- [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(lilting piano music) - [Reporter] A tranquil mountain lake surrounded by forest, complete with an inn and all the amenities the 1920s had to offer.

Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it?

Well, that's just what a few industrious entrepreneurs had planned for the Hickory Nut Gorge near Chimney Rock.

- It was gonna be this huge resort community.

- [Reporter] While things didn't quite go exactly as planned, today Lake Lure welcomes visitors from all over the Carolinas and beyond to enjoy time on the water, the beach, the historic inn, and even a flowering bridge.

Join us as we explore how the grand plans for Lake Lure initially went bust.

Meet an adventurous couple whose passion for antiques led them to renovate and rejuvenate the historic Lake Lure Inn.

Take a stroll through a unique garden and meet a lifelong resident whose kitchen once served as the local post office.

All that and more on this episode of "Trail of History."

(gentle upbeat music) (breezy music) Welcome to Lake Lure, North Carolina.

Less than a two-hour drive from Charlotte, a small lake town with lots to offer.

- [Jim] Lake Lure has all the lake activities, boating, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing.

There's lots of hiking trails.

Lake Lure, small town that we have.

The resort on the north end of town, Rumbling Bald Resort has two championship golf courses.

For little bitty Lake Lure, we were blessed with a lot of great things.

The town was incorporated in 1927.

It's a town that has actually a little over 14 square miles, believe it or not.

We have, I believe, by the last census, about 1,200 year-round residents.

4th of July, we probably have 15,000.

- [Reporter] Thousands of visitors enjoying all this community has to offer, from time on the water, relaxing on the town beach, or taking time to smell the flowers at the Flowering Bridge.

But prior to the 1920s, the lake and other amenities didn't exist.

Geographically, the area was called the Hickory Nut Gorge, with the Broad River cutting its way past small settlements.

- [Jim] So at the top of the gorge was Gerton.

A little bit further down was Bat Cave.

A little bit further down was Chimney Rock.

Down the river was Whiteside community.

Up the river was the Buffalo community.

The Morse family bought Chimney Rock at the turn of the last century and created the Chimney Rock Park.

- [Reporter] But the family wasn't done there.

According to an early sales flyer for developing the lake, Dr. L.B.

Morse envisioned damming the Broad River and creating a tourist destination.

Dr. Morse and his brothers set to work finding investors who shared their vision.

According to Jim Proctor's book, "Images of America: Lake Lure," in 1923 with investor backing, they purchased over 8,000 acres to kickstart their plans.

- [Jim] At that time, it was gonna be this huge resort community with thousands of houses and a half dozen golf courses and polo fields and air fields and lots of big hotels, restaurants.

(bouncy jazz music) - [Reporter] Work on the dam that forms Lake Lure commenced in 1925.

Over the next few years, as construction continued, developers got to work on other key parts for the budding town.

- [George] The Lake Lure Inn, the Lake Lure Administration Building adjacent to the inn, Clyde Keeter's Esso gas station, the school of, for the town of Lake Lure, and the Haynes Mansion up on Haynes Hill.

- [Reporter] With the first round of projects completed and the town of Lake Lure officially incorporated, the future looked bright for the Morse family and everyone else involved.

But on the horizon trouble for the fledgling resort town and its ambitious developers.

- Started out with quite a bang.

And then like so many other businesses, hotels, and other enterprises across the country, after Black Tuesday and October 29th, 1929, we saw bread lines rather than lines for tourist attractions.

- [Reporter] Nearly 700 miles away in New York City, financial markets crashed.

A run on the banks marked the start of the Great Depression.

Back in Lake Lure, plans for multiple hotels, golf courses, and other projects also came crashing down, along with the stock market.

The Great Depression lasted through most of the 1930s.

And while development of Lake Lure slowed, the town still attracted some notable visitors, many of whom stayed at the elegant Lake Lure Inn.

- [George] F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda were guests here.

Emily Post, Calvin Coolidge, and, of course, probably the most notable of the guests of the hotel was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to visit the town of Lake Lure in a very remarkable touring car, by the way, and chose to take lunch at the Lake Lure Inn after touring other parts of town center and the lake and the dam and the area.

- [Reporter] President Roosevelt visited here in 1936.

Three short years later in 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, setting off World War II.

That actually helped the American economy recover from the Great Depression, and in turn brought renewed opportunity to Lake Lure.

- [Jim] During the Depression, Lake Lure was dormant.

One of the big things that changed the livelihood of Lake Lure was during World War II and right after World War II, Lake Lure Arcade Building, Lake Lure Inn, and some other structures were used for rest and relaxation for some of the Army troops.

- [George] We also have the register of where these officers signed in to take their R&R at the hotel, often incidentally accompanied by their wives.

- [Reporter] According to Jim Proctor, there was another benefit for the town after the war ended.

- [Jim] When I was growing up, there were a bunch of retired colonels and captains and other Army personnel that first came here because of rest and relaxation from the Army, and then decided to stay.

- [Reporter] But while the town benefited with new residents arriving, the Lake Lure Inn with its Mediterranean inspired exterior started to show its age.

- [George] Following the 1940s, the hotel began to go through a series of ownership.

Some for better, some not so much.

(rhythmic guitar strumming) - [Reporter] By the early 2000s, the Inn, now well past its prime, was put up for sale.

It just so happened at about the same time, a couple with a passion for old buildings and antiques was in the market.

- We got a call from our realtor friend who told us about this.

And George called, and we talked with the realtor here, and we said, "Well, we can't.

We have to go out to Oregon."

He said, "No, you need to come here first," which we did.

And we knew right off the bat a ton of things that could be done.

All of a sudden the possibilities.

What do you think?

We could do this, we could do...

So yeah, we've done a lot of work, but it was really fun from the very beginning.

- [George] In 2004, the hotel was not enjoying great popularity.

The whole of it had fallen into some fairly substantial disrepair.

The swimming pool, which is now wonderful, it's been completely restored, but it was filled with about two feet of black mud with small trees and frogs and snakes living in it.

Many of the rooms were, let's say, difficult condition.

- [Reporter] The building, in all its unique issues, didn't scare away the Wittmers.

They were all in.

- [George] We took possession of the Lake Lure Inn on, in May of 2004, and in November we closed the hotel for the first time for many years, and renovated top to bottom, inside and out, electrical, plumbing, furnishings and the like.

So we removed the old carpeting and had the flooring refinished, and we think to the complement of the hotel.

The chandelier in the main lobby was put out on Trash Day in Atlanta in about 2004 or 2005.

Hope and I have a very good friend who is an antique scout who obtained it from the fellow that picked it up off the street, and we then purchased it and installed it here in the hotel.

It is a genuine Russian Baccarat chandelier and it highly compliments the hotel.

- [Reporter] Throughout the first floor of the inn, the Wittmer's love of the 1920s is evident in the decor.

- [George] The decor that's currently in the Lake Lure Inn is essentially the product of my wife's taste and our collecting.

But our attempt was to duplicate as best we could, the feel of the grand 1920s.

And we have attempted to do so with two-dimensional and three-dimensional art.

- I know what I like when I see it as far as decorating, and that's what, from the beginning with this, I get to pick out the linens and the draperies and the furniture, and he takes care of all the decorating.

But we work so well together and we always have.

And so it's just like home to us.

- [Reporter] Beyond the period style furniture and light fixtures, the Wittmers took full advantage of the space to display unique antiques and art, starting with- - [George] Vintage, upright disk and cylinder music boxes.

We also collect three-dimensional statuary art.

We liked a New York artist from the late 1800s, John Rogers, who produced 74 different statues.

We have a part of our collection of the John Rogers groups on display in the Powers room.

(gentle jazz music) - [Reporter] As preservationists, Hope and George have saved the original structure, but they've also worked to preserve the stories associated with this historic inn.

- One of the most interesting things is provenance and historicity of a structure, whether it's this hotel or any other prominent edifice.

It is good to see the history if it has been preserved through photographs.

My wife, Hope and I have done our very best to acquire and preserve in archives, many photographs of not only the Lake Lure Inn, but also the surrounding area of Lake Lure.

- [Hope] I just love seeing the originals and I like the photographs of people that were guests here.

And I like looking at the old, old stuff, which is cool.

And then when you go ahead and look at what it is now, it's just unbelievable.

And again, it's just really a point of pride for us.

- [Reporter] Throughout the years, various movies have been filmed around Lake Lure.

One in particular has a unique connection to the inn itself.

- [George] When Lionsgate film company discovered Lake Lure and decided to film a great portion of the movie "Dirty Dancing" here, they also reserved the Lake Lure Inn for their cast and crew.

In fact, still remaining in the Lake Lure Inn is the Jennifer Grey Suite and the Patrick Swayze Suite.

We have some photographs of the after parties that occurred here.

Additional to the hotel is also three cabins.

Johnny's Cabin, Baby's Bungalow, and the Overlook Cabin.

And Johnny's Cabin and Baby's Bungalow are rather self-explanatory.

They both are replications of the cabins from the movie "Dirty Dancing."

And those cabins are an homage to the town's history, particularly as it relates to "Dirty Dancing" the film.

- [Reporter] Behind the inn, you'll find Roosevelt Hall, normally used for wedding receptions and family reunions.

But if these floors could talk.

- [George] That space was also used during the filming of "Dirty Dancing" for Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey to practice their dances and their, and even we understand their lift was actually practiced in there on the hardwood floor.

I guess he didn't drop her very often.

- [Reporter] The Wittmer's passion for preservation extended next door to the historic Lake Lure Arcade Building.

It shares the same Mediterranean features as the inn and was one of the original buildings constructed by the original developers.

- [Jim] It was built as the administration building and really it was like a shopping mall.

There was a bank and different shops and restaurant and post office.

And then above was actually another hotel.

- [Reporter] Beyond the Arcade Building and the inn, George and Hope Wittmer have truly made the town of Lake Lure their home.

Not long after completing the restoration of the inn, the couple purchased and restored the historic Haynes Mansion that can be seen high up on the hill.

(breezy music) - How are you today?

- [Reporter] A trip to Lake Lure almost isn't complete without a bit of time on the water.

- For those of you on the front row, there's always the slim possibility you can get wet.

Water samples are always free.

- [Reporter] If you don't have a boat though, no problem.

- [George] For the town of Lake Lure, the Lake Lure Tours operates the marina.

The Lake Lure Tour business, that is guided tours on 22-passenger tour boats and the beach at Lake Lure, those are operated under a concession agreement with the town of Lake Lure.

- The elevation of the lake at full pond is about 990 feet above sea level.

That's close to what we're at now.

- [Reporter] These leisurely lake cruises take about an hour.

And while out on the water, tour guides share interesting facts and history of the 700 plus acre lake.

- [Guide] It's a little green house with a stone foundation.

That was the first house built on the lake.

- [Reporter] The Lake Lure beach opens each summer for Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.

During those summer months, it attracts some 30,000 beach goers just as it has for nearly a century.

(soft rhythmic music) Historic preservation of any building offers up numerous challenges.

Multiply the size and number of those buildings, and well, that takes a special combination of passion and creativity to accomplish.

- [Hope] From the very beginning, it was something we wanted to do.

We've always loved the restoration part of things or we're just so proud of things.

We're proud of this staff.

We're proud of all the work that's been done, and the town has helped us too.

And we have a great relationship with the town.

- [George] One of the most important facets of Hope's and my adopting Lake Lure was our urge to preservation.

And what we found here was an absolutely beautiful blank canvas of buildings, structures, history to be restored.

- [Hope] It's not always, always easy, and you have to fight a lot of battles to get through to make things better.

To sit back in the lobby and just listen to other people and all the comments they have, it's wonderful.

And it just makes you feel like, yes, this is what we did it for.

It's really rewarding.

- [Reporter] The community of Lake Lure would not exist without one key part of its infrastructure.

It's often overlooked, but the dam is an integral part of the town's history.

- [Jim] When they designed the dam in the 1920s, most of rural North Carolina didn't have electricity.

This was before TVA and before rural electrification had happened after the Depression or during the Depression, really.

So for the resort to get electricity, they designed a dam that had the hydro equipment.

So they had two generators.

One thing about Lake Lure that's different than most lakes and even the whole Southeast is that predominantly we're a recreation lake.

Even today, development doesn't own Lake Lure.

The town of Lake Lure owns Lake Lure.

So we can control the lake level and keep it full pond where the other lakes are controlled by electric use.

- [Reporter] Now what might surprise you in all this is the Lake Lure dam's days are numbered.

- [Jim] The dam is almost 100 years old, near the end of its life.

And the town of Lake Lure has hired engineers to design a new dam.

And that's in the process.

Now, it's gonna be probably a decade to do that.

And the dam's safe, don't get me wrong, but we do know that at some point, it's gonna meet the end of its life.

So we are now planning a new dam.

It's gonna be below the existing dam.

- [Reporter] Since the founding of the town, the dam isn't the only piece of infrastructure that's reached the end of its service life.

But with a creative exercise and adaptive reuse, city leaders and volunteers saved another piece of the town's history, simultaneously creating a beautiful outdoor space for pedestrians to stroll.

Welcome to the Flowering Bridge.

- [Kathy] You are at a gorgeous spot in the middle of Lake Lure between Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

There are 12 gardens on the bridge all with a different theme.

It's a unique thing.

It's free.

Families from all ages, from toddlers, all the way up to the grandparents love to be here.

- [Reporter] So you might be wondering just how did this 1927 bridge that carried traffic until 2010 end up transformed into a garden bursting with blooms.

The answer, a bit of forward thinking by city leaders.

Jim Proctor, who was mayor of Lake Lure at the time, explains.

- [Jim] DOT had plans to build a new bridge and tear the old bridge down.

And the town manager and I are longtime preservationists, and it just tore us up that they were gonna tear down a beautiful historic bridge.

And it's kind of a long story, but the short story is we talked DOT into not tearing the bridge down because we found that it was actually on a historical study list from the '70s.

And when we informed DOT of that, they decided, okay, you can save the bridge.

- [Reporter] With the 1927 bridge being designated historic, the State Department of Transportation constructed this modern bridge just upstream.

It carries traffic between Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, but it lacks the character of the 1920's version.

- [Kathy] It's got a lovely architecture.

The bridges in all of Lake Lure are the same with these beautiful balustrades that are so graceful and the arches.

We have three arches that make it just beautiful from the water.

- Now, according to Proctor, saving the old bridge actually did the state a favor.

- [Jim] So we saved DOT a couple million dollars or more by not tearing it down.

And they were generous enough to give us $100,000 to protect it.

(laughs) - [Reporter] When the town took over the bridge, planting a garden wasn't on the list.

The original intent was a simple pedestrian and bike bridge.

Friends of the Flowering Bridge board chair, Kathy Tanner explains.

- One of our local residents had grown up near Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts where the Bridge of Flowers is.

He grew up with his mom dragging him to go see the Bridge of Flowers several times a year.

And a garden club had built a garden on that bridge.

So that was the idea.

That's where the idea came from.

- [Reporter] With the seeds planted for a flowering bridge, countless volunteers set to work creating these lush gardens.

The bridge required a bit of maintenance and renovation, including resurfacing and drainage work.

But those efforts have paid off.

In 2021, an estimated 185,000 plus visitors stop to explore the bridge and its 2,000 plus species of plants.

- [Kathy] We plant.

We plant plants that grow over the bridge and down towards the water.

So that's pretty fun.

And a lot of our hay racks have plants that go all the way down to the water.

So from the outside of the bridge, you see the balustrades, as well as beautiful plants.

And then off the bridge, East Gardens and West Gardens.

East Gardens have a little bit more of our shade plants because it's a shadier spot.

The West Garden's in full sun.

So we're able to celebrate planting those kind of plants, a lot of vines and hibiscus and perennials that love sun.

So it's a very special spot.

We have a new spot, fairly new, we built a couple years ago called the River's Edge Dog Garden.

And it's down that hill towards the river, but it's meant just for dogs.

There's a doggy patio there, doggy stick library where a dog can take a stick home from the library.

And new this year is a rainbow bridge where visitors can come and put dog collars or tags of animals that they have lost.

And it's a very comforting place to be.

- [Reporter] Tanner says many visitors to the Flowering Bridge leave with ideas for their own gardens back home.

- [Kathy] And we've heard this several times, that it's an idea garden.

Because we have small little sections of garden, people can come in and get an idea of what they could actually do at home.

- [Reporter] She adds the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge does more than just provide inspiration, and its role in the community is more than just a tourist destination.

- You've taken something that has been special since the 1920s and turned it into something else that everybody absolutely loves.

And the other thing about tourists coming in, people are coming in now to see the Flowering Bridge, then they ask us where to go to lunch.

And these are people who are either coming in for a weekend or they've come literally just for the day here.

The bridge also is, I think, a wonderful connector between Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.

Our two communities are very closely tied.

(soft music) - [Reporter] Each year, Lake Lure attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the area to enjoy all the area has to offer.

But it's easy to forget that before the dam, the lake, the inn and the beach, there were early settlers here calling Hickory Nut Gorge home.

Local resident Jim Proctor's family's roots reach well back into the mid 1800s.

- [Jim] Great, great, great grandfather was Judge Logan.

- [Reporter] But his historic home goes back even further.

- [Jim] Right now we're at Pine Gables, and it's listed on the National Historical Registry as Pine Gables.

In the late 1700s, the Harris family built a log cabin here to serve as a stagecoach stop, and it kept expanding.

In 1834, same family, the Harris family boarded over the log houses.

In 1866, my great, great great granddad, Judge Logan bought the property, and in 1877, did a major expansion of the property.

- [Reporter] Between 1866 and 1924, Judge Logan, followed by his heirs operated Pine Gables as a stagecoach stop, a tavern and even a post office.

Like the Lake Lure in itself, Pine Gables also had its share of interesting guests.

- [Jim] Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote quite a few novels, stayed here and wrote "Esmerelda."

And that was the longest running Broadway play in the 1800s.

Now she was most famous for, I think it was called "The Secret Garden."

Anyway, she stayed here and a bunch of other folks stayed here just to get away from big cities and smog.

- [Reporter] In 1924, for a period of time spanning about two decades, Pine Gables left the family when it was sold to the Chimney Rock Company developers, who then used the house as a company office, until construction of the Arcade Building was completed.

Pine Gables changed hands one more time before Proctor's grandparents purchased the house in 1946.

From the outside, it's kinda hard to imagine two log cabins make up the bones of Pine Gables.

According to Proctor, the house's location on the main road between Charlotte and Asheville made it the perfect rest stop during the horse and buggy days.

And as a stagecoach stop, it made perfect sense to serve as the area's post office.

- My grandmother used to tell the story of her, I don't, I guess it was a great uncle was the postmaster.

And if it was rainy and muddy, if people were coming to get the mail, he would yell out the door, "No mail today."

Not because there wasn't any mail, he just didn't want people putting mud in the house.

(Jim laughs) - [Reporter] Proctor appreciates the home's history, but says owning a 200 plus year old home comes with plenty of challenges.

- [Jim] Well, there's always something that needs repaired or fixed or changed.

And it's a just a never-ending project, but it is fun to have.

And we were gonna change the bead board in the kitchen to sheet rock because bead board's really hard to clean.

So the contractor's taking all the bead board out, and he takes the bead board off the ceiling, and there's these beautiful hand hued timbers.

And so he calls Robin and me, he says, "You gotta come look at this."

He says, "I just can't cover that up."

This was just an incredible place to be a kid.

We always had, my granddad had big gardens and very interesting crowd coming and going with tourists and family and friends.

- [Reporter] Lake Lure's charm attracts many to its shore for recreation, but for the residents in the community, it means so much more.

- When you live in paradise, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what's best.

I mean, Lake Lure, and a lot of communities can say this, but we have just a lot of great people.

And I joke with people, a lot of people figure out what they're good at and go to where they can do it.

Early on in my life, I figured out where I wanted to be and just figured out how to stay.

- [Reporter] So next time you venture out for a day trip or weekend adventure, perhaps a visit to Lake Lure and the surrounding area might just be what you're looking for.

A community built on big dreams to create a major resort town, then surviving one of the largest economic downturns in our nation's history.

It's a bit smaller than originally planned, but maybe it's just right.

Thank you for watching this episode of "Trail of History" (gentle upbeat music) - [Narrator] A production of PBS Charlotte.