Brevard, North Carolina, "land of waterfalls," is tucked into a lush valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Brevard was founded as the county seat of Transylvania County in 1861, the year that North Carolina seceded from the Union. Wealthy families from South Carolina's Lowcountry had long summered in the mountains and, even after the war, the region maintained its powerful pull. The arrival of the railroads brought tourists to Brevard from all over the country-including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone-and the logging industry attracted entrepreneurs who made their fortunes here. Brevard reveals the city's rich heritage through a gallery of images: baptism in an icy river, an ostrich race on Main Street, a moonshine still. In these pages, the reader can visit grist mills, waterfalls, and exquisite hotels, explore the booming logging industry, relive parades and downtown scenes, and read the intriguing stories of local folks.
Having lived in Brevard for 27 years, author Susan M. Lefler has had ample opportunity to discover what makes it unique. Her play The Twelfth Star was produced at Brevard Music Center in 1987 as part of Transylvania County's celebration of the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. Her work, both poetry and fiction, has appeared in numerous journals and she is a writer and editor for Smoky Mountain Living magazine.