2020 Dahlia Festival Entries
1. STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS
Location: HHV Museum
Story: When Highlands was founded in 1875, moonshining provided essentially the only stable income available to Appalachian mountaineers. Their corn and apples would otherwise spoil before reaching markets in the flatland. But whiskey and brandy could be preserved and sold for much needed income. During the great Moccasin War of 1885, Highlands claimed to be "dry," but there were as many stills hidden in the dense forests on the plateau as there were across the Georgia border. One of the byproducts of the moonshine runners' souped-up cars was today's NASCAR, where drivers who once outfoxed and outran federal agents still race for a living.
A Legends-and-Lore Marker on Main Street celebrates the Moccasin War, which actually made the front page of the New York Times on March 15, 1885.
2. THE BEE’S KNEES: AN ODE TO OUR FLYING POLLINATORS
Location: HHV Prince House
Story: The Elizabeth Wright Prince House is the oldest existing house in Highlands, built by Arthur House in 1877. In 1935 Elizabeth Prince converted her private home into a boarding house for much needed income. She rented rooms for $9.00 a week, and her meals made "The Prince House" a Mecca for residents and visitors to the Highlands who dined there on Sundays for the next forty years. Her guests would wait on the porch, visiting with each other, until they could be served chicken fried in country butter, fresh vegetables, and buttermilk pie or pound cake. She cooked all her food the old time way, no mixes or instant foods were found in her kitchen. She was well known for her pumpkin pies and the old-fashioned chocolate cakes—these being yellow layers with chocolate icing. The table was covered with the old-fashioned white tablecloth.
The Prince House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 2017, and serves today as a living history museum.
Presenter: Drew English of Drew’s Dahlias (Dahlias, Gardens, Events), Cashiers, N.C., Instagram:@drewsdahlias
3. BUG HILL
Location: HHV Bug Hill
Story: In 1908, during a raging tuberculosis epidemic, Dr Mary Lapham built the Highlands Camp Sanatorium. She was the first physician in the United States to treat tuberculosis using the pneumothorax method of collapsing the lung to give it a rest. Her treatment saved thousands of lives across the U. S. This cottage/tent was the brainchild of Dr. Lapham, which allowed the patient to have maximum exposure to the cold, fresh, healing mountain air. It's the last one of 60 built here and was used until a fire burned the sanatorium in 1918.
Presenter: Lisa Dailey, “Cultivation” Horticultural Consultant, 941-302-1501, Hwy. 107, Cashiers, N.C., 828-743-1062, , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Designers: Lindy Harrison, Gloria Harrison, Melanie Mauldin, Cathy Jones, and Marianne Jenkins
Growers: Lisa Dailey, Robbie Harrison, and Jim Keeble
4. INDIAN SUMMER CELEBRATION: (1) EQUINOX TEA, (2) PICNIC ON THE GROUNDS, (3) HARVEST MOON DINNER
Location: Mountain Findings
Story: Mountain Findings, the best place to shop; the ultimate in recycling. Generous to local non-profits. “FINDS” you wouldn’t believe. All props used are available from Mountain Findings.
Sponsor: Glenda Bell
Designers: Margie Melvin and Meredith Watson
Florals: Garden of Juliana Stottlemyer
5. PICNIC IN PROVENCE
Location: CK Swan
Story: “Bonjour,” you are cordially invited to picnic with us in Aix-en-Provence. Enlighten your senses while enjoying the effortless beauty and délicieux cuisine this region has to offer. From the fragrant lavender fields, to the beauty of our exquisite dahlias; this is the true pièce de résistance of our afternoon shared with friends. “Bon appétit!"
Presenters/Designers: The Swans, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Insta: @ck_swan
7. HELLO DAHLIA
Location: Highlands Playhouse
Story: Highlands Playhouse, one of the country’s oldest professional summer stock theaters, is the legacy of Highlands’s early forward-thinking families. Originally used as the Highlands School auditorium in the mid-1930s, the first group of local amateurs staged their first production of the Broadway comedy "Dulcy" here in the 1930s. Reserved seats cost 50¢. Bleacher seats were 35¢. And it was a sell out crowd. Over the years, the local ensemble began to bring in professionals and mounted sophisticated plays by important authors: Molière, Ionesco, George Bernard Shaw, and Thornton Wilder. Collin Wilcox, a regular on the local stage, went on to play opposite Gregory Peck in the film “To Kill A Mockingbird” as Mayella. Today, Playhouse Theatre, with 3-4 plays each summer, is still a springboard for local drama students to hone their skills alongside professional mentors. For children, the Playhouse Theater Summer Camp offers fun, hands-on exposure to the magical experience of writing and performing a play. And off-season, the performance space becomes a movie theatre for first-run films. Highlands Playhouse will soon have a new home - joining other cultural organizations in the newly expanded Performing Arts Center. The theater will seat as many as 350 with state-of-the-art sound and lighting.
Presenter: Highlands Playhouse
Designers: Rachel Friday, Paige Matze, Jan Roush, Sandie Trevathan
8. HIGHLANDS LAWN AND GARDEN
IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED, DO SERVE, AND WILL SERVE OUR GREAT COUNTRY ON THE FRONT LINES HERE AND ALL OVER THE WORLD!
Location: Police Station Flagpole
Story: Highlands Lawn and Garden is blooming its 26th season of providing our beautiful plateau with a one-stop garden center. Their success and growth are due to their belief in hard work and their commitment to providing quality plants and products to their customers. They have grown to offer the largest selection of diverse plant material and products in the Highlands-Cashiers area. Highlands Lawn and Garden believes in friendly customer service and appreciates the business of our friends and neighbors. Highlands Lawn and Garden owner, David Sims, is an avid University of Georgia DAWG FAN and is married to Sherry Sims, owner and Pharmacist of Highlands Pharmacy and a University of Georgia graduate. They have lived in Highlands for 27 years. Son, Parker Simms, plays a very active role in the success of the nursery. The team is made up of friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable folks offering over 50 combined years of nursery experience. Highlands Lawn and Garden believes in strong community support!
Presenter: Highlands Lawn and Garden
Designers: Tina Wilnoty, Darin Keener, Parker Simms
9. DELIGHTFUL DAHLIAS WITH FLORAL AND FURRY FRIENDS
Location: Kelsey Hutchinson Park
Story: PURPLE AND PINK PASSION Flowers bring love and passion to a relationship. Purple is a symbol of royalty, nobility, luxury, power, and ambition. It also means wealth, extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, grandeur, devotion, peace, pride, mystery, independence, and magic. Pink–a delicate color–means sweet, nice, playful, cute, romantic, charming, feminine, and tender.
HERBS AND DAHLIAS – TRUE LOVE
Herbs provide the delightful scents and unique flavors of life, while Dahlias provide the beauty. Keep this arrangement on your kitchen counter or bar, and enjoy the fresh scents each day and the flavors in your favorite culinary creations.
GALAX GALORE AT THE LAKE
Galax (Galax urceolata), aka Beetleweed, is an herb/wildflower. It is prized around the world as a base plant in floral arrangements because its leaves hold their green color for up to several weeks after they have been picked. North Carolina accounts for 99% of the national Galax harvest, and the Blue Ridge Parkway area provides much of that Galax.
BEAR’N DOWN ON THE FLOWERS
Bears are a part of the experience on the plateau. These creatures, large and small, love to dump over cans and explore their contents. This time it was flowers and not yummy barbeque leftovers.
LAKE GLENVILLE BLOSSOMS
The environment that Lake Glenville provides brings a rich variety of the flora and fauna to the region. The sunlight, rich soil, mountains, and forest combine to produce glorious flowers and plants throughout the year but especially in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Presenter: Carol Miller
Designers/Workers: Carol Miller and Hilda Nieves
10. X MARKED THE SPOT
Location: Kelsey Hutchinson Park Stage
Story: “Kelsey, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Hutchinson might have said this when he and Kelsey founded Highlands in 1875. While living in Kansas, the two developers drew lines from Chicago to Savannah and from New Orleans to New York City. They felt that the place where these lines met would eventually become a great trading center and commercial crossroads. The intersecting lines, the X, marked the spot that became Highlands.
Presenter: Laurel Garden Club
Co-chairs: Peggy Boruchow and Libby Eustis
Very special thanks for the generous floral contributions from some of Highlands’ finest private gardens, members of Laurel Garden Club, Grigsby Arnette, and Santiago Belman.
11. HIGH HAMPTON STAY TRUE / 2020 AND THE SEASON OF COVID-19
Location: Kelsey Hutchinson Park
Story: Inspired by the microscopic images of the COVID-19 virus, we constructed these abstract spheres of blooms to lift and brighten the hearts, minds, and spirits of with those who have been affected by this awful disease.
We hope these hanging “viruses of beauty” will spread joy! We hope they will remind us of the beauty of the mountains, the whimsical magic of the flowers that grow around us, and the power of a community to come together for the common good of each other!
While we acknowledge that this disease is still among us, the High Hampton Community wishes to extend our thoughts and prayers to all the individuals and families who have been affected during this global pandemic.
Presenter: High Hampton
Designer: Drew English, Dahlia Garden Director
12. ROTARY CLUB OF HIGHLANDS
Location: Kelsey Hutchinson Park Wheel
Story: In May 1945 The Rotary Club of Highlands was organized by twenty-one Highlanders that agreed they could do more to serve their community, while developing better friendships with their fellow citizens. Over the last 75 years the Rotary Club of Highlands has continuously served our community and well beyond. We currently have 95 active members, 6 honorary members, plus our summer resident red badgers. Our motto is Service above Self, and we end each meeting with The Four Way Test, the vision of the twenty-one founding members.
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Presenter: The Rotary Club of Highlands
Designers: Linda Carter and Sarah Benz
Grower: native Linda McCall
13. PLANTING SEEDS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW WITH HIGHLANDS-CASHIERS LAND TRUST
Location: Kelsey Hutchinson Park
Story: Deeply woven into the fabric of our community, Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust has been conserving the places we all love and need for 111 years. When Highlands’ founder, Samuel Kelsey, stood atop what is now HCLT’s conserved Satulah Mountain Preserve, he knew that he had found some place special, a realization that you, as someone standing here in this beautiful greenspace nestled in this charming community surrounded by these incredible mountains, have likely also realized. Indeed, a place this special needs to be cared for, and HCLT is equipped and ready to continue this charge for the next 100 years. An accredited 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your Land Trust protects the lush forests, majestic peaks, gurgling waters, and open spaces that make our plateau so special—these places that are necessary for the health and wellbeing of all who call our mountains home: two legged, four legged, scaled, feathered, leaf-covered, and blooming. We are funded thanks to the support of people like you. Now more than ever, the pressure is on our mountains— they need us. Please consider investing in our home by donating to HCLT today at hicashlt.org. All the native botanicals used here were collected from our conserved properties here on the plateau.
Presenter: Highlands Cashiers Land Trust
Designer: Julie Schott
14. FRAMING NATURE
Location: Village Square
Story: Highlands Village Square was developed in 1975. It had a lovely creek running through it for many years and has been the site of countless gatherings and meals. Various businesses have been located here through the years—Jeans South, Le Petit Patisserie, Needlepoint of Highlands, an antique store, jewelry store, and more. Today it is home to Mill Creek Gallery and Framing, Fressers Courtyard Cafe, Shakespeare and Co. Books, and Palmer House Properties. It is in the process of renewal with new landscaping and hardscaping changes coming soon.
Presenter: Village Square Association
Designers: Linda Edwards and Diane Levine
15. SUNDAY CHURCH HATS
Location: Episcopal Church of Incarnation
Story: We celebrate a long tradition of women wearing hats to church. Church hats have ranged from modest head coverings worn by ladies of yore to fancy Easter bonnets to outrageously elaborate hats and whimsical fascinators on parade at royal weddings. Here’s to the memories and to the future of Sunday Church Hats!
Presenter: Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. The Chapel, consecrated in 1896, is on the National Register of Historic Places
Designers: Ruth Claiborne, Jill Helmer, Sandy Norton, Lisa Armstrong, Michael Burel, Suzie Dickinson, Martha Dupuis, Betsy Hehn, Stephanie Reeves, Adele Scielzo, Catherine Chernenko, Meegie Glass, and Peggy Mussafer
Growers: Michael Burel, Jane Chalker, Lisa Dailey, Martha Dupuis, Brad Jay, Ann Maxwell, Heath Massey and John Mitchener, John Muir, Sandy Norton, Dollie Swanson, and Jane and Tom Tracy
16. KIRKIN’ AND BEARFOOTIN’
Location: First Presbyterian Church of Highlands
Story: First Presbyterian Church was built in 1883-85. It is the oldest church in Highlands. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Once a year the congregation celebrates the “Kirkin' of The Tartan,” where clans (families) and occasional bears (!) come together to remember their heritage and to present their tartans before Almighty God and ask for His blessings.
Presenter: First Presbyterian Church of Highlands
Designers: Natalie Jones, Dahlias @ Mountain Life Services, Lake Toxaway, Kris Nelson, 'Citizen Wilder,' Highlands, Ruthie Watts, Susie Day, and Helen Steward
18. OLD EDWARDS INN
Location: OEI arch by 465
Story: Founded in 1878 as Highlands’ first boarding house (then called Central House) Old Edwards Inn and Spa is now a European-style, Relais & Châteaux resort with premium leisure amenities, farm-to-table restaurants, gardens and greenhouses, musical venues, a private golf club, and a world-class spa. Guests choose from a wide variety of individual appointment guest rooms, suites, and cottages situated along several acres of lushly landscaped grounds in the heart of downtown Highlands. Resort florals are styled by Oakleaf Flower and Garden, and Tate Landscaping maintains the meticulous grounds for which the resort is known.
Presenter: Old Edwards Hospitality Group
Designer: Kirk Moore, Oakleaf Flower and Garden
19. WHITE OAK REALTY
Location: White Oak Realty
Story: In 1993, we celebrated our engagement at High Hampton with eight of our dearest friends. Year after year, we would scoot up from ATL and enjoy a long weekend of hiking, fly fishing, shopping, relaxing, cooking with friends, or eating out at our favorite restaurants. When Sunday would roll around, we found every excuse to stay as late as we could—we just did NOT want to leave Highlands! During every visit over 25 years, we would say, “We really want to live here one day”!!
Fast forward to 2015 . . . we found ourselves buying a Mirror Lake cottage and making this our primary residence. We had to continue to work and challenged ourselves to get our realtors license! In 2018, we bought White Oak Realty Group . . . and are so blessed to serve a great community of locals and new clients.
Presenters: Bee and Pat Gleeson, White Oak Realty Group, 828-782-0472
Designer: Lisa Dailey/Cultivation
20. GARDEN ANGELS
Location: Oakleaf Flower and Garden
Story: There are garden angels. Oakleaf’s most special angel was Betty McCall. She taught us the secrets of the climate here, she taught us patience, she was an inspiration. She also supplied us for years with the most beautiful dahlias that we used in the shop and for countless weddings.
She is gone now, but I think of her every evening. My mother always told me that stars were loved ones looking down on us. I now look up into the night sky, looking for a bright, twinkling dahlia-shaped star shining on me. She’s always there, and I somehow feel safe.
Presenter and Designer: Kirk Moore, 828-526-8000
21. FUELING THE PLATEAU: ALL ROADS LEAD TO HIGHLANDS
Location: 4th and Main
Story: If you owned a car in the 1920s and 30s, you frequented the service stations that found a home at the corners of Main and 4th Streets. In 1875 atop Satulah Mountain, the town of Highlands’ founders, Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson, surveyed this settlement below. Today’s Main Street was an east-west path cut in the dense virgin forest. Now you are standing at the intersection of converged routes US 64, NC 106, and NC 28. From 1942 to 1985 this site was home to a Gulf gas station.
Presenter: Wild Azalea Garden Club
Designers: Nancy Jamison and Miriam Skiles
22. THE ORIGINAL HIGHLANDS ESTATE JEWELERS AND TUSCAN WINE SHOP ART GLASS GALLERY
Location: Highlands Fine Art and Estate Jewelry
Story: Highlands Fine Art and Estate Jewelry strives to bring the finest in jewelry and timepieces to Highlands as well as the area’s largest selection of art glass. Owners Joe and Claudia Lazow take pride in their business and welcome each customer as a friend. With each new season they continue to provide the optimum in hand-picked estate and modern jewelry, diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones, and pearls, as well as platinum and gold.
Joe, who is a graduate gemologist, enjoys working with customers, building relationships through the beauty of jewelry. Joe’s wife, Claudia, loves sharing her extensive knowledge of gems and art glass, working to find each of their customers the exact pieces they were seeking
Presenters: Jo and Claudia Lazow, 828-526-0656
23. NATURE’S BEAUTY CANNOT BE CAGED
Location: Kilwins/Town Square
Story: The Vineyard at 37 High Holly is a vacation destination, event venue, and boutique winery nestled on 45 acres of lush, rolling hills in Scaly Mountain, N.C. It boasts a 10.5-acre working vineyard, award-winning dahlia garden, waterfall and pond, event pavilion, and several vacation cottages. To learn more about The Vineyard, check us out at TheVineyardat37HighHolly.com
Presenter and Designer: The Vineyard at 37 High Holly
24. HIGH STYLE, BESPOKE DESIGN
Location: Tug’s Proper
Story: A marriage of antique baskets and stunning florals. Enjoy the flowers, Tug’s delicious food, and the hip interior.
Presenter: Joan Johnson
Designer: Fiddlehead Designs Cashiers, N.C.
25. SEPTEMBER SUNDAY MORNING
Location: Highlands United Methodist Church
Story: The Methodists were the first denomination to build their own sanctuary in Highlands. Construction was begun in 1882 by the Highlands Methodist Episcopal Church (the church of the Northern Methodists) on the land where the Baptist Church stands today. The Methodist Episcopal Church South (representing the Southern Methodists) offered to buy the property from the Northern Methodists, but were not successful. The first Highlands Church building was finally dedicated July 5, 1885. The new sanctuary was shared by both Methodist groups and the Baptists. In 1890 the Southern Methodists built their church where Mountain Findings is today. In 1904 the Northern and Southern Methodists fully reconciled and reunited. In 1908 they began construction of a new sanctuary on Main Street. The sanctuary was dedicated on August 20, 1909. There have been several additions and renovations since then, making Highland United Methodist Church the large multipurpose space it is today.
Sponsor: Glenda Bell
Designers: Linda Edwards and Margie Melvin
26. PICKLES’ PUPPY PARADISE
Location: Park on Main Hotel
Story: Dahlias, native plants (ferns, native tree leaves), and moss—the final composition will not be known until the masterpiece has been completed.
Presenter: Park on Main
Designers: Staff at The Park on Main Hotel, 828-526-4502
27. JANNIE BEAN FINE CUSTOM JEWELRY
Location: Jannie Bean Fine Custom Jewelry
Story: Our first visit to Highlands took us to Mountain Fresh where Tom and I met Pat and Bee Gleason for coffee. We had only 45 minutes to visit because we were on our way home to Minnesota at the end of our vacation. I remember exclaiming to Tom, "The foliage is so rich and beautiful. I could live here." Three months later we were living here. The mountains, the forests, the native plants are all so irresistible. This is our fifth year now, and this is home.
Presenters: Tom and Jannie Bean
Designer: Lisa Dailey/Cultivation, 941-302-1501
28. THE CART IS FULL!!
Location: Bryson's Food Store
Story: For over 40 years Bryson’s Food Store has served our Highlands community. In 1977 Jim Bryson and his brothers started this amazing grocery business. The best place for every grocery, local produce, wine or beer need you may have. Not to mention the best place to run into all of your friends.
Presenter: Bryson's
Designers: Margie Melvin, Meredith Watson, Melinda Wilson
31. WINE COUNTRY SPLENDOR
Location: Highlands Wine Shoppe
Story: As fifth generation Highlanders (we are two of Highlands’ oldest families), we welcome your support for our growing and thriving community. We strive to make the town of Highlands a wine destination. Please drop by and enjoy Wine Country Splendor, our perfect house blend of California and western North Carolina.
Presenter: Highlands Wine Shoppe
Designers: Merlot and the gang, Highlands Wine Shoppe, 269 Oak Street, Highlands, N.C. 28741, 828-526-4080. Instagram: @highlandswine
32. PRIMEVAL FOREST
Location: Chamber of Commerce/Visitor’s Center
Story: Imagine a mountain primeval forest filled with hardwood trees that create a canopy of lush vegetation and a forest floor where flora and fauna were so abundant, a place unlike any in the world. Before the Town of Highlands was established in the beautiful Highlands Plateau, there only existed some of the first settlers in this area at the base of the mighty Whiteside Mountain. These settlers would live along the rivers and remain in the cove for years. Time would soon after bring change to the glorious Highlands Plateau and the primeval forest that once stood.
FACT TO TAKE WITH YOU TODAY AS YOU NOTICE SOME OF THE STREET NAMES THROUGHOUT THE TOWN: The following street names in downtown Highlands were named for the trees that were taken down in order to build the roads you see today. What type tree fell in that spot was how that street was named. If a mighty Oak was cut to clear the way for a street, then that's the name the street was given: Maple Street, Pine Street, Hickory Street, Chestnut Street, Poplar Street, Laurel Street, Spruce Street, and Oak Lane.
Presenter and Designer: Dena Williams
Help with Display Construction and Setup: Tommy McCall and Megan Macknick
33. DAHLIAS AT THE BASCOM
Location: The Bascom
Story: Come see five glorious arrangements, inside and out, all for sale in their original containers. Don’t miss hiking trails, featured exhibits, the gift shop, and handmade pottery in the barn!
Presenter: The Bascom
Designers: Ruthie Edwards, Heath Massey, Claire Ellis, Ann Sullivan, Susan Tarver, Margaret Lauletta, Diane Warren, Jo Hill, and Stephanie Reeves
Flower donors: Heath Massey, Paula Dobson, Julia Grumbles, Margaret Lauletta, and Ann Sullivan