A legend of treasure lost and never recovered and the native American who haunted the Fallsville area in Highland County after he was murdered are all part of the new book “For the Love of Fallsville — The Story of a Highland County Ghost Town” by Hillsboro area author Deb Williams.
“The most interesting thing about Fallsville was that it was actually a thriving village at one time and it was thought that it would be the primary town in Highland County with a railroad and post office,” Williams said. “But the railroad never came and after the Civil War the town just kind of died away. There’s really no explanation. You might find a piece of something here or there, but all the structures are gone.”
While there is some fact in the book, it is not a true story.
“It’s a fictional story I set in the town of Fallsville,” Williams said. “It’s a story I made up, but I set it in Fallsville.”
Local folklore tells a story of a native American who was murdered around Fallsville. As the legend goes, he had a treasure and white men were chasing him, but before they caught him the native American buried the treasure. The white men killed him because of it.
“I have talked to quite a few people in town who are aware of the legend,” Williams said.
There were two Clouser sisters that lived alone in Fallsville until they died, Williams said the legend goes.
“(The native American) would appear at the Clouser home every Christmas Eve, knock on their door, and make gestures trying to tell the sisters where the treasure was,” Williams said. “What happened to it is one of those mysteries and I have incorporated that into my story.”
Speaking more factually, Williams said settlers from North Carolina settled in the Fallsville area in the early 1800s. She said that according to her research, the last person who lived there died there in 1892.
“Farmers have found dishes and stuff there when they plow in the area, but everything else is gone,” Williams said.
There were some Careys who settled in the Fallsville area, Williams said, surmising they may have been the ones that settled in what today in known at Careytown.
This is Williams’ 18th book. She is a 1977 graduate of Hillsboro High School and taught school at Lynchburg-Clay for 32 years before retiring.
“It’s just something I always wanted to do and after I retired, I just started writing,” Williams said. “I started writing romantic suspense stories, but I got involved with the (Highland County) Historical Society and I have a passion for that — finding out about different things that happened — and adding my imagination to the real facts.”
Williams’ latest book book is available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and through the historical society. Or she can be reached at 937-763-3198 or [email protected]. She will be signing the new book Oct. 22 at a VFW Craft Fair and Nov. 26 at the historical society’s Highland House Museum in Hillsboro.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.
