Southern Appalachian Digital Collections
Spruce, North Carolina, Potter swimming hole
Champion Fibre Company began operations in the planned logging community of Sunburst in 1907. In 1911 Sunburst moved 4 miles downstream and renamed the upstream site Spruce, currently known as the Sunburst Campground. In November, 1925, after a dry summer, a major fire depleted the forest. Sunburst remained in production until September 15, 1926. In the following years, the logging camp was removed, the West Fork of the Pigeon River was dammed and Lake Logan was created. This photograph shows Doug Wood, camp foreman, his wife Betty Parker Wood and their son Howard posing on a rock near Potter swimming hole on the Pigeon River.
—Southern Appalachian Digital Collections
I was working at Lake Logan when Matt and I met. At that time it was owned by Champion International Paper Company. They used it as a meeting facility.
Several of the buildings showcased old photos of the logging operation. I always loved looking at them and wondering about the people.
Terrain changes over time but just in case I asked Matt if he recalled seeing the big rocks in the photo back when he stogged all over that area fishing and hunting. He said he didn’t.
Katie spent quite a bit of time fishing in the area in recent years. She said she wasn’t sure but could think of two places that it might be.
I wonder if there’s anyone left that can remember Potter swimming hole. They would know if it’s still there or if nature changed the river like it did with Helene wiping it away forever or if the swimming hole is now under the water of the lake.
Before I met Matt I swam in swimming holes along that stretch of river with my cousins who lived up the Little East Fork. They were used to the cold cold waters. I had done all of my swimming in ponds, lakes, and pools and never did get used to the cold water, but I loved to look at the beauty and play in the rocks in the shallow edges.
Last night’s video: Old Pictures & Stories of Pap from the Mountains of Appalachia.
Tipper
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Thank you Tipper for your many wonderful writings. My childhood was full of times swimming and fishing in the creek behind my house. My mom would always keep a close eye out on me and can still hear her saying; “Christopher you better not get out of my sight!”
I truly appreciate your writings and still being able to read my Mom’s works to remember the truly wonderful things she passed on to us all.
The coldest water I can remember getting totally submerged in is Bald River above the Falls. I may have been wading or fishing in some colder but never had any to turn my skin blue like that water did.
It’s strange seeing older pictures of people fully dressed in pictures close to a swimming hole. Notice how the mother is holding on to her son. I’m sure she was afraid he would fall in and either get hurt or mess up his dress clothes. I’m glad they did take this picture because you and the people in that area wouldn’t be able to see the changes that have happened around the swim hole. Growing up my family went to a local park lake called Little Beaver Lake, it’s had many changes over the years and is now part of the national state parks in WV. We still have our yearly family reunions there, but they no longer allow swimming in the lake. They only allow fishing and paddle boats. Things change but life still goes on just differently every year.
The old swimming hole may be done ‘n gone but I guarantee that big old boulder the family is sitting on is sitting right where is was when the picture was taken. Nothing short of a massive earthquake is gonna move that.
Swimming holes die of neglect when left unused. They fill in with silt and debris, plants take root in them and attach them together. Before you know it they are islands in the stream, that is what they are.
Do you often hear “done ‘n gone”?
Ed-I do 🙂
I grew up very near Lake Michigan and it was always cold and I sure do not enjoy cold but when I would be down south at my Grandparents I loved the old swimming holes and warm waters.
Also, on your video, I remember listening to Paul tell the story about his dream and writing such a beautiful song. I really like the notes he wrote when he sang the word “Wonder.” Beautiful! Great job Paul!
We have only two pictures of my maternal grandmother, Dora Moss Alexander of Salem, SC. In one she is standing on a rock at the foot of Whitewater Falls. The other is of my mother as a teenager with her mother. Mom said in the photo she was wearing the last pair of shoes her mother bought her. Dora was killed instantly in a Model T turnover accident in Salem in 1927. We have a newspaper clipping that described the accident in graphic detail.
Tipper, do you know who named it “Potter’s Swimming Hole”? My maiden name was Potter. My dad told me many years ago that there were seven brothers, named Potter who came from England and first made their home in North Carolina and then gradually made their way to Virginia, Kentucky and other states. Growing up I liked to swim in mountain pools, and the water is icy cold but refreshing. We used to go camping in western Pa at Cook’s Forest State Park and there are mountains there and lots of swimming areas.
Tricia, I don’t know if it was a family name or maybe for a potter. I wish I did 🙂
Thanks, Tipper.
Oh what fun! Swimming holes are something I can only imagine. I grew up in a near desert area of the Texas panhandle. Not much water there, nor trees. Swimming holes are something I only read about and imagined as a kid. Now we live in a different climate so I know I could find one for my kids. I’d enjoy it as much as they would I bet! I hope you find out if yours is still around. And I do hope it is!
Looks like a beautiful spot. I hope it does still exist. So enjoyed last night’s video. Such a wonderful song Paul wrote.
I wonder if the Potter moniker for the hole was for a person by that name or someone of that profession?
There’s swimming hole on Deep Creek that was a favorite with locals in my youth. I say “was” because we’ve lost this bit of our free heritage to the county-run, taxpayer-funded pool. It wasn’t the biggest hole, by any stretch of the imagination; there was a longer and deeper one just around the bend above it. But it has a good-sized boulder along its edge which made for a diving or cannonball launching pad.
There’s a photo of it (taken in October when the water is quite low) with a note about it here:
https://www.mymountainfolks.com/Photos/Big_Rock.pdf
I never lived close enough to a creek or river to try to swim in it. Even though I still live in the most rural area left in Greenville County much of the landscape is now completely different. The land that now has a house on it once grew cotton has been planted in pine trees or just allowed to grow up in weeds and brush. Now when riding on the roads around my area, I am often thinking of how it used to be.
Different subject. I am very discouraged this morning with trying to have a garden. For the last several years, I have not had much luck, this year is no different. The only thing the deer did not eat this year was my tomatoes, the deer are even eating the leaves on my knockout roses. Last night I picked two tomatoes off of 6 plants. The plants have dried up and are dying from the heat and dry weather we have been having since Memorial Day. I have tried watering them but can not do anything about the heat. I have had less than 1 inch of rain in the last 6 weeks and temperatures each day of 90-100 degrees… 1/10 of an inch in the last two weeks despite thunderstorms being around everyday. The same mid to upper 90’s for the next 4-5 days and less than 10% chance of rain. My son bought fresh okree last week for $2 a pound at the Pickens jockey lot/ flea market and I bought fresh corn yesterday for $3 a dozen. Those prices almost makes trying to grow a garden senseless. Between arthritis making it hard and painful to work a garden and the hot dry weather we have had for the last several years. I think I am through with trying to have a garden. My grass crunches when you walk on it and my Grandmother’s peony is wilting each day, I keep trying to water it. I know it has been there all of my life of 71 years.
Randy, where I live in North Alabama, peonies only bloom in the spring so you shouldn’t have to water them now. They’ll die back when they do and re-emerge next year. We don’t have deer in our neighborhood but my husband built cages for the pecan trees at my parents’ farm and it helped. I’ve had to water the last two summers in the vegetable garden, but my stuff did not thrive at all. As Tipper says, plants need rain. We’ve had more rain this season so far, but could use some this week for sure. At least you can still eat local grown food and that’s the next best thing!!
Carol, this one does the same but the green stems left is wilting and dying from the heat and dry weather. After the stems die in the fall and the first “killing frost” I actually run over it with my lawn mower and it will come back up in the spring of the year and grow fast enough to give kudzu a run for it’s money.
I’ve been going to the swimming hole up Sunburst all my life and never have got used to submerging myself in that cold water. I’m a wader all the way when it comes to that icy cold creek water lol. Never heard of the Potter swimming hole but seems like a rock that size would still be there. I’m sure some of the older river rats know right where it’s at
there is nothing like swimming in a pond, or creek….swimming pools are the last place I want to swim, it is just not the same to me……It saddens me every time I discover the landscape of my youth is no longer in existence not just because of my memories and wishing things were still the same but also because it means the kids and young adults of today and of the future are missing out on many simple pleasures…enjoyed you and Paul last night on the video….I wish I had known your dad