Pre-contact – 1839
A mineral spring known to Cherokee and documented by three published authorities before Dr. Chick ever arrived.
“The water bubbled up from the earth, cool and clear, rich in calcium sulphate and dissolved minerals.”
Before European settlement, Cherokee people recognized the mineral spring as a place where deer gathered to lick the mineral-rich rocks. The water bubbled up from the earth, cool and clear, rich in calcium sulphate and dissolved minerals. The name “Lick Spring” predates every other name this place would carry.
Chick assembled the resort estate through five purchases spanning sixteen years. In 1828, he bought 100 acres from Banister Southerland and 226 acres from Almond Austin—both along the Tyger River. In 1831, David Goodlett sold him 180 acres on Richland Creek. In 1834, he purchased 78 acres from Absalom Carney Jr. for $166—the tract at the mouth of the spring branch headwaters. And in 1844, A.B. Chick—executor of Joseph Hawkins—conveyed another 418 acres in an intra-family transfer. By the mid-1840s, Chick controlled over a thousand acres around the springs.
Sources
While deer hunting near Taylors, Dr. Chick stopped at Asa Crowder’s home. Crowder hired two or three Native guides—possibly Catawbas camped on the Enoree—to guide him to Lick Spring. They offered to “make up a bright light” to shine in the animals’ eyes and told him the ground at the spring would heal sores. This account passed down through J.A. Bull, who heard it from Alfred Taylor. It is the only recorded account of Indigenous people at the spring.