Elise Greer, owner, outside the Bearwallow Springs Jelly House in Sapphire, NC circa 1961

The Sapphire community once was home to the Bearwallow
Springs Jelly House. The Jelly House was started by Herman and Elise Greer in
1945. The Florida natives moved to Sapphire in 1940 along with their two
children, Marie and Everette. Herman was a certified public accountant, and Elise
was an art teacher in public schools before the move. Once they purchased land
and built a house , they ran a filling station which sold fuel and picnic
supplies such as non-perishable items and ready-made sandwiches. In addition, Elise
taught private art lessons in a studio she rented above Varner’s Drug Store. Herman
continued to work as a CPA in addition to assisting with management of the
store.

Eventually, Elise began stocking the shelves with her
own canned goods. The unique flavors of homemade jellies and jams she made were
so popular that they soon eclipsed the profitability of the fueling station.
The Greers focused the business on preserves production, even fulfilling mail
orders much the way a small business today might have online sales in addition
to a shop front. They employed kitchen help and bought produce from local
residents, some of which was cultivated and some of which was harvested from
the wild.

Unique flavors set apart the preserves from store-bought
goods and captured the whimsy of mountain culture for customers locally and
from afar. Though familiar favorites like scuppernong grape jelly and wild
strawberry jam were available, there were also unusual options such as wild
crab apple jelly, spiced pumpkin sweet pickles, blue damson plum jam, and
artichoke relish. The NC Room has
copies of their product catalogs from 1965 and 1972 for the curious who wish to
see the entire array of preserves created by Elise Greer and her staff. The
Bearwallow Springs Jelly House operated for more than 30 years until Elise and Herman
retired in 1977.

Photographs and information
for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room,
Transylvania County Library. This article was written by Local History
Librarian Laura Gardner. For more information, comments, or suggestions,
contact NC Room staff at [email protected] or 828-884-1820.