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Order of the Holy Cross.

A Graphic Picture.-- In 1840 a botanist from New York visited what is now Valle Crucis, and on his return interested Bishop L. Silliman Ives, then bishop of the Episcopal Church of North Carolina, in this locality. Following is a description of the country at that time:(1) "In 1840 the valley of the Watauga, in North Carolina, was a secluded region, isolated and forgotten, a mountain wilderness, showing only here and there the first rude touches of civilization. The narrow, winding trail or foot-path, the rough sled-road, often dangerous for wheels, here and there a log cabin, with a narrow, rouch clearing about it, or at long intervals a rude saw-mill or grist mill, with perchance a small, unpainted frame dwelling, or a blacksmith shop and a humble backwoods store, making the beginning of a hamlet, such were the only traces of human habitation to be found on the banks of the stream. But the highland valley was magnificent in natural beauty. It lay in the elevated country between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, nearly three thousand feet above the sea while grand old mountains of successive ranges, broken into a hundred peaks, rose to nearly double the height on either hand, many so near that their distinctive features could be clearly seen, while others were only dimly outlined in the distance. These mountain ranges were peculiarly interesting, differing in some particulars from those of any other parts of the country. The vegetation was singularly rich and varied. The valley, entirely shut in by forest-clad mountains, was watered by three small, limpid streams, two of them leaping down the hillsides in foaming cascades; the principal stream, formed by the junction, after a short course of two miles, passing through a narrow gorge, threw itself into the Watauga."
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Note: (1) From William West Skiles; "A sketch of Missionary Life at Valle Crucis, 1843-1862." Edited by Susan Fenimore Cooper, 1890, pp.5, 6.

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Valle Crucis.-- There is , perhaps, more interest in this place and its romantic history than in any other in Watauga County. It is called the Valley of the Cross because of the fancied resemblance to that symbol of our faith caused by two creeks, each flowing from an opposite direction into Dutch Creek--Clark's, which rises under the Grandfather and flows into the right bank of Dutch Creek, which has its sources in Hanging Rock, while nearly opposite the mouth of Clark's Creek, and coming in from the left, is Crab Orchard Creek, flowing from the neighborhood of Banner's Elk.(1) There is a dreamy spell which hangs over this little valley, lending its charm to the story of the spiritual doubts that once perplexed the soul of a good man in his struggles to see the true light of Christianity. He was not the first, nor will he be the last, to grope in semi-darkness, turning hither and thither in his bewilderment; loving and clinging to past ties, yet dreading to follow where they led; adventuring by fits and starts on certain paths, and, like a frightened child, returning again to the known ways of his childhood and earlier manhood, till, at last, the final step was taken beyond all recall.

Rt. Rev. L. Silliman Ives.-- Second bishop of North Carolina, from May, 1831, to December 22, 1852,(2) was born September 16, 1797, in Meriden, Conn., and in his youth was a Presbyterian. In his young manhood he became an Episcopalian, while in later years he made his submission to the Catholic Church of Rome. He is said to be the only bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America who ever went over to the Roman Catholic Church. He became rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in New York City, married Rebecca Hobart, daughter of the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hobart, Episcopal bishop of New York State, to which union was born one child who did not live to maturity. While quite young he served a short time with the troops under General Pike in the War of 1812, after which he determined to study for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and fot that
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Note: (1) According to De Rossett's Church History of North Carolina, Valle Crucis was named in honor of an old English abbey by that name. Its altitude is 2,726 feet.
(2) He published "The Trials of a Mind in Its Progress to Catholicism," 233 pages, Boston and New York, in 1854.

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purpose, in 1816, entered Hamilton College, New York, at Clinton, where he remained but a year, when, his health failing, he changed his faith and, in 1819, began to study for the Episcopal ministry. After his visit to Italy in 1852, he became professor of rhetoric in St. Joseph's Theological Seminary, New York, and lectured in the convents of the Sacred Heart and Sisters of Charity and in public. He established in New York City two charitable institutions for the protection of destitute Catholic children, of both of which he was president. He published many works. He died in Manhattanville, N. Y., October 13, 1867, and was buried in the Catholic Protectory, Westchester County, New York. His wife, who was born February 6, 1803, died August 3, 1863. Bishop Ives served the Catholic Church only as a layman, being barred from the priesthood on account of his marriage.

"A Feeble and Undignified Imitation."--From "The Bishops of North Carolina," from which most of the above was taken, we learn (p. 112) that by "1849 the Mission at Valle Crucis had begun to drift away from the teachings of the Church, and was fast becoming a feeble and undignified imitation of the monastic institutions of the Church of Rome," but, with the exception of this error, we are told in "Sketches of Church History in North Carolina" (p. 337) that "Whatever we may think of the strange ideas and practices which Bishop Ives engrafted on to the associate work which he established at Valle Crucis, his conception that this was the most practical and efficient way to reach the cattered populations of the mountains was fully justified in the results which remain to this day." On page 80 of the same work we read that there had been three ordinations, one priest and two deacons, at Valle Crucis, while at least eight young men had there prepared for the ministry. William R. Gries, William Passmore, George Patterson, Frederick Fitz Gerald, Joseph W. Murphey, Richard Wainwright Barber, Charles T. Bland, William West Skiles, Thomas F. Davis, Jr., and others were at one time or another connected with this mission. So concerned was the Church throughout the State by the rumors which came from the mountains as to this brotherhood,

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or "Order of the Holy Cross," that United States Senator George E. Badger issued a booklet on the Doctrines of Bishop Ives, and that this interest has not subsided is shown by the very interesting account of Valle Crucis which was published in the Messenger of Hope for February, 1909.

Cause of His Vacillation.-- In the spring of 1848 Bishop Ives had a severe attack of fever while in attendance upon the general convention in New York City. From this, it is claimed, he never recovered his mental poise. It is also stated (p. 132) in the "Bishops of North Carolina" that his father died from a self-inflicted wound while temporarily insane, while Bishop Ives' own brother wrote, February 25, 1853 (p. 133), that there was a tendency to insanity in the family. It is stated in the "Life of W. W. Skiles" (p. 91) that at the convention of the Church, held at Fayetteville in 1851, the committee of inquiry reported the bishop as being "in a high state of nervous excitement, arising either from bodily disease or constitutional infirmity, in which he admitted that he had been insensibly led to teaching and believing opinions on matters of doctrin, of the impropriety of which he was then fully satisfied. He mentioned having tolerated the Romish notion of the Invocation of Saints, Auricular Confession and Absolution, but had always abhorred the doctrine of Transubstantiation, while the spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist was the doctrine our church teaches," and he signed a paper to the above effect.

The Old Buildings.-- These were a saw mill, a log kitchen and dining room, a log dwelling containing four rooms and a frame building (60' X 20') with a room at each end for teachers, together with a large hall for school purposes in the center, all on the ground floor, while over the whole was a dormitory for boys. All of these were ready for use and occupancy in 1845. "The adobes used in the buildings were made of clay and straw as usual, and were considered to be a good quality. But they soon began to crumble away, and in the course of the summer they were attacked by an unforseen enemy--the humble bees took possession of them, burrowing into the fresh clay to such an extent that the walls in many places looked like honey-combs,

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and were so much weakened that they gave way in places under the weight above them." From which it was concluded by the students that there could have been no humble bees in Egypt in the time of the Pharoahs (p. 37).

Easter Chapel.-- Less than a mile below the home of the Widow Moody, on the left bank of the Watauga River and two miles above Shull's Mills, is the site of this old chapel, now gone. A "man in affliction" had given Mr. Prout $300.00, out of which he built Ester Chapel on a large rock two hundred yards from the Watauga River, with a spring at its base. It was of logs, hewn by Levi Moody, the widow's son, "a good, guiltless man." It was fifteen feet wide by forty feet long, and had a little chancel at the east end, with oaken alter beneath a narrow window. The roof was steep, and each side wall contained a small window. The rafters showed from the inside, while rude benches afforded seats for those who came to worship. It was called Easter with especial reference to the doctrine of the resurrection and in connection with the devotion of the mountaineers in keeping that great festival. The Grandfather Mountain looms in the distance. But a limb from an overhanging tree crushed the roof of the chapel, and the balance of the building, after the Civil War, went rapidly to decay. A wind-storm on the 4th of March, 1893, threw the walls to the ground, all except two of the sills, which still remain, slowly passing into dust and decay. The logs out of which these walls have been built were of poplar, and were three feed broad by four or five inches thick. Thus, three of them sufficed to make a wall nine feet high. If this be doubted, a small cabin now (1915) standing near will substantiate the fact of the possibility of such a thing, as one of its walls has but three long in it, each log being three feet broad. Rev. J. Norton Atkins now owns the house formerly built by Rev. Henry H. Prout which stands near,(1) though Mrs. J. F. Coffey owns the rock on which the chapel used to stand. The perennial spring, however, spoken of in a note on page 96 of Skiles' Life, has disappeared, blasting for a new road, which was never built, having caused it to sink.
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Note: (1) Rev. W. R. Savage purchased this track from Isabella Danner, or Dana, she having "heired" it from her father, Larkin Calloway. (Deed Book 6, p. 209.) Mr. Savage sold it to Mr. Norton.

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The Widow Moody.--Among those spoken of with affection by Mr. Prout was Mrs. Edward Moody. She was a sister of Col. John Carter, for whom Carter County, Tennessee, was named and in honor of whose wife Elizabethton, the capital of that county, was called. She and her husband came from Augusta County, Virginia, soon after the Revolutionary War, in which he had fought and where he was seriously wounded. Of her Mr. Prout said: "The house of the Widow Moody was long a sort of social center on the Upper Watauga. Here the missionary [himself] first learned, in 1842, that a log cabin may shelter happy people. More generous, sweeter Christian hospitality, more glad, more cheerful kindness are seldom met with thn this worthy family showed me when a stranger and alone. There was a native refinement and a balance of judgment about the character of the mother of the family. I shall not soon forget her invariable reply to the inquiries of her friends when asking after her welfare--she was blind, with many infirmities, and yet the answer of Christian faith never failed: 'Thank God, no reason to complain.' There was in that far-off settlement a simplicity of manner, a generous tone, not often excelled, a graceful modesty, an unassuming dignity, very rare, but in harmony with the grand and beautiful scenery of the region" (p. 87). This house was two stories high, with two shed-rooms, and contained six rooms in all. It stood in the old orchard between the Grave Yard Ridge, where Edward Moody is buried, and the former residence of Sheriff Calloway.

The lower Settlement.-- Rev. W. W. Skiles had most to do with the establishment of a school and church at this point, which is at Ward's store, several miles below Valle Crucis. The first service was held in a small log cabin. "Men and women came in, many on foot, some on horseback, the wife in sun-bonnet and straight, narrow gown, riding behind her husband. Here and there a woman was seen mounted n a steer, with a child or two in her arms, while the husband, walking beside them, goad in hand, guided the animal over the rough path. The women all wore sun-bonnets or handkerchiefs tied over their heads. Some were bare-footed. There were many more feet than shoes in

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the congregation. The Boys and girls, even when full grown, were often bare-footed. This was, no doubt, the first service of our church held in that region. And it was declared to be the first religious service of any kind held on the Watauga for seven years" (p. 13). This statement was confirmed by Rev. L. W. Farthing, who then lived on Beaver Dams, near by, but now lives within a few hundred yards of the site on which old St. John's Chapel first stood. Owing to the inaccessibility of the place and the fewness of preachers, no service had been held there during the time stated. (1) The log house soon became too small, and a larger one was obtained. "The pupils tried very hard to learn their lessons well. Occasionally some of the parents would come in and pore intently over the spelling book" (p. 14)

At the Store.--Mr. Skiles kept store at Valle Crucis for the Mission, s well as practical medicine and taught school. "Or a load of goods, brought with great toil over the mountain roads from Morganton or Lenoir, consisting of tea, coffee, sugar, mustard, pepper, salt, farm tools, nails, screws, etc., a few packages of the more common medicines . . . boots and shoes, school books, paper, pens, ink, with a very modest supply of general stationery; needless, pins, thread, tape, buttons, with perchance a few pieces of calico, flannels and shirting . . ." "Some few, very few, in fact, came in rude wagons, others on horseback, some on steers, many on foot. Most of them carried a gun, a backwoods custom very common in that region; frequently a hound or two followed. The sack of grain was carried on the shoulders by those on foot. The men were, many of them, clad in home-spun tow shirts and short trousers, without coat or shoes even in winter. They were rarely in a hurry, the movement of the country people of that region almost always being slow and deliberate. They were strong, healthy, quiet and composed, frequently ruddy from exposure. A number smoked
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Note: (1) There was only a trail from Beaver Dams to the Hix Settlement. A chopped-out way, known as Daniel Boone's trail, let from Elizabethton up Watauga river, via Beech Creek and Windy Gap. It was by this trail that Rev. James Eden came to the Hix Settlement to preach the sermon of Andrew Harman when he was killed some six years before Mr. Prout came. Mr. Harman had been killed by a tree which fell on him.

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corncob pipes; even women rode on steerss with children in their arms (p. 111). Seven deer within limits of Valle Crucis were killed in 1854" (p. 114).

After the Civil War.--From the death of Mr. Skiles, there was no minister in this section representing the Episcopal Church till Rev. George H. Bell was ordained in 1883. At his instance St. John's was moved from its beautiful situation near Ward's Store, on Lower Watauga, six miles below Valle Crucis, to its present location on the right bank of Watauga River, two miles higher up the stream. Its location is fine, but the change was made not so much for a better site as for the purpose of serving both the upper and lower communities, there then being no mission or chapel above that point. Now, however, that there is a chapel at the Mission School at Valle Crucis, it would be better if St. John's were on its former site. Rev. Milnor Jones succeeded Mr. Bell, coming in 1895, and work was resumed that year under Bishop Cheshire. Then, in September, 1902, Rev. Wm. Rutherford Savage came and has been in this section even since. He is located at Blowing Rock. Serving with him were Rev. Hugh A. Dobbin, who was ordained August 6, 1909, and Rev. John Norton Atkins, who was ordained December 22, 1907. In 1914 Mr. Dobbin left Valle Crucis to take charge of the Patterson School for Boys on the Yadkin, after which time Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins, son of the distinguished Rev. Dr. Tomkins, of Philadelphia, took charge of Valle Crucis, St. John's and Dutch Creek Mission. Mr. Savage has charge of Blowing Rock. The chapel at Todd was built in 1910, and is in charge of Mr. Atkins, with Boone, Easter Chapel and others chapels in Ashe County. Rt. Rev. Junius M. Horner was consecrated bishop of the Missionary District of Asheville December 28, 1898. The house now used as the rectory was built by Mr. Jones, and was then called the Mission House. The log house just across the Banner Elk road was built by Bishop Ives, and is the only one of the old Ives buildings now remaining. Bishop Horner brought back the upper part of the Valle Crusis properly from E. F. Lovill, Esq., administrator

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of James P. Taylor, who had obtained it from his father, Henry Taylor, June 2, 1893. The deed is dated December 4, 1903 and the consideration is $3,500.00 for the 525 acres conveyed. (Book I, p. 592.)

Rev. William West Skiles.-- This good man was born in 1797, came to Watauga County soon after the school was started at Valle Crucis, studied theology and medicine, and made himself generally useful and helpful to all with whom he came into contact. He died at the home of Col. John B. Palmer, on Linville River, December 8, 1862, and his remains were buried first in the graveyard of the first St. John's, but moved in 1889 to their present resting place in the graveyard of the present church of that name a few miles below Valle Crucis. He taught school, kept store and practiced medicine among the poor people of this county for many years. He never married. He is still remembered by many of the older people of Watauga and vicinity. His life was full of good deeds.

"The Angelus."-- Although a bugle was used to summon the little Valle Crucis family to work and to worship, there is, nevertheless, something about the story of the old institution, combined with the name of the valley and its atmosphere and surroundings, which recall the lines of Bret Hart's famous poem. "The Angelus:"

"Bells of the past, whose long forgotten music
Still fills the wide expanse,

Tingering the sober twilight of the present
With color of romance;

I hear your call, and see the sun descending
O'er rock and hill and sand,

As, down the coast, the mission voices blending,
Girdle the sunny land."