A Lodge Called Folkestone by Bob Kranich

A Lodge Called Folkestone

The Dream, The Challenge, The People
 by Bob Kranich

(Excerpt 26)

“The Lodge Called Folkestone”. You may wonder why the first half of the book is about my many adventures throughout the USA. Well, this first part explains just why my interests changed from hot rodding cars to backpacking. How the idea of a lodge came about, and just how the lodge came to be in North Carolina and next to the Smoky Mountain National Park, Deep Campground to be exact.

Following are our experiences and adventures over the next five months, in some sort of order as they happened living in Deep Creek Valley.

On the left side of west Deep Creek Road, towards the Deep Creek National Park Campground, was a small country store owned by Irving Clark. It was right next to the crossover road from east to west Deep Creek roads. I would stop there sometimes to buy a thing or two. When Irving was there minding the store, I would stand around, and talk to him about the mountains and the Deep Creek area.

An interesting thing about Irving Clark’s property was that his old home place was right behind the store. It was a good size log cabin. I got permission from Irving to walk around and photograph it. I made two identical watercolors of it, framed one, and gave it to Irving. He really liked it, and I think that I had made a fine friend.

In appreciation, he gave me a Swain County soil survey book. In it was a very large map of the county. It seems that Swain County covers a large portion of the Great Smoky National Park, and also the Nantahala National Forest. However, they don’t have jurisdiction of these areas because it is all federal land. This map was issued in 1947. It showed the old roads, trails, house places, and small settlements in the park and surrounding area. It even showed the town of Proctor before it was covered by the waters of Fontana Lake. It would help me in my hikes and exploration, so I really studied it.

After making the watercolor, I became fascinated with old historic buildings and started looking for them. I also became interested in the Alarka Mountains which were the ones we could see out of our/Al’s kitchen window. I found a way to drive up close to the top of it on some old roads. On my explorations on the other side of those mountains heading towards Natahala Gorge, I did some exploring on Alarka Creek. I would park my Ranchero, and hike and explore around. One day, I came upon an old log building on a quiet and peaceful overgrown road. I sketched it, and in the same area, I found an old mill. I later found out that both of these buildings were in an area called Double Bridge and on Alarka Creek. The first log cabin was an old country store, and the other was a mill. They were both owned by a man with the name of Reid. Today, my sketches, watercolor, and photos are historic because I heard that the old log cabin store has since been torn down.

We ventured up to Cherokee to see the sights. Every time you went up into the national park you had to go right through the town. Cherokee is mostly for tourists featuring motels, gift shops, and dining places. Along the way will be tepees with Indians dancing and playing drums, and catering to the tourists. However, there are a few historic experiences worth visiting. One is a demonstration Indian village which gives you an idea of just how the Cherokees lived a couple of centuries ago. It is called the Oconaluftee Indian Village, naturally named after the nearby river. In it they demonstrate pottery making, log canoe building, and have a reconstructed council house. There is also a Museum of the Cherokee Indian with multimedia theater and exhibits, and lastly, the drama called, Into These Hills. This drama portrays the plight of the Cherokee in the Smoky Mountains.

The Cherokees are a proud people. They tried their best to get along with the white settlers. They had their own schools, courts, newspaper, and constitution. One of their own, Sequoyah, developed an alphabet so they could have their own written language, as well as read and write. Still, they were expelled in 1830 from their homes, and the majority were forced to march to Oklahoma in the cold of winter. One third of the 13,000 died. A few hid out and stayed, and that is how this reservation has come to be today.

We would occasionally visit the Mountain Farm Museum, as well as the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

As fall approached, there were a couple more adventures. One was driving up to the parking lot at Clingmans Dome, and taking the trail down to Andrews Bald to pick blueberries. It was about a mile and one half hike out on Forney Ridge, and a drop of 400 feet in elevation. We went on a nice day. The sun was shining, and even at the 6000 foot elevation, the bees and flies were buzzing.

Andrews Bald is like Silers Bald except it is somewhat smaller. There are a few trees, but mostly it’s composed of grassy areas, some large shrubs, and lots of blueberry bushes. You can pick the berries, or just lay back and look at the distant mountains and the sky. We did both, and got a lot of berries for jam. Then comes the hard part. Remember I said that we dropped down 400 feet, and well, you have to hike back up. It was easy going to Andrews Bald, but the getting out is a lot harder!

“Doc Gibby is knocking on the door,” Irene said.

“I’ll get it,” I replied.

From the Author:

This is a new book. It is about the Lodge I built in the Smoky Mountains, near Bryson City, and Deep Creek campground, North Carolina. Having been from Florida, I know that a lot of Floridians love to visit the Smoky Mountains National Park. Therefore hopefully you will enjoy my story of the building of “A Lodge Called Folkestone”.