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Blount County apparently received a very nice Christmas present with the Harmony Property Group's purchase of the 400-plus-acre YMCA Camp Montvale Wednesday.

James Tomiczek, a principal with the group, has expressed his excitement about what the camp can offer the kids of Blount County and East Tennessee,

The group spent $4 million to purchase the property, borrowing $3.4 million of the total. Harmony is developing a 281-acre site close to the camp property on Chilhowee Mountain.

This year East Tennessee YMCA had closed the camp which it has operated since 1948, having purchased it from the Pflanze heirs for the agreed use of a youth camp.

There were developers who wanted to purchase the camp apparently for subdivision construction but Friends of Camp Montvale got involved, helping reach a positive alternate.

If plans are carried out, Friends of Camp Montvale, a non-profit group of volunteers, will initially lease the property and begin operation of a youth camp. Eventually a conservation easement will be completed on the property, limiting any future development.

While use will necessarily be limited in the first season, it is anticipated that the Friends will launch a fund-raising effort and operate a camp. It is anticipated the camp will be environmentally geared and will provide conservation educational opportunities for local students.

Montvale is one of the most historic sites in Blount County.

While Maryville and Blount County were established July 11, 1795, prior to statehood, in 1830 Chilhowee Mountain and the site of Montvale Springs at its base were in an unclaimed wilderness. Apparently its mineral springs were regularly patronized by wild animals who apparently valued the waters as men did later. It was the patronage of the animals that first led men to the springs as hunters.

Daniel D. Foute, who served as deputy Blount County Clerk under his brother Jacob from 1817 to 1836, entered the surrounding mountain lands in 1832. In 1837, he made a trust deed which included the "Montvale tract where I live." From 1840 to 1848, he served as Blount County Circuit Court Clerk.

From 1832 to 1850, Foute operated a two-story log hotel which was a pretentious rustic affair of 10 rooms.

There are two fine mineral springs within a few steps of the hotel site. In 1834, Foute purchased Black Sulphur Springs two or three miles away, beside Montvale Road.

In 1850, the 3,840 acres, including the Sulphur Springs tract, was transferred to Asa Watson of Mississippi. In 1853, he replaced the log hotel with a three-story, seven-gabled frame building with 60 cottages adjoining. With a capacity of 300 to 400, it attracted families from Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana as well as England. They came to enjoy the "healing" waters and the scenery. There was a brass band and dancing every night.

It was during this pre-Civil War period that Montvale became known as the "Saratoga of the South," a favorable comparison with the then-famous New York resort of the day, Saratoga Springs, New York.

In 1860, a group including Sterling Lanier and his sons, Sidney and William B. Lanier, purchased the Montvale Springs property from Asa Watson for $25,674. The elder Laniers spent the next three years at Montvale while the sons alternated between Montvale and Montgomery, Ala., where the firm owned another hotel.

Young Sidney Lanier, grandson of one of the owners, spent his summers between his 15th and 19th years in the pleasant shade of the forest trees while absorbing inspiring scenes of the rustic beauty which he afterward wove into his poetry. The setting of his only novel, "Tiger Lilies," is undoubtedly Montvale.

The hotel was not far from the site of Lanier Elementary School, formerly Lanier High, which was named for the famous poet, author and musician.

Many well-known guests stayed at Montvale. Among them were Arnold Guyot, Swiss geologist for whom a Smokies peak is named. John Mitchell, who was banished from Ireland for advocating independence from Great Britain described Montvale as "one of the great watering places of the South." Clingmans Dome, highest peak in the Smokies, is named for Thomas Lanier Clingman, a relative of the Laniers.

When Tennessee did not immediately secede from the Union and East Tennessee became the scene of guerrilla warfare, Lanier, due to his age, lost his taste for mountain seclusion.

In March 1863, the property was sold to Joseph L. King of Knoxville for $40,000.

It was reported to have 300 guests in 1878 but the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis ruined business. In 1888, an advertisement said Montvale could accommodate 500 guests.

On May 13, 1896, the hotel burned and the property was sold though chancery court to Andrew Gamble in 1899.

Gamble built a smaller hotel a little farther from the springs in 1901. Guests from 12 states were reported.

In 1907, the Knoxville and Charleston Railroad (later the Knoxville and Augusta and then the Southern) extended from Maryville toward Calderwood with a stop near Carpenters Campground that was known as Montvale Station. Visitors were met at the station by horse-drawn transportation from Montvale Hotel.

Ludwig Pflanze purchased the hotel in 1911 and operated it until it burned Nov. 21, 1933.

As we have reported earlier, one of the heirs of the property did not accept his share of the $5,250 price the YMCA paid for the portion of the property it owns. The reason: his daughter who was almost killed when a drunk driver ran over her on a sidewalk in downtown Maryville had made significant recovery in a summer camp and it was understood the YMCA would use the property for a summer camp.

It is a long story involving history and use of our land.

It appears this may be indeed a significant Christmas gift for all of Blount County!



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