From the Swannanoa Valley Museum and History Center: (This was a Facebook posting on Oct. 17, 2018.)
Do you know where the Shuman Inn pictured in this 1930's era postcard was located? A Star Route is a postal delivery route served by a private contractor. In 1845, new legislation allowed for mail to be carried by contractors with "celerity, certainty, and security." According to the Smithsonian's Postal Museum, rather than write those three words in their ledger over and over, postal clerks abbreviated it with three asterisks (***) and these contracted routes became known more commonly as Star Routes. Black Mountain's Star Route was served by Mrs. Annie Mae Daugherty Fortune for many years. Mrs. Fortune was a lifelong resident of Black Mountain, lived on Montreat Road, and died at the age of 49 in 1970, the same year Star Routes were renamed Highway Contract Routes.
How timely, to see a historic inn (and I don't know where it really was) with a couple of leaning looking wings to it. They might not have been leaning really, but still were perched on the side of a mountain. US 70 used to go over part of Lookout Mountain toward Old Fort, NC. It now has been swallowed up (mostly) by I-40 going through the same mountain pass. We call it Old Fort pass, but they call it Swannanoa pass I think. It just depends upon the direction you're heading!
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The Sepia Saturday's connection which invites us to share - based on this photo.
Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week is all over the place. Well, to be quite honest, it is falling down. So if you have any old photographs in your collection that are falling down or leaning over, this is the prompt for you. Just post your post on or around Saturday 20th October 2018 and leave a link on the list below. Whilst you are waiting for the washing to dry - or for the building to fall down - take a look at what awaits you around the crooked bend.
Thank you for your description of a Star Route address. We had one of those back in 1981 for a short time. It never occurred to me to wonder what "Star Route" meant, but now I know - thanks to you! :) And I know just what you meant about being glad to see the mountains as you headed home from Florida. Whenever I'm coming home from the Bay Area (San Francisco & etc.)I feel so much more at ease when I begin to see the mountains in the distance - knowing that's where I'm headed!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gail, but I can't take credit for the definition of the Star Route. That was the paragraph written by the museum and posted on Facebook. They actually don't know where the Inn was located, thus the public question. There are a lot of old time residents who are members of the Swannanoa History Museum...and Ann Chesky-Smith (the Director) is hoping one of them will remember where the Inn was.
ReplyDeleteI sure agree with you on the homecoming feeling.
I used to commute regularly each year to the coast and have my own favorite vistas on returning and seeing the mountains come into view. I do miss the coastal weather where you can see the storm coming. Here it sneaks up on us, hiding behind the peaks.
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