A moment for Alexander’s Ford

There was a moment in time when Oak Hall was still worth saving, before the old hotel in Tryon deteriorated one termite bite past economical repair.

Many still long for that grand, historic structure which was demolished in 1979. They remember that it was home for a while to the likes of Lady Astor and F. Scott Fitzgerald. There probably isn’t one who doesn’t wish he had seen that moment just before fate turned. Not one, who given the chance might not have mobilized to save Oak Hall’s beauty, historic ambience, hospitality and tourist draw.

Now is perhaps such a moment for Alexander’s Ford, the 165-acre property off County Line Road. Tryon Arts & Crafts (TAC) is to be thanked for saving the property from buyers whose only aim 16 months ago was to log it. But TAC says it can’t hang on, and without a public buyer the property will be sold to private buyers October 1.

This property has so much to offer. It has history. A couple miles of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail run across it to the campsite at the ford where the Overmountain Men turned to meet the British. The Cherokee were active on the property. It has great potential for public recreation, in a growing section of Polk County. The National Park Service is interested in the trail, and has yet to name its site for the national Overmountain Trail headquarters.

Alexander’s Ford could be a county or state park, with a mile of frontage on the Green River.

Properties with these potentials, many more than we can mention here, do not become available to the public very often, certainly not for $3,818 per acre. TAC’s optioned private buyers are preservation-minded, and have made generous assurances. Local non-profits retain first option if ever the land is to be sold. But market prices will rise. Alexander’s Ford will not ever see public use again.

The time is now. Every citizen in the region has a stake in this historic moment. — JB
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The Citizen's Voice

A citizen's voice is a powerful thing in Polk County.

We can remember, in the early 1990s, when the county board still met in a small meeting room. Citizens attending were almost seated as equals with the elected officials. Speaking at will, any average Joe could, and often did, change the entire course of a debate.

Each elected official determines how he will make up his mind. But we wonder at the weight given to arguments whose only merit may be that they were made in person.

A few, truly just a handful, came out to a county hearing last week and dissauded the county board from pursuing Family Farm zoning for Cooper's Gap and White Oak townships. Never mind that written surveys time and again have shown a majority in favor of protecting the county.

Chairman Harry Denton at the hearing last week said many of those he meets on the street favor protections, but won't speak up for fear of rude treatment from angry neighbors. So, it isn't really free speech for all that takes place in the county boardroom. The commissioners know that.

The commissioners also know that speakers are sometimes misinformed, confused, misleading. The commissioners know the issues, having studied and heard from state and local experts in land use and North Carolina law.

The commissioners know that Polk County's ridgelines are unprotected. They know what is happening in neighboring counties, like Madison, where 600 homes are under construction in the high ridges around Wolf Laurel. They know the mountain views can be quickly destroyed, along with the mountain streams. They know sensible laws can be put in place to require development practices suitable to degrees of slope. They know what they do today may affect the county their children's children inherit.

But, if a few speakers are willing to wag their fingers and look them in the eye in a meeting, they forget everything else. They know nothing, do nothing. ~ JB