Lake Jocassee
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Debbie Fletcher
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I have taken advantage of a long weekend to catch up on my scrapbooking. I have now completed 3 scrapbooks full of Jocassee memorabilia. I'm so grateful that the story of the Lodge and the girls camp continues on. Anna Simon of the Greenville News recently wrote a beautiful article on our last 2 dives. I have spent some time today re-reading the countless emails I have received over the course of the years - many from folks who knew the old Valley - and many more who never got to see it. I'm always grateful when someone takes the time to email me. I love hearing from you!
I'm headed up to Jocassee on 9-12 as the guys dive on the steel bridge and the girls camp. I think I will don my scuba gear and join them on the deco line for a bit. I have met some of the nicest people in these divers. I'm very blessed with some wonderful friends.
I was given the name of an elderly couple who might be in possession of the sign that hung under the eaves of the front porch at Attakulla Lodge. It has been confirmed that the sign was rescued before flooding. I have written them to find out if they have it. I would like to at least see it again - and would love even more to buy it from them. I just mailed that letter a couple of days ago. I'll let you know what I find out.
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I feel such a longing for Jocassee tonight. Perhaps it's the time of year, near summer when we always headed up to the valley. More than likely, it's because I am reading a delightfully touching book by Philip Lee Williams entitled "In the Morning: Reflections From First Light." I was soaking in a hot tub a few minutes ago reading his book. He lives in the mountains of North Georgia and was describing a magnificent 12-point buck he studied for minutes before it fled. He said he cried as he gazed at the buck, and as I read that he cried, I cried. He tells of the Whippoorwill and the fact that he's never seen one. I have, but oddly enough not at Jocassee but right in my own backyard. Our house still has some woods left in the subdivision - at least it will until the final 9 lots are sold. They cut down trees, and I plant them in my backyard, an effort to block out all evidence of nearby neighbors. The Whippoorwill was calling and calling one night. I had never heard one in Columbia. Dave said that it's fitting that one should live near my house. It was dusk - too dark to really see in the trees without a flashlight, but light enough to see where I stepped. I followed the call until I was right underneath the Whippoorwill's call. As I shined the flashlight into the tree, the bird took off and soared away. To be such an ugly bird, it's so graceful. I have seen a Whippoorwill. Me! I saw an elusive Whippoorwill!
It's this time of night that we sat on the front porch of the Lodge and rocked - and rocked - and rocked. We could hear the rush of the river, the croaking of the bullfrogs, the shuffling of our feet on the wooden porch as we rocked. It was peacefully noisy. Our family connected on that porch. We talked for hours. I rarely see them anymore. We lost our gathering place when we lost Jocassee. I long to own my own place up there before I die - a place to take my grandchildren and let them feel the shivering water and hear the sounds and eat icy cold watermelon right out of the spring. I want the girls to have a pretend castle on a mountain, like I did. I want a place to regroup and rekindle. Hmmm . . . all this feeling coming from reading a few chapters in someone else's book.
Get the book. You have to.
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I'm often asked how it felt to drive up to Lake Jocassee for the first time. I watched the last half hour of "Deliverance" yesterday, which, I know, has caused my mind to drift back to this event. Even though I watched them build the dam - and the coffer dam that is at Devil's Fork State Park - the absence of water certainly softened the real blow I would later experience. The first time I went to Lake Jocassee was about 11 years ago, I guess. My husband and I were in the area, so we took the meandering road that once led into the valley to see the lake. I was not prepared for the emotions that I would feel when suddenly the road curved sharply to the right, whereas once it continued straight down the mountain into the valley. We parked the car and looked out over the water. A real sense of sadness enveloped me. At that point, I had to decide if I was going to be bitter about this for the rest of my life, or try to "reconnect" with the Jocassee I loved so much. I chose the latter. My immediate family, for the most part, has never laid eyes on the lake. It's a painful reminder of what once was. My uncle recently put it very aptly. He said, "You know, Jocassee wasn't just a house - or a piece of land. We had a love affair with that place." Finally, someone was able to express in a concise sentence why we loved it so. I was quoted on a CNN piece as saying, "I don't know what it was about Jocassee that just got into our souls . . . but it did."
I remember my first boat ride on the lake. I had a good sense of where our property was in the lake, and we purposely boated across "our" land. I glanced back at the dam, knowing that it spanned the mountains over which Uncle Buck made his final landing approach as we flew into the valley. Sad. Just sad. But I was determined to make peace with our loss, so we boated over to a quiet cove and anchored there for a while. I jumped into the water, fully expecting to feel the sensation of ice cold water, but the water was warm. It felt unnatural. I surfaced (crying a bit) and pleaded for help to get me out quick. "I feel like I just jumped into someone's grave!"
Well, a lot has happened since then. Attakulla Lodge has been located, mostly still intact, and divers have visited her a dozen times. I've learned to scuba dive, and I've met the divers on the way back from the Lodge in order to "hang on the line" with them as they decompress. We always celebrate another successful, safe dive to 300 feet by having a picnic on the boat: homemade fried chicken, sandwiches, brownies, trail mix. Fried chicken was the house special at Attakulla Lodge, and I tell the divers that you're not going to vist MY house and not get fried chicken! It's not just a dive - it's an event!
We are hoping for a good diving season this year, as many things affect the dive. The visibility at 300 feet is affected by so many things (recent rains, temperature, even whether or not they are generating electricity at Bad Creek). This year we are hoping for some near-perfect conditions, so we can finally get that picture that everyone is waiting to see: a panoramic picture of the Lodge in her present condition. Here's hoping! She was discovered on August 4, 2004, with the first dive by Jackie Smith and Charles Johnson on August 7, 2004. This was the dive in which they brought me what I refer to as my "Jocassee treasure" - the sidelight from the front door. I've recorded the whole story in a revision to my book.
Please check back, and I'll keep you posted! Dive season may begin around July. Here's hoping!!
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Dot Jackson (author of Refuge and co-author of Keowee) is very near and dear to my heart. She is on the Board of Directors of the Birchwood Center for Arts and Folklife, whose mission is to preserve and promote the arts, folklife, history and conservation of the Blue Ridge region by providing classes, workshops and retreats. Birchwood instructs in matters of practical and artistic value, so that others may become proficient in these areas and perpetuate them for future generations.
You know me: I'm all about preserving the past of South Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains for future generations!!
Birchwood owns the early 19th century Sutherland-Masters house on the old stage coach road in the shadow of Table Rock, BUT IT NEEDS MAJOR RENOVATION!!! The South Carolina Arts Commission will help them stabilize the old place with a rare "bricks and mortar" grant. To benefit most they must match the dollar award 2:1 before the end of May. They've raised about a third of the money, but time is running out. IF YOU CAN DONATE DURING THESE DIFFICULT DAYS, PLEASE KNOW ANY AMOUNT WILL MULTIPLY THEIR FUNDS AND YOUR GIFT DOLLARS WHILE SUPPORTING BIRCHWOOD'S MISSION.
Birchwood is a 501 c(3) non-profit organization. Your gift will be acknowledged.
From my heart, I ask you to send your contribution, no matter how small, to:
Birchwood Center
187 Birchwood Road
Pickens, SC 29671
864-898-1418
www.birchwoodcenter.org
On behalf of all of you who love the Jocassee area, I thank you!!!
Debbie
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After the video aired on CNN, I began to receive e-mails and phone calls from people all over the country. You have no idea what this outpouring of support meant to me. If you sent me an e-mail to tell me how much you liked the story of finding Attakulla Lodge, please accept my sincere thanks . . . it really made my - well, certainly more than my day!!
IF YOU HAVE JUST PURCHASED A BOOK FROM ME: They are on order, and I will ship it to you as soon as the shipment comes in.
Thanks again for being such wonderful, caring people.
Debbie
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As I watched the Jocassee story this weekend on “News To Me,” many emotions surfaced once again. Some were happy memories of a carefree childhood; others were sad, realizing again that the valley is lost forever under what I used to refer to as a death shroud. It’s natural to want your family and friends around you to share your memories. That’s part of life: laughing and crying, living and dying. During the show, my husband Dave got up out of his chair and knelt down beside me as we watched together. He held my hand as I cried (and just between you and me, he was crying a little, too). My husband is a great source of strength for me, but he knows that as much as I love him, I have three other wonderful men in my life. I lovingly refer to these unassuming men as “my heroes.” They are the divers who brought Jocassee back to me: Bill Routh, Charles Johnson, and Jackie Smith.
Bill Routh is the one with the vision – the one who contacted me about beginning our search for Attakulla Lodge which I thought was gone forever. If not for Bill, this new chapter in my story would never have taken place. Bill is also my dive instructor who had the patience of a saint during my dive lessons. Diving, shall we say, did not come naturally or easily for me.
 Diver Charles Johnson Another is Charles Johnson. I met Charles on August 4, 2004, a beautiful Saturday morning at Jocassee. He and his dive partner Jackie would be the first two divers to brave the deep, dark, cold waters of Lake Jocassee in hopes of locating my family homestead. Charles and I just “clicked” the first minute we met. He had a keen sense of the importance of this to me, and he was grateful to be a part. Charles is the diver who, when bottom time was running out, was intently searching for some token of the Lodge to bring me. On his way back to the line to begin his ascent, he saw a long, architectural item sticking out of an upstairs window. He pulled it out and managed to loop it on his arm and began his 1.5-hour trip back to the surface. What Charles had found was the sidelight that was part of the Lodge’s front door. It is now proudly displayed in my house and is my Jocassee treasure.
The third “other” man in my life is Jackie Smith. Jackie was known around the world for being a “gorilla diver” – the term given to divers who routinely do hard-core diving, well beyond the recreational and even technical limits of diving.
 Diver Jackie Smith Jackie had previously dived to a depth of approximately 450 feet. To say that Jackie was quiet and unassuming is an understatement. He was not a man to draw attention to himself but was more comfortable in letting others have the limelight. It was a sad day in early 2006 that I received a phone call from Charles saying that Jackie was dead. Team Attakulla had lost one of its finest men. He was so proud to have been a part of finding the Lodge, and he looked forward to many years of exploration – years that he would not have. I invite you to visit the memorial to Jackie that is on my website at JocasseeRemembered.com. Just click on the red and white dive flag on the home page. I believe you will then understand what a treasured friend he was to many.
Each time they dive on the Lodge, Jocassee emotions flood my mind, stirred as easily as the silt on the bottom of the lake. A mere flick, and poof! they swirl around like a powdery cloud, taking its time to settle once again. I thought that locating Attakulla Lodge and placing my book on the front porch would signify the end of this chapter in my life. I’m just now beginning to see that it will never end, and I don’t want it to. There is so much more to explore – so many questions yet to be answered. Attakulla Lodge is inviting us in . . . this adventure is really just beginning.
Debbie Fletcher
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There is a beautiful, pristine peninsula on Lake Jocassee, the fate of which has been of great concern to me and others over recent years. It was in grave jeopardy of being swallowed up by Anthony's developers, due to its proximity to the other Cliffs communities scattered throughout Eastoee . . . but not any more! Yesterday, the State of SC announced that it has purchased this 63-acre beauty as an addition to the protected Jocassee Gorges!!! The unspoiled view to the left as you look off Jumping Off Rock is preserved forever. I'll admit - I was certain that it would end up in the hands of the developers - rumored to be sold at $1,000,000 an acre. For once, Duke Power (and their subsidiary Crescent Resources) has done the right thing. Their promise to NEVER DEVELOP LAKE JOCASSEE has been upheld (at least on this part of the lake). Development of that magnitude (potentially 60 homesites) would have devastated the water quality and solitude of that stunning lake. I'm grateful that justice has prevailed, and this land will be preserved for my grandchildren - and yours!!!
Thank you, Duke Power and the State of SC, for finally making us proud.
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| I am very sad to report that Joel Tubbs, 41, died Sunday, June 8th, while diving in Blue Springs, Florida. Joel was a very close friend of Jackie Smith, who also died while diving a couple of years ago. Joel was a very experienced, careful diver. A heart attack is suspected. My heart goes out to his wife, Christy, and to all his friends he left behind. The diving community has suffered a great loss.
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I'd love to meet some of you at the Authors Day at Table Rock State Park on Sunday, August 12th. Lots of local authors will be around and will be happy to sign books! Here is the link. Hope to see you there! http://www.birchwoodcenter.org/bookfair7-16.html
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I have just finished watching the movie "Miss Potter." I didn't know what to expect, for I am sorry to say I have had very little exposure to her books, a matter which I intend shortly to rectify. As an author, I very much related to her excitement over her first publication. I was quite amused at her initial insistance that her first book be published in black and white because "printing in color will cause the book to cost 4 times as much!" (Well, some things haven't changed!) However, I was more struck by her love of the land - and the fact that she used her resources to preserve the land against "the developers" - quite the villains at the end of the story. Anyone who knows me knows that I vehemently oppose the creeping development on Lake Jocassee. Such unspoiled beauty should remain - well, unspoiled.
Watch the movie. It's sweet and inspiring.
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