252 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
thousand feet into Horse Cove, and from whose rim 
one looks into a wide abyss floored with tree-tops, 
and beyond this to mountains billowing away as far 
as one can see. At a point on the brow of the preci- 
pice, far in from the road and surrounded by flowers 
that have escaped from its gardens, stands a house as 
though on guard, the first house of importance in 
this region, although many pleasant homes have 
since appeared. It was built by Captain S. P. Rav- 
enel, of Charleston, who came about a generation 
ago when life was yet so primitive that lumber had 
to be carted a distance of more than thirty miles 
up the mountains. The dining-room floor, made of 
alternate strips of black walnut and oak, reminds us 
that walnut trees were not uncommon in this region 
at the time the house was built. In the charming wil- 
derness the Ravenel family not only made a beauti- 
ful summer home for themselves, but, through their 
interest in the people about them, they stamped a 
lasting impress upon the community. For besides 
building roads and making other civic improvements, 
they built a church, and by their contact with the 
native people brought inspiration and hope to many 
a longing heart, as well as a knowledge of those re- 
finements of life which are man's latest and best 
inheritance. 
A favorite walk from Highlands is to the top of 
charming, flower-graced Satulah that rises some- 
thing less than a thousand feet above Highlands, 
and where one gets an open view in all directions. 
The granite walls of Whiteside, sheer and terrible, 
