David Greer and Bald Mountain
From Letters from the Alleghany Mountainsby Charles Lanman (1849). "I now write from a log cabin on the Catawba River, and in one of its most beautiful valleys. My ride from Asheville to Burnsville, a distance of over forty miles, was unattended by a single interesting incident, and afforded only one mountain prospect that caused me to rein in my horse. But the prospect alluded to embraced the entire outline of Bald Mountain, which, being one of the loftiest in this section of the country, and particularly barren, presented a magnificiant appearance. On the extreme summit of this mountain is a very large and intensely cold spring of water, and in its immediate vicinity a small cave and ruins of a log cabin, which are associated with a singular being named David Greer, who once made this upper world his home. He first appeared in this country about fifty years ago; his native land, the story of his birth, and his early history, were alike unknown. Soon after his arrival among the mountains, he fell desperately in love with the daughter of a farmer, but his suit was rejected by the maiden, and strenuously opposed by all her friends. Soon after this disappointment the lover suddenly disappeared, and was subsequently found residing on Bold Mountain in the cave already mentioned. Here he lived the life of a literary recluse, and is said to have written a 140 page singular work upon religion, and another which purported to be a treatise on human government. In the latter production he proclaimed himself the sole proprietor of Bald Mountain, and made , , , more . . .Index to Virginia Wills and Estates
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