Black Mountain's Past
How a childhood hike up the mountain led to a clandestine moonshine still in Montreat
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
July 11, 2024
Always “camera shy,” I was able to catch this picture of Joe “spinning a tale” back in October 2006. It was taken at his and Mary’s beloved picnic shed on their remote, vast acreage along the headwaters of the Catawba River southeast of Black Mountain. Of course, the photo features my ole’ friend, Arthur J. “Joe” Hemphill, Jr. (1931-2009). Others included in the photo (left to right) are: Robert Goodson, Van Burnette, Charles Jolley, Peggy Buckner (1937-2016), Arthur Joe Hemphill, Jr., Craig Cooley, John Buckner and Tom Jones (1950-2021). As a personal sidebar, my ancestors and Joes were neighbors approximately 250 years ago (Burke & Rutherford counties) and fought side by side at the Battle of Kings Mountain (October 1780). Photo courtesy of the Wendell Begley Collection
What Does Montreat’s “Little Lookout,” Judge, William “Bill” Styles, Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, Buncombe County Deputy Joe Hemphill, Black Mountain Boy Scout Troop 25 and Moonshine liquor have in common? Well, 62 years ago, in March of 1962, all of them came together in an exciting episode in the life of two 13-year-old Boy Scouts. With space a consideration, I will just recite the highlights!
A Cast of Characters
Top left: This is a treasured picture of my Scoutmaster, Judge William M. “Bill” Styles (1915-2006). The photo was taken in the early 1940s when Bill proudly served his country. Judge Styles instilled within us boys a passion for the outdoors, woodmanship, value of good manners, respect for our elders and most importantly, patriotism.
Top right: A 1967 picture of my ol' scout buddy, Fred White.
Bottom left: Laurence E. Brown (1895-1965), one of North Carolina’s longest and most respected sheriffs. A native of Buncombe County, Laurence served as the High Sheriff of Buncombe County for 34 years (1926-1928 then 1930-1962). Sheriff Brown established the Junior Deputy program and chaired the National Sheriff ’s Association. His father was T.K. Brown (1843-1911), Black Mountain’s first mayor when the town was incorporated in1893.
As a personal side bar, my great great great grandfather, Samuel Lusk was Buncombe County’s second High Sheriff, serving from 1799 to 1803.
Bottom right: Arthur J. “Joe” Hemphill, Jr., Black Mountain Police Chief from 1970 to 1975.
The story that involved them all
It was a late Saturday evening 62 years ago, when my Scout Troop (Troop 25) arrived atop the rocky crags of Montreat’s Little Lookout. As a Saturday afternoon outing, Judge Styles, our Scoutmaster with assistants Carl Rogers and Bob Queen had decided a hike up Little Lookout (elevation 3,720 feet) would make a wonderful spot for dinner and viewing a late winter sunset. At that time, the summit of Little Lookout was treeless. Not long after supper, darkness began to set in and we decided the shortest way to the vehicles, which were parked near Montreat’s old riding stables on Puncheon Branch, was straight down the mountainside. Back then us boys called the route “Suicide.” That meant abandoning the well worn switch-back trail we had climbed a few hours earlier. Needless to say, the steep, trail-less, rhododendron choked headwaters of Puncheon Branch (south prong), with its “rhododendron hells and laurel slicks,” was a downhill exit only a Neanderthal would take, especially at night. To mention Judge Style’s “wisdom” at this point would only add further embarrassment.
Well, after arriving home that night, I discovered I had lost my new belt-held knife and hatchet set. So before going to bed, I made Dad promise he would take me and scouting buddy Fred White back to the riding stables early Sunday morning. We would retrace our steps in hopes of finding my lost items of manhood.
Early Sunday morning, Fred and I began the hard climb back up the mountain. Following the stirred-up leaves from the night before was like tracking turkeys in the snow. Not long after entering a large canopy of rhododendrons on Puncheon Branch, we walked right into a sprawling active “likker still.” Fortunately, no one was at home and after the initial shock we weren’t either.
Later that morning, after Dad picked us up, we could not stop talking about our experience. Since Fred and I were “Junior Deputies,” a unique program started for young boys by Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, Dad allowed us to call Sheriff Brown. The Sheriff, one of Dad’s closest friends, was overly excited about our discovery. He had one of the best reputations in the state for prosecuting moonshiners. Something he had done many times during his colorful 34-year career as the “High Sheriff” of Buncombe County.
We gave Sheriff Brown good directions on where to find the still. Unfortunately, he told us it was too dangerous for us boys to go. Early the following week Sheriff Brown dispatched two deputies — Black Mountain’s Arthur Joe Hemphill and Bud Hall — who hiked to the site and destroyed everything. That week’s Asheville Citizen reported the liquor operation as having been discovered by two “Junior Deputies.” Not surprisingly, details on the specifics of the event were very vague. Sheriff Brown later told Dad the still was one of the largest moonshine operations destroyed in Buncombe County. According to a few unnamed Presbyterians, the Puncheon Branch still turned out to be Montreat’s last known White Lightning enterprise.
Craig Cooley gave me this photo 7 years ago. According to Craig, it dates to 1951 or 1952. Surprisingly, it was Black Mountain Troop 25 and includes the following young men (left to right, front row), Carl Bartlett, Craig Cooley, and Gene Knoefel. Back row (left to right), Bill Wells, John Buckner, Paul Wright, Stanley Garland and Bill Barker. Photo courtesy of the Wendell Begley Collection
As many of you know, Arthur Joe Hemphill, Jr. was a long-time friend and mentor of mine. I knew Joe and his wife Mary since my boyhood days of growing up at the foot of Sunset Mountain, our families were close neighbors. As good friends go, Joe and I shared our fill of stories, tall tales, family pedigrees and the like. Before Joe’s stint as Black Mountain Police Chief in the 1970s, Joe had been one of the “High Sheriff’s” most loyal deputies. While swapping “tall tales” one night in 2003, sitting under his picnic shed on the headwaters of the Catawba, ‘ol’ Joe relived a special phone call he had received from Sheriff Brown about 41 years ago. It would be one of the Sheriff’s last directives to Joe.
Montreat’s Likker Still story as appeared in the Asheville Citizen Time on March 9, 1962. Courtesy of the Wendell Begley Collection
By now you might have guessed, Joe was ordered to very discreetly destroy Montreat’s Puncheon Branch still. Well … under the stars that summer evening, 21 years ago, neither Joe nor I knew that our roles and paths had crossed in early March of 1962. Dearest friends in life, ol’ Joe and I played a significant role in discoloring the “branch water” under Montreat’s Little Lookout!
Black Mountain Savings Bank
P.O. Box 729 • 200 East State Street • Black Mountain, NC 28711 • 1.828.669.7991
“Established in 1908, We are One of the 47 Oldest FDIC Insured Banks in America” (that’s Out of 4,620 FDIC Insured Banks) …Too, We are the Town’s Oldest Continuing Business and the Only “Community Owned Bank.” We Have Been Taking Savings Deposits and Making “Local Home Loans” for 116 Years”
Copyright: M. Wendell Begley, series 877, VE18, July 12, 2024
