wasn’t that big but it
was big. 


   Below is a photo of a long nosed gar. They can get three or four feet long and weigh as much as 50 pounds!   They have a single row of sharp teeth. I've been swimming with small gar fish in the river, but I don't think I'd stick around to swim with the big ones!   



   There clearly wasn’t room for both me and the GAR at the mouth of
Tallassee Creek so the GAR had to go. I tried catching it with various bait but nothing worked. Then Jim Edwards the ferryman and I would take one of the lodge’s row boats up
to the mouth of the creek and try to knock it in the head with a paddle as it tried to get
by us to the open water. It got by us several times, but then one day Jim got a good
blow in and was also somehow able to flip it into the boat with the paddle. We then had
this vicious fish flopping around in the boat with us but a couple more blows subdued it.
Its body was about 3 feet long with the bill about another 1 foot long. We had quite an
unusual specimen to show around. I took it and showed it to some of the lodge guest. I
don’t think any of them wanted to go swimming in the river after seeing it.


Below is a video of the highlights of today's visit to the Scona Lodge site 




And below is a video of the highlights of the visit to Calderwood. I am pondering on the video if the stone wall is the site of the former school. I know now that it is not.  




Directions to Scona Lodge Site

From Hwy 129 heading east toward Deals Gap turn RIGHT onto Calderwood Road  which on Google maps is "Housely Road" or SR 115.   Follow it down for 3/4 mile and turn RIGHT again at the first intersection onto Growdon Blvd.   Follow it for just under a mile to its end at the boat launch.  You can easily see across to the former boat landing on the opposite side.  It is around 0.25 miles across to the spot to take out.   We don't go to the boat landing made of concrete. We go to the little cove slightly to the left of that where a tiny rock jetty is seen.   It is a sandy spot and easy to take out.      

  Once across you turn right and walk toward the old lodge site.  You will soon cross a stream.
Across the little stream you follow the obvious path slightly left to the steps for the old lodge. 
The patio is at the top of these.   Maroney Branch flows by it and you can rock hop the creek and walk up it a short distance to the little dam.   To see the golf course go back to the patio and continue westward along the lake shore. You will come to the ruins of a stacked stone building. t
This was the equipment shed for the golf course.  It was a nine hole course and some of it is under the water of the lake now.    

   

  Thanks to James Buchanan for his generosity in sharing the wonderful stories of his childhood memories at Scona and Calderwood.   It is priceless!   



Above: a little 1940s clip art. 








Future Plans 



      I mentioned this would be a blog series.  It should be fun and since it is such a large area there are many possibilities. I am listing a few below. Please reach out to me if you have suggestions?! I am always thrilled to hear from readers.    Mr. Buchanan reaching out to me is part of what inspired this!   Below are a few ideas that came to mind. 




  • Look Rock-- actual look rock not just the tower

  • Qualla Boundary-- Indian Village and Gardens
  • Unto These Hills

  • Carson-McGhee Penisula

  • Wayah Bald

  • Rufus Morgan Falls & St. John's Cartgooechaye Church &  Chapel of the Ascension

  • Suli Marsh 

  • Nikwasi  mound

  • Fontana.  -- I love Fontana Village.   They are doing some real retro stuff now and have made some improvements. I've already put in a request with my big man that we need to go. He was down with that!