Trip to the Grove

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Last week my friend, Tracy, and I took a nice drive to Balsam Grove, it was a trip we had been planning for a while. She wanted to show me her husband’s family’s historic farmstead and the layout of the community. It was a rare, sunny afternoon in the mountains so we took full advantage of the weather. Pictured below is the home the Owens built back in the 1800’s. We walked through the home (the porch had some really great energy) and we sat in the sun and chatted about what it’s like to live this far out and of her dreams to live here full time. Currently she lives in Rosman and owns and operates Adventure Village along with her husband and father-in-law.

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The house and this land is so remote that they receive their electric services from Heywood County rather than Duke Energy. After walking the property and talking about the families that previously lived on the land, we hopped back on the road to continue exploring.

I had heard about a “Rock Hospital” built by the community river stone by river stone and Tracy knew that I was excited to check it out. Quick history lesson: There was a great need for medical help in this remote community, but doctors were not willing to come this far out until Dr. E.Gaine Cannon came along. He was a native to Transylvania that followed in his father’s footsteps practicing medicine. Dr. G. Cannon had a practice in Picken, SC. He worked very hard seeing 70+ patients a day and would even make house calls on top of that. He threw himself into his work which had his first marriage end in divorce and he suffered from the exhaustion. He decided to move back to Transylvania County to Balsam Grove where he had bought some land years earlier. While relaxing on his front porch reconnecting this the teaching of his mentor, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, word got around that Dr. James Cannon’s son, had moved back to the “Cove” and was a doctor! Dr. G. Cannon’s mentor worked by the “reverence for life” mentality. Dr. Schweitzer helped others whether they could pay him or not because the gift of caring for others was enough. So soon after arriving in the Cove folks started lining up.

Dr. G. Cannon knew that most people could not afford his services, so instead of money he would ask for alternative payment in two river stones. These river stones sure do tell a story. He was dreaming of building a local hospital to help the community. Some people brought only the two as required; others would bring a whole truck full. He wanted the future hospital named after Dr. G. Cannon’s mentor, “Albert Schweitzer Memorial Hospital”. It was built by boy and girl scouts, volunteers, and lots of local fundraising and opened in 1980. Sadly, the doctor died of a heart attack in 1966. After three years in operation it sadly closed because the community was not able to attract more doctors to live and work up in the remote community. Modern medicine had outpaced the building and the dream of affordable local healthcare in Balsam Grove. 

In the future this building could be a great museum to tell the stories and local folklore. It is located off of Shoal Creek. I imagine that it was quite peaceful to heal next to the sound of running water.

Our next stop on the journey was to the Fire Station and Community Center to check out the WiFi. Earlier in the day someone told me they heard on the news that local fire stations were offering free WiFi to the community. We arrived and did not see a front door or garage door open to the fire station. From the parking lot we tried to connect to wifi on our phones in the parking but there was no signal or anyway to connect. 

Then we saw this sign:

Tracy and I had many questions. The first was how will there be WiFi in the future, but not today. The second was, why only 2 hours. The third was why is the food truck coming one hour after the free WiFi event was over?

As we approached the community center we noticed a sign for free WiFi. We were able to connect but the signal was weak. As we drove closer to the building, we were able to log into Facebook, but I didn’t have much luck getting pages to load. Tracy was able to do a little more on Facebook than I could. We decided to hop out of the car and I took pictures of the building, playground and sign advertising free WiFi. The playground looks so fun and brand new. ​

This rock at the community center has a plaque dedicated to the doctor and his dream of building and operating the Rock Hospital. It is a nice testament to the importance of his work to the people of this community.

I told Tracy that I’d like to bring my kids here soon, when we are in Phase 3 and the playground can be used. We left Balsam Grove and the drive felt shorter going back to Brevard. I was reminded of a phrase my friend Angela said, “The road from Rosman to Brevard is short, but the road from Brevard to Rosman is long.” It means that people who live in the city don’t really ever come to the county because it seems like it’s “too far out”.

I am very happy to say that this lovely afternoon has turned into an exciting outreach opportunity. It has solidified my desire to help bring internet to the rural areas of the county. Once back in town with my high speed internet, I was able to follow up on the sign at the community center. There is only a two hour window because the internet is much stronger inside the building. They are opening up the building to the community and there will be volunteers to help with bringing free WiFi to anyone in the community that might need this valuable resource. They are very excited and have an “if you build it, they will come” approach to the event. I told one of the organizers, Carol, about my new non-profit and I was invited to join the event. I am looking forward to supporting their efforts and meeting more community leaders. 
I will continue to seek out more opportunities in other rural parts of the county to do the same.

See links below for resources:

http://nchistoryroom.blogspot.com/2014/10/albert-schweitzer-memorial-hospital.html

https://www.ourstate.com/gaine-cannon/

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