History of Highlands, North Carolina
There are three stories by local historians as to why the founders
of Highlands, Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson of Reno County,
Kansas came to the area. The first story is that they believed that
the elevation and high altitude offered clean cool air that promoted
better health. The second story is that Samuel Kelsey, a horticulturist,
read an article that the frost is less severe near the plateau making
it a better place to study plant life.
The third and most often told story is that in 1875 Kelsey and Hutchinson
sat at their kitchen table one night, intending to find a summer resort,
chose the Highlands area by drawing a line from New York to New Orleans
and another from Chicago to Savannah. They believed being centrally
located, the intersection of that point would some day be a future
cross-roads of commerce and travel. They obviously didn't consider
other important factors that facilitate commerce. Like navigable waterways,
railways or passable roads. So other towns with that infrastructure
like Chattanooga grew big. Keeping Highlands more of a destination
than a cross roads.
At first they called the area Kelsey’s Plateau, but later
changed the name to Highlands. So they settled here in the North Carolina
Mountains and waited for civilization to catch up
Kelsey and Hutchinson promoted Highlands by sending out flyers declaring
that there was “no better climate in the world for health, comfort
and enjoyment and superior fruit, farming and grazing lands”.
The flyers were a success and by 1883 Highlands had a population of
300.
The same geographic restrictions that prevented Highlands from being
the trading Mecca Kelsey and Hutchinson envisioned has combined with
the farsightedness of the Town Council and the possession of lands
surrounding the town by the U.S. Forest Service to practically guarantee
the quality of life will not diminish.
Highlands, North Carolina
Highlands is located on Highway 64, 10 miles from downtown Cashiers.
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