History of Waynesville, North Carolina

The Town of Waynesville was founded in 1809 by Colonel Robert Love, an American Revolutionary War soldier. He donated land for the courthouse, jail, and public square, and named the town after his former commander in the war, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne.

Waynesville also has a connection to another war. With news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender traveling slowly, the American Civil War continued in Western North Carolina. The final shots of that war, east of the Mississippi River, were fired near Sulphur Springs and General James Martin surrendered honorably on May 9, 1865 (See The "Battle" of Waynesville below.)

The Town of Waynesville was incorporated in 1871. In July 1995 the Towns of Hazelwood and Waynesville merged into one community and continued to grow with a population today of almost 10,000.

Waynesville began to see development after arrival of the railroad in 1884. The agricultural, lumber and tourism industries in Waynesville and Haywood County began to thrive as access to the west was opened up.

The area of Waynesville located along Richland Creek, northwest and down hill from Main Street, was where the railroad tracks were laid. Until this time the area had been essentially a swampland, with a few scattered buildings but no major development. Once the depot was built and the train arrived, the area soon came to be known as Frog Level was developed. Frog Level was so named by the local community because of its low-lying location along Richland Creek, the "frog level" when the area flooded.

Downtown and the nearby Frog Level commercial centers of Waynesville continued to be the central focus for social life, transportation, and wholesale and retail businesses through the 1940s. Businesses in the Frog Level area in the 1930s and 1940s included hardware stores, farm supplies, coal sales, auto dealers and garages, furniture stores, wholesale groceries, warehouses and lumber companies, all businesses dependent on the railroad. However, as the automobile began to change the primary mode of transportation for most residents, the railroad declined in importance. The last passenger train arrived in Waynesville in 1949, and freight trains pass through Frog Level twice daily, with most trains continuing on to Sylva.

By the 19 in 1900, but it was soon replaced with another depot that remained standing until 1987.80s the railroad in Waynesville had been integrated into the Southern Railway Company system. The first depot burned

New property owners within the district have begun a new wave of renovation efforts, and Frog Level is once again beginning to serve as a commercial part of the Town.

Popular Culture

Cold Mountain, located 15 miles southeast of Waynesville within the Pisgah National Forest, was made famous by the novel Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. A major motion picture based on the novel was produced by Miramax Films in 2003.
The 1996 movie My Fellow Americans was filmed in Western North Carolina. The scene where Jack Lemmon and James Garner are chased from a fast food restaurant parking lot in a car and a giant clown sign crashes through their windshield was filmed at the Long John Silver's on Russ Avenue in Waynesville.
Actor Gig Young, whose real name is Byron Elsworth Barr is buried in the Green Hill Cemetery.
Neighborhoods

Downtown - The primary retail business center of the town, downtown Waynesville is now home to art galleries, cafes and restaurants, shops, banks, doctors, and the town government/administration buildings.
Frog Level - The historic district whose name came about because of frequent flooding of Richland Creek. In the 70s and 80s it was known as a seedy part of downtown, mainly due to a now-closed biker bar called The Tap Room. In recent years, the revitalization of Main Street has spread down into this area. A mural in the area depicts a frog sitting on a level. The historic Murphy Branch of the old Western North Carolina Railroad runs through Frog Level and still carries freight rail traffic from Norfolk Southern Railway which now owns the line.
Hazelwood - Due to financial troubles, this once independent town ceased to exist and was annexed by Waynesville in 1995
Laurel Ridge - The Laurel Ridge neighborhood is connected to a country club of the same name, and features a golf course, pool, tennis courts, and upscale mountain homes.
West Waynesville - The once industrial part of town. There are now plans to demolish the now vacant Dayco plant and build a large shopping center which will include a Wal-Mart Super Center and a Home Depot.
Russ Avenue - The newer business district, which features restaurants, retail stores, auto dealerships, banks, grocery stores, and the like. Russ Avenue is the most traveled surface street in Haywood County.

The "Battle" of Waynesville

Waynesville was the scene of the last and perhaps most unusual skirmish in the eastern theater of the American Civil War. On May 6, 1865, Union Colonel William C. Bartlett's 2nd North Carolina (Federal) Mounted Infantry were raiding, pilagiing, burning homes in the area and were attacked at White Sulphur Springs (east of Waynesville) by a detachment of Confederates from the Thomas Legion of Cherokee and Highlanders, who had been summoned for help by locals. East of the Mississippi Thomas' Legion fired "The Last Shot" of the Civil War in White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina. The Legion consisted of white and Cherokee Indian soldiers who had served under Jubal A. Early during the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864, but had been sent back to their native North Carolina mountains to engage in guerrilla warfare against pro-Union bushwhackers.

The disoriented Union soldiers retreated into Waynesville, and on the evening of May 6 remaining elements of the Thomas Legion surrounded the town. The Cherokees lit numerous bonfires on the ridges above the town and engaged in war chants in an effort to intimidate the Federals. Like the biblical story of Gideon, the Legion created the illusion of entrapping the Federals with superior forces. Furthermore, on May 9, 1865, the Confederate commanders Gen. James Green Martin and Col. William Holland Thomas (for whom the Legion was named) negotiated a "surrender" in exchange for their soldiers' right to keep their arms for self-defense against the roving bushwhackers. These commanders had been made aware that Generals Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston had already capitulated, and that continued hostilities would prove pointless.