Attic fire damages Flat Rock house

From the Times-News:

Contractors remodeling a home at 68 Mountain Close Lane, near Highland Lake Inn & Resort, were putting up new drywall in the otherwise vacant home when they smelled smoke Tuesday afternoon.

Michael McCarthy said they had started a small fire in the home’s fireplace to keep the chill out while they worked in the house.

“They didn’t know it… but somebody had roofed over the chimney,” said Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue Chief Gary Brown.

The smoke and intense heat from the fireplace backed up in the house’s attic, sparking a fire shortly before 2 p.m. McCarthy called 911.

Heavy smoke was escaping from the eaves of the house when firefighters arrived. “There was a good-size fire in the attic,” Brown said.

Firefighters cut a hole in the roof to access the fire in the attic when they noticed it had spread, but were relieved to find the flames had not sizzled through to the lower floors. . .Water was pumped up from Highland Lake to extinguish the flames.

Water was pumped up from Highland Lake to extinguish the flames. . .

Read it all. And here's the location:

Sandburg trail section closed for repairs

From the Hendersonville Lightning:

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trail Crew will begin trail work on a portion of Memminger Trail on Tuesday.

The work will focus on correcting erosion control along a steep .18-mile part of the Memminger trail between Little Glassy Mountain trail and the Glassy Mountain trailhead. The work should conclude by Jan. 27. Closed signs will be posted and the remaining 4.8 miles of trails will be open. . .

Read it all.

A (tenuous) local connection. . .

From CNN:

Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast member of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died Friday in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. . .

Rhett was doing local theater productions when she was spotted for a role in the 1939 classic "Gone With the Wind," a film based on Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

She was cast as India Wilkes, sister of plantation owner Ashley Wilkes who was at odds with Scarlet O'Hara, played by Vivien Leigh.

While the runaway success and continued notoriety of "Gone With the Wind" made Rhett recognizable nationwide, she did not pursue the limelight. Instead of heading to Hollywood, Rhett went back to Charleston. . .

Alicia Rhett's grandfather, Col. Alfred Rhett, CSA (1829-1889), was the brother of Maj. Andrew Burnet Rhett, CSA (1833-1879), who married Henrietta Aiken (1836-1918), daughter of Gov. William Aiken (SC). Henrietta Aiken Rhett inherited the Highland Lake (then called Rhett's Mill Pond) property from her father in 1873. . . if I've figured out the family tree correctly.