At the Top of the Hickory Nut Gorge

              

               Follow US 74A from Lake Lure up through Chimney Rock and Bat Cave as it climbs its winding way until you come to the upper end of the Hickory Nut Gorge.  You'll find yourself in Gerton, an unincorporated community that traces its roots as deeply into North Carolina's history as some of the oldest trails that thread through these mountains.

               Here there are hardy citizens whose families have lived in this spot for centuries.  Here, too, are newer folks who came into these wooded hills to find the peace of nature only to find that its beauty captivated them and they couldn't leave it behind.   Some live here just part-time, when they can get away from other places where they have found work, places where most of the residents walk upright on two legs and don't know a hemlock from an oak.  But here is where those lucky city folks really live, coming fully to life here amid the tall trees and steep slopes, here where that sound outside isn't the newspaper boy, but just might be a raccoon or a fox or even a bear.

               It would be easy to treat US 74A just as a way from Lake Lure to Asheville.  It's a pretty drive, though its hairpin turns are not for the queasy.  But it's worth taking your time to savor both the roadside points of interest visible from the highway and the special places that you'll find by wandering down some of the side roads.

            

The "Welcome to Gerton" signs going toward Asheville are followed in short order by the Post Office on the right and a fire station on the left.  Though unincorporated, Gerton has its signs of order and civilization.

               

                       In no particular order, you might want to stop to take a photograph of the Bearwallow Baptist Church.  It's a picture postcard opportunity, this little white clapboard church with a wooden bridge across a rill in the front yard.  If you check out their Facebook page before going, you'll see their slogan, "Searching for Souls since 1868," prominently displayed.  There's history here for sure.

               
              Just up the road is "Hillbilly Sam's" place.  It has the look of the backwoods about it though it sits immediately adjacent to the highway.  Sam's sign says that photos are possible; we've heard small fee for the pleasure might be appreciated.  Sam, who is most often shirtless, clothed only in his jeans and a prodigious beard, was not in sight on our last trip, so no hillbilly photos for us.

              

            The Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center building once held a small store that we visited years ago.  Though the store is gone now, the center remains.  A sign at the door says it was home to the first Adopt-a-Highway program in North Carolina as designated by Governor Jim Martin in 1988.

              

               On up the road a way (just were you leave Henderson County and enter Buncombe County) is the marker for the Eastern Continental Divide.  It marks the height here as 2,880 feet at the crest before the highway descends on the other side of the ridge toward Fairview, Reynolds and Asheville.  The Eastern Continental Divide is an invisible line separating the two watersheds of the Atlantic Ocean, one whose rivers flow over 2000 miles to the Gulf of Mexico and the other whose rivers flow about 300 miles toward the Atlantic Seaboard.  You can see other such markers through these mountains, each marking the height at its particular location.

               Now, back to those side roads.  You can take Bearwallow Mountain Road and follow it over the mountain to end up on US 64 between Bat Cave and Hendersonville.  Parts of this road are unpaved, leading to a hiking trail that will take walkers up to the summit.  The pavement picks up there for a beautiful drive past both bucolic scenery and a very high-end development with those coveted mountain vistas seen for miles around.

              

              Our favorite side road thus far is Bearwallow Cemetery Road.  Up the road a short distance we found the cemetery of Bearwallow Baptist Church.  Rising above and around the grave markers are trees that reach for the heavens and create a natural cathedral vault.  Though you can hear the sound of cars on the highway nearby, that noise is muffled and peace settles over the hillside as you step into this resting place.

              

As with such cemeteries the world over, history is written in the family names on the tombstones, each marker telling a story of its own, however simple.  There are stories of love and loss, touching memorials to marriages and births followed too quickly by deaths.  There are stories of service and sacrifice, including those who served in the American Revolution, the U.S. Civil War and World Wars I and II.  Whatever their battles in life, now they find only peace here.

               This is a place of remembrance, lovingly kept, its grasses mowed, stone walls gently bringing order to the ground in which loved ones have been laid.   It tells the history of this place and its people. including those who have farmed, fished and hunted in these mountains from the birth of our country till today.  It seemed to us the soul of this place lies here at the top of the Hickory Nut Gorge.

           Photos by Mike  Lumpkin