tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33070641751875797152024-02-08T09:45:50.052-08:00Watauga History HuntersMichael C. Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18023085357547254423noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3307064175187579715.post-54168251850642448032014-06-29T15:11:00.000-07:002014-06-29T15:11:01.871-07:00Harmon’s Rockhouse
<br />
<div style="margin: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Harmon’s Rockhouse</b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<strong>by Terry Harmon, (c) 2014</strong></div>
<div style="margin: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
According to on-line dictionaries and encyclopedias, a
rockhouse is generally defined as a large overhanging rock, usually over a
stream, so named because early woodsmen could obtain shelter from the weather
in the area underneath its protruding upper ledge or in the cave which could
often be found at the base of the rockhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">rock shelter</span> (also
known as a <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">rockhouse</span>, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">crepuscular cave</span>, or <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">abri</span>) is a shallow cave-like opening
at the base of a bluff or <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/cliff"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">cliff</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rock shelters form because a <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/rock"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">rock</span></a> stratum such as
sandstone that is resistant to <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/erosion"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">erosion</span></a>
and <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/weathering"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">weathering</span></a> has formed a
cliff or bluff, but a softer stratum, more subject to erosion and weathering,
lies just below the resistant stratum, and thus undercuts the cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many rock shelters are found under <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/waterfall"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">waterfalls</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rock shelters are often important <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/archaeology"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">archaeologically</span></a>. Because
rock shelters form natural shelters from the weather, prehistoric humans often
used them as living-places, and left behind debris, tools, and other <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/artifact-archaeology"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">artifacts</span></a>.
In mountainous areas the shelters can also be important for <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/mountaineering"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mountaineers</span></a>. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
first encounter with mention regarding a rockhouse in relation to my family was
in “These My People: Wards of Watauga County, North Carolina,” which was
written and published by Lennis [Dare] Ward Isaacs in 1977.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She states: </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“There
is a huge rock at the mouth of Phillips Branch that has always been called ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shupe’s Rockhouse</b>,’ getting this name
because a Shupe family once lived under this rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the story has been handed down that
Cutliff Harmon made this rock his home, living under it with his family after
buying this land on Cove Creek until he could get a house built for his
family.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 5pt 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Supposedly, the family of William “Billy” Shoop/Shupe
lived in “Shupe’s Rockhouse,” but he was not born until circa 1796, after
Cutliff Harman would have lived there, so perhaps the Shupe connection to the
rockhouse actually extended one or two generations further back to Billy’s
father or grandfather, John Shoop Jr. and Sr., or perhaps the story has been
reversed and what was originally known as Harmon’s Rock House later became
Shupe’s Rockhouse. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
“A History of Watauga County, North Carolina” (1915), John Preston Arthur
mentions the “Harmon Rock-House”:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Just before the Civil War,
how long no one now knows, Noah Mast, claiming that he had loaned Hiram Hix a
cross-cut saw, sued him for its recovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hix had some affliction of the eye-lids, rendering it necessary that he
should prop them open with his fingers in order to see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his wife lived under <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a big cliff near the mouth of Cove Creek,
called the Harmon Rock-House</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
cliff projected out a considerable distance and the open space was enclosed
with boards and other timbers, thus affording some degree of comfort even in
winter, the smoke going out of a flue built against the side of the cliff.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
Arthur also includes a footnote regarding “Harmon
Rock-House”:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“The first white child born
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> is said to have been born in this
rock cliff; but its name is not known.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
However, in his “Additions and Corrections” at the
beginning of his book, Arthur states:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“‘called Harman Rock House’
should be omitted [line] 26 [page] 202.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
This correction does not mean the
Harmon Rock House did not exist, only that the rockhouse that Hiram Hix called
home was not that particular rockhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
It was not unusual
in the pioneer days for individuals and families to live in rockhouses, at
least temporarily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arthur also writes of
settler Benjamin Howard’s rock house as well as a rock house on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Rich</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Mountain</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Dare Ward Isaacs, the notes of the
late, local historian Henry Hagaman stated that Thomas Curtis (a son-in-law of
Cutliff Harman) came to this area to hunt wolves on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Beech</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Mountain</st1:placetype></st1:place>
and lived under “the Curtis’s Rock” near the Cling Hicks place on the south
side Tom’s Knob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is said that Cutliff
Harman’s son-in-law and daughter, Duke and Elizabeth Harman Ward, also utilized
a rockhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Family tradition says that,
a<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;">fter their marriage, Duke would go away
hunting for several days at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
these occasions, he would put a large board across a stream of water (perhaps
Cove Creek) and a very dangerous bluff and take Elizabeth and their baby to a
cave (perhaps the Harmon Rock-House) on the opposite side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would remove the board upon his departure
to ensure their protection until his return. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:city></st1:place>
was said to have been a brave woman, and while in the cave she would card, spin
thread, and rock her baby’s cradle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
older residents of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> have made
reference to “the Eli Rock,” which may have been a Civil War hideout for a man named
Eli Whitaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, there was
once an Eli Rock Mica Mine at Plumtree in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Avery</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;">Also according to family tradition, sometime after his marriage (circa
1773) and while a resident of Randolph County, Cutliff Harman (ca. 1748-1838)
was employed by frontiersmen Daniel Boone (1734-1820) and Col. James Robertson
(1742-1814) to help transport goods from the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina to
Sycamore Shoals near Elizabethton, Tennessee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If this family tradition is accurate, this arrangement would have
occurred prior to 1778, the year that Col. Robertson’s Watauga Association
ceased to exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is known that Daniel
Boone and his family settled on the Yadkin River in North Carolina as early as
1761-62 and that, in the fall of 1766, they moved up the Yadkin to Holman’s
Ford near the Brushy Mountains (near present-day Wilkesboro in Wilkes
County).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following year, they moved
farther up the valley to the mouth of Beaver Creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1769, Boone made his first foray into <st1:state w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:state>, traveling en route through present-day <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> where Boone had hunted since the
early 1760s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Boone’s son
Nathan, their family moved from <st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state>
to near Sycamore Shoals on the <st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype> in east <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state></st1:place> in 1772 or 1773.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boone participated in the preliminary events
leading to the signing of a treaty with the Cherokee Indians at Sycamore Shoals
in March 1775 and immediately thereafter left to begin chopping out a road
through the Cumberland Gap to <st1:state w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:state> – first
known as Boone’s Trace, later as the <st1:place w:st="on">Wilderness Road</st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Cutliff Harman was employed by Daniel
Boone, then it likely occurred between 1773 and 1775 when Cutliff would have
been in his late twenties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Arthur
makes reference to “Rock House branch” in his discussion of [Daniel] Boone’s
Trail in his book “<st1:place w:st="on">Western North Carolina</st1:place>, A
History (1730-1913):</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“There is also a tradition
that he [Boone] followed the Brushy Fork creek from Hodge’s gap to Cove creek;
thence <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">down Cove creek to Rock House
branch</b> at Dr. Jordan B. Phillips’….”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
Arthur’s discussion of Boone’s Trail was guided by a number
of interviews he conducted around 1909.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A summary of these interviews was published in more than one newspaper,
one of them being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Evening Chronicle </i>of
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Charlotte</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the April 30, 1910 edition of that paper,
Arthur shares the following:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“He [Dr. Jordan B.
Phillips] thinks the trail followed by Daniel Boone ran through Rich Mountain
gap down Brushy fork to the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Shoop Rock
house, just below Harman Cliffs</b>, where Calvin Harman, a noted preacher used
to live, and then crossed Cove creek at the mouth of Phillips branch, and up
the leading ridge through or near Ward’s gap to Beaver Dams….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas Anderson Cable, 63 years old, agrees
that Boone’s trail came <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">down Cove creek
by Sugar Grove post office to Rock House branch</b>….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lorenzo Dow Ward, born on Rock House branch,
near where he now lives at the foot of [the] road leading through Ward’s gap,
May 26, 1834, and has lived close around ever since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has always heard that Boone’s trail was up
Beaver Dams ridge, after <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">following Cove
creek to the mouth of Rock House branch</b> through near Ward’s gap to where
Harrison Farthing lives on Beaver Dams….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Joseph H. Mast was born within one-quarter of a mile of where he now
lives (June 4, 1909) on the left bank of Cove creek, on the 9<sup>th</sup> of
April, 1827, and has lived there ever since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He has heard old people say that Boone’s trail passed from Boone <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">down Cove creek to the mouth of Rock House
branch</b> one and one-half miles below Mast’s present home, and passed up and
over leading ridge and over to Beaver Dams….” </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
It may be worth noting here that Joseph H. Mast was a
grandson of Cutliff Harman and that Lorenzo Dow Ward and Thomas Anderson
Cable’s wife, Sally Farthing Greene Cable, were great-grandchildren of Cutliff
Harman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Jordan B. Phillips’s wife,
Sarah Anne Cameline Ward Phillips, was a sister to Lorenzo Dow Ward and also a
great-grandchild of Cutliff Harman.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;">Tradition also states that, </span>o<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;">n
one particular trip to Sycamore Shoals (probably between 1773 and 1778),
Cutliff Harman passed through the Sugar Grove area on Cove Creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time, this area had been a part of
what was previously called the Washington District or Territory all the way to
the Ohio River and later became <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Washington
County</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time Cutliff actually relocated there
(around 1798), it was within the boundaries of <st1:placename w:st="on">Wilkes</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype> (1792-1799), then <st1:placename w:st="on">Ashe</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype>
(1799-1849), and eventually <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> (1849 to the
present).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cutliff liked the area so well
that he decided to move his family there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The State of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>
had granted 522 acres of land on Cove Creek to a James Gwyn (or Guyn/Quinn) on
May 18, 1791 at the price of 50 shillings for every one-hundred acres, and the
grant was signed by Samuel Johnston, Governor of North Carolina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cutliff bought this same tract of land <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“below the rock house”</b> from Gwyn for
300 pounds <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>
money, the transfer deed being dated August 6, 1791.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The deed was signed, or rather “X’ed,” by
James “Quinn” with the witnesses being Richard White, Joseph Ford, John Tate, and
W. (?) Flanary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In later years the land
was referred to as the Harmon and John Mast lands, John Mast having married
Cutliff’s daughter Susan.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: line;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since Cutliff Harman is believed to have
been employed by Daniel Boone and since he supposedly passed through the Cove
Creek area en route to Sycamore Shoals, this may be an indication that the
trail he followed was the same trail that Jordan Phillips, Thomas Anderson
Cable, Lorenzo Dow Ward, and Joseph Mast described to Arthur, although there
are conflicting accounts of Boone’s Trail following alternate routes. Perhaps
Boone actually followed multiple trails at various times.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
early reference to Rock House Branch is found in a notice published in the
April 6, 1893 edition of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Watauga
Democrat</i> of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Boone</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notice was regarding a mortgage deed
executed to Henry Taylor by Levi and Elizabeth Moody on November 11, 1878 for a
tract of land “lying in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Laurel</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Creek</st1:placename></st1:place> township <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">on the waters of Cove Creek and directly on
the Rock House branch</b>.”</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
almost twenty-five years, I have been a member of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Willow</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Baptist</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype></st1:place>,
which is located on Phillips Branch in the Cove Creek community and which is
very near to the old Harmon cemetery where Cutliff Harmon is buried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dare Ward Isaacs lived her entire life on
Phillips Branch and was a charter member of this church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew her personally as well as her son, Earl
Isaacs, who also attends this church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Earl confirms that Phillips Branch was once known as “Rock House Branch.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The branch was later renamed for Dr. Jordan
B. Phillips, a well known and respected early <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>
physician.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Phillips’s home sat where
the home of the late <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Butler</st1:city></st1:place>
and Helen Isaacs now stands on Phillips Branch at the corner of <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Phillips Branch Road</st1:address></st1:street>
and <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Clark Swift Road</st1:address></st1:street>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In his
interview with Arthur, Dr. Phillips made mention of “Harman Cliffs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The earliest mention I find of these cliffs
(or this cliff) is in the January 11, 1882 edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lenoir Topic </i>in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Lenoir</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:state></st1:place>:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Herman’s Cliff on Cove Creek</b> was beautifully festooned with hanging
icicles during the sleet of week before last, so we are informed by a private
letter from a friend.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lenoir Topic </i>mentioned Herman’s
Cliff in several subsequent editions:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">September 24, 1884</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Recently a lady from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Mobile</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Alabama</st1:state></st1:place>,
the Misses Cloer, of Patterson, and Mr. Spencer, of Mulberry, visited the
celebrated marriage chamber of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Herman’s
Cliff</b>, which is entered by a descending stairway of three natural stone
steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a beautiful and lovely
chamber midway in the face of a cliff 100 feet high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The party seemed to take in all the
inspiration of this grand and romantic cliff which, in all its grandeur and
attractiveness, must be seen to be appreciated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cove Creek runs west almost to the base of the cliff, then turns
directly south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The panorama of the
surrounding country, as seen from the summit of this cliff, forms a picture
long to be remembered.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">January 20, 1886 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(from a January 4 letter to the editor from the
paper’s Sugar Grove, Watauga County, NC correspondent, only identified by the
initials “N. N.”)</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“The public schools are
generally in session and well attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mr. John Ward is now teaching our public school in a house almost under
the drippings of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Herman’s Cliff</b>.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
[Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Ward
(1863-1947) was a son of Lorenzo Dow Ward and a great, great-grandson of
Cutliff Harman.]</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">March 31, 1886 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(also from a letter to the editor from the
paper’s Sugar Grove, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Watauga County</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">NC</st1:state></st1:place> correspondent, identified by
the initials “N. N.”)</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“The public schools are
generally closed, and subscription schools are taking their place to some
extent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. John Ward is teaching a five
months school in our district near <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Herman’s
cliff</b>, famous for its bridal chamber, and the home of the Indian or some
prehistoric race, evidenced by a very bed of wood ashes containing bones of
animals and a human skeleton, which the writer helped to remove to an adjacent
field as a fertilizer; we mean the ashes, which was several hundred
bushels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another remarkable feature of
this noted cliff is a room near the top, in the face of the perpendicular
wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This room, vault or chamber is 12
feet wide, high and deep with arched roof, as uniform and smooth as if cut with
the sculptor’s chisel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As stated
heretofore, this room was explored by Andy Davis, in which was placed a sealed
bottle containing THE LENOIR TOPIC and a county directory, which will be a
memento of the exploration.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">July 19, 1893 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(also from a letter to the editor from the
paper’s Sugar Grove, Watauga County, NC correspondent, identified by the
initials “N. N.”)</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“I feel impressed to tell
the readers of THE TOPIC of two partial skeletons found in our county whose
antiquity apparently dates away back to the first pioneer settlers of our
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one was found about
the year 1845 in a cave, or in common parlance <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Rock House,” on the bank of Cove Creek, known as the Herman cliff</b>,
which is some 100 feet high, a perpendicular wall with three rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The upper room near the top, called the
repository room from the fact of a bottle being deposited in it containing a
copy of THE LENOIR TOPIC and a directory of our county officers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This cave or room is some 10 feet in width,
height and depth, and was entered from the top by Andy Davis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was secured and let down by ropes about
the year ’80.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing found in
the room that indicated that it had ever been explored before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next room midway the cliff was entered by
a winding and descending stairway and is known as the marriage room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then comes the wide, deep room, cave or rock
house at the base of the cliff, 200 feet wide or long in the front, and 50 feet
deep in the center, the right wing of the room having a solid, bare floor of
granite, the center of the deepest part of the room, the roof sloping down to
the floor and rather narrow and depressed some three or four feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This narrow depressed extremity of the room
contained some 100 or 200 bushels of wood ashes, in which was found (by the
writer) a part of a skeleton of an unusually large person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The skull, jaw bone, thigh and other bones
were mostly sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This discovery was
made by the writer while hauling out the ashes, to be used as a
fertilizer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The writer interviewed the
oldest settlers then living and none knew how, when or by whom these ashes were
burned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we have no tradition of the
people or race who lived in the rock house, it seems like the skeleton is the
remains of a prehistoric race, or at least of some very ancient date, perhaps
some primitive tribe of Indians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be that
as it may, it is evident that the huge pile of ashes was the product of many
years of occupation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It surely would be
an important page of history if the mystery could be unraveled.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(The
remainder of the article deals with a skeleton found in another location
unassociated with Herman’s Cliff.)</i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
Conclusions:</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;">There are many rock cliffs in the Cove Creek area,
particularly around present-day Phillips Branch, which was formerly known
as Rock House Branch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several large
rock formations with overhanging cliffs can still be seen along the
stretch of U. S. Highway 321 from Cove Creek down the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>
as well as on Phillips Branch itself, one such formation adjoining the
farm of the late George Harmon according to his grandson, Dan Harmon, who
now owns the property.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;">Despite at least one assertion that Shupe’s Rockhouse
was later called Harmon’s Rockhouse or Herman’s Cliff, these appear to be
two distinct and separate formations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Arthur’s interview with Dr. Jordan B. Phillips, a distinction
was made between “the Shoop Rock house” and “Harman Cliffs,” the former
being just below the latter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr.
Phillips stated that the “Shoop Rockhouse” was just below “Harman Cliffs,”
where Rev. Drewey Calvin Harman (Cutliff’s grandson) lived and across Cove
Creek from the mouth of Phillips Branch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rev. Harmon’s old house still stands beside the former Howard
Walker home almost directly across from the entrance to <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Phillips Branch Road</st1:address></st1:street>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did Dr. Phillips mean that Shoop
Rockhouse was where Rev. Harmon lived or that Harman Cliffs were at that
location?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or were both located
there, the rockhouse being just below the cliffs but on the same side of
the creek?</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;">Harmon’s Rock House and Herman’s Cliff are almost
certainly the same thing and named for the Harmon family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Herman was another spelling of the
Harmon name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original surname
is believed to have been Hermann, later Harman and then Harmon, and the
tombstones of Cutliff Harman’s son and daughter-in-law in the old Harmon
cemetery are inscribed “Eli <u>Herman</u>” and “Rhoda, wife of Eli <u>Herman</u>.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;">If Cutliff Harman really did live in a rockhouse,
then it was most likely the one named Herman’s/Harman’s Cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is interesting to note that family
tradition states he lived in a rockhouse, yet the 1893 news article states
there was no tradition of the people or race that lived in the cliff.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;">Herman’s/Harman’s Cliff:</li>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="circle">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify;">was located just above Shupe’s Rockhouse and a
school house once stood almost under it</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify;">was on Cove Creek, the creek running west, almost
to its base, and then turning directly south</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify;">was a perpendicular wall 100 feet high and had a
summit that offered a panoramic view</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify;">had three distinct divisions:</li>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="square">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-align: justify;">an upper chamber near the top of the cliff, either
10x10x10 or 12x12x12, with a smooth, arched roof and apparently only
accessible by rope</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-align: justify;">a middle chamber, entered by a winding descending
stairway of three natural stone steps</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-align: justify;">a lower chamber at the base of the cliff, 200 feet
wide or long at the front, 50 feet deep in the center, and with a 3-4
foot sloped, narrow depression and a partial granite floor</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Despite these
descriptions, I have been unable to substantiate the exact location of the
Harmon Rockhouse, probably in part because overgrowth has obscured it over the
decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I personally believe it could
very well be (and have been told by some that it is) the huge rock cliff near
Phillips Branch that can be accessed one road past the entrance to Phillips
Branch Road on U. S. Highway 321. As you travel south from the Sugar Grove Post
Office toward <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Watauga</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>, you pass <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Phillips Branch Road</st1:address></st1:street>
on the right. The next road (actually more of a dirt and gravel driveway) on
the right turns sharply off of the highway. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This small road is just past the home of Mrs.
Gladys Denney but before the homes of Frank Guy and Mattie Rominger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you journey along this very narrow,
one-lane drive, you soon see a massive bedrock on your left, almost in the
roadway itself, and opposite a house on your right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After passing a second house on the right,
the road dead ends at which point you must park and walk through a slightly overgrown
area to the right until you reach the supposed rockhouse on the left. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can actually walk partially inside a
cave-like area as far as headroom allows, but that space is so small and tight,
it is doubtful a family could have resided in that particular space, and
because it is so close to the ground, it would not have offered much protection
from animals, etc. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether this is the
rockhouse Cutliff Harman dwelled in or not has not been proven. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not seem to coincide with the
description of “Herman’s Cliff,” but perhaps there is more “living space” above
the ground-level cave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also understand
that a nearby farmer, Hard Shull (1867-1956), son-in-law of Dr. Jordan B.
Phillips, used to shelter his horses here, but that he took them to an upper
level of the cliff via a backside path from the direction of the former Shull
farm (now the location of the former Victor Ward store), just south of the
cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not explored that, but
perhaps that would shed additional light.</div>
Michael C. Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18023085357547254423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3307064175187579715.post-54383506523328112162014-06-18T07:40:00.000-07:002014-06-18T07:40:24.416-07:00Revolutionary War Patriots buried in Watauga County
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the first tasks of the Watauga History Hunters was to
identify the burial sites of Revolutionary War Patriots in Watauga County. To
our best knowledge, no list has ever been produced like this for Watauga
County. We believe that these soldiers are buried in Watauga County. Do you
know of more? Drop us a line and let us know. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John Adams (1760-1840) -Adams Cemetery, Cove Creek. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">William L. Eggers (1747-1833) - Zionville Baptist Church
Cemetery. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeremiah Greene (1755-1839 - Silverstone Community Cemetery</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Richard Greene (1740-1800) - Blowing Rock area</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nathan Horton (1757-1824) - Old Three Forks Baptist Church
Cemetery</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Edward Moody (1757-1838) - Foscoe Community Cemetery</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ed Sullivan (? - 1794) Mount Bethel United Church of Christ
Cemetery, Blowing Rock. </span></div>
Michael C. Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18023085357547254423noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3307064175187579715.post-47162467355767281702014-06-18T07:37:00.001-07:002014-06-19T06:24:13.013-07:00Welcome!<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Friends - welcome to the Watauga History Hunter's official
blog. It is the purpose of this blog to share some of our research -
information that we have uncovered. Please feel free to add comments as you see
fit. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The mission of the Watauga History Hunters is to uncover and
preserve the history of Old Watauga County. You can find us on facebook (search
for Watauga History Hunters). We meet in person every third Thursday at 7:00 pm
at the Three Forks Baptist Church just outside of Boone on US 421. Everyone is
welcome!</span></div>
Michael C. Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18023085357547254423noreply@blogger.com0