Wilson Lick Ranger Station

Wilson Lick Ranger Station. Nantahala National Forest. The Wilson Lick Era represents life of a bygone time… the very early days of the U.S. Forest Service and Nantahala National Forest, Built in 1916, Wilson Lick was the first ranger station of the newly formed Nantahala National Forest. The Forest's first District Ranger, Grady Siler, (pictured with his wife in the doorway) lived at Wilson Lick from 1917 through 1918., Mrs. Grady Siler remembers her first trip to Wilson Lick on June 15, 1919. It took all day to drive from Franklin because they had to stop to drain the radiator of their Model-T and fill it with cold water about once an hour., In 1929 Gilmer Setser lived at Wilson Lick with his wife and daughter. His Forest Service duties included maintaining telephone lines and manning the wooden fire tower that he helped build on Wayah Bald., Throughout its early history, Wilson Lick was used as a base camp and office by Forest Service employees. The fence shown in this picture kept free-ranging pigs and cattle away from the cabin., In 1937 and 1938, Wayah Bald Game Refuge Manager George Crawford and his wife lived at Wilson Lick nearly year-round. A front porch and garage were constructed sometime in the 1940s. The porch was subsequently removed., Wayah Bald Game Refuge Manager Ed Waldroop and his wife, Dot, spent their honeymoon at Wilson Lick in 1948. They lived there for two years and recall snow sifting through the cracks of the walls on cold winter days., For years, annual first aid and fire training sessions for Forest Service personnel took place at Wilson Lick. Oftentimes a cook was hired and men from across the Nantahala National Forest would come and stay for nearly a week. The photo above shows the last training session held at Wilson Lick in 1967.