Glenville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Jackson County,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States. It is now a popular lakeside vacation community with many second homes that sometimes are rented around Lake Glenville, which flooded and destroyed the original town. As of the 2010 census, the year-round population was 110.

Demographics

Geography

Glenville is in south-central Jackson County. It is on the east side of Lake Glenville (formerly Thorpe Lake), a reservoir on the West Fork of the Tuckasegee River. North Carolina Highway 107 passes through the community, leading north (downriver) to

Cullowhee Cullowhee (
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the University of North Carolina at Chap ...

and south to Cashiers. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Glenville CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.46%, are water.

History

Prior to incorporation in 1891, it was named "Hamburgh" and later "Hamburg", from which the township gets its name. The Hamburgh

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established there in 1856, but settlement began at least as early as 1827. It was used as a fort in case of attack from the local

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

people. At the time of incorporation in 1891, it was the largest town in Jackson County, a surprising fact considering it was so small. The town had a private high school, the first in Jackson County, formed in 1886 and was just like Cullowhee High School, founded in 1889, which has now become

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU ...

. The Glenville school became a public institution in 1891. In 1926, a new Glenville School was built on a hill above the town, with grades 1–11. It was the main high school for that part of the county until 1975, when Blue Ridge School opened, consolidating Cashiers Elementary and Glenville School. When the lake was filled in the 1940s, the waters were brought to the edge of the campus, making the school lakeside. It was the pride of the community but deteriorated after being abandoned and was demolished around 2000 to make way for lakeside homes. The town managed to save its church and graveyard from the lake, and they were moved not far beyond the present shoreline; today they rest lakeside. The original town was destroyed in 1941 by Nantahala Power and Light after it built a

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

, forming Lake Glenville on the Tuckasegee River. The area next to the lake is still called Glenville, however, and has

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

ZIP Code 28736, assigned mostly to the many vacation homes now built around the lake. The area is now a popular tourist and second home destination, and the lake has many multimillion-dollar homes around it. Lake Glenville is renowned for bass fishing and annually hosts bass fishing tournaments.

Smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

live abundantly in Lake Glenville, as well do

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxi ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

, and

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

species. Certain species of

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

also live in the lake, mainly "channel cats". There are numerous creeks that produce the water for Lake Glenville, including Cedar creek (Cedar Creek and Bee Tree Creek combined), Mill Creek, Hurricane Creek, and Pine Creek, as well as other natural springs consumed at the base of the lake. Lake Glenville is the highest reservoir east of the Mississippi, with a surface elevation of . The majority of higher income seasonal residents are from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is a popular area due to families seeking refuge from the summer heat of the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. The average summer temperature in Glenville is approximately . This is much lower than the average summer temperatures in the surrounding 100 miles. The town made news in 2014 when Lucy Morgan, who had retired to Glenville, exposed a $49.6 million mortgage fraud/

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

being run by developer Domenico Rabuffo while he was in the

United States Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justic ...

."Florida Developer Gets 27 Years in N.C. Mortgage Fraud Scheme"
by Lucy Morgan ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' September 30, 2014; accessed August 26, 2016 It was the subject of the '' American Greed'' episode "Goodfella Gone Bad".

References

External links

Glenville history
* {{authority control Populated places established in 1827 Census-designated places in Jackson County, North Carolina Census-designated places in North Carolina 1827 establishments in North Carolina