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Captain John Keais Hoyt, a Confederate Officer in Company K, 3rd Alabama Infantry made his way to New York at the end of the Civil War. There he met and married a divorced woman with three daughters. After having another daughter, the family moved to western North Carolina just outside of Asheville. They bought and lived in a cabin while the mansion on the hill was being built. They moved into the house, which the Captain named Engadine after a valley in Switzerland, in 1885. Running water was provided to marble topped sinks in water closets on the second floor by a gravity supplied system. A coal furnace in the basement provided central heat. Electricity for the house was generated on site by a water-powered dynamo. After the Captains death in 1910, the house was sold to E. J. Willingham who was a land  speculator from Georgia. He sold the house to Alden Betts who was from New Jersey and used Engadine as a summer home. In 1944, Glen Howell bought the house and raised his family at Engadine. In the process of restoring the house, the Howells had to tear down the three-room addition that housed the original kitchen, and the kitchen was moved into what is now the den. The Howells lived at Engadine until 1988.In 1988, Bill Maddox and Linda Crawford, again restored and modernized the house, after purchasing Engadine. The plumbing, electrical and heating systems were replaced; central air conditioning and a new kitchen were added. In 1994, Linda Crawford converted the house to a bed and breakfast and after operating for a short period of time; she sold Engadine to Mary and Jim Melaugh. In January of 1995, Mary and Jim renamed the inn Owl's Nest Inn At Engadine. Owl's Nest was added to reflect Mary's passion for collecting owls. Engadine was kept in order to maintain an historical connection with Captain John Keais Hoyt. On August 31, 1998, Marg Dente and Gail Kinney purchased the Inn. Marg and Gail hosted a family reunion in September 2000 and were successful in getting Engadine listed in the National Register of Historic Places with the help of the Hoyt - Reese family and friends. The family shared many wonderful stories and has provided pictures of Engadine and memoirs written by the Captain's daughter, Mary Hoyt Reese. Below is an excerpt from the memoirs of Mary Hoyt Reese: Mary's memoirs told about a horrible crime in the neighborhood near Engadine. An old man, his wife, daughter and granddaughter had all been killed and their house burned down. The criminals were still on the loose and people were scared to death. For the first time in living memory doors were locked and barred at night. All the men were called out to track down the murderers. The women of the mountains are not cowards, but this time they were really afraid, and barricaded themselves and their children against the fury of an unidentified murd  erer.There was one humorous incident that occurred in our house during this week of horror. Off the big living-dining room was a large store closet, which was lighted by a small window. On the night after the murder, when my father again was helping to trail the killers, my mother and we four children were sitting around the blazing fire. My eldest sister was reading aloud - probably a Dickens or Thackery story - and suddenly the sound of a pistol shot froze us immovable and silent. Dilating eyes stared questioningly into other eyes and I'm sure the Lily Langtry bangs must have risen and stood on end, hair by hair, as the five frightened females just sat there too scared to move for a moment. Daddy had taken all the rifles and shotguns to arm the posse, and there we were - completely at the mercy of a prowler if the locks didn't hold. Finally the second oldest daughter whispered, "Put out the lights! I'll slip into the closet and look out he window." In a moment she had done this and a moment later the closet door slowly opened. She stood there with a wild look on her face - she loved to dramatize everything - and four pairs of eyes questioned her dumbly. Slowly she raised her hand dripping red. "Blood!" she hissed. "Blood running, running down over the shelf!" Her eyes were rolling hideously now. Our mother rose from her chair with her hand held over her heart. All this was ended suddenly by the giggle that came from my sister's throat. "Catsup!" she hissed again and in other hand showed us a half empty bottle of tomato catsup, which had blown its cork. I remember there was a wild melee as three infuriated females fell upon her and vented their rage at the hoax. That was a fiendish trick to play under the circumstances, but we had to admire her courage in going into the dark closet to find out if we were entirely surrounded by the enemy. When she spied the trickling red liquid she couldn't resist playing the trick on her waiting family. Perhaps the laugh was due her, after all! |
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