Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, is a special place for Country Fox Music. It is where we all met, where we spend time together during the summer, and where great friendships have grown.
The history of Lake Toxaway is a fascinating story of a land that was important to Native Americans, later drew some of America’s great leaders of industry, and today is enjoyed by those who appreciate its extraordinary natural beauty.
Yet the history of the lake and the surrounding region is not widely known. That inspired Country Fox Music to tell its story in "Land of the Red Bird"— through a song that brings together the history, beauty, and spirit of this remarkable place.
LYRICS
Long before the trains rolled through
These ancient mountains hid from view
The Cherokee walked these mountain ways
Beneath the sky and Blue Ridge haze
And legends tell in voices heard
"Toxaway"… the land of the red bird
Where cardinals flew through ancient pine
And the Toxaway river was carved over time
Then iron rails crossed mountain stone
And slowly change began to roll
Timber men and dreamers came
To explore and build their name
A man named Hayes first saw the mountain skies
Reflected in his ambitious eyes
And high beneath Hogback Mountain's crown
He built the greatest lake around
Oh Lake Toxaway
Cradled by these mountain hills
Where the grand Toxaway Inn stood tall
Above the waters calm and still
Where Carnegies and Vanderbilts came
Beneath the Blue Ridge mountain air
To find among these Carolina hills
A mountain haven rare
Pullman railcars lined the Toxaway Station tracks
Ford and Edison came and kept coming back
To fish and dance and boat along the shore
Believing it would last forevermore
But in the summer of 1916
The darkest skies these mountains had seen
The rains came hard, the lakebed rose
Through mountain gaps the floodwaters flowed
Then one night the dam gave way
And carried dreams downstream away
Oh Lake Toxaway
Your waters disappeared
And with them went the hopes of all those years
The grand old inn grew dark and still
And time stood silent in the hills
Forty-five years the mountains waited
While memories slowly faded
But deep beneath those Carolina skies
The dream refused to die
The Heinitsh family arrived in 1960 with vision strong
To bring the lake back where it belonged
They timbered out the lakebed floor
And brought Lake Toxaway back once more
As guests at the historic Greystone Inn
Watched the mountain years return
Families gathered by the water's edge
As Lake Toxaway found life again
Oh Lake Toxaway
Land of the red bird
Your story still lives in every word
Through flood, time and change
Lake Toxaway thrives today
Through families who
Have made these mountains home
Oh Lake Toxaway
Land of the red bird
Still resting in these Carolina hills