Written by Dr. Dan Morrill and Catherine Perry
This is the fifth in a series of articles covering the long, rich history of the Springhaven Inn, built in 1888 in Blowing Rock, NC.
[Springhaven Inn is for sale. A group of town residents, with the Blowing Rock Historical Society, BRAHM, and Preserve Mecklenburg, Inc. (PMI), is working to save the structure. We are actively looking for a buyer or buyers for the property willing to keep the outside structure of the historic inn. Otherwise, it is in jeopardy of being torn down. If the property is demolished, this physical evidence of the history at the very core of Blowing Rock will be gone forever. We think it is worthy of being saved. If you would like to learn more about how you can be involved in the effort to save this property, contact Tommy Lee at either 704-737-5609 or tommy@appiantextiles.com.]
1934 – 1945
Sallie Charles Cheatham acquired the Springhaven Inn property in 1934 and owned it until 1945. A resident of Raleigh, N.C. and a music teacher, Sallie was a member of the faculty of Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C. at the time she bought the property. Sallie, who was never married, was a concert pianist. She operated the property as an Inn under the name “Bark Inn” and sometimes “Springhaven Inn” and hired managers to oversee daily operations. She frequently invited friends or relatives to stay in the Inn as her guests.
Cheatham made one major improvement to the Bark Inn—she installed a kitchen in the basement in 1937 to prepare food for guests and special occasions. The Bark Inn still had its chestnut bark siding during Sallie’s ownership as reported in the Greensboro News and Record of July 8, 1939, stating that the Inn was “attractively finished on the exterior with wide panels of bark from mountain trees.”
A Summer with Margaret Mitchell
In 1934, Duke University and Rollins College (Winter Park, FL) began a joint annual summer program called the “Blowing Rock School of English.” Duke University, in affiliation with Rollins College, leased the Bark Inn for six weeks in July and August 1938 as headquarters for the Blowing Rock School of English. In 1938, the two colleges hosted a dinner at the Inn to mark the fourth anniversary of the program.
Credit: David Sudderth
Soon afterward, Margaret Mitchell, the well-known author of the national bestseller Gone With The Wind, was invited to travel to Blowing Rock, not to teach at the School of English, but to stay and find a respite from the demands of the public. She was experiencing depression and anxiety because of the hoopla surrounding her becoming a celebrity. At the time, the four-and-one-half acre site still had the beautiful gardens that the Vardells had created during their ownership and an apple orchard. Plus, it had a mountain view! Indeed, it was a serene setting in which Margaret Mitchell could relax and get away from the world.
In the picture below, Margaret Mitchell is standing between the two unidentified gentlemen.
In the next picture, Ms. Mitchell is sitting on the front row with the group of students behind her.
Next week, we will see how artists become a common thread in the fabric of the Springhaven Inn.
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