Our Table Rock Mountain, an outstretched finger of the Blue Ridge Range, is picturesque and awe-inspiring. It is not the largest nor the tallest peak of the range, but it is tall enough to be breath-taking yet gentle enough for hiking and camping, The back side of this peak is 1100 feet of perpendicular granite, but the side we may gaze at each day has both exposed granite and clusters of trees. On the top are low, spreading trees and an abundance of shrubbery amidst exposed surfaces of rock. A spring of cold water flows from the rock.

The nature trail to the top is bordered by rhododendron, laurel, and wide varieties of blooming plants. It crosses the crystal-clear, tumbling brook with its speckled trout and moss-covered rocks worn smooth from ce nturies of exposure.

The magnificent view from the top, reaching into four states, pays one well for the mile-long hike up the mountain. To the east and south, one looks down the valleys of the Oolenoy, Saluda, and Keowee Rivers as they meander through wooded hills of the Piedmont. To the north and slightly west of Caesar's Head, the eye catches the peaks of the great Smokies overlooking the Cherokee Reservation. Directly beyond Caesar's Head, you see Mt , Pisgah. To the northeast, one looks along the main arm of the Blue Ridge from Caesar's Head and Blowing Rock to Monticello, Virginia. For several years before the Civil War, tourists came by stage­coach, horseback, and buggy from the coastal area of our state to enjoy the scenery and invigorating climate of our hill country.

The first hotel at Table Rock was built about 1840 by William Sutherland and his wife, Sarah Keith Sutherland, of Pumpkintown. The lumber was sawed on his Pumpkintown farm with an up-right saw. Much of the large timber was hand-hewn. The kitchen and dining room, built separate from the main house, were of logs. There was a huge fireplace with a crane for hanging iron pots and kettles over the fire. There was a broad hearth of granite to hold many ovens for all the cooking was done over the fireplace. There was a large ballroom on the first floor and also family living quarters. Upstairs, a hall ran full-length of the building with bedrooms on each side. A cold spring furnished water for all uses. Mr. Sutherland moved his family to the hotel and remained there until he died in 1859.

Different people managed the hotel after that. There was Stephen Keith and his wife, Ann Griffin Keith; H. Ed Chastain and his wife, Anna Jones Chastain; Amos C. Sutherland and his wife, Nettie Chastain Suther­land.

The time came for a more modern structure. Foster Keith built a modern house farther up the slope, but it was soon sold and moved to the cove to build a clubhouse for agriculture clubs. During Franklin Delano Roosevelt' s administration, a large area was bought by the state for a park. The landscaping and development was directed by Col. Norman House, with a company of CCC boys doing the work. A fresh water lake was made for swimming and boating, log cabins were built for renting, picnic grounds were developed and made attractive and comfortable. Stone was cut for building picnic sheds and the clubhouse. Roadsides were made beautiful with native plants. The entire theme was to make the park as attractive as possible with native materials.

In the fall of the year, the sky is so blue and a blue haze hovers over these mountains making a perfect backdrop for the gorgeous array of foliage of the red oak, the sourwood, sassafras and maples mixed with yellow of the hickory and poplar and numerous others. This is a paradise for campers and all who enjoy the beauties of nature.

But how did the names come to be Table Rock and The Stool? The myth runs like this: In the days of extreme witchcraft, the witches had planned a convention and needed a place to meet. They c hose the flat top of our mountain. The morning session had ended and it was time for lunch, but they had no table on which to spread their lunch. They bewitched the wind and commanded it to blow the rock clean. The wind blew -- and it blew and blew until there was nothing left on the rock. So, they spread their lunch on it. But, there were no chairs and they knew their mighty Wizard, the Old Man of the Mountain, must be provided a place to sit. So the witches made ready the little hill into a stoolfor their ruler. He sat on this stool and ate from the table of rock. So, this welded the name Table Rock to the mountain and The Stool to the nearby hill, and the wind is still keeping the rock clean.