Osborne Boundary Oak

Oral history dates the tree to the Native American settlement era when a buffalo and Indian trail as well as a trading post flanked the tree’s border.  The tree’s first defined date is 1792 when it was massive enough to be used as a boundary marker for the Adlia Osborne land grant.  The tree is designated as a "witness tree" by the Daughters of the American Revolution because the tree witnessed General Griffith Rutherford and his troops as they passed by the tree during the Rutherford Trace march against the Cherokee in 1776.  The legendary black oak has witnessed hundreds of years of history in Bethel Community and has been saved from destruction in the 1970s when community citizens and organizations united to save the tree from widening of Highway #110 and again in 2010 when citizens and organizations assessed the tree’s health and doctored the aging tree with appropriate arborist treatments in 2013, 2016 and 2022 under the direction of BRCO.  BRCO placed its first local historic marker at the tree.  For more information about the Osborne Boundary Oak’s history see Legends, Tales & History of Cold Mountain, Book 6.  See also Cold Mountain Heritage Driving Tour CD.

Osborne Farm

Donated by Robert Cathey and Bill Holbrook, this mid-19th century photograph of the Osborne Farm on Highway #110 reveals a portrait of one of Haywood County's most prominent dairy farms.  Under the oversight of Arthur Osborne and his two sisters, Mary Louisa and Florence, the farm's dairy and livestock interests were rated among the highest in the state.  In this photograph, the farm encompassed space on either side of the unpaved highway.  Today's farm, known as the Triple R farm (named for Reeves, Rudy, and Richard Reeves) by their father, occupies only one side of the highway and houses beef cattle.

Pigeon Gap Watering Hole

Under the auspices of Bethel Rural Community Organization, Joey Rolland, Eagle Scout, restored a historic watering site atop Waynesville Mountain between Bethel and Waynesville that was once used as a rest stop for weary travelers and their animals, dating as far back as the early 1800s.  Rolland cleared the site of overgrowth, uncovered the 1924 plaque placed by the Community Club of Waynesville, and erected a bridge at the Pigeon Gap Watering Hole.  Bethel Rural Community Organization placed strategic directional signage and erected its fourth local historic marker at the site in 2016. BRCO’s Historic Preservation Committee maintains the integrity of the site via annual mowing and upkeep.

Local historic marker placed by BRCO’s Historic Preservation Committee

Thomas Lenoir and Emily Frances Michal House

The Thomas Lenoir and Emily Frances Michal house was built in 1925 or 1926 by the couple.  Being a farmer and surveyor, Thomas was known to be a jack of all trades.  He bought a forge where he learned blacksmithing and created the wrought iron hand railings for the house. Built with rocks from the nearby Pigeon River, the house is solid rock with one-foot-thick walls. The interior includes oak floors, wormy chestnut paneling in the living room and dining room, original windows, a slate roof, three fireplaces, and a wood burning cook stove in the kitchen. When the Michals built the home, U.S. 276 was not in existence. The entrance to the home was from the backside of the property (in what is now Hidden Valley subdivision) via a low water bridge. Thomas later sold a portion of land for the construction of U.S. 276. The Michals had three children: David, Thomas, and Emily. The brothers moved away, and Emily kept the house and lived there her entire life. Emily married Hugh K. Terrell Jr., of Bethel, in 1963, and they had three children: Lydia, Mike, and Jon.

Long's United Methodist Church

Founded in 1890 and remodeled in 1948, the worship center on Coffee Branch Road was originally known as Morgan's Chapel.  The congregation changed the name to Long's United Methodist Church to honor Dr. Carroll Summerfield Long, minister and Japanese missionary who delivered the dedication sermon. Eight hundred people attended the dedicatory service, and in 1896, the church boasted seventy-two members. The adjacent Long's Community Cemetery was established at the same time as the church, with governance of the burial site under the auspices of a non-profit cemetery committee. Former pastor, Peter Constantian, used the likeness of a sawn log as the background for his painting of the church, which is in BRCO’s Historic Preservation art print collection. Information about the church and cemetery is on the Cemeteries, Churchyards, and Graveyards section under the “About Bethel Community” header of the BRCO website. Bethel Cemeteries, Churchyards, and Graveyards