Painted Rock

PAINT ROCK (Painted Rock)
"Paint Rock on the French Broad," from Rogers Asheville, UNCA Special Collections
Western North Carolina R.R. Scenery, "Land of the Sky", D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville
"The Real 'Painted Rock.' However, he leaves us in no doubt that they had reached the real Painted Rock called for by the Act of Cession, ceding 'certain lands therein described: ; for he goes on to say that, while 'some gentlemen of Tennessee wish to construe as the painted rock referred to 'another rock in the French Broad river ' about seven miles higher up on the opposite or S.W. side in a very obscure place,' that 'it is to be observed that there is no rock on French Broad river that ever was known as the painted rock but the one first described, which has, ever since the River F. Broad was explored by white men, been a place of Publick [sic] Notoriety.'" (1914, Arthur, Western North Carolina: A History, p. 47 from the narrative of Col. David Vance and Henry of the Battle of Kings Mountain, published in 1892 by T.F. Davidson)
PAINT ROCK : Is about six miles below Hot Springs, immediately on the line between Tennessee and North Carolina, and may be reached either by train or in carriage from Hot Springs. This grand and massive superstructure of nature in granite could not be comprehended from the mere description of any pen. In its wonderful structure, immensity and height, indescribably grand. Memorable in the legislation of both States, it takes its name from a tradition, that the Indians colored portions of it with an indelible paint, which, in places yet remain fresh and red, presenting strange heiroglyphics that have never been deciphered. Covered with a prolific growth of summer blooming and evergreen trees, and carpeted with moss. (Lindsey's Guide Book to Western North Carolina (1890, UNCA Special Collections, F259 .L75 ).
Picturesque America. "The French Broad"- With Illustrations by Harry Fenn. 'Paint Rock, on the French Broad.' p. 130 ?
"The famous Paint Rock is six miles below [Warm Springs]. The spot is well worth visiting. It is an immense wall of granite arranged in horizontal layers projecting over each other in irregular order and towering in weird proportions above the road, which lies close at its base between it and the river. The rocks present dark red faces, and it is from the natural coloring that the name is taken. On some of the smooth faced layers, black lettered names can be deciphered; some left by Federal soldiers, who, during the war, swept round this bend and up the river." (1883, Ziegler, Wilbur and Ben Grosscup. In the Heart of the Alleghanies..., p.370)