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When someone mentioned "The Flats" in the newsroom
awhile back to pinpoint the location of God's Holy Tabernacle, it struck
me that a lot of current Sylva Herald readers might not know where in
Jackson County that is.
I'm luckier than most mountain transplants in that Frosty, the Cafe's
resident geography scholar, is always willing to share his "Addie-cation"
(that would be knowledge acquired during a boyhood in Addie, as opposed
to the "education" he picked up in school) in the hope I might
become less geographically insecure.
Jackson County has a lot of interesting place names, and one of the
most intriguing to me has always been Evalina Street, the steep, concrete-surfaced,
one-way lane I view out the newsroom window. It still connects Jackson
and Main Streets, as it has for years, but no one seems to know who
it was named for - or whether to call it "Ee-vuh-lie-na,"
"Ev-uh-lee-na," or "Ev-uh-lie-na," for that matter.
I first mentioned the mystery surrounding Evalina Street's name in this
space three years ago - on July 20, 2000 - and asked readers for help.
A couple dozen months later, a reader sent an e-mail mentioning an ancestor
of hers with the first name Evalina. Unfortunately, that communication
got lost in cyberspace before we could pursue the lead she gave us.
The information we gathered for that column - Carey was in charge of
actual research with Rose serving as consultant - resulted in the following
compilation of terms you might have heard around town but probably won't
find on the 911 maps.
College Hill - The hill above the Verizon office including Hampton,
Allen and Rose streets. Everyone knows about that college in Cullowhee,
but the "college" in College Hill refers to Sylva Collegiate
Institute, a Baptist boarding school that operated in Sylva from 1899
until 1932.
Freeze Hill - This is the hill across from the old Sylva School (now
Mark Watson Park) that includes Keener Cemetery. Earlier known as Sylvan
Heights, it became known as Freeze Hill after the J.F. Freeze family
built a house there. Their house still stands and is operated as a bed
and breakfast known as The Freeze House. This area is sometimes called
Cemetery Hill.
Old Sylva School/Mark Watson Park - Everyone knows where Mark Watson
Park is, but some may not know that Sylva's schools once were located
there. Sylva Elementary closed in 1973 after Fairview opened and Sylva
High closed in 1960 with the opening of Sylva-Webster (now Smoky Mountain)
High. The Sylva High football field was named after Mark Watson, a popular
coach at both Sylva and Webster high schools who was a 1945 World War
II casualty. He's buried in the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. The
Mark Watson name fell from general use after the high school closed
but was revived during the 1970s by the Jackson County Recreation and
Parks Department.
Tannery Flats - The residential area along Chipper Curve Road. The Armour
Tannery Co. was located close by from 1901 until 1957. The area is also
called simply "the Flats."
Upper Flats - The area of Allen Street above Chipper Curve Road.
The Bottom - The area from the Sylva swimming pool west to Josephine
Street. It included the Triangle Park, which was located in front of
the Sylva Presbyterian Church.
Lloyd Development - The area off of Savannah Drive that includes First,
Second and Lloyd avenues and Oakwood Drive. It is named for E.M. "Beef"
Lloyd, who owned the land and sold lots for the houses starting in the
early 1950s.
Possom Hollow - The area around Morris and Spring streets above Massie
Furniture Company. It is believed to have been named by Dick Wilson
when he lived there in the 1930s. Wilson went on to become Sylva's postmaster.
Possum Holler received a certain local notoriety last fall when controversy
arose over planned modular home construction there.
Courtland Heights - The area above the old Jackson County Courthouse.
Rhodes Cove - The area behind Kel-Save, generally bounded by Sunrise
Park and Cherry Street. Also called Rhodes Town, it was named for Professor
Rhodes and his wife, Caroline, who lived near a big holly tree and hosted
community Christmas parties complete with gifts for the neighborhood
children.
Sylva storyteller and author Gary Carden grew up in Rhodes Cove and
still lives there. He said several years ago on the PBS show "North
Carolina Now," that he grew up in a "remote area" near
Sylva. Rhodes Cove is now in the city limits and is considered practically
downtown, a notion that illustrates just how much Sylva has changed
over the last 60 or so years.
We've accumulated a fair amount of Sylva information, but we still don't
know the origin of Evalina Street's name.
Do you know? If so, e-mail lynn@thesylvaherald.com or call me at 586-2611.
And if there are other puzzling geographical features around Sylva that
you're curious about, please ask.
We'll see if our Cafe research team is up to new challenges.
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