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Any tunnel would have to have been accessible from that downstairs/basement level, according to Sossamon, who never saw any signs of a tunnel.
"But I did know that the Hastings family used the underground building like a root cellar. The only entrance I ever knew was the one still visible from the bank parking lot," Sossamon said.
Harry Hastings, son of Harry and Queen Hastings, now runs a Ford dealership in Greenville. In a phone interview he said he was also unaware of any tunnel to the underground shelter.
From golf course to garden
The Commercial Hotel was built on raised ground, and the rock steps remained long after the hotel was gone. Around the same time the Hastings house was built, a miniature golf course was constructed on the old hotel site.
If you stand now in the parking lot and look up at the bank, you'll notice a sloped roof and miniature door. According to Rachel Phillips, the underground building was constructed as the concession stand for the golf course.
"You could get your golf balls there and, if you had enough money, you could buy candy and drinks," Phillips said. "There were benches near the concession stand, and adults would sit on them and watch the kids play miniature golf."
Harry Hastings remembers playing in his yard and watching the golfers. After the golf course closed, he said his family planted a garden on the raised ground.
"We used the underground area like a root cellar and kept our potatoes there throughout the winter. I remember pipes were installed to vent the air so the potatoes would not rot," Hastings said in a recent phone interview.
Another elderly passerby who caught Koenighaus out working in her yard one afternoon told her that during World War II food commodities were stored in the underground shelter.
"I've heard lots of stories associated with the house and the property... all of them intriguing," said Koenighaus, who enjoys speculating about what really did or did not take place on the premises.
Many houses with 75 years or more of history also come with stories of "presences." Part of the allure of older homes deal with hauntings some evil, some mischievous, some sad and some comfortingly helpful.
Koenighaus feels the Hastings House has a "presence," but it's always been a good one, she's quick to point out.
"It's been a joy to live in this home," said Koenighaus, whose family there includes her husband, Wilhelm, daughter, Letha Ree Koenighaus, and grandson, Zachary Issac.
Preserve the legacy
"The Hastings House is just 20-some years younger than the Hooper House. I would like to see its legacy preserved like the preservation efforts under way at the Hooper House. Both of the houses play a role in downtown Sylva's history," said Koenighaus, whose family will move to Georgia in May.
One fiery night
Several older folks in Sylva still remember that eventful night when the fire alarm went off around 3 a.m. April 6, 1923.
"I was standing in my crib looking out the window at the flames," said Rachel Phillips, whose father, Everette Brown, a fireman, rushed to the burning Commercial Hotel.
Horses were turned out of nearby barns while neighbors in nearby houses soaked quilts and threw them on their rooftops. Flames destroyed Medford Furniture Co., Zachary's Barber Shop and A.M. Simons residence. The barber shop was between the hotel and the furniture store on Main Street, and the residence was behind the furniture store. Meanwhile the intense heat cracked plate-glass windows of the stores across Main Street.
As the fire smoldered into the daylight hours, the late John Parris wrote about watching the hotel's tall chimney fall toward the street.
"Roy Early, who worked for the Dillsboro Electric Power Co., had just climbed a light pole to cut a power line loose. The great mass of bricks knocked him from the pole and buried him in the water-soaked dirt street and some of them crashed into the front of the George Cole store," Parris wrote in the Herald's Centennial edition Sept. 28, 1989.
"Rescue workers dug him out and rushed him by car to the hospital in Asheville. His body was so broken, he was not expected to live until he got to the hospital. But he did live, albeit he carried a limp in one leg the rest of his life," Parris wrote.
A new $100,000 water system was installed a few years earlier that helped fireman keep the fire, whose origin was never determined, from spreading any further.
More than one hotel
In addition to the Commercial Hotel, the Hastings family was associated with the New Jackson Hotel.
According to the April 21, 1936, edition of The Ruralite, "The New Jackson Hotel here, which was purchased recently by Mrs. Harry and Mrs. T.H. Hastings of Sylva, has been leased to C.B. Thompson of Sylva, who expects to open the hotel for business early this week. Mr. Thompson said that the name of the hotel would be changed to Hotel Carolina. Mr. Thompson is now operating the Poinsett Hotel here."
"The Carolina was located on Main Street, where the Sylva Barber Shop, Main Design Hair Salon and Judy's Bridal are now," said Tommy Thompson of Locust Creek, C.B.'s grandson and Sylva's town clerk. The Poinsett Hotel, located at the opposite end of Main Street, later became known as the Lloyd Hotel. The Jewelry Outlet is located there now.
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John H. "Jack" Morris Jr. of Webster said that is his grandfather, the late Manos Hanley Morris, pictured on the porch of the Commercial Hotel. M.H. Morris sold the hotel, located where First Citizens parking lot is now, to Thomas and Ebbie Hastings, who lived on the premises until the three-story business was destroyed by fire April 6, 1923.
Located at the corner of Main and Spring streets, this brick three-story home was built by the Hastings family in 1927. Current owner Peggy Koenighaus, who just sold the house to St. John's Episcopal Church, would like to see the legacy of this house preserved. - Herald photo by Rose Hooper
Though somewhat hidden by trees and brushes, the entrance to an underground building is evidenced by the sloped roof and doorway seen here from First Citizens parking lot. - Herald photo by Rose Hooper