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This winter photograph shows the original Toxaway Inn sitting quietly on the edge of Lake Toxaway, taken sometime between 1903 and 1916, before the Great Flood of August 13, 1916. Like many grand mountain resorts of its time, the Inn closed for the winter. Once the guests left, the doors were locked, the porches empty, and the building sat alone through the cold months, much like the seasonal hotel in The Shining. No heat, no staff, no activity. Just the structure, the snow,

The Perfect Storm: Western North Carolina’s Historic Flood In the summer of 1916, Lake Toxaway, one of the most ambitious resort projects in the Appalachian Mountains, faced an unprecedented natural disaster. A series of back-to-back storms, including multiple hurricanes, drenched Western North Carolina in relentless rainfall. By mid-August, after more than 20 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours, the earthen dam that held the lake began to fail under immense pressure. H

Following the creation of Lake Toxaway   i n the early 1900s, a new era began — one that would shape the lake and surrounding mountains into a destination for elegance, innovation, and southern hospitality. At the center of it all stood the legendary Toxaway Inn, a grand symbol of the region’s transformation. Lake Toxaway Inn In 1903, the Toxaway Inn   opened its doors, becoming one of the most luxurious mountain resorts in the southeastern United States. Financed and develo

Lake Toxaway, now known for its serene waters and mountain charm, has origins steeped in ambition, luxury, and dramatic change. To understand the place it is today, we begin at its very start, when Lake Toxaway was first imagined and built. The Early Beginnings of Lake Toxaway. Before there was a lake, there were mountain streams and forests crisscrossed by creeks that flowed toward the Toxaway River. In the early 1900s, developers and visionaries saw the potential for a gran