Like a geology classroom…

The Hickory Nut Gorge is a natural classroom for anyone interested in rock formations and the geological history of the Eastern United States. Chimney Rock and Bat Cave (the largest natural fissure cave in the U.S.) are just two examples of unique geological features in the Gorge. There were some suspicions of earthquakes back in the summer of 1874, but that just turned out to be old Rumbling Bald Mountain. It has some caves inside it too and every once in a great while, a boulder'll let loose in there and cause a hollow sound - kind of like thunder.

Most people think the first human to lay eyes one Hickory Nut Gorge was probably an American Indian. There were Cherokees and part of the Catawba tribe here, and the fact is, they squabbled for a while over land rights, finally ending up settling the argument on a boundary line. But the old tales also say the Indians were fearful of the Gorge, that it was a place of mystery to them. They thought the Hickory Nut Gap was the gateway to the land of "tso-lungh " - tobacco - and they believed it was guarded by spirits and stories of the "little people " still abound in this rocky valley.

People still argue about whether explorers like DeSoto came through here, but we do know that the Gorge formed one of the few natural gaps in the mountains, so folks traveling west to settle in Kentucky and Tennessee sure passed through here. Historians regard the Gorge as one of the oldest routes through the southern Appalachians. There's a mystery that's never been solved. Traces of a very early civilization - possibly even predating the Indians - that mined gold and knew ho to make iron. The evidence is scanty, and we'll probably never know for sure. But there was a kind of gold rush in the gorge later when the first Europeans arrived.

When the Hickory Nut Turnpike was opened, it brought stagecoach travel into the Gorge for the first time, and by 1830, a stagecoach was running on a regular schedule from the southeast on a road between the foothills down at Rutherfordton to Asheville a the north end. It was a slow trip, what with the rocky roads and such, and sometimes the passengers had to ride on top when the inside of the coast was crowded. (One Englishman, who wrote about his experience, got out and walked when his fellow passengers became to rowdy for him!) But the arrival of the stage heralded by the driver's trumpet was a big event in the early settlements. And where a stageline runs, civilization is bound to follow.

Ever wonder how stories get started? For some reason, the Hickory nut Gorge seems to collect more than its share. There are lots of ghost stories, tales of visions, buried treasure, a whole lot of lore for one little stretch of river. Some say that once a story is born in the Hickory Nut Gorge it just gets stuck here, never to escape.

The Cherokee tribe lived all through the Western Carolinas and Tennessee, and they're still here. Back before the Europeans came and began trading with them, the Cherokee used to think the Hickory Nut Gorge was a gate to the east, the land where they could get tobacco. But they were fearful of this high walled valley, too. And it's easy to understand on a late afternoon when the shadows stretch out and play on the valley below. Your eyes can see things that aren't there. Whatever the origin of the idea, the Indians thought the Hickory Nut Gorge was populated by a tribe of "little people " kind of like the fairies or leprechauns the Europeans talked about. And for a while, the legend says, their fear of the "little people " actually caused the Cherokee to stay away. Naturally, that kept them from getting to the source of their favorite tobacco. And they didn't like that very much.

So, according to the story, one of their medicine men whipped up a spell that turned him into t big whirlwind, big enough to churn up giant boulders from the hillsides. Then he descended into the Gorge, and all the boulders went down in there with him, destroying the tribe of "little people "And that was the end of them supposedly. In all probability, there never really were any little people, but who knows? If you hide down near the river and keep real still for a very long time, you never know what you might see peeking out from behind a laurel branch.

In 1811, newspapers published a tale of a ghostly calvary fight in the sky, saying it had been witnessed by an old couple who lived in the Hickory Nut Gorge. According to the old folks, on several evening in succession, two huge hosts of calvary met in the sky, charged at one another, and struggled in a colossal battle. The old couple said they could hear bugle calls, the shouts of struggling men a, and eventually, the forces would part in retreat. Kind of makes you think of that old song "Ghost Riders in the Sky." (Wonder of the fellow who wrote that song got the story from those old folks).

Five years earlier, the widow Patsy Reaves, another resident, told of how she and her family witnessed a " crowd of Spectres " (that's how the paper wrote it back then), all of the dazzling, a brilliant white hue, and ranging in size from children to full-grown, moving in a solemn procession, right there in midair, floating toward Chimney Rock. On that same day, a second witness looked up about that time from his spot a few miles away from where Miz' Reaves and her children were gaping at the hillside, and according to his account, he saw a bright rainbow and a haze in the skies - but one thing was unusual there was no sign of clouds or rain.