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AHGS hopes this little bit of history will help to highlight the tremendous danger of extreme weather that will sometimes even reach the Blue Ridge. We continue to pray for everyone who has been affected by this terrible storm, that they are comforted and healed and housed and clothed, as soon as possible.

Hurricane Helene hit Alleghany head on, almost exactly 35 years after Hugo’s disastrous visit. Here are the first two pages of the Blue Ridge Sun from 35 years ago, today.

From the September 28, 1989 edition of the Alleghany News:

Calling Hugo the “worst natural disaster to hit Alleghany County,” Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Kenneth Richardson estimated the damage to the county could total $32.5 million or more after the full impact on agriculture, roads, buildings and summer homes is assessed. Richardson said he believed 10 percent of the county’s $325 million tax base had been damaged in a Monday morning press conference at the County Office Building. He also called attention to a CNN news report that said Alleghany may be “the most severely damaged county in North Carolina.”

Early reports of insurance claims indicates Alleghany is running ahead of the more populated counties of Wilkes and Ashe. DSS Director Sandra Ashley said 30 people had sought shelter in the evacuation center set up at AHS. She praised the Dollar Mart for donating sandwiches for them to eat. David Osborne, Rescue Squad Captain, estimated that their 30 squad members had volunteered from 900 to 1,000 hours since the storm.

Also praised were the efforts of all local fire departments, highway patrol, deputies and police. The hardest hit by the storm is probably local agriculture, particularly dairy farmers. Extension Director Bob Edwards estimated a $1 to 2 million loss for the 3,500 to 4,000 acres in corn for silage.

Edwards said that 23 of the county’s 75 dairies were without electricity Saturday afternoon. He estimated that 20 percent of the dairy cattle that went 24 hours or more without milking would develop mastitis and 10 percent would eventually have to be culled. Monday, only two dairies were without power and both were being milked with National Guard supplied generators. He estimated agricultural damage at $8 to 10 million.

BREMCO District Manager Russell Sheets estimated damage throughout the cooperative at $1.5 million. He reported 1,500 homes were still without power. He hoped all the county would have power by Thursday. That date was later revised to the weekend as linemen continued to find more damage than first expected.

Walt McMillan, manager of Sparta’s Skyline Telephone office estimated only 80 of their 4,200 customers were without service, down from a high of about 500 Saturday. He explained that phone lines fared better because they were somewhat protected by power lines which broke the impact of trees and debris.

THANK YOU to our sponsors, our volunteers and everyone who helped support the Saturday Afternoon Social! This year’s event raised over $5500 for the Museum.

We would ask that you patronize these businesses who give generously to benefit the Historical Museum. Without this community support, the Museum wouldn’t exist.

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While the Blue Ridge Parkway might seem like any other road in the high country— roads that evolved from ancient, native American trails— it is, arguably, anything but.

The 469-mile long “Scenic” as it was called at the beginning, here in Alleghany, might possibly be the most designed, discussed and disputed drive ever to be constructed in America.

The parkway was first proposed in the 1930s to connect the new National Parks at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; the Shenandoah in Virginia; and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee & North Carolina, but Kentucky was dropped from the plan at some point.

New Deal funding was approved by the Public Works Administration in November of 1933 for this “national parkway” that would connect two national parks.

We, who live equidistant to both parks— the midpoint of the parkway is right here in the county— might think of the Parkway’s location as obvious. Questioning it would be as absurd as that of the sites of the New River or Stone Mountain or the Sphinx.

But, let’s consider time before our beloved road… before any blasting or grading began; before the building of the bridges, the overlooks, the fences or the trails; before the meticulous landscaping— down to the installation of individual trees and shrubs (!)— even before any land was acquired, a route had to be determined and decided upon.

This formidable dilemma was to be resolved only at the highest levels of the federal government.

From the beginning, the route through Virginia was reasonably undisputed, but by early 1934, Tennessee and North Carolina had already initiated what would become a contentious battle for the southern half of the parkway.

Tennessee wanted it to veer to the west, near Lexington, Virginia, continue to Damascus, then head south to Unicoi, Tennessee, and finally on to Gatlinburg— Tennessee’s “western gateway” to the Smokies.

North Carolina, however, wanted it to follow the path that essentially exists, today.

While politics surely influenced the final decision of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes (and Franklin Roosevelt. Conventional wisdom says Bob Doughton, powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, privately agreed to support the Social Security Act if Mr. Roosevelt gave NC the parkway) the very public battle for the parkway was one of oratory— a noble debate of economics and engineering and, of all the intangible and subjective things, “scenic beauty.”

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We’d like to have you join us at our 3rd Annual Saturday Afternoon Social, for August 17, 11-2 at the Sparta VFW Hall. Make plans to come have food and fun while supporting the Museum – enjoy barbecue chicken sandwiches from Cookie’s Catering in Sparta NC, and enter to win. (If you’d like to donate an item to raffle, get in touch with us!)

Thank you to our corporate donors!

1. Alleghany Inn $100
2. B & T Tire and Automotive $100
3. Bottomley Evergreens and Farms $100
4. Carquest $100
5. The Cellar on Evergreen $100 plus three $50 Gift Certificates
6. Evan’s Sheds & More $50
7. First Community Bank $100
8. Foxfire Realty $100
9. The Gathering Place $100 plus $50 gift card.
10. Grandview Memorial Funeral Home $100
11. James Caldwell Construction $100
12. Skyline National Bank $100
13. Sparta Florist $20
14. Thomas Family Funeral Service $50
15. Donna & Edwin Edwards $100

We’ve already received several generous donations – some of the items to be raffled are:

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This is a petition signed by Sparta’s residents to (re)incorporate The Town of Sparta, in June of 1924. It includes both, “a majority of the resident free holders, and a majority of the resident qualified electors.”

Evidently, in 1924 “resident free holders” would be owners of land that was unencumbered by any financial obligation. And “resident qualified electors” would have been any other registered voters.

Sparta was originally incorporated in 1879, but in 1924 North Carolina changed its rules, so that the process for municipalities was handled through the Secretary of State’s office.

So Sparta, like many other NC towns had to go through the motions again. The paperwork submitted to the state, says, “the assessed valuation of the real estate in said territory is $253,650 according to the assessment for Taxes 1923.”

We found the original document at the NC Secretary of State’s website, here:

https://www.sosnc.gov/online_serv/ices/search/by_title/_land_records