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Book to benefit genealogical society, new library fund
By Stephanie Salmons
“Sylva,” the new book of vintage photographs and information about Jackson County’s largest town, will go on sale Monday, and those who purchase a copy will have the satisfaction of knowing they’re helping two worthy causes.
Proceeds from all book sales will benefit the Jackson County Genealogical Society, and City Lights Bookstore has pledged to donate $1 for every copy of “Sylva” the store sells this year to the new library building fund.
An author event for “Sylva” is planned for 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, at City Lights.
Written by Sylva Herald Editor Lynn Hotaling, the volume contains more than 200 images, including construction photos of the historic Jackson County Courthouse.
Sylva Herald Editor Lynn Hotaling, left, gets a first look at “Sylva,” the new book she authored, with three Jackson County natives who helped get the volume off the ground: from left, Rachel Phillips, Dorris Beck and Hattie Hilda Allison. All four will be at City Lights Bookstore Monday, Sept. 15, for a 5 p.m. celebration of the book’s release. Proceeds from the book will benefit the Jackson County Genealogical Society, of which Phillips and Beck are members, and City Lights plans to donate $1 for every copy of “Sylva” sold this year to the new library building fund. – Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
The cover of “Sylva,” the new book by Sylva Herald Editor Lynn Hotaling, features a 1950 photo from J.D. Patterson of employees lining up in front of the old Sylva Laundry. LifeWay Community Church (formerly Sylva Coal and Lumber Co.) now extends into the space once occupied by the laundry, which stood mostly on the Railroad Avenue lot now owned by retired Sylva Herald Publisher Jim Gray.
While the book is not intended to be a complete history of Sylva, it does offer a window into Sylva’s past and information about those who shaped it into the thriving town it is today, Hotaling said.
Though she’s listed as author, Hotaling said the book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of others, especially Herald Publisher Steve Gray, who allowed the use of Herald file photos as well as some from his own collection, and the many readers who answered the call and shared their old pictures.
“When we put a notice in the paper last January and asked our readers to bring in their pictures, the response was unbelievable,” Hotaling said. “All in all, we’ve had more than 100 people bring us pictures, and at least 65 of them are represented in the book.”
The inspiration to write about Sylva came from interviewing Rachel Phillips and Hattie Hilda Allison, who grew up together in Sylva and have remained lifelong friends, Hotaling said.
“They’ve known each other since their days in the nursery class at First Baptist Church and have so many stories about when they were girls in Sylva and the fun they had,” Hotaling said. “I wanted to create something to preserve the Sylva they remember.”
Phillips declined the role of co-author, but she agreed to help with the project any way she could, Hotaling said.
“Once Rachel agreed to help, I began to believe we really could assemble a book about Sylva,” she said.
Phillips brought Allison and another friend, Dorris Beck, to The Herald office last January, and that day was the beginning of the book, Hotaling said.
“Rachel, Hattie Hilda and Dorris brought all their scrapbooks and photos for me to go through,” she said. “That got us off to a really good start.”
Among the images in “Sylva,” the upcoming book by Sylva Herald Editor Lynn Hotaling, is this 1920s photo of the old Sylva Pharmacy, which was operated by Gilbert Bess. The pharmacy was located in the building that now houses Hollifield Jewelers. The stairway to the right led to the offices of E.P. Stillwell Sr. and David Stillwell. – Courtesy of June Bess Anderson
Another person who was essential to the book’s completion is Sylva Herald Photo Editor Nick Breedlove, who scanned all the photos readers brought in to create the digital files necessary for the book.
“Nick was just amazing,” Hotaling said. “Not only did he scan all the old photos, he also catalogued and organized them. His help was invaluable.”
The book has already generated praise from two well-known local authors.
Asheville Citizen-Times columnist Bob Terrell, who got his journalistic start at this newspaper, said he liked the book and the memories it brings of his hometown.
“I relish having grown up in Jackson County. Sylva seemed to be the perfect place – everything a person needed could be found in Sylva,” Terrell said last week. “It was also a good place to knock around in, like sitting with friends in Velt’s Cafe after school in the afternoons. Also, the girls were pretty, especially two of them, whom I won’t name but who will know who I am talking about when and if they read this. Some of my most memorable moments were in Sylva, and I couldn’t forget the town as it was then – or as it is now –in a million years.”
Sylva storyteller Gary Carden describes “Sylva” as a “wonderful book” and said it reminded him of looking at his grandmother’s old photograph album.
Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Director Julie Spiro said the book will help her efforts in promoting Jackson County.
“It highlights the county seat, and the history and heritage of the area – it will be a great selling tool,” Spiro said, adding that she loves the cover, which features a photo of the old Sylva Laundry contributed by J.D. Patterson.
City Lights owner Joyce Moore also spoke enthusiastically about “Sylva.”
“It’s fantastic and really captures an enormous amount of history,” Moore said. “It has wonderful photos and informative captions. I anticipate that it could be our best-selling book of the year, because it’s a book that anyone who’s ever lived in Sylva will like. It’s one of those books where every time you look at it you’ll see new things – people will look at it again and again.”
Hotaling said that writing “Sylva” was enjoyable because she met lots of people and they were all extremely helpful.
“When we’d be stuck for information, someone would suggest another person who might help us track down the story behind a picture, and I’d call them up,” she said. “Every single person I pestered helped me as much as they could. Everyone was generous both with their photos and their time.”
Especially helpful was local historian George Frizzell, who heads the Western Carolina University Department of Special Collections.
“George allowed us to use photos and shared his expertise,” Hotaling said. “He was never too busy to help me track down a missing fact.”
According to Hotaling, there’s another group of people who deserve credit for the book even though they didn’t send photos – her former history professors at WCU.
“When I got to Western, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to study,” she said. “I started out in sociology, but then I dropped all those courses and added history classes. Fortunately, I ended up in courses taught by Cliff Lovin, Max Williams, Gerry Schwartz, John Bell, Brian Walton and Alice Mathews, and that’s when my interest in history came to life.”
Williams, Lovin and Bell, along with former Herald News Editor J.D. McRorie, all contributed to “The History of Jackson County,” which Hotaling said was an important reference book while writing “Sylva.” Other useful volumes were the Genealogical Society’s “Jackson County Heritage” books, she said.
“Sylva” which is part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series, will sell for $19.99.
Born in Chickamauga, Ga., Hotaling came to Jackson County in 1970 to attend WCU and has made her home here since that time. A member of The Herald’s staff since 1984, she became the paper’s editor five years ago. She has won N.C. Press Association Awards for editorial and column writing as well as for religious reporting and won the NCPA’s Media and the Law Award for 2007 in the non-daily division.
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