Hardin Brothers Landscaping

January 2022 Community Updates

We’ve had some nice snows this past month, but the roads are holding up nicely! As usual, there will be some spring time work repairing the damage from snow plowing and traffic, but the roads look better this year at this point than they did last year. Much of this has to do with the fact that this year’s snows have not occurred on the holidays when road traffic is at its highest. Nothing is worse for the conditions of our roads than wintry traffic. Our cool, winter days just don’t allow our roads to dry out properly. I want to thank our seasonal homeowners who have chosen to stay off the mountain during snowy weather. I want to also thank our full-time homeowners who have made strong efforts to stay off the roads as much as possible during these wintery days.

February 2022 Projects

In February, work will continue to focus on maintaining roadways that are safe and clear of debris, snow, and ice. We will also continue to maintain our roadside ditches and culverts while also trying to get rid of some brush piles that were made over the summer.

Winter Weather Preparation

Please remember to fill your gas and oil tanks before inclement weather arrives. If you are a part-time resident, please remember to also turn off your water pump and drain your pipes when you leave. If your heat goes out with the power, then water lines can freeze, bust, and eventually flood your house if no one knows about it. I will continue to send my winter weather updates through email. If you aren’t getting my winter weather updates, please let me know. As always, please do not use two-wheel drive vehicles on our roads. Regardless of weather conditions, please put your vehicle in four-wheel drive at the entrance of Amber Ranches. Please remind your guests to do the same. If you only have All Wheel-Drive vehicles, please invest in some good, All-Terrain tires or some chains for when it snows. Lastly, please try to avoid major construction projects during winter months, as heavy trucks and increased traffic will further damage wintry roadways. Thank you to all those who have intentionally postponed all construction projects over the winter. I also want to thank all those who have not tried to come up here in Two-Wheel-Drive vehicles. It makes a world of difference.

Amber Ranches History:
The Mosley Barn and Homestead

In the last issue of the newsletter I mentioned some of the hiking opportunities at Amber Ranches along the Old Bald (pronounced by locals as “Ball”) Road. As you may remember from the last issue, the Old “Ball” (Bald) Road was once a major road in the Buladean community. It served as the main road to the historic Cloudland Hotel on top of Roan mountain back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.The Cloudland Hotel was built in 1877 by Civil War Union General John Wilder. As some of you may know, the Buladean community mostly supported the Union during the Civil War. Even though the state of North Carolina tried to secede from the Union, Mitchell County was full of staunch Unionists. They were sometimes referred to as “Lincolnites” and even “Southern Yankees. “It was a local Southern Yankee from Buladean that General John Wilder contracted to supply the wood required to build a road to Cloudland Hotel (The Bald Road). His name was Benjamin Mosley and he was one of the earliest inhabitants of Roan Mountain. Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to do more research on Ben Mosley. I just know that this barn was still standing during my Granddaddy Lawrence Hughes’ childhood.

My Granddaddy and his daddy Ernest Hughes use to dig ginseng back in the late 1940s and would use this abandoned cabin as a hidden place to dry their ginseng. The Mosley family had long been gone by the time that Granddaddy used this barn to dry ginseng, but the remains of this barn are still here today. The barn is on private land, so please do not trespass onto it if you see it on the side of Amber Drive.

I have always tried to tell people about the history of this mountain. My Granddaddy taught me most of what I know about it. I realize that the history of this land is not important to everyone, but also hate to see the stories from this land lost forever. If my history lessons don’t bore people too much, I’d like to add a little more about the Mosleys and their Mosley Cemetery in next month’s issue.