Cottages of Dark Corner is family-owned and operated. Our property and the homes that grace it represent an ideal for us...a tribute to our past and a commitment to the future, both by preserving the natural setting of the land and by providing a means by which folks can enjoy it responsibly.

We are often asked about our name, "Dark Corner," and where it originated. Frank L. Fitzsimons, local historian and 1950s era radio host recounts the tale of Dark Corner in his book, "From The Banks of the Oklawaha, Volume II." Mr. Fitzsimons series of three award-winning books, published by Golden Glow Publishing Company (Volume II ISBN 1-56664-139-X) serve as a fascinating retelling of area history, legends, and stories about local families. Families which were granted their lands from the King of England before the Revolutionary war still reside in this area, living on their original tracts of land. This is truly an amazing place! If you would like to read more of Mr. Fitzsimons writings, call us and we will put you in touch with booksellers who carry these lively, historic volumes.

Dark Corner's reputation swayed from "normal" to "sinister" and back again over the years. What follows is a paraphrase of Mr. Fitzsimons story of Dark Corner, continued by me into the present as the location our family's homestead.

In the before-times, before income tax, television, and the 1920s prohibition laws, Dark Corner was so named because there were few roads in and out. The land was densely forested, and roads tended to be bounded around and above with tightly woven foliage and forest canopy. A person could walk or ride right past a dwelling or farmstead and never know it was there, because they were often set back away from the roads and hidden by the trees. Cultivated swatches of land were hidden also in the vegetation: folk grew corn, rye, sorghum, tobacco. The borders of Dark Corner were vague, and according to Mr. Fitzsimons, "roughly the section where Polk County, NC and Spartanburg Greenville Counties, SC were joined...touched by Henderson County" Today, this area corresponds to Saluda/Tryon and the Greenville Watershed.

The people who lived in Dark Corner were good people, just the same hard-working pioneering folk who lived elsewhere across the country in those times. During those times, making  and selling liquor was a legal, legitimate way of earning money to support the family. Many residents of Dark Corner had made their own  alcoholic beverages for generations. The "fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers ...turned their corn and rye into this valuable product that they could so easily exchange for the necessities of life." (Fitzsimons, p. 158) Once prohibition began, however, this revenue stream dried up for many and drove many others underground. Understand that before the government's new laws, production and sale of liquor was legal. The people of Dark Corner, and indeed in many places across the country, felt that the government was unreasonable and tyrannical for imposing prohibition laws. It follows, then, that the government agents charged with enforcement of prohibition were looked on as enemies. In those times, strangers (or indeed anybody who turned aside from the road and began asking questions) who entered Dark Corner were regarded with suspicion and sometimes open aggression. Mr. Fitzsimons states,

The stranger who did such things was literally taking his life in his hands because this stranger would undoubtedly be a revenue officer looking for illegal stills. Those who operated the stills hidden in the laurel thickets, hollows and coves along those mountain streams looked on Revenuers as deadly enemies and fair game...I remember one (story) very well because it made a deep impression on me when I was a boy. It was told to me by the late Troy Alverson when his family lived in a log cabin at Von's Creek near Belue's slaughter pen on the old road that went from Tryon through the middle of the Dark Corner and on to Spartanburg. The road ran practically through the Alverson's yard. One day a wagon and seven men stopped at the Alverson Cabin. The wagon was loaded with axes, picks, other tools, and guns. They asked the elder Mr. Alverson if this was the road to Dark Corner. 'Do you fellers know anyone there?' he asked. 'No,' they answered. They were advised that it was dangerous to go prowling around if they didn't know someone in the area. One of the men spoke up, 'We will take our chances, we are Revenue Officers.' Mr. Alverson shook his head and again warned the men of the risk they were taking. 'Oh, we will get along.' they replied. 'Good luck to you fellows' was his reply as they drove off. What became of the seven men and their wagon and equipment, nobody knows to this day. They were never heard of again, nor was any trace of them ever found. (Fitzsimons, p160)

Our part of the story begins here in the mid 1940s. The second World War raged, and my husband Carl's Grandfather, Tom Baumgardner purchased this land because he needed a place to recover from snakebite. His doctor told him that the mild temperatures and elevation Saluda would help him heal, so he moved full-time onto what was then a working, 112 acre farm. Seventy Acres remain of his original 112-acre tract, and today it is heavily grown with mature poplar, hemlock, oak, maple, and other native vegetation. Before Grandpa Tom purchased the farm, one stream was dammed so that a pond formed, and a small wooden house was built there, just where the little stream joined a second and an even larger waterway. This waterway flowed over a series of lovely falls (that remain today) before it joined downstream into what eventually became the Greenville Watershed.

 He taught for a while at Saluda School, but Grandpa Tom's dream of working the land as his own farm never came true. He lived here many years, however, and at age 85, he remained an active, vital individual and so ended his life...he was struck in the head by a branch while trimming a tree. No lingering frailty for Grandpa Tom! The legacy he made was to instill a love of this land in his children and his children's children, one that brought us here and keeps us here. Carl's mother, Barbara Baumgardner Johnson, brought him to Saluda as a child. Carl spent summers playing in the streams and visiting the extended family that gathered here every year. This annual summer tradition was enjoyed eventually by both Carl and I, and now our own children. Carl became part-owner of the land in the 1980s. In 2004, (it seems so long ago, now!) Carl and I purchased the shares of Barbara's land owned by his siblings...and we haven't looked back. Since then, we have worked very hard to make real our version of Grandpa Tom's original dream: he wished for the land to support him, he wished to serve the land itself, and so do we. Our goal is to preserve, in as close to its natural state as can be, our small corner of paradise. We also want to share it with those who have never experienced living with nature and God's creatures.

So, you say, why call the place "Dark Corner?" Well, Carl and I are committed to providing an experience that is as free from civilization's demands as possible, a place where people can come to just BE. We want that place to have one road in, one road out, with its dwellings tucked into the shadows of the wood as of old. Each cottage provides a spectacular view and a unique experience of tree, water, and woodland animals. We want folk to come in and not want to leave, to experience an ancient haven in a brand new century.

Amy Lundy Johnson August 1, 2006