Historic    Hill / Staub  Farm   -  Highlands,   NC

History of the  Hill / Staub  home and property is extensively documented in Randolph P.  Shaffner’s,  2004 Faraway publications:  Heart Of The Blue Ridge,  Highlands, North Carolina.

 

The home was built in 1878 and originally occupied by Stanhope W. “Squire” and Celia Edwards Hill.  The smaller dwelling on the property was occupied by Hill’s former slave, Dan, and is buried in the family plot at the Little Church in the Wildwood, in Horse cove.

 

The following excerpt is taken from Shaffner’s book: 

“The Hill house accommodated boarders, since many settlers who moved to Highlands boarded there initially. Its current owner says one window bears the etching ‘the first piece of glass brought to Highlands in 1883’.  1883 would be the year that Squire Hill beat John Jay Smith by six votes to become Highlands’ first ‘elected’ mayor. “

 

The house later became the home of Professor Albert Staub, and his daughter, Albertina.  They were Swiss immigrants who came to America from the small village of Nestal.  Although had initially lived in Ohio and Atlanta, they came to Highlands longing for a mountainous area similar to the beauty of their native Switzerland.

 

On the property today, just south of the driveway, the grapes vines that Professor Albert brought from Switzerland still thrive and produce white grapes.