Hardin Brothers Landscaping

A Bitter Cold Holiday Season

I hope everyone stayed warm this holiday season! We went through some of the coldest weather that I can remember at the end of December. Our highs were below freezing and our lows were below zero for many days in a row. This is the kind of weather that can freeze wells, water lines, oil lines, etc. Even if your home’s heat settings are set high, your water and fuel lines can freeze, bust, and eventually flood your homes if the power goes out. This is why it’s always a good idea to drain your water lines if you are away. If you plan to be away all winter, it’s a good idea to pour anti-freeze down all your drains even after draining your water because water can settle in the low spots of your pipes. This is why many old-timey mountain people still have wood heat and cook stoves in their homes. That way, if the power goes out, their homes will always be heated and their pipes will not bust. Nobody wants a flooded home.

Hardin Brothers Firewood Delivery & Home Winterization

As of this year, my brother Ben Hardin, cousin Caleb Street and I have started cutting, splitting and delivering well seasoned, dry hardwood (mostly locust) firewood to whoever needs it. You can use it in your fireplaces, wood heat and cook stoves, or just burn it in your firepits. If you’re interested in our home winterization or firewood delivery services, please give me a call or text at (828)208-1986. You can also email me at joshua.logan.hardin@gmail.com

Gutter / Roof Cleaning & Leaf Removal Services

Besides removing leaves and debris from our HOA roads, ditches and culverts, we also offer services of removing leaves and debris from roofs, gutters, porches, decks, yards and driveways. Even if your house has gutter guards, these guards can still accumulate mold, leaves and debris, thus preventing the gutters from working properly.

Why is it important to remove leaves from your property?

• Clogged gutters, gutter guards and downspouts causes rainwater to settle around the foundation of your house, thus increasing the chances of eventually cracking your house’s foundation.
• Leaves hold moisture and can increase mold and mildew around your house.
• Leaves around your house also increases the amount of rodents, insects, and other pests around your house.
• Having too many leaves on your yard can block out sunlight and hold too much moisture, thus killing your grass and landscaping plants.

The Mosley Homestead

After talking with my Grandma Shirley Hughes, my Uncle Earle Troutman and Shorty Mosley of the Buladean community, I have gathered a more complete picture of the historic Mosley Settlement at Amber Ranches. In fact, I had to go back and edit two of my previous posts about the Mosley homestead and graveyard.

First of all, the “Mosley cabin remains” that I wrote about in Issue 4 right off of Amber Drive (pictured below) is actually one of the Mosley family’s barns. Thinking back, I too remember my Granddaddy saying that he use to dry ginseng in this barn with his dad back when he was a boy in the 1940s.

The Mosley farm covered a large area. The family graveyard is on the corner of where Megan’s Loop intersects with Katie Lane (pictured below) and the actual cabin’s remains are between Nicholas Knoll and Amber Drive.

As a boy, my brother Ben and I would ride 3-wheelers with our Granddaddy Lawrence Hughes up Broad Branch Road back when the entire road was gravel from Highway 226 all the way up to modern-day Amber Ranches. The end of the state maintained portion of the gravel road ended at my Great Uncle Wheeler Ledford’s place (referred to by Amber Ranches folks as “the Pondhouse.”)

Above Wheeler’s place, the road was nothing more than an ATV and horse trail. This old road follows the modern-day “Construction Road” for Amber Ranches (across the creek and next to the front entrance bridge).

The old road then meandered between the two branches and eventually crossed over Shell Branch, went past the Mosley farm and connected to the Bald Road that went up to the Roan. Portions of this old road still exist and you can see where it turns off to the left from Amber Drive just before you reach Chloe’s Court.

Please DO NOT PARK on Amber Drive or at the turnoff next to this old road (it’s on private property that doesn’t allow parking or ATVs). ONLY HIKING is permitted on this road. There is still an old barn that stands just off this road (pictured below).

Just below the old barn are the remains to the actual cabin. As a kid, I can remember when part of the foundation and chimney still stood. Unfortunately, the owners of this property bulldozed over the cabin’s remains while grading out a driveway for a future house. They never did build, but the remnants of the old cabin are piled up next to a tree (pictured below).

My Uncle Earl Troutman’s mother Ada “Ader” Millie McKinney Troutman (1908-1995) grew up on this farm. Her parents were Anderson “Anse” McKinney (1870-1931) and Bridget “Biddy” Mosley Mckinney. Biddy’s dad was Ben Mosley (1843-1920) and her mother was Emelia “Millie” Garland Mosley (1847-1927). Ben and Millie are buried at Amber Ranches’ Mosley Cemetery. Ben is the one that supplied the timber for the hackline section of General John T. Wilder’s Bald Road to the Cloudland Hotel.

When my Granddaddy was a young man , he and my Great-Granddaddy Ernest Hughes would go up to the Mosley cabin to visit Biddy and her second husband Boyd Gardner (1888-1969). My Uncle Earle and many others did the same thing. Earle’s family would go up to the Mosley Cemetery once a year to decorate graves and have a family reunion.

It’s hard to imagine, but much of the Mosley farm was cleared off pasture and farm land back when Biddy and Boyd lived up there. My Granddaddy said there was a 3 acre field between modern-day Amber Drive and Nicholas Knoll Road. You can still see the fence-line to this old cow pasture heading up Nicholas Knoll on the right-hand side of the road (pictured below).

Ada “Ader” McKinney Troutman eventually moved down Broad Branch Road when she married George William Troutman (1904-1948). George and “Ader” ended up living in a little white house on Broad Branch Road that is still there today. My Uncle Earle lives in the larger house next door.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to realize that these old roads and homestead remains are on private property. The owners are kind enough to let us hike and ride horseback on these old roads, but ALL ATV USE, HUNTING AND FISHING IS SRICTLY PROHIBITED. Please be respectful and appreciative of this wonderful opportunity to enjoy the nature and history of Roan Mountain .