Pressed into the hardy pine walls of the mid-19th-century Zachary-Tolbert House in Cashiers are 240 white push pins. Each pin marks a penciled note that’s been inscribed on the wood. The messages range in purpose from monumental (No. 80: “Charlie Zachary took his first steps on the 10th day of April 1870”) to mundane (No. 142: “I had a bath May 27, 1821, on Saturday morning”) to poetic (No. 151: “Maiden with the dark brown eyes in whose orb a shadow lies, like the light in an evening kiss,” no date). Sandi Rogers, the site manager and education and events coordinator for the Cashiers Historical Society, sums up the scribblings simply: “Well, paper was rare.”
No. 160 of 240 push pins that are pressed into the pine walls of the Zachary-Tolbert House details the height and hairstyle of a child in the home in 1889. photograph by Tim Robison
Elvira Evelina Keener was the first resident of the Zachary-Tolbert house.
The harmless graffiti serves as a 19th-century diary. They’re small clues to what life was like before the Civil War when Mordecai Zachary, one of the first settlers in the far-western North Carolina valley and a talented carpenter, built the eight-room house over a 10-year period. The Greek Revival structure — a rare architectural style for the area — is characterized by the pilasters and entablature that flank the front door, evenly spaced rectangular windows, and, above all, symmetry. It is believed that Mordecai presented the home as a wedding gift to his bride, Elvira Evelina Keener. They filled it with finely crafted wood furniture and children. The couple had 13.
The Zachary-Tolbert House was built between 1842 and 1852. photograph by Tim Robison
When Rogers leads tours of the home, she points out the original wavy glass windows; the semicircles cut into the bottom of the first-floor doors so cats could run in and out of the rooms to catch mice; and the holly dining room table where the Zachary family likely sat while chatting with boarders. She speaks as if she knows the original homeowners personally. “I don’t think Elvira would’ve had it just like this,” she says referring to the way that the Cashiers Historical Society, which has preserved the home since 1998, decorated the home. She thinks Elvira would’ve used more curtains and quilts. She ponders how Mordecai and Elvira met and how they afforded the windows, and she invites visitors to engage in those questions, too. Living in the mountains without air-conditioning or electricity no doubt made them “hardier people than we are,” Rogers says. But how many of us have jotted down a memory, a reminder, a secret on a piece of paper, creating something to hold onto for now and a token to pass on later? A memento that says, “I was here, and you and I aren’t that different.” It’s all in the writing on the walls.
Zachary-Tolbert House
1940 NC Highway 107 South
Cashiers, NC 28717
(828) 743-7710
cashiershistoricalsociety.org
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