Biles Mountain

 

So, here I am mountain hunting again with my handy magnifying glass. With the location of Biles Mountain, I already had in hand two snippets of information, one, I knew it rose off of Mountain Creek and two, I knew it was a part of the Morrow Mountain family, or cluster, but not located within the confines of the park itself. That seems like an easy find, with the exception that there were more than one hills that fit that description. 

What makes a mountain?  I turn to Oxford, "a large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level, a large steep hill." Why, the whole area is like an enormus piece of  wrinkled up aluminum foil. A large steep hill. Ok, which large steep hill.

Stanly News and Press

Albemarle, North Carolina • Sat, Jan 30, 2021Page 4

I had remembered reading about Biles Mountain in a not-too-long-ago article in the Stanly News and Press. Just before I came down with a horrible case of Covid. Thank goodness, I've never suffered through anything like that bout of the Delta variant again. I found the article! A mountain hunter never forgets when the hear about a new mountain. At the time, I was able to look up the author of the article and left a message. She actually put me in contact with the current owner of Biles, a very nice person, who although no longer lived in the area, came down sometimes, and offered up a tour when he did. Unfortunately, I was sick and weak on the day of my planned hike up Biles Mountain and the opportunity never crystalized again.

There was another string to unravel, the name of  the Mountain itself. Further back in my research of my own families attachment to this area, I discovered that it was one Isaac Biles who had settled in the area of Mountain Creek and among the other settlers of the "Naked Mountain" area. The Biles family had migrated from Rowan County in times past, with their progenitor one Thomas Biles, who founded the old community of Bilesville, which would change its name to New London to attract British investment into their mining operations. Gold territory. 

One of the Biles bunch bought land bordering the lands of Robert Smith and his children, the Kirks, and other area settlers. His name was Isaac Biles. By the time of the C B Miller map, which gives us a glimpse of who lived where around the turn-of-the-century, the generation area of Biles Mountain was owned by one A. F. Atkins.

A. F. Biles was one Amos Franklin Biles (1867-1940). He lived a long beneficial and honorable life. Above, his obituary is seen. It reveals he was the son of a Frank Biles.

Here is another obituary, that of Frenania Smith Allen Biles, second wife of W. F. "Frank" Biles. Known as "Donie", Mrs. Biles is revealed to have been the daughter of Parham Smith, Parham Smith was one of the sons of Robert Smith, and Robert was one of the older sons of William Smith, William Smith who died in 1845. I always clarify that as there were more than one William Smith. This William was married more than once and his widow was significantly younger than he was, as was not uncommon in those days. 

This last document completes the chain. It is the marriage document of the above mentioned couple, Frank and Donie Biles. W. F. Biles is revealed to be the son of Isaac and Martha Biles and Frenonia B Allen is revealed to have been the daughter of Parham and Mary Ann Smith (and a widow). Frank's first wife was Elmira Nash, daughter of Edmund B. Nash and Tabitha Smith. So, Isaac Biles was Amos Franklin Biles's grandfather, and that's the lineage down from who Biles Mountain was named for. 

Biles Mountain

In 2018, a Speight family donated 45 acres to the park, along Mountain Creek. 

Stanly News and Press

Albemarle, North Carolina • Tue, Jul 31, 2018Page 6

In 2016, the Speights family had donated 5 acres at the top of Biles Mountain to the park. It's a unique geological area and contains a natural highground pond. Now knowing that at least part of Biles Mountain is now part of Morrow Mountain State Park, I contacted them. Some one there had to know which one of these hills off Mountain Creek is Biles Mountain.

My answer, it rises up behind the Old Shiloh Church. 

Off of Valley Drive, Morrow Mountain Road is a twisting, curving trail that goes past a small white church and a handful of houses, tucked away in a little 'Holler' that is what is left of the Shiloh Community. Shiloh is an historic African American community that included those who had lived in the Mountain Creek area for generations. The church family remains. And right behind the church the ground rises skyward, indicating the foot of Biles Mountain. 

And as my lead in graphic shows, there is Biles Mountain, to the east of Valley Drive and Mountain Creek, and to the north west of Morrow Mountain. It's a long arrowhead shaped protrusion,  The red dot marks the location of the Old Shiloh Church, Biles Mountain rising behind and Nobles Mountain south of it, its foot to the north, sticking its toe into the river, the former property of Isaac Biles.