Ruralite Cafe: Published 04/12/01

By Lynn Hotaling - Associate Editor

Scotts Creek was county's first post office

As usual, Sylva Herald readers came through.

John Slater of Western Carolina University, one of the authors of "The History of Jackson County," the source of my post office information, offered some much-appreciated words of encouragement before he tactfully pointed out that Scotts Creek (1828) was actually the county's first post office and not Quallatown (1834) as reported.

A noted figure from Jackson County's past, William Thomas, is listed as the first Scotts Creek postmaster.

"The early political history of Jackson County centers around the career of one man - William Holland Thomas," wrote Gordon McKinney in the history volume. "Thomas, a native of Haywood County, would be best known to later generations as the defender of the Cherokee. But to his contemporary settlers, he was a successful farmer in Whittier who owned extensive lands throughout the western part of the state...Thomas was a powerful local politician who was a member of the state Legislature from 1848 to 1862 and one of the leading spokesmen for the Democratic party in the highland region. His personal popularity was so great that he won all but nine of the votes cast in the 1854 legislative election."

Interestingly enough, Thomas is also listed among the early postmasters at Quallatown. Scotts Creek post office still exists today under the name it was given Nov. 28, 1857 - Webster. Outlying post offices that combined with Webster through the years include Painter, in 1883, Favil, in 1889, and Harris (formerly Harris Mine), in 1911.

Another post office was established at Scotts Creek Sept. 1, 1874, and it existed until Sept. 6, 1899, when mail was combined with Alice. Alice ceased to exist as a mail destination Feb. 28, 1903, when its name was changed to Willets. Mail was delivered there for 31 more years, until July 31, 1934, when letters and parcels addressed to folks in Willets began to be delivered from the Balsam Post Office. Balsam was begun in 1873 when William Crawford was postmaster. Another post office that combined with Balsam was Snider, which existed only from 1884 to 1885.

Ruth Shuler of Cullowhee called to point out a mistake in the history book's list. "Caters Hill," which existed from 1866 until 1873 should be spelled "Calers Hill." And Ruth pinpointed its location as well. The Calers Hill Post Office was located near the present-day Ochre Hill Baptist Church. Postmasters listed for Calers Hill are James Branton and A. Oenuook. There is no indication of what post office Calers Hill was combined with, but given its location, mail from there most likely went to Scotts Creek, since the post office at Alice (later Willets) dates from 1898 and those at Addie and Beta were both started in 1885 - Addie in January with John P. Calhoun as postmaster and Beta in February under Loucius Allen.

Addie's post office was discontinued in 1920, when its mail was sent to Sylva, but the one at Beta lasted 14 years longer, until 1934, before its mail was also routed through Sylva. Other post offices that eventually merged with Sylva included Gay, which existed for 36 years, 1917-1953; Deets, established in 1900 and combined with Greens Creek in 1913; and Greens Creek itself, which was discontinued in 1954.

Upon further study, it appears that the county's second-oldest post office was really Savannahville, which is listed from Feb. 11, 1832, and not Quallatown. Savannahville saw its named shortened to Savannah May 9, 1852, when William Tatham was postmaster, and was discontinued two years later, though there is no indication as to whether its mail went to Webster, Sylva or Cullowhee.

Dillsboro's post office, first named Tunnel, was begun in 1883, with William Allen Dills, father of North Carolina's first woman state senator, Gertrude Dills McKee, as postmaster. It became Dillsboro in 1888 and remains in operation today. Included among Dillsboro's postmasters are some other recognizable local names - Potts, Jarrett, Monteith, Sutton, Shuler and Buchanan.

A post office called Barker, established in 1887, was combined with Dillsboro in 1898. Daniel Ashe is listed as Barker's sole postmaster.

Though this was originally conceived as a two-part series, it appears at least one more segment will be necessary. A quick count indicates there were at least eight or nine post offices in Canada community alone, and we'll start with those next time.

As always, information from our readers will be appreciated. If you have knowledge to share, call 586-2611, or send an e-mail to news@thesylvaherald.com.

Back to Archive: 04/12/01.