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BROADLY SPEAKING: How our mountains became a 'Garden of Eden'

Carey O'Cain

By CAREY O’CAIN, Published: May 31, 2026

The first European explorer to visit what would become Henderson County was Hernando DeSoto. In May and June of 1540, DeSoto and approximately 500-600 soldiers entered North Carolina.

The Carolina archives indicate that they entered near Tryon and the Pacolet River. Theory varies here as it appears as though part of this expedition headed up the Saluda Gap and another portion headed up the Hickory Nut Gorge. These were both Indian trails which would become primitive roads in the 1800s. Professor David Moore of Warren Wilson College has DeSoto entering through the Old Fort area. Both theories converge at the same area of the French Broad River Valley at an elevation of about 2,200 feet above sea level. The backstaff had already been invented in 1515, which allowed explorers to determine elevation above sea level. The Spaniards were looking for gold. The native Indians at first embraced the Europeans but DeSoto’s soldiers were brutal. From journals, part of the expedition came through what would become Hendersonville on May 26, 1540. DeSoto found no gold and the Indians encouraged the soldiers to move on by telling the men that “yellow rock” could be found just past the mountains near the present-day Gatlinburg, Tennessee, area. The men forged ahead following the Swannanoa, French Broad, then the Pigeon River to the west side of the Appalachians.

American Indians were abundant in Western North Carolina before the European settlers began to push them out. Cherokee are the predominant tribe but Creek and Chickasaw also inhabited our area. They settled and roamed here because of the abundance of water, plant life and animals.

Indians referred to the French Broad River as “Long Man” and the rivers, streams and creeks as “Chattering Children.” The French Broad Valley was called Agiqua, while the rapids through the gorge were known as Tahkeqostee, meaning “where they race.” There were legendary villages: Kanuga on the Pigeon River and Kanaste on the French Broad. Interestingly, the French Broad, which traverses 213 miles, is the third oldest river in the world, closely behind the Nile in Egypt and the (ironically named) New River in North Carolina and the Virginias.

You may wonder why there are two Broad Rivers in Henderson County. The Broad River through  the Hickory Nut Gorge flows through English territory to the Atlantic. The French Broad, however, flows into French Territory ultimately reaching the Mississippi and the Louisiana Territory. In a later chapter, we will share stories of adventurous groups traveling the length of these rivers. One of these stories involves Lutrelle’s father taking his son and friends down the French Broad, Halston, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers in a small boat.

In 1785, French botanist Andre Michaux (1745-1802) was sent to the newly established United States by King Louis XVI. Michaux was raised on the Versailles estate where his father was a botanist. Andre’s home base in the south was North Charleston, near where the airport is now.  Because Michaux had heard of the abundance of plant life in Western North Carolina, he began to explore, map and catalog plant species before sending samples and seed back to France. In June of 1787, Michaux visited the Highland Plateau, entering the mountains through the Clemson-Seneca area following the animal and Indian trails up through the Rosman area, the headwaters of the French Broad River. This Indian trail is called the Estatoe Path. What he discovered was astonishing! In the Smokies and French Broad River Vally are more plant and tree species than all of Europe. Botanists consider this area a “Garden of Eden” — the richest area in the world for plant life.

 Here are some statistics:

• More than 1,500 wildflowers.
• 1,000 shrubs.
• More than 500 mosses and lichen.
• 130 native trees.
• 300 species of birds

All of Europe has only 85 native trees compared to our 130. Because of the lush vegetation, loamy soil, sheltered coves and moist climate, entomologists record nearly 1.25 million insects in topsoil in each acre of natural forested land. An interesting fact about Andre Michaux is that Thomas Jefferson, before the Louisiana Purchase, asked Michaux in 1793 to lead an expedition to explore the interior of North America from the Mississippi and Missouri to the Pacific coast. Not anticipating the magnitude of the assignment, Michaux only got as far as Kentucky.

You are probably wondering why this area is so abundant. The answer is the Ice Age and the orientation of the Appalachian Mountains. When the Ice Age hit Europe and Asia, the ice pushed south before running into the Alps and Himalayan Mountains. Once this happened, seeds, plant life and animals were trapped and perished. When ice pushed south in North America, ice continued to flow because the Appalachians are oriented north and south. Plants, animals and seeds retreated as the ice encroached, thus surviving, many times in sheltered coves like the Pacolet River headwaters. An example of prolific plant life survival is the rhododendron. Rhododendrons are rare but our mountains have the largest stand of purple rhododendron in the world. The word rhododendron, from Greek, means “rose tree.”

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Carey O’Cain, Hendersonville native, Hendersonville High School and Clemson graduate and Laurel Park mayor, has an insatiable thirst for southern Appalachian history. WTZQ began airing Carey’s “Broadly Speaking” feature — about the people, places and history of the French Broad River Valley — in March 2025. New episodes air at 8:15 a.m. Thursdays then at 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.