Which Way to the Land of the Sky?

 

Reading old stories on the mountains roundabout here, I’m reminded how Earth can change. Rivers bend. Mountains move. Forests disappear and rise again.

Obscure travel accounts from the 19^th century, painting word pictures, provide clues about how the landscape was different then. But I’m fascinated by something more, which is HOW those travelers saw the land. Did they relate to the landscape in a different way than we do now?

I recall Silas McDowell, perched on a cliff of the Hickory Nut Gorge, who said he would need at least an hour to take in the view from that spot.

Then there are the unnamed writers quoted by Henry Colton in Mountain Scenery (1859). One had devoted much thought to the relatives merits of ascending to the Land of the Sky via either Hickory Nut Gap or Swannanoa Gap. Great stuff!

We close this chapter with an article from the same paper, in which the editor draws a comparison between the two Gaps of which we have been speaking:--

I did not reach the foot of the mountains until dark, therefore I can say nothing of my present experience as to the mountain scenery, but, having passed over the Swannanoa Gap before, I well remember its loveliness and sublimity. It has been a disputed point with me which has the finest scenery, the Hickory-Nut, or the Swannanoa Gap. The last I go over always seems to attract me most. Yet a distinction may be drawn. The Swannanoa Gap, and its attendant scenery, is all loveliness and beauty. There is a soft, sweet delicacy about it, which reminds one of the goodness, mercy, and love of the Creator, and makes one feel that he is drawing near to the throne where all is peace, happiness, and supernal loveliness. As one gazes from the mountain height upon the green fields of the Catawba valley, rich in the soft delicacy of budding nature, and sees, too, around him, not barren rocks, but the tall oaks, rising their lofty heads, tinged a yellowish-green with the incipient buds of spring, while the gentle breeze wafts to his gratified senses the sweet perfume of the laurel, the ivy, and the multitudes of other mountain flowers, and treads under his feet a soil as fertile, even in its alpine height, as much of the lowlands which are stretched before his vision in the far-reaching distance, a feeling which seems to partake of other than the earthly, that breathes of the celestial, steals over his senses, unconscious of aught but the panorama of loveliness before him; there rests over the whole mental and physical system a delicious repose and tranquillity unknown but to those who highly appreciate the beautiful in art and in nature. Such is the scenery of the Swannanoa Gap.

On the other hand, when we view the grand, towering, bare rocks, of the Hickory-Nut Gap, displayed in all the majesty and, greatness of Jehovah, one feels his insignificance, and trembles with awe at the typification of the grandeur and terror which is thrown around the ideal we have of the Creator in his wrath. He has no true appreciation of the grand and the sublime who will not, as he looks on those great high rocks, feel the intensity of his insignificance, and shrink within himself, gazing upon these marvellous works of sublime and terrible power, as displaying the supreme majesty of the All-wise, All-powerful Creator. Here the savage himself would pause, wonder, fear, and tremble; and not even the vilest of sinners, in his, wild, profanity and reckless infidelity, can pass such a scene, and not feel for a moment a dread of that awful unknown future. When in such a scene as this, I like to pause and lose myself in thought, not a word uttered, not a sound to be heard, except the wild dashing of the turbulent water of the crystal streams, which seem, even in their boisterousness, to sing a song of repose in the soft cadences of nature's own music. To be in such a place, to witness such a scene, is worth a lifetime of toil and care.

But, to leave the dreamland in which I have been dwelling, it comes, then, to this: Lovers of the beautiful, combined with softly delicate sublimity, will find their tastes most gratified in a home on the Upper Catawba, and a trip through the Swannanoa Gap. Others, however, who prefer the sternly grand, will find themselves most pleased by a view of the Hickory-Nut Gap, the falls, and their surroundings. I would, however, advise all tourists to visit both, and decide for themselves."

The cost of these two routes is about the same. The only difference being the railroad fare from Salisbury to Charlotte. On the Swannanoa route, the traveller will have the cars to Newton or beyond, which enables him, by resting a night in Morganton, to go through to Asheville in daylight.

Fare from Charlotte to Asheville, $10. Meals, $2 50. Time about 36 hours.

Fare from Salisbury to Asheville about $8 to $10. Meals and lodging about $2 50. Time on the way 36 hours, but does not travel at night.