I pulled a favorite book off my shelf devoted to Flat Rock history this week to re-read.  It was  Robert B. Cuthbert’s “Flat Rock of the Old Time” which is based on a collection of correspondence he studied at the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston. Over the course of a few years, Cuthbert examined boxes of letters from the Middleton-Cheves family which described in detail the various correspondents’ experiences of living in Flat Rock between the years 1837 to 1939. 

Cuthbert filled several notebooks with excerpts from the thousands of letters in those boxes and eventually found that he had the makings of a book. Eventually, “Flat Rock of the Old Time; Letters from the Mountains to the Lowcountry, 1837-1939, was published in 2016.

Cuthbert’s anthology of this early correspondence provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of early 19th-century men and women who sought to escape the oppressive heat and disease that marked Lowcountry summers in and around Charleston, South Carolina.  Many of them, in their quest for reprieve, found their way to a growing settlement known as Flat Rock in the mountains of western North Carolina.

The earliest enterprise in Flat Rock was a grist mill established by Colonel John Earle in 1791. Abraham Kukyendaall’s Tavern was established about a decade later and the local population grew enough that Mud Creek Baptist Church had an active congregation by 1805.  By 1827, the Buncombe Turnpike connected upper South Carolina with Flat Rock and communities beyond. Slowly, Flat Rock was acquiring the physical and social infrastructure to support summer visitors – primarily from Charleston.

The first of the Lowcountry planters to acquire significant tracks of land in Flat Rock included Charles Baring in 1828,  and Frederick Rutledge and Judge Mitchell King in 1829. Other notable families soon followed – often purchasing parcels of land from the earliest land owners. Families such as the Lowndes, Hugers, Memmingers, Parkers, and the Middletons soon established the core of a new and growing community in Flat Rock.

Most of the correspondence captured in Cuthbert’s first chapter of his book (1837 to 1852) are letters written by Middleton women reporting to friends in Charleston and other places about their experiences in Flat Rock. The Middletons were descendants of Arthur Middleton (1742-1787) who was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Their letters are filled with commentary about their travels to the mountains, health concerns, descriptions of their summer days, reports on the activities of their Flat Rock neighbors, and the challenges of leaving their homes in the Lowcountry.

What follows are excerpts from the letters in Cuthbert’s book dealing with the period from 1837 until 1852 – the earliest extant letters in the collection he studied.

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Travel to Flat Rock

In his introduction, Cuthbert makes this observation on the final leg of the trip to Flat Rock.

“The stage from Greenville to Flat Rock jostled the confined passengers for 10 or 12 hours before arriving at its destination. But those first breaths of “Champagne air” (so christened by Charlestonians) made the tedious journey worthwhile.” (Cuthbert, The Flat Rock of the Old Times, University of South Carolina Press, 2016, p. 3)

He adds in the introduction to Chapter One:

The trip from South Carolina Lowcountry to the North Carolina mountains took more than a week - with horse-drawn carriages, primitive roads, flea-ridden accommodations, and poor food. However, when Charlestonians arrived, they found nights even in August so cool that blankets were required, and the mountain air was delicious. Escaping an epidemic of yellow fever in the Lowcountry, our travelers with means had come to investigate the new settlement of Flat Rock.  (Cuthbert, p.13)

The period between 1837 and the start of the Civil War in 1861 was described by Rob Neufeld as “Flat Rock’s antebellum Golden Age.” (1) It was a time of significant growth in the Flat Rock summer community despite the considerable challenges for those families disembarking from Charleston for Flat Rock.  Emma Middleton Huger Izard explained those traveling travails in colorful detail in a letter to her cousin, Euretta:

Emma Middleton Huger Izard, Buncombe 
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.  (Emma’s Cousin)
4 August 1839

I have not been in a state to address anyone having pretensions to gentility, since leaving Charleston; But now me thinks, after 10 days of purification I may approach you my dear cousin; still it is done with diffidence I assure you, for without joking, the vulgarity and dirt which is encountered on the road between Carolina’s chief city (Charleston) and these mountains really make one doubt one's own claims to decency. The houses at which the lucky traveler is promised “entertainment for man and beast” are only fit half the time, for the accommodations of the latter.

If you come, let it be quickly and write me more immediately that I may engage you a room. Bring biscuits, wine, a pillow and camphor to frighten away the bugs. A Kentuckian complained of these last articles to a Tavern keeper on the road, who vowed she had not a single bug in her house; “No ma'am says the sufferer, they are all married and have very large families.”  (Cuthbert, p.15)

The roads of that time were of very recent construction – the Buncombe Turnpike connecting upper South Carolina to Flat Rock having just been completed in the late 1820s. Harriott Middleton shared news of an accident involving the King family.

Harriott Kinloch Middleton, Flat Rock.
To Euretta Middleton, New York City. (Her Sister-in-Law)
4 September 1839 

Mrs. King and half of her family have suffered a good deal from an overturn of the stage. No bones broken, however, but many black and blue faces. (Cuthbert, p.18)

An Agreeable Climate

Although travel to Flat Rock was challenging, the relief from Charleston’s oppressive summers was worth the trip. Emma wrote in her letter to Euretta:

Emma Middleton Huger Izard, Buncombe 
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.  (Emma’s Cousin)
4 August 1839

But after all this tribulation we certainly have entered the mountains to some purpose, for the climate is delightful. Not one hour's heat has been ours, although we are said to have met the very warmest weather which has been felt this summer. The nights are so cool that we require blankets, and a shawl is necessary in driving out in the evening. (Cuthbert, p.16)

Escaping Disease

Health concerns were a frequent topic of the letters exchanged back and forth between Flat Rock and Charleston. In this letter, Alicia Middleton expresses concern for those who could not or would not make the trip to the mountains.

Alicia Hopton Middleton, Flat Rock.
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.
27 September 1838

We have been expecting for the last three weeks either to hear from you at Greenville or to see you here, my dear Euretta, or I should ere this have written to you. I am grieved to find by my last letters that you were still exposed to the danger of the town. How I do wish you would have come to us! All the little inconveniences and privations in this part of the world shrink into nothing when compared with the risk and anxieties you are enduring.

We were told at Asheville that there had been 800 cases and less than 200 deaths, this if true, bespeaks a disease very much less fatal than ever heretofore known in ‘17 and ’24. I do not believe one in twenty recovered...

During our little excursion of a fortnight … we had an agreeable party consisting of Dr. (Mitchell) King and his wife. Mr. & Mrs. Memminger and Mrs. Keith, very pleasant weather and a beautiful country to pass through - and had it not been for anxiety on account of our friends in town we would have enjoyed it very much….

… we were six days at the Sulphur Springs. I drank the water most diligently and I think it was of service to me. The drive on the French Broad is extremely beautiful, many parts equal to the Hudson.

(We) retraced our steps homeward, that is to Flat Rock, which is our present home. On the whole I prefer the places around here to any I have seen.  (Cuthbert, p.14)

Alicia’s reference to ’17 and ’24 refers to the years of 1817 and 1824 during which Charleston was particularly hard hit by Yellow Fever epidemics. Although there was not a clear understanding of the transmission of Yellow Fever at the time, the residents of Charleston certainly knew that the advent of warmer and more humid days was correlated with outbreaks of the deadly disease.

In an essay about the Charleston Yellow Fever epidemic of 1817, J.L.E.W. Shecut offered this assessment of the cause of the disease:

A peculiar derangement of the atmospherical air, by being deprived of a due proportion of the electric fluid; either from excessive hot and dry, or hot and moist summers; In consequence of which its vital influence, is either in greater or less degree diminished, and a specific gaseous poison is generated therein; which, being inhaled by persons peculiarly predisposed, produces, according to the degree of predisposition, either a common bilious remittent fever as it is termed, or Yellow Fever. (2)

 It is little wonder, then, that the summer residents of Flat Rock appreciated the “life-saving” quality of the mountain air.  In this letter, Emma notes that she and her family are waiting for the “all-clear” signal from Charleston before heading back to the Lowcountry:

Emma Middleton Huger Izard, Flat Rock 
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.  (Emma’s Cousin)
3 October 1837

We await security in the Low Country for our signal of departure. How delighted we shall be to see you again! Dear, dear Meeting Street. How pleasant to be there once more. (Cuthbert, p.14)

The Community of Flat Rock

As one might expect of personal correspondence, the letters included many observations about life in the relatively rustic setting. Activities of neighbors were noted, descriptions of day trips and parties related, and for a young Emma, mention was made of a particular gentleman of interest:

Emma Middleton Huger Izard, Flat Rock 
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.  (Emma’s Cousin)
3 October 1837

Henrietta Rutledge has been a great deal in our neighborhood, staying with missus king, who by the by, is a most good-natured, merry little body not the least partaking in the pomposity of the younger members of the Royal family. Richard Lowndes is quite an acquisition for me. He takes me to ride on horseback every morning and many other delicate attentions are paid, which add to my amusements. (Cuthbert, p. 14)

Susan Baring, considered by many to be the matriarch of antebellum Flat Rock, held particular interest for the correspondents.

Emma Middleton Huger Izard, Buncombe 
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.  (Emma’s Cousin)
4 August 1839

The neighborhood boasts you know of Mrs. Baring, the Choiseuls, Mrs. King and the Parkers. The first mentioned lady is queen of the Realm, and lives up to her title; in a beautiful place, which she leaves only in a chariot drawn by four horses and followed by an outrider.

Her hospitality deserves all that has been said of it apparently; we had not been here 10 minutes before a saddle of mutton, a loaf of bread (no mean consideration in the country) and Mrs. Baring’s compliments welcomed the party to Buncombe. She is fat, red, and almost twice 40; possessing the greatest energy and animation.

On her own ground, she built a very neat brick church, the minister of which she entirely supports. He gave us a tolerable sermon last Sunday, and the service was well attended; quite a respectable congregation we made.  (Cuthbert, p.16)

The “beautiful place” was the Baring’s home, Mountain Lodge, and the very neat brick church that would become St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church – both of which are still landmarks in Flat Rock.

Alicia Middleton also wrote of the social options for young ladies in Flat Rock during an excursion to Warm Springs in what is now Asheville:

Alicia Hopton Middleton, Warm Springs, NC.
To Euretta Middleton, NYC
9 September 1839

You will see by the date that we have run away from Flat Rock. We left there this day. Our party consists of Mr. & Mrs. Wilkinson, Liz, Anne and I. The girls have been enjoying themselves wonderfully I should think at Flat Rock.  They have had several beaux devoted to them Mr. Wragg Smith, Mr. William Lowndes, Mr. James Pringle  (the one Liz was looking for so anxiously), DeLancey, Rutledge Parker, all at their service. A constant succession of dining and riding and driving parties and when at home the gentlemen always there. That seems to be all that is necessary for excessive enjoyment. (Cuthbert, p.18)

As an aside in this article, the Warm Springs address noted by Alicia would have been a popular early resort known as Warm Springs (or Patton) Hotel in what is now Hot Springs, NC.

Buncombe Turnpike was completed along the French Broad River through Hot Springs (called Warm Springs at the time) in 1828, connecting Tennessee and Kentucky to the east coast. Recognizing the potential for tourism, James Patton of Asheville, bought the springs in 1831 and by 1837 had built the 350-room Warm Springs Hotel with thirteen tall columns commemorating the first colonies. Because of its size and grandeur, it was called Patton’s White House. Its dining room could seat 600.  (from www.hotspringsnc.org/about/history/)

Harriott Middleton’s Flat Rock experience was quite different from the younger, single women frolicking through mountain summers. At the time of this letter, Harriott, age 38, was mother to nine children ranging in age from 4 to 19

Harriott Kinloch Middleton, Flat Rock
To Euretta Middleton, New York City. (Her Sister-in-Law)
4 September 1839

 I suppose my dear Euretta, …though we are in this out-of-the-way place, we have had a very pleasant summer, except during a short time while the house was too crowded for the supply of towels to serve us all.

I find that being a nurse and governess rather too much for me as I do not think and despite of the fine climate and a climate too that agrees with me, I have gained any flesh.

My sisters Anne and Elizabeth have just gone to the warm springs under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson. We are told the fare there is very good and they mean to come back very fat …(Cuthbert, p.17)

Harriott’s life was not to get any easier in subsequent years as Cuthbert notes in his footnotes. She eventually had six daughters and four sons – two of whom were killed in the Civil War. “A loss from which she would never recover.” (Cuthbert, p.235)

A Businessman’s Perspective

In a relatively rare letter in the collection from a gentleman in Flat Rock, C.G. Memminger wrote of his concerns for business matters that needed attending back in Charleston and the challenges of adequately attending to the educational needs of his children in the mountains:

C.G. Memminger, Rock Hill, Flat Rock
To Edward McCrady, Charleston, S.C.
15 September 1846

This summer away from one's business is of itself a sad business, and if possible ought to be changed. Except for the mosquitoes Charleston is as good a summer residence as any place I know of in our state. This place is better, but it is the only one I know of.

But the inconvenience to a large family with city habits are very great, and I find them more in cumbersome each year as children become more in want of teaching. I find our plan of becoming their teachers does not work well. We are liable to too many interruptions, and to those who are seeking improvement of health, it's too confining.

We are beginning to think of looking homewards, though I shall endeavor now to remain as long as the court will permit. (Cuthbert, p. 19)

 Location Location Location

The antebellum period was also a time when Charlestonians were contemplating where they might build in Flat Rock as the community continued to grow in size and popularity:

Alicia Hopton Middleton, Flat Rock
To Euretta Middleton, Charleston, S.C.
27 September 1838

I should prefer being nearer here (Flat Rock), within 3 or 4 miles of the church (St. John in the Wilderness), and there are many beautiful spots within that distance. Izard has set his heart upon a summer residence here and will I dare say buy a few acres if he can manage it. The climate is a strong temptation, without the beautiful country. (Cuthbert, p.15)

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Isabella Cheves, Flat Rock
To her mother, Harriott Kinloch Middleton, Newport, R.I.
July 1852

Charley has found a site for building which we both like overlooking Mr. Barings's mill pond and belonging to him, but whether he will sell or not is very doubtful.  It is nearly opposite the church in full view of the high road which I consider a great charm.

I did not fancy Mr. Maxwell's at all. The view is decidedly the finest up here, but like Mrs. Poinsett, I had rather go see a mountain view than have it always before my eyes. I prefer a home view with cultivation like Dr. King's. If as Charley says somebody else would only cultivate for us, we would want nothing but garden and orchard. (Cuthbert, p.20)

Henry Augustus Middleton,(Isabella’s father)  though not known as a particularly social old man, preferred the Cosmopolitan Society of Newport, Rhode Island, as a summer retreat, and before the Civil War, the family spent many summers there.

Local News and Gossip

Letters between family members and close acquaintances would invariably provide the latest “scoop” on all things Flat Rock. Memminger editorializes on the life and death of Susan Baring at age 82 in his letter to an associate in Charleston:

C.G. Memminger, Rock Hill, Flat Rock
To Edward McCrady, Charleston, S.C.
15 September 1846

You have doubtless heard that old Mrs. Baring has at length died. Mr. Baring told me since her decease, that until within 13 days of her death he never thought it anything serious, as he thought her constitution as sound as that of any hale person of 60. But that she would not be advised at all. She refused her usual medicines and had recourse to fancies, and exposed herself so, that nothing could be done for her.

See how matters seem to go in the providence of God, and how the constant breach of any of his laws brings down its own punishment. Here was an old lady who had her own way in everything, and must finally thought of disease as Xerxes did of the sea. (Cuthbert, p.19)

Isabella describes a disagreement of some sort at the church in this letter to her mother and concludes with a question about real estate in Newport:

Isabella Cheves, Flat Rock
To her mother, Harriott Kinloch Middleton, Newport, R.I.
26 August 1852

The church squabbles still continue. Mr. Pinckney offered his hand to Mr. Baring and he refused it, however he has got his square Pew, which they refused him.

 Sally Rutledge has a frightful cough I hear. They have consulted Dr. Hardy and he has made them very uneasy about her.

 I rode to the Counts the other afternoon. They were not at home, but the place is beautiful. Their hay just stacked.

Judge King has been quite uneasy of late, having had some eruptions and fancied he had poisoned himself in the woods but the Doctor thought it was only red bug.

Is it true that the extravagant prices at Newport are driving people away? (Cuthbert, p.22)

These excerpts from Cuthbert’s book are only a fraction of his fascinating anthology. Chapter Two deals with the Civil War years and the subsequent chapters carry us through Flat Rock’s recovery from the war and subsequent rapid growth fueled by the railroads reaching the region in 1879, the growth of industry in the area, and the entire region being well-known for the therapeutic effects of mountain air and waters.

Flat Rock of the Old Times is a fascinating behind-the-curtain peek at life in Flat Rock in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work of Robert Cuthbert and those who assisted him is a gift to all of us who enjoy understanding the history of this place we call home.

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Flat Rock of the Old Time is available from The University of South Carolina Press at this link.

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1. Visiting Our Past: Flat Rock’s antebellum Golden Age
By Rob Neufeld
Visiting Our Past; Hendersonville Citizen-Times

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/04/01/visiting-our-past-flat-rocks-antebellum-golden-age/470856002/

2. An essay on the prevailing, or yellow fever, of 1817: together with preliminary observations, and an inquiry into the causes which produced it: also, a brief view of the effect of certain poisons on the animal economy, compared with those of the specific gaseous poison of the yellow-fever

Collection:
Medicine in the Americas, 1610-1920

Author(s):
Shecut, John L. E. W. (John Linnaeus Edward Whitridge), 1770-1836