Todd Historic District Walking Trail Guide

The early history of Todd is much like that of numerous crossroads communities throughout northwestern North Carolina. Located where Elk Creek flows into the South Fork of the New River, it was a logical site for trade, starting with Native Americans and continuing with early English, Scots, and Scots-Irish settlers before the Revolutionary War.

The earliest known documentation of European settlers in Todd comes from 19th century historian Lyman Draper’s manuscripts of southern Revolutionary War battles. In his book, “King’s Mountain and its Heroes,” Lyman describes the events of 1781 in which American Col. Robert Cleveland was taken prisoner by a group of Tories at Old Fields in Ashe County. The Tories headed up the South Fork of the New River until they reached the mouth of Elk Creek, then followed up the south fork of Elk Creek (now known as Pine Orchard Creek) until they reached Riddle Knob where they camped for the night. A group of American loyalists from Ashe County pursued the Tories and in the resulting skirmish at Riddle Knob on April 15, 1781, British Capt. William Riddle was captured. He was taken back to Wilkesboro where he was hanged.

By the early 19th century, the area came to be known as Elk X Roads. South Fork Baptist Church was established in 1833; the Post Office came four years later. Blackburn’s Chapel Methodist Church followed in 1850. The community was large enough to be noted on some state maps by the 1850s.

Following the Civil War, the community continued to grow, with the establishment of a Masonic Lodge in 1881. A hotel was in operation by 1884. Most settlers here were mountain farmers, grubbing and tilling the land to eke out a meager subsistence and survive the harsh winter climate. However, by the latter part of the 19th century, timber harvesting operations were intensifying and mineral speculation was common. The virgin Eastern hardwoods, and the predominant American chestnut, which would succumb to blight in just a few decades, made timber a lucrative trade. Mining operations tended to focus on sheet mica.

Joseph Warren Todd (1834-1909)

On June 13, 1894, the post office name was changed from Elk X Roads to Todd, in honor of Joseph Warren Todd, a community native and Civil War veteran. He was one of nine children; his father operated a store here before the Civil War. Todd served three years and 364 days in the Confederate Army. Family legend says that he participated in more than 100 battles and had three horses shot from beneath him, including one incident at the Battle of Gettysburg. One of his brothers was shot in the back while riding horseback at Elk X Roads by bushwackers during the lawless days after the war. Capt. Todd is largely credited with restoring order to Ashe and Watauga counties following his return from the war. He moved to Jefferson in 1868 where he was an attorney, member of the North Carolina General Assembly, and prominent leading citizen until his death in 1909.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Todd was larger than Boone. Local lore suggests that Todd was among the sites considered for Appalachian State Teachers College (now ASU). The proposed site was said to have been on the grassy ridge across from the Todd Volunteer Fire Department called Hagaman Field. In 1910, the Carolina-Virginia Railway announced the company would lay tracks from West Jefferson to Elk X Roads. The train that ran daily on those tracks became known as the “Virginia Creeper” because of its slow but steady ascent of the steep grades (and possibly because of its meandering route beside the New River, now traceable along Railroad Grade Road).

The coming of the railroad transformed the little crossroads community into a boom town, as the timber that clothed the surrounding mountains yielded lumber, tanbark, pulpwood, and extract wood to be processed and shipped up to Virginia and beyond. To support the boom — and to share in the profits anticipated from the railroad — Todd expanded. In 1910, a co-op of farmers built a general store that became the Todd Mercantile Company. In 1912, T.A. McGuire updated his hotel to accommodate expected passengers. By December 1913, Todd included two stores, a gristmill, a sawmill , the Post Office, two churches, two lodges, and several substantial houses, besides a big lot of crossties for the construction of the railroad.

As the terminus of the rail line, Elkland Depot boasted a manual turntable to reverse the engines for the return trip, a water tank, and three cabooses in which the railroad crews spent the night. To serve the passengers and workers and freight, Todd soon had another hotel, a bank, a Ford garage , nine stores, four doctors, a dentist, a printer, a blacksmith and wheel­wright, and countless lumber buyers and dealers.

This USGS map of the area from 1902 shows Elk X Roads (now Todd).

The community was incorporated in 1915 and had a mayor, council and even a town marshal. Walter Cook, co-founder and operator of the general store for more than 40 years, also was appointed mayor in 1931.

The Virginia-Carolina railroad came to Todd because of the vast tracts of standing timber in the area. By 1934, most of the mountains were stripped of all trees and the railroad company was losing money running the extra 14 miles of track to Todd. It was the midst of the Great Depression and as the train pulled up its tracks, the manager at the Bank of Todd slipped out of town with all the deposits, and the town’s commerce all but vanished in a few short years. In 1940, a flood of Biblical proportions devastated the area and washed away buildings and much of the evidence of what had gone on here before.

By World War II, only a handful of businesses remained; the Todd General Store was the sole business to survive the boom years. Today, it is one of the oldest continuously operating general stores in North Carolina.

In 1972 the state revoked the town’s incorporation as a formality, reducing it once again to a rural crossroads community. The roadbed of the Virginia Creeper became the narrow, winding Railroad Grade Road running between NC Hwy. 194  and US Rte. 221 at Fleetwood. In the last 15 years,  Todd has seen a resurgence driven by cultural tourism, outdoor recreation, and second-home communities.

The peace and quiet beauty of Todd, in its surroundings of mountains and river, are a pleasing contrast to the hustle-bustle of life not very far away. The tin-covered buildings in its central Historic District are strangely appealing. The faster pace of modern life could easily destroy the vestiges of a fascinating chapter in North Carolina history, but the Todd Community Preservation Organization is determined that this should not happen.

As you walk among the buildings in the Historic District, you may be able to get some feel for the way things were in Todd during the boom times of the early twentieth century. We hope you will also appreciate the unique character of Todd the way it is now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/newrivertrain/OLDTODDPHOTOS?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTujJ_KkIvLCA#