Decades before an influx of Lowcountry landowners began looking for a reprieve from oppressive South Carolina summers in the mountains of western North Carolina, Abraham Kuykendall was arguably the most prominent European settler to live in the area we now know as Flat Rock. 

In the early 1960s, Gordon McCabe, Jr. decided to sell the cottage property and 25 acres to Laurie and Alex Schenck of Greensboro, North Carolina. In no time the Schencks renamed the house Rutledge Cottage in honor of the Rutledge family. They quickly became one of the best stewards of this historical gem where three years later, Alex Schenck founded Historic Flat Rock, Inc.

The scene was busy, bustling, and bittersweet. A combination of commerce mixed with a celebration of the friendships created inside the gallery’s walls during the past seven years. There were smiles, hugs - and a few tears - as the community gathered one last time to say farewell to the Firefly.

Selecting five favorite stories from 2022 is akin to the proverbial dilemma of picking a favorite child. Each story has its merits and is deserving in its own way. Meaning of course, that any list has a distinctly arbitrary quality about it.

Still, there are stories that stick in our memory and elicit special feelings when we look back at 52 weeks of Flat Rock Together. Here are five of our most popular stories from a year full of great personalities, amazing accomplishments, fascinating history, and heart-warming stories which make Flat Rock the fascinating place it is to live.

In 1915 Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale, co-founders of Biltmore Estate Industries, left Asheville, N.C. and resettled in Tryon, a small mountain community just 40 miles southeast on the South Carolina border. Already a center for arts and crafts, Tryon became the new home for Vance and Yale’s little non-profit business, the famous Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers. The company focused on two operations; the toy makers created small, painted wooden figurines based on classic nursery rhymes, while the carvers created mantles, furniture, church altars and other specialized wooden pieces.

Packing only what was necessary, Oleksandr and Halyna left Kyiv and headed 30 miles east of central Kyiv and away from the heaviest shelling, seeking refuge at her parent’s home. Although they did not know it at the time, that short journey of just 30 miles was to be the first step on a much longer odyssey leading them to a small village in the mountains of North Carolina -  5,246 miles away.

A post office was established in Flat Rock in 1829 and John Davis was appointed the first postmaster. In 1845 the Rev. Peter Stradley was appointed postmaster. It was during his tenure that the “old post office” was built. Read accounts of its history from various authors here.

Mountain Lodge — considered to be the first house built by Charlestonians in the Flat Rock settlement — was purchased out of bankruptcy by Historic Flat Rock, Inc. The house was in extremely poor condition due to its age, lack of maintenance, and vandalism. The preservation group submitted an offer from a revolving fund it uses to buy and resell endangered historic properties. Their purpose was to stabilize the house and find a preservation-conscious person to buy it.

The story of Mountain Lodge’s origin and its ultimate return to glory …

I love living in a small town where the morning show at the local radio station announces your name on your birthday. And for that, I am very thankful.

North Carolina poet laureate and Henderson County native Robert Morgan wrote of Louise Howe Bailey, “No one has taught us more about our heritage than Louise. She has served as our essential guide to the past, reminding us of our achievements with humor and respect. She has reminded us of who we are, and what she has told us is what we will pass on to our children and future generations.”

Those of us who live in Flat Rock drive past Blue Ridge Fire and Rescue’s Station #2 almost daily. Sitting adjacent to Village Hall and atop “the Great Flat Rock” that gives the village its name, the old substation was renovated last year to add living quarters. As of February 2022, Station 2 is now the home away from home for the dedicated men and women who are committed to keeping area residents safe, healthy, and protected.

From Granny Smiths to Red Delicious, autumn in Western North Carolina delivers a bounty of sweet varieties from Henderson County’s 150 apple orchards. Occupying more than 5,500 acres, the county’s apple production ranks as the seventh largest in America and brings visitors from near and far to the orchards for wholesome fun like apple picking, hayrides, baked goods, and corn mazes.

The year 1933 was a very good year for dinosaurs. The movie, King Kong, was released and featured a giant ape captured on an uncharted island inhabited by long-lost dinosaurs. It was also the year of the Chicago World’s Fair which featured animatronic, roaring dinosaurs. The prehistoric creatures even found their way into newspapers around the country via a cartoon strip about a Stone Age caveman and his pet dinosaur, Dinny. The strip was called Alley Oop.

Improbably, that same caveman would later find a home in Flat Rock, NC.

From its humble beginnings decided over a cup of coffee in 1951, Flat Rock Playhouse took root in the rocky ground that surrounded Mrs. Conrad’s Rockworth estate. Under Robroy’s leadership, the nascent theater would steadily grow to become not only one of the finest summer theaters in the land …

The character of communities is often shaped and defined by the presence of a handful of seminal figures who have the ability to transform the world around them by sheer force of will and tenacity. For Flat Rock, Robroy Farquhar was clearly one of those individuals.

When John Quinley moved to Henderson County in 2006, it was a reunion of sorts. John grew up in Maywood, Illinois just a few blocks from where a young reporter named Carl Sandburg had lived for five years. Half a century later, John found himself once again living close to a Sandburg home. Destiny, one might argue, was calling the life-long educator to revive and retell the story of Carl Sandburg.

For nearly two centuries the Episcopal Church of St. John in the Wilderness has rested on a wooded knoll in the Village of Flat Rock. What most people likely don’t know is that the building they see today sitting on the corner of Greenville Highway and Rutledge Road is actually the third place of worship to stand on that site.

For years, the lure of Lake Summit has been water activities and improvising a whole lot of fun. Days were and still are spent in and around the boathouse; a treasured waterfront structure that functions as a building to keep boats and to provide a home base for playing on the lake.

This Sunday is the final day of one of Flat Rock’s most gracious and beautiful events of the year. The Gallery at Flat Rock is hosting its 7th Annual Art in Bloom - a celebration of ephemeral beauty that pairs professional floral designers with fine artists. The resulting imaginative interpretations of juried artworks result in a spectacular exhibition of creative talent and natural beauty.

In the summer of 1971, a young college student attended an evening presentation offered by the National Park Service at a campground in the Badlands of South Dakota. During that presentation, she realized that she wanted to be a Park Ranger … and a dream was born.

Twenty-three years later, that student would follow that dream all the way to the job as the Park Superintendent at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Flat Rock North Carolina. It was a position that Connie Hudson Backlund would hold - and cherish - for the next 18 years.