USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 51
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The Institute is situated upon a beautiful eminence on west Main
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Washington County, 1717-1870.
street, the grounds are studded with handsome shade trees, all of them of full growth, many of them of stately stature and patri- archal age : the surface is undulating in graceful terraces and inter- sected by winding paths. The front and sides of the campus are enclosed with a handsome stone wall, surmounted throughout its entire length by an artistic iron fence. The buildings occupy the crest of a hill of considerable elevation above the street upon which they front and from which they are quite far removed, while the town of Abingdon is 2.057 feet above the level of the sea. In salu- brity of climate, which is an important consideration in selecting a school. Southwest Virginia is not excelled by any other section of the country.
The principals of the institute since its founding have been : Rev. Samuel D. Stuart, Thomas D. Davidson. A. Q. Holliday, Rev. John O. Sullivan, J. D. Anderson and Miss Kate M. Hunt.
Under the present administration the institute has received a larger patronage than in any preceding period of its history.
EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE.
From an early day in our history the need of an institution of learning that would afford educational advantages of a high order was keenly felt. and for many years the practicability of establish- ing such an institution was discussed by the leading citizens of this section of our country, but no practical results were obtained until about the year 1833. Colonel William Byars, Tobias Smith, Alex- ander Findlay and the Rev. Creed Fulton. about this time, under- took the establishment of such an institution in this county, and had made some progress, when the Holston Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, at its fall session of 1835, held in Knox- ville, Tennessee. resolved to establish in Southwestern Virginia a manual labor college, and soon thereafter, on the 9th of April, 1836. Colonel William Byars and Alexander Findlay purchased from George M. Crawford and the other devisees of the Rev. Edward Crawford. 554 1-2 acres of land for the sum of $1.158.25.
The lands thus purchased were situated on the waters of Cedar creek, described in the deed as the waters of the Little Holston creek. and were the same lands that were surveyed by John Buchanan. deputy surveyor of Augusta county, for Colonel James Wood, on the 26th of March, 1824 and the 24th of March. 1749. These
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
lands were devised by Colonel Wood to his wife, Mary Wood, and by her conveyed to James Dysart and Matthew Ryburn, executors of John Beattie, deceased, and by Dysart and Ryburn conveyed to the Rev. Edward Crawford, and by the Rev. Edward Crawford devised to his children by his wife, Jane .*
The Holston Conference, at the same time that it decided to establish the manual labor school in Southwest Virginia, commis-
Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va.
sioned the Rev. Creed Fulton as an agent to solicit funds for the undertaking, which duty he immediately proceeded to discharge. Upon his return from Knoxville, a meeting of the citizens of the upper end of this county was held at the Old Glade Spring Church, having for its object the obtaining of subscriptions for the enter- prise. This meeting was largely attended and $5,000 was sub- scribed to the enterprise at that time and place,t and soon there- after another meeting was held in Abingdon at which a subscription equally as large was obtained. In the meantime Colonel William Byars, Alexander Findlay and Tobias Smith were furnishing the
*The will of Rev. Edward Crawford was probated on January 21st, 1823. +Tobias Smith was the first subscriber, his subscription being $500.
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Washington County, 1777-1870.
money and were giving their time to the erection of buildings upon the location selected for the school, being the lands purchased by Byars and Findlay from George M. Crawford and others.
The corner-stone of the main college building was laid with Masonic ceremonies on the 30th day of September, 1836, in the presence of a large concourse of people. The contract for the build- ings had been previously let to Lyle & Sheppard and the carpen- ters' work to George Winniford, and by the spring of 1838 the buildings were sufficiently advanced to justify the opening of the school, and the first session began on the 13th day of April, 1838.
The name given to this college was Emory and Henry College, in honor of Bishop Emory and Patrick Henry, and the Rev. Charles Collins was elected the first president of the college.
Colonel William Byars was elected president and Alexander Find- lay secretary, of the first Board of Trustees of Emory and Henry College. The first Board of Trustees of Emory and Henry College was composed of the following gentlemen :
Colonel William Byars, Alexander Findlay,
John W. Price,
John W. C. Watson,
Tobias Smith,
Rev. Creed Fulton,
Daniel Trigg, M. D.,
Rev. Nathaniel Sherman,
Colonel Thomas L. Preston,
John N. Humes,
Nickerson Snead, M. D.,
Rev. Thomas Catlett, Rev. Arnold Patton.
This school, in its inception, was called a manual labor college, and was intended as an institution in which the pupils were to be taught to labor with their hands as well as to think. They were to be permitted to work upon the farm and to receive credit upon their tuition and board for labor thus performed, and while this feature of the institution was maintained for many years, it was finally found to be impracticable and was abandoned. One hun- dred students were enrolled during the first year, and, as far as patronage was concerned, the school was prosperous.
This institution was incorporated by an act of the Assembly approved March 5, 1839, and on the 24th of December, 1810, Wil- liam Byars, Alexander Findlay and Catherine Findlay, his wife, conveyed to the trustees of Emory and Henry College the lands they had purchased from the devisces of the Rev. Edward Crawford in 1836, and in this deed William Byars retained a lien on the
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
lands thus conveved to secure to himself the sum of $7,400, and to Alexander Findlay and John D. Mitchell $2,000, money advanced by them in the establishment and support of said college.
By the year 1843 the trustees of the college found the institu- tion considerably in debt and petitioned the General Assembly of Virginia for a loan of $18,000 from the Literary Fund, and by an Act of the Assembly approved on the 27th of February, 1843, the directors of the Literary Fund were authorized to loan to the trustees of Emory and Henry College the sum of $18,000, provided the trustees of said college would secure the payment of said sum of $18,000 and its interest by a deed of trust upon all their property, and by good personal security, and pursuant to this Act of the Assem- bly the trustees of the college on the 24th of March, 1843, executed to Beverly R. Johnston a deed of trust upon all their real estate in this county to secure the said sum of $18,000 and its interest, and William Byars, Alexander Findlay, Tobias Smith and other prom- inent citizens of the county became endorsers on their note.
This incumbrance upon the property of the college was discharged on August 20, 1890, by the trustees of Emory and Henry College conveying to the Board of Public Works of Virginia 248 1-2 acres of their real estate situated at Emory.
It should be stated to the credit of the management of this insti- tution that, from the year 1843, the college, without an endowment, was free from debt for about thirty years, and that the income from tuition and board was not only sufficient to meet the current expenses of the school, but the trustees were enabled to make con- siderable improvement during this time, such as the erection of handsome buildings and enlarging the library and apparatus. The patronage of the school reached 280 pupils in the year 1860, and since the close of the war has varied from 80 to 150.
Colonel William Byars and Governor Wyndham Robertson, each, in the early history of the college gave to the trustees a sum of money the annual interest of which has for many years furnished the Byars' Medal for the highest proficiency in Natural Sciences, and the Robertson prize medal for encouraging oratory, while Pro- fessor James A. Davis donated to the college valuable instruments costing about $700.
More than five thousand young men have been educated and more than five hundred have graduated from this institution in its his-
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tory. It has accomplished great good in its time, and the prospects are that it will accomplish unfold benefits to our country in the future.
The presidents of this institution have been :
1837-1852, Rev. Charles Collins, M. A., D. D.
1852-1879, Rev. Ephraim E. Wiley, M. A., D. D.
1879-1880, John L. Buchanan, M. A., LL. D.
1880-1884, Rev. David Sullins, M. A., D. D.
1884-1885, Rev. E. Embree Hoss, M. A., D. D.
and since that time, Thomas W. Jordan, Rev. James M. Atkins and Rev. R. G. Waterhouse.
The location of Emory and Henry College is in a beautiful val- ley nine miles east of Abingdon, just south of the extreme west end of Walker's mountain, and cannot be excelled for its beauty and fer- tility anywhere in our country. The college is situated 2.000 feet above the level of the sea, with the White Top mountain in plain view, and directly upon the line of the Norfolk & Western Railway.
LIBERTY HALL ACADEMY.
Liberty Hall Academy was founded in 1866 -- thirty-seven years ago. It has ranked high as a school ever since. Its founder was Rev. James Keys, who had taught successfully for many years in Johnson county. Tennessee, and was driven out by the war. It is a commodious brick building, built at Mr. Keys' own expense. He, as principal, assisted by his daughter, Mrs. T. W. Hughes, had charge until 1878.
His patronage exceeded that of any other school in the county ex- cept Emory. In the year above mentioned Mr. Keys retired on ac- count of age and infirmity, and the property was purchased by a board of gentlemen of the Presbyterian Church. This purchase was made in 1878. The object was to continue the school, and to that end they signed and placed an agreement on record that the property should be used for school purposes forever.
The first principal after the purchase was Professor T. W. Hughes. He continued in charge seven years, and was succeeded by Rev. Mr. McClure, who resigned at the end of the second year. He was succeeded by a number of gentlemen who remained for brief periods and whose success was not conspicuous. Professor W. J. Edmondson, at present county superintendent, became principal in 1821, and continued in charge six years. The character of the
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
school was fully sustained under him and the patronage very large. His successor was Professor W. G. Edmondson, who resigned at the end of the second year, and was succeeded by Professor Sam Edmondson, the present principal.
Liberty Hall has been a school for thirty-seven years. Its average patronage has been large. Its instructors have generally been men of first-class attainments. Its standard has always been high, and no similar institution in Southwest Virginia has fitted as many young men for college or sent into the ranks so many of the teachers of our common schools.
While Liberty Hall Academy is nominally Presbyterian, it is not in any sense denominational.
An effort is now being made to secure an endowment of $10,000, by which means the salary of the principal will be secured, and rates of tuition correspondingly lowered.
BARRACK INSTITUTE.
While the writer has but little information in regard to Solomon G. Barrack or the history of the institute established by his donation near Love's Mill in this county, he thinks it worthy of note that Solomon G. Barrack, a citizen of this county, and of very limited means, by his will, which was executed prior to the war between the States, devised the larger portion of his estate to Leonidas Love, to be invested by him upon undoubted security as a school fund, and directed that said fund be kept on interest, and the interest expended yearly in paying the salary of a competent teacher under the direction of Leonidas Love, David Jones, Oscar Love and Charles Meek, and by the same will directed the erection of a school- house upon a piece of land near Love's Mill, Virginia.
The gentlemen above named were incorporated under the name and style of Trustees of Barrack Institute in the year 1866. The school-house provided for was erected under their supervision and for now more than thirty-five years the youth of that community have been enjoying the benefits of educational advantages that they would not have enjoyed had the founder of this institution been actuated by selfish motives alone and conferred his property upon his relatives.
The memory of Solomon G. Barrack is entitled to a position along-side that of William King, and the memory of both should be honored and respected by the citizens of this county.
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Washington County. 1777-1870.
WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN.+
*".This is a peak in the Appalachian range, here more familiarly known by the local name of Iron mountain. and near the point where the three States of Virginia. Tennessee and North Carolina all unite at a common corner. It is about twenty miles from Abingdon the way the crow flies, though perhaps thirty by the intricate bridle paths through intervening mountains, by which it is approached. Until within a few years comparatively, owing to its inaccessibility, it was almost in its primitive state, and visited only by hunters and trappers, and here and there a "squatter." who may have fled to its fastnesses to evade those penal exactments which a certain class of men in most communities deem oppressive. It is some 5,000 feet high from base to summit, and upwards of 6.000 feet above the level of the sea. Its summit is a vast field compris- ing from 300 to 500 acres, without a tree or shrub, and covered with a luxuriant growth of wild grass resembling that of our north- western prairies, which is highly nutritious and cropped with insatiable avidity by vast herds of stock driven from the neighbor- ing settlements to graze and fatten. During the months of May and June. this field, as well as a large portion of the wooded parts of the mountain, is gorgeously carpeted with wild flowers of every imaginable hue, and so fragrant that their perfume is often wafted a considerable distance on the wings of the wind, which sometimes sweeps across the broad fieldls like the dying throes of a hurricane. with fitful shrieks of wild and melancholy music.
Bordering this natural field are great numbers of native goose- berry and currant bushes, which yield their acrid fruits in never- failing abundance. and the wild leopard lily, springing from its rocky bed, sways to and fro and scatters its rich perfume as the blast sweeps by.
Upon the very summit, various springs of ice-cold water gush from the rocks and leap down the declivities, babbling their wild music as they disappear among the magnificent rhododendrons and the dazzling crimson of the Indian pink. These waters are so pure and light that they never oppress, no matter how freely the thirsty visitor may quaff them.
The field above referred to is bordered by a very singular as
¿For illustration see page 282.
#Charles B. Coale.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
well as very, beautiful growth of timber, known in that region by the name of Lashorn. Some of these trees grow to an immense height, but generally are not more than from thirty to fifty feet high, and, what is very remarkable, where not crowded they are perfectly flat on top, spreading out to a diameter of from fifteen to thirty feet. It is a species of, and very much resembles, Norway spruce, an ornamental tree often found in the yards of our more elegant city residences. The Lashorn of White Top mountain is peculiar to that locality, and of the thousands that have been trans- planted, not one has ever been known to grow, though some have lived several years. The limbs at the top where they spread out are so tenacious and inflexible, and so closely interlaced, that the writer has seen as many as twenty persons standing and „stepping about upon the top of the same tree at the same time. It is very easy to ascend and descend, as the limbs usually begin at the ground, and being cut off' about a foot from the trunk, a very convenient "Indian ladder" is formed, and then a hole being cut through the foliage in the centre of the top, it is not difficult for even a lady to ascend and step out upon the vernal platform. Where the forest of this singular and beautiful growth is dense there is no undergrowth, the trees limbless to the height of forty or fifty feet, the tops intermingling and forming a canopy the sun can scarcely penetrate, and the earth covered with a carpet of lichen moss which feels to the tread as soft and elastic as a sponge. During the summer months these trees are literally alive with snow birds, the little creatures con- gregating here in millions to build their habitations and rear their young.
Notwithstanding the romantic beauty of this grand elevation, and the exhilarating effects of the highly rarified atmosphere upon the system, hundreds and thousands have lived and died within sight of it without ever having paid it a visit. The reason for this has been the difficulty of access, want of accommodations in the vicinity, and the mere cattle paths by which it is approached through deep and intricate gorges, over steep foot-hills, and through almost impenetrable laurel jungles, sometimes infested by bears, wolves, wild-cats and rattlesnakes. There are but few of these "varmints" there now.
The view from the summit of the White Top is grand beyond description or even conception. Looking toward the south, you have
-
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within the scope of vision, stretching away from east to west, the Blue Ridge Range, which, in the dim distance, looks like an azure band bordering the horizon, with here and there a tall peak hiding its head in the clouds. To the east, mountain piled upon mountain meets the view, their gentler slopes in places dotted with "clearings," and a column of smoke, here ascending and there lying in long folds along the mountain side, denoting the rude habitation of the ruder "squatter." Looking toward the north you have the grand old Cumberland range, the barrier that divides the "Dark and Bloody . Ground" from the Old Dominion, as if swelling up from an ocean of green, and struggling to lift itself above the vapor that hangs lazily upon its sides. To the west the view, though less imposing, is not less beautiful. You have before you the broad valley of the Holston, which, although diversified with hill and dale, bold promontories and pine-clad ridges, still, from the altitude from which you look out upon it, has the appearance of a vast sea dotted with picturesque islands. In the distance the spires and tin roofs of the town of Abingdon glisten in the sunlight, large plantations look like blan- kets spread out in the forest, and at intervals, as it dashes out from behind a bluff, or winds its way through a green pasture, may the White Top Fork of Laurel be seen. like a serpentine thread of silver, its sparkling waters shimmering like diamonds among the foliage and wild flowers upon its bank.
The writer of this has enjoyed the luxury of many a magnificent scene in his wanderings, but has never seen that from the summit of the White Top excelled, or even equaled. He was there on one occasion when a storm came riding on the blast more than a thou- sand feet below where a company of gentlemen were standing. The whole valley was shrouded as with a pall. The deep-toned thunder Followed below, preceded by brilliant flashes of lightning. illuminat- ing the dark bosom of the cloud. The scene was awfully grand, and 20 far transcends the powers of mortal description, that he would not dare attempt it."
NATURAL BRIDGE AND TENNNEL OF SCOTT COUNTY.
One of the curiosities of Southwest Virginia is the Natural Tun- nel and Bridge of Scott county. It spans a turbulent and rapid stream bearing the name of Stock creek, and like the Natural Bridge of Rockbridge county has a public road passing over it. It is not so perfect a bridge as that of Rockbridge county, but is much grander
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
in proportion and is laid out upon a much more stupendous scale. It is by actual measurement 420 feet high, about twice as high as the Natural Bridge of Rockbridge county, and the face of the structure is as smooth and perpendicular as if fashioned by the skill of a mason. Its imperfections consist in being much wider than long, and in the small proportion of arch to the immense mass of rock above it. It is really more of a tunnel than a bridge, although a public road crosses the chasm upon it. The tunnel is not straight, . but is in the shape of an S, and from two to three hundred yards in length."*
The track of the Virginia and Southwestern Railroad is located through the tunnel, and the arch is far more than sufficient for the passage of the train. In the vicinity of the tunnel tlrere are several large caves in which are found a great variety of stalactites and sta- lagmites in all stages of formation, and in these caves are found Indian bones and many Indian relics.
SALTVILLE VALLEY.
The location of the Saltworks in this county was surveyed by John Buchanan, a deputy surveyor of Augusta county, for Charles Camp- bell, on December 12, 1248, and in the plat that was returned with the survey, t the words "Buffalo Lick," are written, and a patent for the same was procured from the Governor of Virginia in 1753. Charles Campbell was the father of General William Campbell, of King's mountain celebrity, and, upon his death, General Campbell became the owner of this tract of land, but the presence of salt water upon this property was not discovered until about the time of the death of General William Campbell, which occurred in 1781.
General William Campbell left two children, Sarah Buchanan Campbell and Charles Henry Campbell, the latter dying at the age of five years, and Colonel Arthur Campbell and Colonel Wil- liam Christian, upon the death of General Campbell, qualified as guardians of his children, and they proceeded to improve this property to a considerabe extent.
When the General Assembly of Virginia voted Charles Henry Campbell five thousand acres of land in consideration of the distin- guished services of his father, Colonel Arthur Campbell, his guard-
*Charles B. Coale.
+Surveyor's record, Augusta county, Staunton, Va.
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ian, entered this grant in the name of Charles Henry Campbell on lands adjoining the Salt Lick tract, and this land passed, upon the death of Charles Henry Campbell, to his sister, Miss Sarah Buchanan Campbell, afterwards Mrs. General Francis Preston.
Some years after the death of General Campbell, his widow mar- ried General William Russell, who moved with his family to the Salt Liek in February, 1788, and built what was afterwards known as the "Madam Russell" house.
General Russell dug a well on the margin of the flat in front of his house, obtained salt water, and built a furnace and salt houses; · the furnace was an open shed, and the kettles were the camp kettles of that day, of a capacity of from eight to ten gallons.
A dispute arose between General Arthur Campbell and General William Russell, and. in 1989, the court appointed Colonel Thomas Madison, an uncle of Sarah Buchanan Campbell, her guardian in the place of Colonels Campbell and Christian. In 1290 Colonel Thomas Madison removed to the Salt Lick, built a log cabin upon the location of what was afterwards known as the Preston House, and, digging a well, began the manufacture of salt, and continued to manufacture it at this place until the marriage of his ward to General Francis Preston in 1793.
In the meantime General William Russell had died at the home of his son. Robert L. Russell. in Culpeper county, on the 14th of Jan- uary, 1293.
In 1295 General Francis Preston built an addition to the log cabin of Thomas Madison, and. in 1992. upon his retirement from the Congress of the United States, moved with his family to the Salt Lick, and made his home there until the year 1810, when he removed to Abingdon.
Soon after General Preston located at the Salt Lick, he had another well dug near that of Colonel Madison, and enlarged the furnaces and the kettles.
In 1195 William King bought 150 acres to the west of the Preston tract. and in 1199 erected furnaces and other buildings thereon and began the manufacture of salt. On the 20th of February. 1501. he rented the Preston Salines for the period of ten years. for $12.000 per year, and manufactured salt with great success until the date of his death, which occurred in 1808. From that time until the year
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