Black Mountain's Past

Posey’s PeaK and the story of a towering sentinel at the Gateway to the Swannanoa Valley

Wendell Begley
Guest contributor
The Valley Echo
September 19, 2024

Several of the mountaintops that surround the Swannanoa Valley offer some of the most majestic views in Western North Carolina and this series introduces readers to a piece of that unique scenery. The particular landscape includes a dramatic vista, pictured above, from atop Posey Peak (elevation 3,500 feet), near the crest of the Blue Ridge Range and the Swannanoa Rim.

Reverend Humphrey Posey (1780-1846). Photo courtesy of the Wendell Begley Collection

The historic, pyramid shaped mountain rises approximately 1,100 feet above the Valley floor and overlooks I-40 between Black Mountain and Ridgecrest. When standing atop the summit, one witnesses commanding views of the Swannanoa Rim and the respective Craggy, Walkertown Ridge (Seven Sisters) and Blue Ridge Ranges. Geographically, Posey Peak is situated 2.1 miles northeast of Black Mountain’s Town Square on a spur ridge that juts off Lookout Mountain near the historic 1914 Rail Bed of the once famous Mount Mitchell Railroad. In the Spring of 2015, much of Posey Peak (“pictured below, as seen from Burgin Rock near my home at the head of Camp Branch), near Ridgecrest, was burned over in a fire that consumed approximately 700 acres.

During my teenage years in the 1960s, while working as a summer staffer with my buddies and high school classmates Yogi McElreath, Phil Jones (1949-2019) and Jimmy Turner (pictured below) at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly (pictured above, from Kitsuma Peak overlooking I-40 west), we became familiar with Posey Peak. As employees of the Conference Center, we heard first hand testimonials as Assembly guests frequently described the climb, spectacular views, and occasional discovery made on the Summit’s jagged rocks. Since those impressionable years, I have hiked “the Mountaintop” many times and like the long scenic vistas from the nearby Swannanoa Rim, you cannot stand on the Peak’s summit without feeling a keen sense of pride for the place we call home.

Contrary to almost a century of tradition, the mountaintop that welcomed the earliest Assembly conferees was originally named for Reverend Humphrey Posey (1780-1846), a well-known Baptist Preacher born in Henry County, Virginia. As a young boy, he came to the Swannanoa Valley with his father. Later, between 1809 and 1824, Humphrey Posey became one of the Valley’s earliest landowners. He purchased several tracts of land in the North Fork Valley. Mr. Posey became one of Western North Carolina’s most well-known traveling, Baptist Circuit Preachers. He was responsible for founding many of the Region’s early Baptist Churches and later a Mission School for the Cherokees. Imposing in physical size, he was said to have been one of the most ardent defenders of North Carolina’s early Baptist Missions. Well known American author, James M. Edney once wrote:  “Reverend Posey used a sledge hammer and wielded it with great power upon sinners.”

Ridgecrest’s Posey Peak stands as a towering sentinel at the Gateway to the Swannanoa Valley and Western North Carolina. There is one interesting piece of tradition that remains regarding the Peak’s surviving name. A few years after Ridgecrest’s founding in 1907, many good intentioned summer guests (Baptists) began to give vivid accounts about the all-to-common rattlesnakes found sunning on the peak’s rocky crags. And, as one might expect, those colorful testimonials eventually gave way to the peak’s new-found name, Rattlesnake Mountain or Rattlesnake. However, there is some irony and light humor in the fact that the towering Mountaintop originally christened as a tribute to a well-known Baptist preacher was renamed as a result of its Summit Sunning Serpents!

Almost two centuries ago, Reverend Humphrey Posey rose to fame as the Valley’s pioneers welcomed his style of circuit riding evangelism. Interestingly, today while standing atop Posey Peak one can look northwest across to the Presbyterian side of the mountain (Montreat) and see the Home of one of the most celebrated evangelists of all time, our own Dr. Billy Graham.

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 is Out of 4,620 FDIC Insured Banks” … Also, The Bank is the Town’s Oldest Continuing Business and the Only “Community Owned Bank.” We Have Been Taking FDIC Savings Deposits and Making “Local Home Loans for 116 Years”

Copyright: M. Wendell Begley, wendell@blackmountainsavings.com, series 868, VE22, September 19, 2024