Judaculla Rock, one of western NC’s oldest and most mystifying landmarks, is found only a few miles south of Cullowhee. Forty-eight feet in circumference, this soapstone boulder is covered with about 150 glyphs – circles, lines, crosses, and human and animal shapes. These “messages of a vanished race” are thought to have been carved more than a thousand year ago. According to Cherokee legend, however, the markings are actually the result of a slant-eyed giant named Tsul’ Kalu’, who made an 8-mile leap from the top of Balsam Mountain and landed near this boulder in Caney Creek valley, scratching the rock with his seven-fingered hand as he did so.

The Zachary-Tolbert House in Cashiers, with the exception of having no electricity, plumbing, central heating, or interior paint, has all the comforts of home.  All the comforts, that is, of a typical mountain home in 1850, that is. A tour of this two-story Greek Revival-style house today provides a fascinating glimpse at mid-19^th century life in western North Carolina.

When the Cashiers Historical Society was formed in 1996, its primary goal was to preserve the 150-year-old Zachary-Tolbert House, an important historic building which was falling into disrepair. In 1998, Tom and Wendy Dowden bought the property and donated the house and its furnishings to the Society. An extensive three-year restoration process began shortly thereafter, and the refurbished house opened for tours in 2001. The Zachary-Tolbert House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the most significant historical buildings in western NC, and showcases what is believed to be the largest collection of Southern Plain-Style furniture made by a single identifiable individual anywhere in the United States.

Colonel John A. Zachary and his family were among the first white settlers to Cashiers Valley, moving to the area in 1832 from Surry County. Mordecai Zachary, one of the colonel’s three sons, started clearing land for the house he envisioned as early as 1842. Felled trees were taken to the family saw mill and cut into lumber for the home’s construction. Ten years later, 29-year-old Mordecai presented the house as a wedding present to his new bride, Elvira Keener. The couple had thirteen children over the course of their marriage, all but one of them born in this house. Along with his father and brothers, Mordecai Zachary was a skilled craftsman, and he was responsible for making almost all the furniture used by his ever-growing family. Identified as Southern Plain-Style furniture, it is characterized by clean lines, functionality, and durability. When the Zachary family moved from the house in 1873, they left most of the furnishings behind. Subsequent owners used the furniture, and then passed it on when the house was sold. The result is that much of the original furniture crafted by Zachary still remains in the house. Among the many pieces displayed are a three-part table and massive cupboard in the dining room, round tables in the parlor, half-moon bedsteads and double wash stands in the bedrooms, and interesting ladder back chairs and side tables in virtually every room. The unusual single dovetail used by Zachary is evident in many pieces.

For many years, the house served as a boarding house for travelers to Cashiers Valley. After its purchase in 1873 by Armistead Burt of Abbeville, SC, the house was used as a summer home by him and subsequent owners, including the Parker family and four generations of the Tolbert family. Since it was only being lived in for brief periods of time, the house was never modernized. Even today, the only concession to modern conveniences is in the form of security devices. The old expression “If walls could talk” takes on new meaning at the house. Interior walls have never been painted, revealing hundreds of notes scribbled in every room of the house. Much of the graffiti is illegible, but that which is readable marks simple moments in life, such as the note on the first floor stairway that “Charlie Zachary took his first step the 10^th day of April 1870.” The house is also a stop on the NC Civil War Trail. Proving that the War Between the States was truly a civic war, Mordecai Zachary supported the Southern cause and had sons serve in the Confederacy. Mordecai’s brother, Alexander, was a staunch Federalist, as were many other Cashier Valley residents. From US 64 in Cashiers, turn south onto NC 107. The Zachary-Tolbert House is two miles on the right. The home is open for guided tours 11-3 Fridays and Saturdays from June through mid-October. Suggested donation is $5.00 per adult. For additional information, or to arrange tours at other times, call 828-743-7710.