The ghost town of Buffalo City

Continuing with our recent theme of North Carolina places ...

I had no idea that there was a "booming" town of Buffalo City in Dare County way back when. In fact (according to Wikipedia), Buffalo City's population of 3,000 in the early 20th century "made it the largest community in Dare County."

Buffalo City was apparently "a logging and moonshine town in Dare County, North Carolina. It was on the mainland, 19 miles (31 km) west of Mantoe, near present-day Manns Harbor. The marshy land where Buffalo City once stood, near U.S. 64, is now part of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The town's history lasted approximately 80 years from the 1870s to 1950s ... A hotel, post office, schoolhouse, general store, 100 miles (161 km) of railroad track, and rows of homes once stood on the now-abandoned area. Today, the only remnants of the ghost town include a road sign, rusted rails, and building debris now overgrown with weeds."

An interesting aspect of Buffalo City is that it was founded "shortly after the Civil War by the Buffalo Timber Company, Buffalo City was constructed on the north side of Milltail Creek by African-American laborers and more than 200 Russian immigrants. Many of these immigrants stayed and worked at the new logging town and composed half of the town’s population."

In 1920, Prohibition laws were passed in the United States and moonshine became a popular way for Buffalo City citizens to make extra money. When logging camps at Buffalo City began to close in the 1920s, moonshine became the primary revenue source for citizens. Almost every family in Buffalo City operated a still. Speakeasie throughout the eastern United States sold moonshine made in Buffalo City. The liquor was made deep in the woods and transported by the same methods as logging: by mules and boats. A 30-foot (9.1 m) boat named the Hattie Creef sailed down Milltail Creek and across the Albemarle Sound to Elizabeth City, where the liquor was sold. The boat returned with large amounts of sugar, an ingredient in making moonshine. Federal prohibition enforcers, called revenuers, began to crack down on Buffalo City’s moonshine industry. Several men in the town were sentenced to jail.

When prohibition ended in 1933, Buffalo City’s economy was severely affected. With the loss of moonshine revenue, citizens began focusing on the logging industry once again. Most good timber had already been felled, but the sawmill continued to operate for the next two decades. Outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, smallpox and the flu swept throughout the community in the 1940s. The combination of these diseases and lack of work resulted in Buffalo City’s population declining to 100 people. The sawmill closed in the early 1950s and the town was abandoned.

Ghost Town rescued

There may be hope after all for the embattled Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park.

Just a few days before Ghost Town in the Sky was set to open for the season, things weren't looking good for the beleaguered amusement park.Despite development of a multimillion-dollar strategic plan, town leaders balked at providing taxpayer money to help the troubled park get through another year of the recession.

But then Steve Shiver received a surprise birthday present [says the Citizen-Times].

Just when it appeared obvious the 43-year-old president and CEO of Ghost Town in the Sky was not going to receive the $200,000 short-term loan he requested from the town of Maggie Valley, an anonymous investor came forward and offered to provide the money.

“It was a wonderful birthday present,” Shiver said. “I was overwhelmed but extremely humbled.” ...

Shiver on Tuesday would not disclose how much money the investor pledged to the park, only saying that it was “enough.”

Ghost Town in dire straits

Maggie Valley amusement park Ghost Town in the Sky wants the town to loan it a couple hundred 'K' -- despite the park's recent bankruptcy filing.

"The money is needed to start the season, which is planned to happen May 22, said Steve Shiver, the park's chief executive.

"Ghost Town Partners LLC is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection," says the Citizen-Times. "In its federal court filing, the company claimed assets of about $13 million and debts of $12.3 million. ...

"At least one member of Maggie Valley's Board of Aldermen, which will have the final say on making the loan, is against the idea.

"Alderman Colin Edwards said he can't vote for the loan because the park hasn't provided a plan to repay the amount and doesn't have collateral.

"Edwards said he also is concerned that the park might not get Chapter 11 protection and might instead end up in Chapter 7, which would mean the court would liquidate the company to pay its debts. ..."

Click here for the rest of the article.

Ghost Town files for bankruptcy

Well, the old amusement park made a good effort at survival. But it looks like Maggie Valley's Ghost Town in the Sky has seen better days. It recently filed Chapter 11.

"The Old West-themed amusement park has struggled since reopening in May 2007 after being shuttered for five years," says the Citizen-Times.

"The park has been unable to secure capital financing to pay off outstanding debts, restructure short-term debts, complete the updating of rides and cover costs associated with running and marketing a regional theme park."

T'is a shame. Ghost Town ranks right up there with Tweetsie Railroad and Mystery Hill (among too many others to mention) as being quintessential Western North Carolina attractions. There may still be hope, according to Lynn Sylvester, one of the park's five managing partners.

“Ghost Town is part of the history of Western North Carolina,” she said. “We are committed to preserving our theme park through this re-organizational process. “Given the mission of the Rural Development program to create and retain jobs, the USDA, which has a 70 percent guarantee on the primary loan facility held by BB&T, has signified a willingness to participate in a restructured debt arrangement."

Ghost Town re-opens this Friday

As mentioned before, some of my favorite childhood memories involve the chronically quirky mountain theme parks Tweetsie Railroad and, to a lesser extent, Ghost Town in the Sky. It appears that both parks -- recently on the cusp of extinction -- have received reprieves. Tweetsie now has a life of at least a few more years. And good things appear to be in store for Ghost Town.

"Hard times closed [Ghost Town] in 2001, and it instantly went from an average seasonal attendance of 163,500 tourists, to one lonely security guard," writes the Charlotte Observer.

Several buyers presented themselves in that five years, but park creator R.B. Coburn refused one after the other. "I preferred to sell it to someone who would keep it a park, not tear it down for houses," says Coburn, 87.

On Friday, his stubbornness pays off. Ghost Town in the Sky will be back in business, with new owners and $7 million in renovations. Tourists longing for the romance of the Wild West will once again ride chairlifts to the peak of Buck Mountain and see saloon doors swing open, outlaws gunned down in the dust, and cancan girls flipping their skirts and kicking their legs.

Even better for the valley: These played-out fantasies are expected to draw 200,000 in the first season. That's an economic bull's-eye.

"A lot of people didn't realize how important the park was till it closed," says Louise Price, a 30-year park employee who was recently re-hired. "Since it has been gone, motels closed and were torn down, restaurants went under. It was bad."

Read the rest of the article here.

Quick hits: Elk return to Western N.C., last call for Ghost Town

Elk return to Cataloochee
"Down in this valley, nestled among 6,000-foot mountain peaks along the eastern end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, wildlife lovers are witnessing sights unseen for 150 years," writes the Hendersonville Times-News. ...

"Once nothing more than an entry in the history books, elk have returned to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They're not the eastern elk, driven into extinction by overhunting and habitat loss in the 1800s, leaving behind no trace other than namesakes -- Banner Elk, Elk Park. ..."

Ghost Town's last leg
"Today is the last day of auditions for Ghost Town in the Sky, the mountaintop Western theme park scheduled to reopen this summer," wrote the Asheville Citizen-Times on April 1.

"Park officials are auditioning country, gospel and blues musicians today beginning at 1 p.m. in the Welcome Center on Soco Road (the A-frame building in the parking lot). ..."