What's in a Name?

Saluda Cottages

If you happen to be new to our beautiful village, you may be wondering where on earth some of these odd names came from. Well the stories are long and many, and there’s no verification in most cases, but here goes.

Saluda Cottages, that grand and impressive house viewable from Little River Road, gets its name from the location of its entrance on the Saluda Path, what we now know as the Greenville Highway.  Little River Road had not been opened when the house was built. It was simply a driveway to the Carl Sandburg Home.

The origin of the name “Flat Rock” is apparent if one looks around and down. The village is on a huge expanse of flat rock, and the name goes back to pre-Indian territory times we suspect. It wasn’t recorded in a deed until the early 1800s or possibly late 1700s. So that one is easy.

Rail Pen Gap and Rail Pen Park, now in Kenmure, are named for the fencing used to contain cattle before wire was introduced. All fences were made of log rails, and - whoops - when a gap occurred, it caused quite a disturbance letting the cattle roam at will.

A favorite of mine is Pig Basket Creek. Legend has it that a young boy discovered a litter of newborn pigs abandoned near a creek. He put them into a basket to take home, waded through the creek, dropped the basket, and off went the piglets....no I don’t know where it is.

Little River Road is indeed called after the Little River. Some still call West Blue Ridge Road the Depot Road, because it was the road leading to the train depot in what is now East Flat Rock.

Sts John in the Wilderness

Claremont was named after Claremont, New Hampshire, because the gentleman who owned it with his wife, daughter of Judge King of Argyle, had lived in New Hampshire and loved it there, and anyway, these mountains reminded him of the White Mountains. Not sure why.

There was a path cut through the woods by C. G. Memmenger, who built what’s now The Carl Sandburg Home, that ran from his home to St. John in the Wilderness. This path was called The Jerusalem Path, ergo to the church. The name of the church itself, St. John in the WIlderness was named to refer to this territory, known then as “the wilderness”.

Connemara, now our very own National Park, The Carl Sandburg Home, began as  Rock Hill, guess why.  When C. G. Memminger built in Flat Rock, part of his desire was to have a real farm where he could grow vegetables.  For this purpose, he purchased what is now Tranquility. It was called Valley Farm. Apparently the earth was more forgiving a bit further up Little River Road! When Capt. Ellison Adger Smyth bought the house, he and his wife changed the name to Connemara after what they considered the most beautiful place in Ireland.  When they returned from one of their trips, Mrs. Smyth brought  Irish ivy home with her, stuck into potatoes. Take a look around at all the ivy we have now - thank Mrs. Smyth.

Kenmure

Kenmure was originally Glenroy, named after an ancestral Scottish home, and when the McCabe family purchased it, they changed the name to Kenmure after an ancestral castle of the Gordon clan in Scotland.  Needless to say, there were many Scots in little Flat Rock! Perhaps the sweetest name “Honey and Salt”, our Flat Rock place to go for breakfast and brunch, is named after Carl Sandburg’s poem. There are many others of course, so when you hear of another, take note, and let’s keep track of part of our charming history.

Galen Reuther
Galen has called Flat Rock home for over 20 years. She is a life long writer of articles about things that interest her. Her book "Flat Rock" can be purchased from independent bookstores, Historic Flat Rock, Amazon or from Galen direct at leegalen@aol.com.