contender
Ruger Guru
Recently I had a customer who asked me about a place locally,,, that has largely been forgotten. In Henderson Co NC,,, there is a cave,,, known for decades as "Mills Cave" or "The Devils Smokehouse."
A little history.
During the Revolutionary War,,, at the battle of Kings Mtn NC,, the colonists captured many people loyal to the Crown, or who were British. One of the captured was Col. Ambros Mills. Along with him,,, was his son,, William Mills,,, who was wounded during the battle.
The colonists marched the POW's toward Rutherford county,,, & then held a few "trials" & began hanging some of the captured soldiers. One of the ones hanged,,, was Col Mills.
Now the tales get vague,,, but it's said the colonists lost the stomach for too many hangings,,, and discussed how the other soldiers were just following orders etc. As such,,, either security was lax or they just chose to "allow" many of the POW's to "escape."
William Mills was one of these who escaped,,, and made his way northwest,,, through (what is now Lake Lure) & up & over a mountain. There,,, in Henderson Co,,, he found a cave. He hid out in it,,, and healed up.
He then explored around & found he really liked the area,,, and decided to leave, & join the colonists to help win our Independence.
After the war,,, he chose to return to Henderson Co, and was granted land,,, in what is now called "Edneyville." He married,,, & had twin daughters. He also started planting apple trees. Now,, in modern times,,, we can thank him for the huge apple crop we have here. And,,,, many local places get their name from his family or endeavors. "Fruitland," "Mills River" & even "Edneyville" all derive their names in this history. Williams 2 daughters married twin brothers,, who were both preachers,,, with the last name of "Edney."
William Mills is buried just a few hundred yards off the main road through this community,,, US 64.
During the Civil War,,, a lot of "others" used the very cave that William had used. Smoke could be seen occasionally from the mountain,, and many mothers would warn their little kids to be good as that was "the Devils Smokehouse" & he took misbehaving kids there.
As modern times came about,,, the cave saw little use,,, and in the late 1800's,, a local earthquake closed off part of the cave. But the cave endures.
When I was a young BSA Scout,,, we worked on local history,,, "The William Mills Story" and we re-traced the trail from Lake Lure to the cave & put out post markers to mark the trail. All this was for our "Historic Trails Award." We hiked the route,,, & cooked a lunch at the cave. We also made a trip to Williams grave.
All this happened back in the early 1970's for me. And only occasionally would it be discussed or remembered.
Until a customer of mine asked me about it. Seems he is a distant relative of the Mills family. And he was a history teacher. He wanted to find the cave.
So,,, I asked a few folks,,, and yep,, we all knew "about" where it was & "mostly" knew where to go. But it has been a few decades since I visited it. But,,, plans were made for a modern expedition to find the cave again.
And,, despite all the years,,, once in the woods,, a lot came back to me,,, & I went right to it. Despite the (still) heavy growth around it,, and it's out of the way location,,, We found it. I stepped back in time to when I was a kid,,, and hiking to it all over again.
And my customer,,, well,,, his research has turned up more info,, but it's not named "Mills Cave" in that stuff. And as it turns out,,, the cave was used for geo-caching about 6-8 years ago as well.
This time,,, thanks to modern technology,,, we took pics!
Here I am,,, in front of the entrance.
A little history.
During the Revolutionary War,,, at the battle of Kings Mtn NC,, the colonists captured many people loyal to the Crown, or who were British. One of the captured was Col. Ambros Mills. Along with him,,, was his son,, William Mills,,, who was wounded during the battle.
The colonists marched the POW's toward Rutherford county,,, & then held a few "trials" & began hanging some of the captured soldiers. One of the ones hanged,,, was Col Mills.
Now the tales get vague,,, but it's said the colonists lost the stomach for too many hangings,,, and discussed how the other soldiers were just following orders etc. As such,,, either security was lax or they just chose to "allow" many of the POW's to "escape."
William Mills was one of these who escaped,,, and made his way northwest,,, through (what is now Lake Lure) & up & over a mountain. There,,, in Henderson Co,,, he found a cave. He hid out in it,,, and healed up.
He then explored around & found he really liked the area,,, and decided to leave, & join the colonists to help win our Independence.
After the war,,, he chose to return to Henderson Co, and was granted land,,, in what is now called "Edneyville." He married,,, & had twin daughters. He also started planting apple trees. Now,, in modern times,,, we can thank him for the huge apple crop we have here. And,,,, many local places get their name from his family or endeavors. "Fruitland," "Mills River" & even "Edneyville" all derive their names in this history. Williams 2 daughters married twin brothers,, who were both preachers,,, with the last name of "Edney."
William Mills is buried just a few hundred yards off the main road through this community,,, US 64.
During the Civil War,,, a lot of "others" used the very cave that William had used. Smoke could be seen occasionally from the mountain,, and many mothers would warn their little kids to be good as that was "the Devils Smokehouse" & he took misbehaving kids there.
As modern times came about,,, the cave saw little use,,, and in the late 1800's,, a local earthquake closed off part of the cave. But the cave endures.
When I was a young BSA Scout,,, we worked on local history,,, "The William Mills Story" and we re-traced the trail from Lake Lure to the cave & put out post markers to mark the trail. All this was for our "Historic Trails Award." We hiked the route,,, & cooked a lunch at the cave. We also made a trip to Williams grave.
All this happened back in the early 1970's for me. And only occasionally would it be discussed or remembered.
Until a customer of mine asked me about it. Seems he is a distant relative of the Mills family. And he was a history teacher. He wanted to find the cave.
So,,, I asked a few folks,,, and yep,, we all knew "about" where it was & "mostly" knew where to go. But it has been a few decades since I visited it. But,,, plans were made for a modern expedition to find the cave again.
And,, despite all the years,,, once in the woods,, a lot came back to me,,, & I went right to it. Despite the (still) heavy growth around it,, and it's out of the way location,,, We found it. I stepped back in time to when I was a kid,,, and hiking to it all over again.
And my customer,,, well,,, his research has turned up more info,, but it's not named "Mills Cave" in that stuff. And as it turns out,,, the cave was used for geo-caching about 6-8 years ago as well.
This time,,, thanks to modern technology,,, we took pics!
Here I am,,, in front of the entrance.
