3o6 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
the house of Adolphus Wilson, Big Tom's son, at the 
foot of Mount Mitchell. It is very wild here, the 
glorious wildness of this country where everything 
is softened and sweetened by the beautiful growths 
and the touch of the sun in the sparkling air. Near 
the house the woods are fine, the path through them 
takes you past basins of clear green water and past 
damp places full of flowers and down to a stream that 
hastens along, broad, swift, and clear, and famous for 
its trout. 
The Black Mountain country seems to you differ- 
ent from the country south of Asheville. Indeed, all 
this northern region has a quality of its own. It 
seems so free, so superbly wild, so very remote from 
the world, and for ages it has been remote, there 
having been no railroad within easy reach until very 
lately. 
One advantage of settling down for a while in the 
Black Mountain country is that you will be more 
certain to visit Mount Mitchell in good weather; 
you can start when the right morning dawns. For 
this is a rainy country; the clouds hug close about 
the tops of the mountains sometimes weeks in suc- 
cession; so that it is better to go to this region im- 
mediately after a general storm and there await the 
one perfect day. Not that this whole region is con- 
stantly deluged; on the contrary, the valleys are 
often clear when the mountain-tops are smothered 
in clouds. 
One can easily walk to the top of Mount Mitchell, 
but it will be well, if you mean to stay, to have your 
