When the Toxaway Inn opened in August 1903 tourism brochures
boasted that it was, “one of the best equipped and most modern resort hotels to
be found in the South, having elevators, steam heat, electric lights, more than
one hundred rooms en suite with private baths, pool and billiard rooms, bowling
alleys, tennis courts and large, spacious verandas”. The menu had a wide variety of items including
prime rib, roast lamb, baked red snapper, escalloped oysters as well as many
vegetables and elegant desserts.

On August 13, 1916 the Toxaway Dam burst following heavy
rains over several weeks.  The 540 acre
lake sent a wall of water through the gorge and flooded miles of lower land in
South Carolina.  Although the Inn
survived, the wealthy visitors left and the grand hotel stood empty.  It was torn down in 1947.

But long before the Toxaway Inn was built there were
families living on small farms throughout the Hogback Township.  The Hogback Township, as it was first known,
covers the southwestern part of Transylvania County.  It includes the area all around Lake Toxaway,
west along Hwy 64 to the county line and south along Hwy 281 to the state line.

The Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory for 1890 lists
the population for Hogback Valley as 50, in 1896 Hogback had a population
60.  This community was located between
present day Lake Toxaway and Sapphire. 
The post office name was changed to Oakland in 1911.

Lake Toxaway lakebed after the dam broke.

And after the glory days of the Toxaway Inn, although the tourists
left the local families continued farming, worked in the logging camps and
operated their own small businesses around the communities of Lake Toxaway, Oakland
and Sapphire. 

Photographs and information for
this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania
County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours
(Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional
photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy
at [email protected] or 828-884-3151 X242.