About

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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY OF SWISS VILLAGE

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Mr. Gary Starling, who was the owner of a restaurant in Orlando, Florida came to this area and bought the property where Swiss Village is located. It was then known as “Stony Knob” and was owned by Conley Hollifield and Fred Glenn, who had used the land for logging after buying it in 1949. After the logging was finished, they wanted to sell the land and did so to Mr. Starling in 1953.

 

In 1955 Mr. Starling set up “Gary’s Swiss Village Inn” on about 12 acres of land. Within the next few years he had acquired the rest of the land now forming the Village and negotiated the right-of-way for a road to enter his property from the southeast side through land belonging to Miss Margaret Leach. Later he gained permission to build a road on the north side of the mountain through National Park Service land down to the Skyline Inn. The Starlings built a chalet-like home of wavy edged cedar siding on a site overlooking the valley in 1955. Two years later a barn was built across the road from the house and was erected to house goats and ponies. (Note: This “goat house” was replaced on the site by a newly built, charming house with an awe-inspiring view). After the animals were no longer there, the barn was remodeled into two small apartments designed by Mrs. Starling and another house was built, all for rental property. Mr. Starling kept the property until 1962 and sold it to Bob Bell. Mr. Starling then bought another farm in the area.

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The development of Swiss Village under that name began in 1962 when Mr. Robert Bell, who owned a motel at Gillespie Gap and was from Florida, bought the property and named it Swiss Village, Inc. In association with Mr. Edward Ballew, Bell developed the top of the mountain, the south side and the northeast ridge. Wishing to emphasize the Swiss motif, he named his main road “Alpine Drive” and, upon the suggestions from the Swiss native, Rudolph Glatly (Spruce Pine mining engineer and philanthropist), he called the branch roads “Lucerne Strasse,” “Lugano Strasse,” “Bern Via,” and “Cercle des Alpes.” By 1975, all the property originally belonging to Swiss Village, Inc., had been sold.

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Mr. Bell promoted his enterprise in many ways. He had a small airplane and used it to fly prospective buyers up from Florida, show them around and fly them back home again. Quite a number of Florida residents were among the first settlers in Swiss Village, having chosen a summer home in the cool mountains. We presently have 57 homes of various architectural styles in our village and another 6 properties owned without a house. Swiss Village has a total of 64 owners in our Property Owners

Association.

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Since the beginning of Swiss Village, we have been fortunate to have the help, advice and support of a number of local residents who have helped make our life easier in the mountains. Bobby Lowery was one of the stalwarts among these helpers. We now continue to higher local contractors who oversee the condition of our roads and houses after storms or other natural disasters and help with repairs. 

 

Our village is blessed with a dependable and pure water system under the management of the Board of Directors and Certified contractors depending on the issue. Our water comes from two wells located on property our association owns on Lynn Gap Road. The water is then pumped up-hill, under the parkway, to a large reservoir at the top of our mountain and is gravity fed to our homes. The Swiss Village Property Owner Association, Roads and Water liaison is in charge of hiring local certified contractors to help maintain the system. We have our water tested weekly and monitored by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to maintain the purity of the water. 

 

Our roads are managed by the Swiss Village Property Association, Roads and Water liaison who manages and coordinates certified contractors for specific jobs. 

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We have a Homeowners Association and yearly assessments are made to each owner to pay for our road work, water system and the care of the common areas of the village. Our governing body is a Board of Directors consisting of five members who are elected from among our homeowners and who then serve for a three-year term.

 

We have a community wide picnic on the 4th of July each year at Geneva Hall and our Homeowners Association meeting is held the following day on the 5th.

 

We are members of the North Carolina Planned Community Act and we operate under Covenants and Restrictions voted on by our owners.

 

Swiss Village is a lovely community with breath taking views of glorious Carolina
mountains and those beautiful green slopes bringing us sweet cooling breezes. It really
deserves the name given to it by so many residents: “Almost Heaven!”

 

                                                                                                             Carolyn Keeter, 2016