Waynesville, NC

A week ago we took a trip to North Carolina and one of the places we visited was Waynesville, NC.  Waynesville is the county seat in Haywood County and it is about 30 miles southwest of Asheville between the Great Smokey and Blue Ridge mountains.  Waynesville was founded in 1810 by Colonel Robert Love, an American Revolutionary War soldier.  He donated land for the courthouse, jail and public square and named it after his former commander from the Revolutionary War, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne.   Waynesville was incorporated in 1871 and it really grew when the railroad arrived in 1884.
During the American Civil War a battle did take place in Waynesville.  The Battle of Waynesville took place on May 6, 1865 when the Union Colonel William C Bartlett's 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infanty were raiding, pillaging, burning homes and engaging in other activities to undermine the economic base of the area.  The Union Infantry were attacked just east of Waynesville in Sulphur Springs by an attachment of Rebels from the Thomas Legion of Highlanders.  The Thomas Legion consisted of soldiers who served under Jubal A Early during the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns in 1864.  The Legion had been sent back to NC mountains to engage in guerrilla warfare. The Legion forced the Union army to retreat back to Waynesville where the Legion, on the evening of May 6th, surrounded the town and the soldiers lit numerous bonfires on the ridge above the town then engaged in war chants to intimidate the Union army.  The Thomas Legion fired the "last shot of the Civil War" because the next day General James Green Martin and Colonel William Holland Thomas (leader of the Legion) negotiated a surrender after finding out that the Civil War was over. The Battle of Waynesville is part of the Civil War Discovery Trail Sites.  My interest in the Civil War has grown and we are in an area where several battles took place which will give us even more to do around this area.
While we were in Waynesville we had lunch at Bogarts.  Bogarts opened in 1976 and has been a favorite to the locals ever since.  It is a casual family restaurant that has a family atmosphere in a  rustic local history accented setting. The menu is noted for its practical value.  In other words, they serve really good food and a lot of it for a very reasonable price.  We enjoyed our time in Waynesville and our lunch at Bogarts and we will be returning to Waynesville soon!