Introduction
The late 1960’s were a stressful period for many American families with the nation divided over the Viet Nam War, and protests capturing most of the headlines. Despite the difficult times, more than 500 new ski resorts opened in the ‘60s and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina became part of the boom.
The plan for a mountaintop ski resort on Beech Mountain had been nurtured in 1961 by Dr.Tom Brigham and the McRaes (George and Chessie) from Birmingham, Alabama, but they never quite raised the capital needed. They sold the property a year later to the Robbins brothers (Grover and Harry), along with 40 investors, who owned Appalachian Developments Corporation.
Appalachian had already developed Hound Ears, the Tweetsie Railroad and Land Harbor in Linville, so the crowning jewel would be Beech Mountain,with the highest ski area east of the Rockies. They spared no expense in promoting it. They also started an ill-fated condo development in St. Croix and changed their company name to Carolina Carribean Corporation in 1965.
One of the major promotion ventures by Carolina Carribean was the opening of the “Land of Oz” theme park on Beech in the spring of 1970. It attracted thousands of visitors to Beech from all over the southeast, but a large fire in 1975 destroyed most of the props and this led to it’s closing in 1981.
The bankruptcy of Carolina Carribean in 1975 triggered a whole series of challenging events that led to the formation of Beech Mountain as a township and the POA as a club. The directors of the POA in that period (’75 – ‘8l) are directly responsible for developing and maintaining a financially sound association which assumed full responsibility for civic and summer recreational functions on the mountain.
Among those early leaders was George Handley, a retired army colonel, who had volunteered to serve the board as Executive Director. George, along with Hunter Furches, the Board President, and Vern Holland, an early resident of Beech, led the Association through its most difficult years.
In l975, following the bankruptcy petition of Carolina Caribbean, the courts amended the CCC Articles of Incorporation to change the mission of the POA from “promote the health, safety and welfare of property owners” to “own, acquire, build, operate and maintain recreation facilities as the members may desire.” The ski area was run by the POA for two years and then purchased byTri-South Mortgage, one of the creditors, in 1976. Colonel Norm Smith was appointed general manager and was succeeded by Bob Ash in 1980.
Tri-South was purchased by the Avalon Company in 1985 and the ski resort was sold later that year to Ray Costin, who had been co-owner of several other ski areas in North Carolina and Virginia.
After the POA board had successfully convinced the North Carolina legislature in l98l to create a township of Beech Mountain (which allowed taxation of property owners to provide services), the wheels turned quickly. POA equipment and service facilities, including the POA Utility Company, were turned over to the town.
Although the POA began operating as a club in l98l, it was not until December 30, l983 that the POA officially filed documents with the state and Watauga County which changed the name of the organization to the “Beech Mountain Club”.
