Balsam Inn History
Balsam is situated at 3,315 feet above sea level, where the highest standard gauge railway east of the Rockies crosses the Balsam Mountain Range. In the mid 1880’s The Asheville to Murphy branch of the Southern Railway was constructed through Balsam Gap because it was the lowest opening in the range. The community of Balsam is surrounded by mountain peaks reaching above 6,000 feet.
The Cherokee and early settlers had found that going through Balsam was the easiest way to cross the high mountains and for that reason, pathways had long been made through the gap. In 1776, General Griffith Rutherford and his men used those paths when they raided the Cherokee towns in an effort to stop the Indian attacks on settlers in east Tennessee.
Later when the former Cherokee lands were opened up for settlement, pioneers moved west down Scott’s Creek to the Tuckaseegee River valley to acquire land and build their homes. Mostly, Scots-Irish immigrants, the original settlers who came after the Cherokee went west, farmed the steep mountain slopes and narrow valleys. Today, many of their descendents still live in the area. There are also many of the descendents of the first tourists who came to Balsam and built houses and cabins when they fell in love with the climate and the land.
Due to the increase in population, a post office was established in 1873 at Balsam with William R. Crawford as postmaster. It was open only about seven months, but was re-opened in 1885 with Hillard M. Bright as postmaster. By this time, the small community of Balsam was becoming established. With access by train, the high, cool country of Balsam was becoming even more popular with tourists.
Balsam was named for the spicy scented Balsam tree that is so plentiful on the mountain slopes. There is also an abundance of deciduous trees that light up the Autumn with their beautiful colors. Waterfalls, wildflowers, and abundant fauna also grace the area around Balsam.
Joseph Kenney and Walter Christy, brothers-in-law from Athens, GA, began construction of a 100 room hotel in 1906 and it was finished in 1908. It was built in the style of the grand hotels of that day. With its beautiful antique furniture, 100 foot porches, spectacular views, and three meals a day, guests began arriving by rail as soon as the hotel was finished.
The original name of the inn was the Balsam Mountain Springs Hotel. There were seven springs on the property providing water for the hotel. This cold, mountain mineral water was believed to have healing properties, and was another reason people from the low country came to this area. The hotel had at least three fountains inside the building where guests could fill their bottles with the water.
Four passenger trains a day stopped at Balsam. Two coming from Asheville and going to Murphy and two returning the same route. They stopped at the depot at the foot of the hill.
Wealthy people from South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, trying to escape the heat of the lowlands came to Balsam to experience the cool mountain tops. Guests, often entire families, but sometimes just the wives with the children, arrived to spend the summer.
Horse drawn buggies were sent down from the Inn for the ladies all dressed in elegant, full-yoked long sleeves, gloves, and long skirts or frothy white dresses with wide brimmed hats, tired after the hot train ride and longing for their bedrooms with open windows and mountain breezes flowing through them.
Other wagons and crews retrieved their trunks and brought them up the hill to the inn. The halls of the inn were built extra wide for these trunks, without which the ladies and gentlemen could not carry enough clothes to last their entire stay in the style they were accustomed to.
The pace of life was slower at the inn, but certainly there was much an energetic traveler could do. The surrounding mountains were full of hiking trails, and opportunities for picnics, as well as hunting and fishing in season.. The Inn provided a dance pavilion, horseback riding, outdoor bowling alley and a tennis court.
During this period, Balsam had four general stores, one was Knights Store built in 1902, a lunch stop at Christy’s boarding house, three churches, an Episcopal school, a local school, a depot built in 1884, and two logging companies. The stores were located immediately across the railroad tracks from the inn.
The Depression brought hard times for Balsam Mountain Inn. In the mid-thirties, the inn was auctioned off on the steps of the Sylva courthouse. Ephriam Stillwell, a prominent Sylva resident, bought the Inn. Several people leased the inn and operated it for a time. Of the more successful lessees were Don and Elizabeth LaBrant of St. Petersburg Florida. Other owners included Sharon White and Kim Shailer, Merrily Teasley, and Marzena Wyszynska.
Currently the inn is owned and operated by Rodney and Lorraine Conard. Since many people in the area wanted to see the beautiful and historic inn restored and operating, it has become something of a community project. Supporters and well-wishers from all over Haywood and Jackson County visit the inn for special events. Today, overnight guests are welcomed to one of the inn’s restored guest rooms almost every day.
Sources:
Adventure Magazine, Summer 1974
Smoky Mountain News, George Ellison, 10/30/2002
Balsam Mountain Inn website
The History of Jackson County, Max R.Williams, ed.