What’s In A Name: Eden and

Eden and Seven Devils, N.C.

By RAY BALOGH | The Municipal

Though separated by less than a three-hour drive, the respectively paradisiacal and diabolical names of North Carolina municipalities Eden and Seven Devils could hardly be farther apart.

A bridge over the Smith River and traffic circle facilitates travel through and around Eden, N.C., a town once famed for its textile mills and manufacturing. (Photo by Wirestock Creators) Otter Falls is one of the many natural attractions of Seven Devils, N.C., a hamlet of barely 200 residents nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. The town hosts regular guided photography sessions at the location. (Photo by J. Paulson)

Eden

Eden, which numbers 14,866 residents, derived its name from the 100,000-acre estate of surveyor and visionary William Byrd II in the early to mid-1700s. He dubbed his holdings the “Land of Eden,” hoping to entice Swiss settlers to a self-sufficient colony sustained by the Protestant work ethic.

Byrd’s dream, alas, never came to fruition. One ship of Swiss denizens set sail for the United States but shipwrecked in a winter storm, with none of the survivors reaching Byrd’s prospective paradise.

Byrd died Aug. 26, 1744, deeding the real estate to his son, William III, who sold the property to pay off debts and support his extravagant lifestyle.

On Nov. 8, 1755, merchant brothers Simon and Francis Farley purchased 26,000 acres of the Byrd estate on which to establish plantations. By that time, settlers and squatters had populated the area, and the settlement became known as the Sauratown tract.

The real estate was the subject of serial legal challenges, with the governor of North Carolina finally getting involved to resolve the dispute for the Farley heirs.

The town of Leaksville was established in 1795 along the southwest border of Sauratown, and the remaining Farley daughters sold the land to American Revolutionary War notable Patrick Henry three years later.

Other towns sprang up in the original tract, and the area was known for its textile mills and manufacturing for more than a century. On Sept. 12, 1967, the citizens of the towns of Leaksville, Draper and Spray and the unincorporated Meadow Greens Sanitary District voted to consolidate, choosing Eden as the name of the newly formed municipality.

Today Eden boasts more than a dozen buildings and four historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the third weekend in September, the town hosts its annual Fall Riverfest, which celebrates Eden’s art, history and river heritage. Its annual Charlie Poole Music Festival has featured folk musician Mike Seeger and country music duo the Osborne Brothers.

For more information, visit www.edennc.us.

Seven Devils

The small resort town of Seven Devils, whose population has hovered just over 200 for the last decade, belies its fiendish name.

The picturesque burg, nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, is the state’s first mountain resort development to become a town. The place bristles with tourist attractions, many of them year-round, including downtown zip lines, a trout farm, hiking and biking trails, canoeing and kayaking, swimming, golf, children’s playgrounds, train rides, the Mile-High Swinging Bridge and snow tubing.

Seven Devils is surrounded by natural wonders, including mountains, rivers, forests and waterfalls. Conservation preserves comprise 412 acres within the town limits.

The town hosts several community activities every year, including a “Music on the Lawn” concert series, pickleball games and clinics, ranger workshops, painting classes, waterfall photography sessions, group hikes and walks, book club and a bear decorating contest.

The town derived its moniker from a fortuitous confluence of septets. The unincorporated community was founded in the mid-1960s by seven residents of Winston-Salem who were looking to create a recreational resort. The four brothers and their three partners conjured the name from the seven distinct peaks along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the apocryphal Native American legend describing the sound of the robust winter mountain winds as “seven devils screaming in the night.”

For more information, visit www.sevendevils.net.