High on a hill on Little River Road in Flat Rock is Saluda Cottages, or “The Wedding Cake House,” as my children named it when they were little. Built in 1836, it was once a simple, two-story home until turn-of-the-century renovations transformed it into a grander home reflecting a French Second Empire-style mansion. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Saluda Cottages sits on more than 20 acres in the heart of Flat Rock.

In the summer of 1945 Connemara, a stately home in the heart of Flat Rock, was up for sale. By that fall, a sale agreement was signed and on October 18, 1945, Connemara belonged to Carl and Lilian Sandburg. 

The Sandburgs purchased the property from the family of Ellison Adger Smyth. Smyth had owned the estate since 1900 and it was he who christened the home, Connemara.

The story of the owners who preceded the Sandburgs,

As the new dam that would create Lake Summit neared completion in 1919, the wonderful new power source proved to be the beginning of many beloved family retreats on Lake Summit. Removed from the confusion of nearby towns and cities and accessible only by a dirt road, enjoying the tranquility of Lake Summit became a tradition for the Law and Montgomery families.

One of those earliest summer homes was Interlochen — the Law Family Lake Summit retreat.

The story of Lake Summit and its early origins may be traced back more than a century ago in Spartanburg County’s textile industry. Power was one of the early problems for the Spartanburg mills, and John Adger Law came up with a plan to bring sufficient electricity from the mountains of North Carolina some 30 miles away.

In 2021, Christopher Liberatos and Jenny Bevan purchased Five Oaks in Flat Rock from Christopher’s brother, John. After 13 years in Charleston, SC, the couple saw an opportunity to pursue their shared profession and passion for architecture in an inviting new community. They also saw incredible potential in a house that has a long and varied history in the very heart of Flat Rock.

In 1836, Dr. Mitchell Campbell King, the son of Susanna Campbell and Judge Mitchell King, a founder of the Flat Rock summer colony and builder of Argyle, purchased 293 acres from his father for 25 cents an acre to build his family estate, Glenroy. He hired Mr. Freeman, a Scottish architect and shipbuilder from Charleston, to design the house constructed of lumber harvested on the place and cured for three to four years.

Considered at one time to be the most beautiful home in western North Carolina and now a private country club and gated community called Kenmure, the Glenroy was steeped in Flat Rock history.

Just down the road from Flat Rock is Tuxedo, North Carolina, the heart of the Green River Township. Once a vibrant mill village, Tuxedo was founded in 1907 by Joseph Oscar Bell, Sr. The pioneering businessman orchestrated the building of the mill village and the making of a dam above Green River Falls to power his textile mill, Green River Manufacturing Company.

This is the story of the historic town that grew up around his mill.

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.

Growing up in Flat Rock wasn’t the most “kid-friendly” place. There was no late-night hang-out spot (because everything closed by 8 pm), there wasn’t a park at that time, and most of the church community was above the age of 65. However, there was one location that brought children of all ages together. A place that inspired and encouraged creativity. A place that drew people in not only from Flat Rock, but Asheville, Hendersonville, Greenville, etc. This place is the great Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina.

Beginning in the 1830s, Flat Rock became a flourishing summer colony as a number of prominent families made an annual trek from the low country of the South Carolina coast to the elevation and cooler temperatures of the mountains of western North Carolina. The tradition of spending summers in Flat Rock has continued for multiple generations and stories of those earlier summers live on in the memories and recollections of Flat Rock residents today.

The history of the Green River people includes many stories of moonlight entrepreneurs amidst exceedingly tough circumstances. As the Depression emerged, the mill-working farmers were forced to turn to moonshining and bootlegging, which thrived in spite of legal and religious condemnation and was a good way to make extra money in a cash-poor economy.

The Rosenwald Schools are the inspiring story of two hardworking, successful men who gave back to the country in which they prospered. Conceived by African American educator Booker T. Washington, the Rosenwald School project was a massive effort to improve black rural schooling in the Jim Crow-era South when minority students received vastly inferior education and sometimes no education at all. An effort that eventually reached all the way to East Flat Rock …

Built in the mid-19th century, Farmer Hotel was the first summer hotel intended primarily for the accommodation of tourists and vacationists in Henderson County. Through its long and fascinating history, the hotel has served as North Carolina's longest operating inn for 170 years.

Those of us who live in Flat Rock drive past the property on Greenville Highway frequently ... but few of us know its full history. Author, Missy Schneck, tells that story here.