{"id":80990,"date":"2025-06-13T09:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T13:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=80990"},"modified":"2025-06-13T09:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T13:16:17","slug":"history-feature-from-vision-to-village-the-history-of-little-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/lifestyle\/history-feature-from-vision-to-village-the-history-of-little-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>History Feature:<\/strong> From Vision to Village ~ The History of Little Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_80993\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80993\" class=\"size-full wp-image-80993\" src=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-1024x545.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-810x431.jpg 810w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-02-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-1140x607.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-80993\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View from The Switzerland Inn. Photo courtesy of Images of America: Little Switzerland, by Chris Hollifield and David Biddix<\/p><\/div>\n<p>By Lauren Stepp<\/p>\n<p>In June of 1909, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Heriot Clarkson stood atop Grassy Mountain, a 3,800-foot peak straddling McDowell and Mitchell counties. As he surveyed the shadowed valleys and sweeping ridgelines of the Blue Ridge, the Charlotte man saw more than scenery\u2014he saw potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the place,\u201d Clarkson famously declared. Those four words would give rise to Little Switzerland, one of Western North Carolina\u2019s most storied summer colonies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClarkson was a mover and shaker,\u201d says David Biddix, who penned the book Images of America: Little Switzerland with co-author Chris Hollifield. \u201cHe envisioned a mountain paradise where he and others could escape the heat and find solitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After his trip to the peak of Grassy Mountain, Clarkson and a group of investors procured 1,100 acres in the High Country. At the suggestion of Anna Twelvetrees, a secretary to one of the businessmen, the group dubbed their new seasonal retreat Little Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>The following summer, development began. The Little Switzerland Company divided the acreage into plots and set firm guidelines for the new resort community. They outlawed alcohol sales, limited development to one house per lot and designated specific lots for commercial activity.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_80992\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80992\" class=\"wp-image-80992\" src=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-1024x666.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-768x500.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-810x527.jpg 810w, https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/History-Little-Switzerland-01-June-2025-History-Column-Little-Switzerland-Chris-Hollifield-David-Biddix-copy-2-1140x742.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-80992\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy of Images of America: Little Switzerland, by Chris Hollifield and David Biddix<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to Biddix, the company\u2019s covenants also reflected prejudices of the era. \u201cIf you go digging back through the deeds, there was a specification that the lots couldn\u2019t be sold to African Americans,\u201d he says. \u201cClarkson certainly had control over who came to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, landowners were wealthy families from urban locales. At first, relations between these newcomers and the native mountain families were strained. \u201cThere was definitely a stratification,\u201d says Biddix.<\/p>\n<p>Over time, however, a symbiotic relationship took shape. Local farmers sold produce and eggs to the transplants while craftsmen helped construct summer cottages and The Switzerland Inn, which was completed in time for the 1911 summer season. Owned and operated by Clarkson\u2019s sister, Ida Clarkson Jones, the inn became a popular gathering spot. For just $7.50 per week, guests enjoyed comfortable accommodations along with hearty, home-cooked meals.<\/p>\n<p>Little Switzerland\u2019s growth coincided with construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), which began winding through the region in the late 1930s. Initially, Clarkson welcomed the prospect of a new road. However, his enthusiasm was quickly tempered by plans for an 800-foot-wide right-of-way that would cut directly through the heart of the community.<\/p>\n<p>The Switzerland Company filed suit in Mitchell County Superior Court, seeking $22,000 in compensation. The company not only received $3,000 more than requested but also negotiated a reduction in the planned right-of-way and secured a direct entrance to the BRP behind The Switzerland Inn.<\/p>\n<p>Today, more than a century after Clarkson first declared \u201cthis is the place,\u201d motorists cruising along the BRP still travel to the mountaintop retreat. \u201cThings are changing in the community,\u201d says Biddix. \u201cBut Clarkson\u2019s vision for a mountaintop paradise as a respite from the worries of life has continued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Little Switzerland is located at Milepost 334 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information, see <a href=\"http:\/\/MitchellNCHistory.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MitchellNCHistory.org<\/a>. Travelers are advised to check current road conditions on the Parkway before planning a visit.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In June of 1909, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Heriot Clarkson stood atop Grassy Mountain, a 3,800-foot peak straddling McDowell and Mitchell counties. As he surveyed the shadowed valleys and sweeping ridgelines of the Blue Ridge, the Charlotte man saw more than scenery\u2014he saw potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":80993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>History Feature: From Vision to Village ~ The History of Little Switzerland - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In June of 1909, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Heriot Clarkson stood atop Grassy Mountain, a 3,800-foot peak straddling McDowell and Mitchell counties. 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