Ownership of Property

The immense size and great age of the trees that covered the Whiteside area until just after World War II were recognized in the conveyance of title records, where the property is described as "being generally known as the Ravenel Primeval Forest".  In 1907, the son and namesake of Samuel Prioleau (pronounced "Praylow") Ravenel of Charleston acquired a tract including a large part of the present Wildcat property from the family of Elias Norton who had been granted it by the State of North Carolina in 1851, following the U.S. Government's removal of most of the Cherokee Indians from the area in 1830.

His father, Prioleau Ravenel, Sr., first rode his horse up to Highlands in the 1840's when he was building the Old Stumphouse Railroad to Mississippi down in South Carolina for the shipping and cotton company that he owned with his brother.  Struck with the beauty of the area, he turned, after serving as a captain in the Confederate artillery during the Civil War, to purchase land from Sunset Rock to Satulah.  In 1866, he married Margaretta Fleming of Pendleton, South Carolina, and in 1879 he built a lovely summer residence at the top of Horse Cove Road which he named "Wantoot" after his Charleston plantation but which is presently the estate called "Playmore".  In 1875, the Ravenels provided funds for building the Presbyterian Church in Highlands.

Following the death of Captain Ravenel in 1902, his wife and son continued acquiring property in the Whiteside-Cashiers Valley area, including the tracts that form Wildcat.  Prioleau Ravenel, Jr., constructed a toll road in 1902-03 that followed the present Buck Creek Road toward Franklin and today's Highway 64 toward Cashiers, giving him access to his estate both north and west of Whiteside Mountain.  In 1910 he used this road to bring in concrete to build the dam that formed Cullasaja Country Club's Ravenel Lake, which originally was called Lake Osseroga.  It became his private fishing hole.

An entrepreneur, Prioleau Ravenel, Jr., also built a sawmill on the Cullasaja River just below the dam, one of about a dozen sawmills operating in the Highlands area at the time, so that instead of building homes of whole logs, folks could use sawn boards.  In addition, Ravenel commenced hog farming on the north side of the lake, built a smokehouse for curing hams and shipped them to customers as far away as New England.

As long as the land was his, local townspeople and visitors stayed at the inns had free access to the Whiteside and Wildcat area.  A favorite outing for those who enjoyed hiking and picnicking was to follow the Kelsey Trail, a five-mile-long wagon road that began on Fifth Street where the "Highlander" Newspaper building and the Catholic Church are today and then wound down the north slope of Big Bearpen, passed within several hundred yards of the waterfall called Highlands Falls, and climbed up through the primeval forest to Wildcat Ridge and the Devil's Courthouse.  It was not until 1932 that Highways 28 and 64 were paved, making the village of Highlands and Whiteside Mountain more easily accessible by auto.

Upon the younger Ravenel's death in 1940, all his property was inherited by his second wife, Beatrice W. Ravenel, who was persuaded by lumbermen in 1943 that her huge trees were needed to be used for the World War II effort.  The Champion Paper & Fiber Company cut the pine wood, while the hardwood was taken by the Jackson Log and Lumber Company, its owners, I. Hardy and J. Tillman Powell, having officially acquired title to a large tract, including Wildcat, of 420 acres in Jackson County and 1,016 acres in Macon County from Mrs. Ravenel in January, 1944.  Some of the oak trees were cut just for their tanbark, which was taken to Franklin, where a tannery soaked hides in a tannic acid solution to make leather for boots for the Army.  Yet, by the time most of the logging actually took place, the War had ended, so many of the glorious trees, some of whose immense stumps can still be found in the woods around Wildcat, were used for less gallant purposes.  Though the trees we enjoy today are lovely, especially in the golden falls, they are mostly second growth, and it will take hundreds of years for them to become anything like the giants that were destroyed.

One stand of stately hemlocks on Lake Ravenel was spared partly at the insistence of Bayeola Powell, who convinced her husband, Tillman, of their importance for the area, and partly because the Champion Company had built a lodge for its executives, who enjoyed the across-Lake Ravenel view of the trees with their reflection in the dark water.  They add a great deal to the beauty of Cullasaja today, just as the splendid old-growth trees at Highlands Country Club grace that course.  Bob Zahner's history book of Whiteside, The Mountain at the End of the Trail, is a poignant description of the treasure felled by the timber companies that makes one long to save every remaining leaf and twig at Wildcat.  Perhaps with strict protection and careful pruning and nurturing our trees may again reach the magnificent state that so exhilarated those who tramped beneath the ancient giants of the Ravenels' day.

Lewis "Preacher" Dendy, whose family home is near Highlands Falls, remembers hunting, hiking and collecting arrowheads in the woods of Whiteside as a boy.  He even inched out on the narrow ledges of the Whiteside cliff to explore the caves where Civil War deserters are said to have hidden long ago.  According to Lewis, the task of cutting down the huge trees was very difficult, back-breaking work because the men had to use long cross-cut saws and axes.  It was not until a while later that chain saws came into use.  Lake Ravenel was used to float some of the smaller logs to a flume and thence to the nearby sawmill, while the larger ones were trucked to Waynesville and Canton.  Logging-camp buildings, which were still standing between the present first and ninth holes on the Wildcat property in 1961 when the Club was founded, were finally torn down in 1964.

The Cliffs Country Club, as it was first called, was the inspiration of Dr. William A. Matthews, who was a radiologist in Atlanta, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and later in Sylva and Highlands.  Those who knew Bill Matthews describe him as "a giant of a fellow who just loped along and towered over everybody in a room," "a kind and well-spoken doctor," "an intense person with tunnel vision, able to lock-in on a project," and "a very persuasive leader."  This last characteristic is illustrated by an incident that happened in the early days, when George Bryan stopped at the tiny clubhouse to ask whether they served breakfast.  As George returned to his car when Eleanor and the hungry children were waiting, he said, "They don't serve breakfast, but I bought a membership and a lot!"

Bill Matthews worked at Highlands Country Club while he was a student at Emory University during the 1930's.  His uncle, who had a home at Highlands Country Club and knew that Bill was looking for summer employment, suggested that he talk with Scott Hudson, a principal stockholder of the club.  Bill was soon hired.  He fell in love with the mountains that summer, as many of us have, and he never got over that love.  Years later when he was on his honeymoon, having married Beverly Cone in 1938, he took great pleasure in introducing his bride to the mountains.  Scott Hudson invited the young couple to spend sometime as his guests at the club.  Charmed with their brief visit, they returned often while Bill was finishing medical school and serving in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and in 1947 they moved to Highlands with their daughters, searching for just the right property to build a golf course.

During this time, Bill formed a group to establish the Highlands Community Hospital.  He and Beverly became friends with Eva G. Cleaveland who gave the property for the Hospital, as well as with George and Irene Woodruff whom they saw in both Highlands and Atlanta.  An enthusiastic golfer, Bill played at Highlands Country Club with George Woodruff and with Jack "Veazy" Rainwater and he managed to interest the former in furthering the dream of the Hospital.

Beverly Cone Matthews Sossomon describes how, after plenty of searching, they began to acquire property, still hoping to build a golf course:
        In 1948, Bill began purchasing tracts on Whiteside Mountain and the Ridge adjoining it, which became known as Wildcat Ridge, although it really is a ridge of Whiteside Mountain while the actual Wildcat Ridge goes on from the gap at Garnet Rock. This property belonged to I.H. and J. Tillman Powell from Canton, North Carolina, who owned a lumber company.  They had bought the land for timbering from the Ravenels near the time of World War II.  It was virgin forest, and if we had known of its being for sale before it was timbered then we would have done all we could to start acquiring it before the trees were cut down.

To commence developing this property, Dr. Matthews formed a corporation, Whiteside Mountain, Inc., which hired a retired U.S. Army engineer, Major C.D.S. Clarkson, who is said to have looked and acted exactly like Teddy Roosevelt, to build a gravel toll road where the lower part of the Ridge Road presently exists, so that automobiles could be driven almost to the mountain top.  A parking area was constructed, and from there a narrow road was bull-dozed through the forest on which a jeep-pulled tram could transport sightseers to the very top.  Attendants at a toll house just east of Wildcat on Highway 64 collected fees of $1 per person while a concession stand sold hot dogs and cold drinks.  Rustic signs advertised the "attraction".  About 15,000 people per year visited it during the 1950s.  Molly Lowry remembers riding on the Whiteside tram when she came to Highlands with her father, Emmett Evans, who summered here from 1941 until his death in 1996.

At last, Wildcat became a reality in 1961.  Beverly Matthews Sossomon shares her memories of the thrill of completing the negotiations:
        Later, Bill, still wishing to acquire enough property for a golf course, kept in touch with "Till" Powell and talked with him over the years about purchasing the remaining land in the Ravenel tract.  This took a long time to accomplish.  Money was a factor on our part, and Till really wanted to have a sale that had money up front.  Finally, Bill and Till agreed on a brief option and, following that, a long-term payment plan.  The Powell family discussed it among themselves and accepted!  The deed from the Powells to William A. Matthews was dated September 1, 1961, while the deed of trust to the Powells from William A. and Beverly C. Matthews, dated that same day, was registered on September 25 in Macon County and on September 29 in Jackson County, North Carolina.  Mr. Powell said he would not have sold it to anyone except "the Doc".  They had become friends over the years.

The Matthews conveyed to the Club one tract of land dated December 12, 1962, and another dated June 1, 1964.  The first deeds on Wildcat home sites were dated 1963.