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Family Sheet

HUSBAND
Name: Francis A. Miles Note Born: Unknown Married: Died: Unknown
WIFE
Name: Eliza M. Hagood Note Born: 19 Nov 1836 Died: 1920 Father: Benjamin Hagood Mother: Adeline Hagood Ambler
CHILDREN

NOTES
1). Dr. Francis Miles was the first doctor in Pickens with an office in his home where the first Baptist Church stands 1958 . Source It Happened in Pickens County by Pearl S. McFall, 1959Dr. Miles was the first practicing physician in Pickens, a real horseback country doctor and his old saddlebags are still in existence. They had property in Greenville and spent their last years there. Source Newspaper article, not dated, by Pearl McFall Among the scant scattering of known early dwellings in the newly created Pickensof 1869 , other than the previously noted Hagood house on Lot 21 , was the adjacent residence on Lot No. 11 at the northeast corner of Main and Lewis Streets, belonging to John W. Major..............Dr. Francis Miles, the first physician in New Pickens,built his house across Main Street directly opposite the Major House. Lot No. 14, referred to for many years as Miles Corner, is the current site of the sanctuary of First Baptist Church. Dr. Miles, who returned to Greenville in 1876, married Eliza Hagood, a sister of Colonel J.E. Hagood. In later years, Dr. Miles was the proprietor of the Caesar s Head Hotel. Source Pickens The Town and The First Baptist Church by Jane Boroughs Morris, 1991Description of Caesar s Head Hotel on Hotel stationery The scenery from this Mountain presents a panoramic view, varied, grand and beautiful beyond description. Objects three hundred miles apart are distinctly seen by the unaided eye. The extent of view is only limited by the capacity of vision. In the vicinity are numerous Water Falls, unsurpassed for beauty. the altitude and latitude combined form a climate unparalleled with an atmosphere cool, dry soft and balmy, wonderfully invigorating a veritable elixir of life having an average temperature of from 50 to 70 degrees charming the visitor into a pleasant forgetfulness of the burning heat left behind. Malarial Diseases cannot exist here. All affections of the Respiratory Organs, Consumption, Asthma, Hay Fever and General Debility promptly relieved. The Hotel is surrounded by magnificent shade trees and beautiful grassy lawns, commanding extended views of the surrounding countryfrom every nook and corner. Near the Hotel is a Mineral Spring containing Protoxide of Iron, Chlorine, Magnesia, Ailictic Acid, Soda and Sulphuric Acid. Abundant Springs of Cold, free stone water. Delightful walks and drives. Capacity of Hotel and Cottages about 200. Every possible convenience provided. Daily Mails. How to reach Caesar s Head. Come via Greenville, S.C. to Marietta, S.C. or Brevard, N.C. Distance from either place 16 miles. Time, 4 to 5 hours by hack good roads through a charmingcountry. F.A. Miles, M.D., Proprietor This delightful summer resort will be open to visitors o the 1st of June. This elevated situation 4,500 feetabove the level of the sea presents all that could be desired in the way of climate, whilst is grand and beautiful beyond description, an ever changing panorama. for all diseases of the Throat, Lungs, Hay Fever, Malarial affectations, the climate is unequaled. For the overworked and debilitated it is an Elixir of Life. Near the Hotel is a MINERAL SPRING possessing fine tonic alternative properties. Visitors coming to Greenville, S.C., will find a REGULAR HACK LINE leaving the commercial hotels every Tuesday and Saturday, Returning again on Monday and Friday, Fare $3.50 per seat each way. Charges at the Hotel Moderate, Table Good, Rooms Clean, Servants Attentive. F.A. MILES, PROPRIETOR. Greenville Paper, July 8, 1879 Name Connestee Falls approximately 10 miles from Caesar s Head, SC County Transylvania North Carolina Height 110 feet Water Source Carson Creek Mountains Blue Ridge Mountains Park Connestee Falls Owner Private Trail Length one way Few feet Trail Difficulty scale 0 easy 10 very difficult Beauty Rating scale 10 highest 7 Wheelchair Accessible No Facts According to Indian lore, the Princess Connestee leapt to her death over the falls after her English husband returned to his people. Dr. F. A. Miles named these fallsfor the Indian princess in 1882. Information retrieved online by MGHB 2002 Source http www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us caroclips wfalls connesteefalls.html
2).  Married   On the 31st ult., by Rev. J.M. Runion, Dr. F.A. Miles of Greenville and Miss Eliza, daughter of Col. Benjamin Hagood of Pickens . Source   The Keowee Courier, 1849 1851,1857 1861,1865 1868  by Rev. Silas Emmett Lucas Jr., Southern Historical Press.                                                                                                                     The Greenville and Pickens newspapers of Sept. 1897, carried the following announcement    A splendid donation to a noble institution was made recently by Dr. and Mrs. F.A. Miles, of Pickens and Greenville, when they deeded their Caesar  s Head resort of 2,231 acres to Furman University.   Besides the land, the gift included all buildings and furniture, tools, vehicles and livestock.  No appraisal value was given, other than the fact that they had refused $20,000 cash for the property several years prior to this. The conditions named by the donors were that the Furman trustees would pay them $800 annuity each year during the life of both,or either of the donors, and allow them free board either in the hotel or one of the cottages during the summer season. The friends of Furman University were delighted with this memorial from the donors who said they wanted to help the cause of Christianeducation through this local school. Mrs. Eliza H. Miles was a daughter of Col. Benjamin Hagood who established the hotel at Caesar  s Head at an early date and from whom she had inherited the property.  Her husband, Dr. F. A. Miles, had done much to improve it and enhance its value and for more than twenty years they ran a successful summer resort, but when the infirmities of old age overtook them, and they had no children, they decided to pass it on to the immediate good of Furman University. In the early days of Pickens, Dr. and Mrs. Miles had a home here where they stayed during the months that the summer resort was closed.  Their little house stood on the corner where the First Baptist Church now stands.  Source   Newspaper article, not dated, by Pearl McFall                                                                                                                    Promissory Note  $1250.94 One day after date we, or either of us, promise to pay J.E. Hagood, or bearer, Twelve Hundred and fifty 94 100 Dollars for value received  balance due on Caesar  s Head property on account of John H. Hagood  s interest. Witness my hand and seal March 12th 1897. signed  E.M. Miles       L.S. signed  F.A. Miles       L.S.  Promissory Note  Greenville, SC February 25, 1895 One day after dated I promise to pay to J.E. Hagood, my Trustee, or Bearer, three hundred dollars, for value received, balance due him for amount paid for purchase of Caesar  s Head and furniture in the Hotel at Caesar  s Head. Witness my hand and seal. signed  E.M. Miles       L.S.  Principal.  2 notes.               $1550.94 Int. on above notes to 1st Sept 1897    $    94.19 Total                    $1645.13  Letter on Caesar  s Head Hotel stationery, dated August 23, 1897  Mr. W.M. Hagood Easley, SC  My Dear Sir, The situation here is unchanged.  Dr. Miles was a good deal depressed after you left, but has now recovered his usual cheerfulness.  He thought that matters were settled, and it was a great disappointment to him to find himself at sea again,he still thinks the last payment of $500, per annum too small and thinks they should have been $700 per annum.  He and Mrs. Miles have now determined to sell the place for what they can get and are in communication with parties with that end in view.  Failing in that I think their plan will be to offer it to someone on the same terms it was offered to you except that the last payments will be larger.  I am very sorry that the arrangement fell through, first because I think the place ought to continue to be the property of your family, and second because I cannot help thinking there is big money in it.  Very truly yours, G.G. Wells                                                                                                                    Letter to W.M. Hagood, Easley, SC, from his father James Earle Hagood, dated August 23, 1897 concerning Caesars Head property  Dear Willie  I examined for the notes upon my return to the City of your Auntie, Mrs. Miles, and I found them in the right place.  Ben certainly did not look for them very much.  I send you copies of the notes so that you may see the amounts and interest up to 1st Sept. 1897 is $1645.13. I was sorry that you did not conclude the trade, but suppose it was best that you did not, although the property is well worth the amount that you would have to pay.  I put the property at $5000.00   andthe furniture & c. at $3000.   the Saluda plantation at $3000.   which would make a total of $11,000.00   You would  have to pay me the amount due $1645.13  and $1000.   cash next fall, and I think that you would then have the property cheap enough.  TheSaluda plantation ought to be sold for enough to pay me and the $1000.   besides, and perhaps more, and then you would have Caesar  s Head proper, without having to pay anything for it, except the $500.  a year to your Auntie.  These are however matters for your own judgement as I do not desire to suggest or make any proposition as my being Trustee might some day interfere with the sale, and I will not advise what for you to do.  I think that you could pay the $500.   very well per year, say for ten years,or longer, as the property would certainly increase in value.  You would have to spend at least a thousand dollars on improvements which is a very small figure.  If the property was mine, I would spend $2000.   on it so as to make it attractive. We havehad fine rains for the last week, raining all the time.  Hope you have had good rains also.  No news. Yours truly,  signed  J.E. Hagood                                                                                                                    Letter from Eliza Hagood Miles to W. M. Hagood, on Caesar  s Head Hotel stationery dated August 24, 1897  Dear Willie  I received your letter yesterday.  We regret more than we can express that you could not accept the proposition.  The last amount named we don  t think either one of us could live on and have any comforts, unless we are compelled.  We regret more, that we have given you all so much trouble.  We will try now and sell the place for what we can get for it, and pay what we owe, and try and live thefew days we may have on the balance.  We are more than sorry to have to place go out of the family, but is seems that there is no other chance.  We appreciate your kind offer of assistance and will call on you. Now let me thank you for sending the buggy.I hope your Uncle will be able to ride occasionally although he is very weak.  He had a bad night   did not sleep any and of course I don  t sleep.  Anything now makes him nervous.  I was afraid your letter would but I had to read it to him.  We are still having a good deal of company.  I am kept busy.  I am confident that you could have made this place pay you handsomely.  ? as you are. You could make more than the interest and repair the place besides, I am so glad that Queenie is with us she certainlyis a great comfort and help.  I do hope and pray that I will be given strength to stand all I have too. If you know of any one coming up this way I would be so glad if you would send me a bucket of fresh butter.  I find it so hard to get enough up this way.  We have so much constatne ?  company.  I think Capt. Wells wrote to you yesterday.  We have to have fires very cool.  I will her to close as breakfast is about ready and there are a good many to leave this a.m.  Come and see us when you can.  Alwaysglad to see you.  Love to all. As ever your devoted,  signed  Auntie Miles                                                                                                                   Letter from James Earle Hagood to his son W.M. Hagood concerning the Caesar  s Head property dated Sept., 18, 1897 from Greenville, SC  Dear Willie, I find that I will not make connection from Spartanburg by getting off from here today, so I will write to you a few lines.  I had a long talk with Capt. Wells, in referenceto the property.  He says he did all he could to put them off from executing the papers which contains the proposition to the University, three Baptist ministers were at the mountain for a week or ten days and they fixed it all themselves, the arrangement was already made with the ministers without the knowledge of Capt. Wells, he says it was all done and agreed to before it was ever mentioned to him, he was then employed to prepare the papers, after he came down here  they have all bee prepared and ready for signature, and acceptance by the board of trustees.  They pay only eight hundred dollars per annum and no more.  Capt. Wells says that he was not let into the secret for sometime for after they had agreed about it and then only to get him to draw upthe papers.  He says he did all that he could to postpone the thing and told them not to be in a hurry and wait for sometime to see if something would not turn up but they both seemed delighted after it was done and was the very thing which they wished to have done.  I will miss connection tonight but will go to Spartanburg on the vertbule which is two and a half hours late.  They told me that the telephone was burnt out and we could not talk.  signed  J.E. HagoodNotes from Ben Folger Hagood made approximately 1995 concerning the history of the Caesar  s Head property  1847   Benjamin Hagood acquired property 1848   Will of Benjamin Hagood drawn leaving property to daughter Elmina Hagood Martin. 1865   Benjamin Hagood Died. 1866   Elmina H. Martin wanted to sell  sales notice    decided not to sell   other properties given to her in lieu of Caesar  s Head inheritance   property then put in trust and later deeded to her sister, Eliza Hagood Miles   married to Dr. F.A. Miles, M.D.   a devout Baptist. Mrs. Miles wanted to sell the property to her Hagood nieces and nephews in 1897 for $2,400.  They could not agree and Dr. & Mrs. Miles deeded theproperty to Furman University with the provision that Mrs. Miles & companion  Miss Peete  be allowed to spend the entire season rent free  including board .  Mrs. Miles lived 20 years longer & died at age 94 in 1917.  Dr. Ben Geer was President of Furmanat that time and there was considerable consternation about the cost to Furman prior to her death.                                                                                                                    THE DRAMATIC HISTORY OF CAESAR  S HEAD   As published in  Echoes  Reflections of the Past , published by eighth grade students at Northwest Middles School, Travelers, Rest, S.C., 1987.   The trip going up to Caesar  s Head was  a fearful one.  The roads were curved at almost a ninety degree angle.As for the rest of the trip it was a breathtaking sight.   When we arrived at our destination, we could feel the environment change.  It was windy, but not too chilly.  It was comfortable.  We went up to the viewing area and were amazed at what we saw.The beautiful majestic mountains rolled down to the Piedmont.  Paris Mountain and Table Rock were the most noticeable sights.   Caesar  s Head, a large natural rock formation, is a popular tourist and resort attraction.  The elevation for Caesar  s Head is3,266 feet above sea level.   The origin of the name  Caesar  s Head  is still unknown.  Many stories say the rock bears a likeness to Julius Caesar, while others say   Caesar   is a mispronunciation of   Sachem   which means Indian chief.  The most believedorigin is that it was named a after a mountaineer  s dog named Caesar.      The Head   has gone through many natural changes during the past 100 years.  At one time a part of the mouth fell off.  Most people seem to believe it was the result of a minor earthquake.   Other natural changes, many manmade changes were added to Caesar  s Head.  Indians were the first people to use this land.  The next people were the British.  In 1735, the British Crown sent surveyors to this area to set a boundary between North and South Carolina.  The surveyors had a difficult time and went on strike because they were not paid.  Finally, when the boundaries were set, Caesar  s Head ended up on the South Carolina side, extremely close to North Carolina.   It was over a hundred years after this until the first building was built on the land.  As one news article reported, in 1836, Benjamin Hagood built a house there.  Another source said that it was built in 1851.   Then in 1864, on the same land, a hotel was built.  The building included the kitchen, the dining room and the lobby.  It was two stories high.   The hotel became a popular place to get away from the heat of the Low Country.  In a booklet by Lawrence Fay Brewster called   Summer Migrations and Resorts of South Carolina Low Country Planters,   the hotel is described as   noted for its excellent fare and amiable proprietor.      In 1885, a three story addition was made.  When we went to interview Mr. Norwood Cleveland in the little town of Marietta, he mentioned that his father, Mays Cleveland, cut some of the lumber to build the hotel    It  the hotel  was started with my dad  Mays Cleveland .  He used to run a sawmill, and they got him to cut some of the lumber to build the hotel with.      After it was built, all types of people began coming to the hotel for a change of environment.  Another news article by Felix L. Oswald, written in   The Southern Bivouac  , a newspaper from the year 1886, described Caesar  s Head in this way    It  Caesar  s Head  is a thoroughly democratic summer resort.  In the commodious hotel the most exclusive guest can enjoy the privileges of privacy, but those privileges imply no prescriptive rights.  In the office of the proprietor the poor mountain boy with his little courtesy.......the North Carolinahunter in his home made jeans will promptly and intelligently answer the questions of the female naturalist fresh from Vassar, or even show his superior discretion by ignoring the banter of a supercilious dud.  Blue jeans, indeed, mingle quite freely with the gayer colors of the weekly picnic parties, but if the absence of constraint is the surest mark of good breeding, the society of Caesar  s Head can rank with the best of the civilized world.       The F.A. Miles  Eliza Hagood Miles  family owned the land in the late 1800  s, and they published advertisements for hotel.  IN one newspaper, the article described it so well, that they even exaggerated the elevation of the land by more than 1,00 feet  This elevated situation  4,500 feet above the level of the sea  presents all that could be desired in the way of climate, whilst the scenery is grand and beautiful beyond description    an everchanging panorama.  For all diseases of the throat and lungs,hay fever and malarial affections  sic , the climate is unequaled.  For the over worked and debilitated it is an elixir of life.  Near the hotel is a mineral spring possessing fine tonic and alternative qualities.     Visitors coming to Greenville, S.C., will find a regular hack line leaving the commercial hotel every Tuesday and Saturday, returning again on Monday and Friday.  Fare $3.50 per seat, each way.  Charges at the hotel moderate.  Table good.  Rooms clean.  Servants attentive.  F.A. Miles, Proprietor.  In September of 1897, Mrs. Eliza M. Hagood Miles and Dr. F.A. Miles transferred the property  to Furman University.  This property included 2,500 acres of land, with the hotel, and a few cottages.  All this was in exchange for an annuity of $800.00 and free boarding and lodging for Dr. and Mrs. Miles.  Mrs. Miles, who was seventy four at the time, lived another twenty years.   During the time Furman owned it Norwood Cleveland visited the hotel. When we talked to Mr. Cleveland he told us that he rode a train to the dances up on the mountain.  He also said,   We  d go up when we were young boys.  Most of them would get on it in Greenville, but I got on up here. From Greenville it took about an hour and a half, but from Marietta it took about thirty minutes.We  d all get off at River Falls and then walk up Gap Creek.  That was the shortest route and the steepest.  It took about two hours.  We  d get there in time for supper, and then we  d go up and see the sunset before we went to the square dance.  The nextmorning we  d get up early and come back on the next train ride home.  The cost of the ride from Greenville was fifty cents, and from Marietta it was thirty cents, I think.   We asked Mr. Cleveland if he remembered anything about the dances.  He said,   Wewouldn  t miss the dance.  That  s what we went for.  Most of the girls worked there in the dining room.  We had a wonderful time.    We asked Mr. Cleveland if he ever had a girlfriend up there.  He replied,   Oh yea, the girl didn  t have me, but I had her!Mr. Cleveland continued telling us about the dances.    I don  t imagine there were over twenty people at the dances.  Most were college aged.  I remember we had an old fashioned piano, but I don  t remember who the pianist was.  I don  t remember who the caller was, but we couldn  t have a square dance without a caller.    Even Mr. Cleveland himself did some calling at the dances.  According to a newspaper article a man called   Speedy   Jones did the calling at the dances.   We asked Mr. Cleveland if he remembered anything about the prices of the hotel, and he said,   The prices weren  t too expensive, but they were expensive for us because we didn  t have hardly any money at all.  They were about $3.00 a night.       Mr. Cleveland described one other event that he enjoyed     A most enjoyable experience was right after supper before sundown.  We  d all walk up the the head and sit there until the sun went down.  All the people from the hotel went there.  The young people sat in the mouth. They liked that better because it was a lot more dangerous.       During the 1920  s, the hotel was sold to a real estate corporation, the Caesar  s Head Paris Mountain Company.  Tom Marchant, who later bought the hotel along with his brother, Pete, told us about what happened to theproperty next     The company didn  t have enough money to keep going and the property went to the people that were holding the mortgage.  At that particular time  1932 , two banks and Furman University held the property.  The three of them held it, and Furman University ran the hotel.       In the 1920  s a new road was built going up to Caesar  s Head.  Pete Marchant told us how the road was first built.    They say that Jones Gap Road was laid out by an old mountaineer named Solomon Jones, who had a pig.  He  d turn the pig loose and follow it up the mountain, and that would be the easiest way.  That was supposedly the way.  But that road was so windy and curvy that on several turns you had to back your car up before you could get around the curve.  You  d start around and have to back up a piece and make another turn to get around the curve.  That was one reason they built this other road, to have a modern highway up there.      Back then, all they had to build that road was one steam shovel.  All of the dirtwas moved with mules and a man with what they called a pan. The steam shovel would dig the dirt out, and these people behind the mules would take this pan and move all that dirt and rock to build to build the road with.  So it was quite an engineering feat.  They say there are about 300 to 400 horses and mules buried beneath that road. When they would die they would just put them beneath the road and keep going.      The road was not the only thing that was different back then. Electricity in the hotel was rare, unlike today  s hotels.  Pete Marchant said that,   Every night about 10 o  clock they  d blow a whistle or sound a bell to let you know in 15 minutes the lights were going to go off.  And they weren  t going to come back on until the next morning or the next day.  In that period of the 1920  s and about half of the 1930  s, Duke Power was not in there, and electricity was not used too much.   The generator ran on diesel fuel.  It was one of these old reciprocal pumps and you could hear it all over the mountain.  Whoo!  Whoo!  They  d keep it on till 12 30 on Saturday night so you could go to the square dance. The square dance ended at 12 00, and you could get home in time.  When the lights blinked, you were gone.  All of us had kerosene lanterns and candles i the houses.  We even had some with reflectors behind the.  They sat on the wall to give more light.       An interesting coincidence was noted in the registration book they had at the hotel.  In 1918 one person signed in by the name of F.D. Roosevelt, from New York.   Pete and Tom Marchant bought the hotel in 1946 and ran it in the summer.  The hotel was not very luxurious, but it had forty rooms on the first and second floor, and fifteen on the top floor.  A single hotel room would cost $20.00 per week.  A double room with a bath would be $27.00 per person, per week.  Children under ten were charged one half of the rate, and colored servants stayed at half rate too.  These prices are from the late 1940  s and included all three meals per day.   The hotel had a feast every Sunday.  As Pete Marchant remembered,   For breakfast you had y9our choice of cereal, fruit, eggs, sausage, bacon toast, and pancakes.  Everything was served family style.     For Sunday dinner, Pete said,   We had roast beef, fried chicken, and about four or five different vegetables.  Mostly the people we had up there were elderly people, people well over 50 or 60.  The ladies would dress with their big hats on for the afternoon tea.  It was really quite a sight to see them all.  Ourwhole front porch, which was about 50 or 70 feet long, was solid with rockers, and they would sit out there and rock  .       Practically everybody stayed at the hotel, I  d say, for a week.  Very few people came by to spend a day.  They  d come up and sty with us for a week at a time.       A few people working on  Echoes  interviewed a man by the name of James McJunkin who worked there by carrying up bags to the rooms.  He said,   Guys would come up here with plenty of money from Charleston to stay at the hotel.    We also asked him about the working conditions and the money he made by working at the hotel.  He replied,   It was good service  they treated you good.  I remember on year, way after the Depression, I left after the summer with $500 in tips.  I gotup to $20 $25 a week in salary.   James McJunkin walked seven miles up the mountain to go to work at Caesar  s Head.  His brother, Otis McJunkin, was the cook at Caesar  s Head for 18 years.   We interviewed another man, Spann Cruell, who used to be a bellboy at the Caesar  s Head Hotel in the early 1950  s.  He also cleared the tables and ran errands.  We asked him about any special holidays, and he replied,   One lady by the name of Mrs. Earle was real old.  On Christmas in July, I had to serve her breakfast.  Christmas in July was when the tenants in the rooms would give gifts or extra money  as tips  to the bellboys.      He also spoke of the square dance that was held on Saturday nights.  He would attend some dances.  We also asked him about his salary and tips. He replied,   It was $3.00 a day in salary, and in tips it varied.  One summer I remember I collected $67.00 in tips at dinner, $45.00 at breakfast, and $47.00 for supper.  And if you had to deliver a special order to one of the rooms they would give you a larger tip.       Sometimes the people who ran the hotel had to do more than just check the customers into the rooms.  Pete Marchant said,  This lad checked in and she didn  t like anything.  But then some electricity wouldn  t work in the rooms.  She came back and wanted the electricity in her room immediately.  So I went down and found it wasn  t anything but her plug on something she wanted to plug in, and I fixed if for her.  She offered me a dollar.  Tome said,   Did you take it?   and I said,  Yea, I took it.   It didn  t make any difference.  She didn  t know who I was.  That night they introduced us as the owners of the hotel and she was quite embarrassed about her dollar.       Pete Marchant told us another story about how he used to be a two in one person when people checked in     I would hit the bell and run around, and there would be a corner on the other side for the bellboy to pick up the bags.    In this way, he would serve as a clerk and as a bellboy.   Pete Marchant also explained to us about the plumbing in the hotel.   Bathrooms were on the halls like an old fashioned hotel.  You had a big central bathroom, on the downstairs, one for the ladies and one for the men.  And then upstairs there were two for the men and two for the ladies.    Therooms earlier had porcelain pots and pitchers for guest to use.   There were no keys to the rooms.  Pet Marchant told us there were   no locks, no keys.  We didn  t have a key in the place.  You didn  t have a key to your room.    Unlike today, almost everybody knew and trusted everybody else.   The Marchants liked to open the hotel with a convention and close it with a convention at the end of the summer. After that, the women  s college of Furman University would have an orientation weekend for its freshmenthere.  IN the summer of 1954, the week after the women from Furman left, the hotel burned.   The hotel was destroyed by fire of an undetermined cause.  The fire was discovered by Hagood Bruce and Frank T. Morris of Greenville.  Mr. Morris, who was awakened by the sound of the crackling flames, called the fire rangers and went to the hotel.   one newspaper article reported that   Fire raced in minutes through the three story wooden structure, at 1 00 A.M. and consumed also an adjacent cottage and servantquarters in the rear.  Three cottages connected with the hotel were saved, but the rest, including furnishing in 50 rooms, a lounge and a dining room, was a total loss.    The only fire fighting equipment at the hotel was fire extinguishers, and there wasno chance to use them.  The only water available was from the low pressure system which served the hotel, and the nearest fire department was in the Parker District 25 miles away.  The buildings burned too quickly for aid to be called.   One opinion on the cause of the fire was stated by Pete Marchant.    WE really think that somebody had gotten into the hotel and was spending the night.  We had already cut all the electricity off, and it started down in one of the far rooms where somebody had gone in there to sleep.  At least that  s what the caretaker seems to think happened.      One of the major losses from the burning of the hotel was the linen. When we asked Pete Marchant about the linen, he told us   We always cleaned the linen, had it washed and tookit back to the hotel and stored it.  And unfortunately, that year, I had taken the linen back up and stored it with all the blankets and everything in the hotel the weekend before it burned.       There were only a couple of items that were saved, according to Pete Marchant.    The hotel had two bells, a dinner bell and a porter bell. Earlier I had had them polished and all, but the heat was so intense, even in the safe, that the bells were quite disfigured.  Pete Marchant told us one interesting story that happened in the last days of the hotel.    The year the hotel burned, that summer we took the original old hotel and were going to convert it to just a place to have parties.  The walls had green whitewash,and so we took one room that wasn  t being occupied and rubbed the whitewash off of it.  There on the wall was an inscription with a man  s name from Abbeville.   It wasn  t even Abbeville County the.   It was dated a hundred years to the day, that we rubbedit off.  That was the day he  d been at Caesar  s Head.          Our father used to go up there as a young man.  They  d leave Greer on a wagon and spend the night on the way up there.  From Greer to Caesar  s Head, it would take them two days to get up there.They had to spend the night.  That was one reason you got the name Travelers Rest up here because that was where a lot of people got off the train from Charleston.  Even though the Caesar  s Head Hotel no longer exists, Caesar  s Head is still a beautiful place to escape the heat.  It is presently a state park, where thousands of visitors come to enjoy the enchanting sights. Although many changes have occurred, the most important aspect has not changed, and that is the superb view from the rock itself.

						

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