Montreat Minute for December 19, 2025
Merry Christmas from the Town Council and Staff!
Holiday Hours and Sanitation Pickup
The Montreat Town offices will be closed for the Christmas holiday Thursday and Friday, December 25th and 26th. Normal hours will resume on Monday, December 29th. Of course, police services will be available as usual.
The offices will also be closed on New Year’s Day, January 1st, with normal hours resuming on the 2nd.
Sanitation pick up will occur as usual and the Convenience Center will be open 7:00 am to 7:00 pm daily for Montreat residents.
There will be no Montreat Minute next Friday, but it will resume on January 2nd.
Firewise Certification Renewed
Nancy Midgette, Montreat’s Firewise Coordinator, recently announced that Montreat has achieved recertification of its Firewise status for the sixth consecutive year! Firewise is a national program designed to increase residents’ awareness of and decrease wildfire risk within their communities. Montreat is one of the few municipalities in North Carolina that has achieved Firewise Certification.
This past year, you reported more than 856 hours of brush and leaf cleanup, which translated to 1,647 cubic yards of brush and 540 cubic yards of leaves removed.
In its correspondence with Nancy announcing the recertification, Firewise officials noted, “The efforts your residents completed are an important part of reducing the wildfire risk in your community!” Don’t stop reporting your hours, keep up the good work. And many thanks to Nancy for coordinating this critically important program for our Town.
Did You Know?
Only a handful of people lived in Montreat in December of 1898. One of these early residents was Philadelphian Mary Martin, who had fallen in love with the valley when she had visited earlier in the year for health reasons. She found everyone that she met “delightful,” proclaimed that the scenery rivaled Switzerland’s, and by November had moved into her small Montreat home, Chinquapin Lodge, which she had commissioned and still stands on Collegiate Circle.
With Christmas approaching, Mary began to adjust to mountain life. Though she bemoaned that she had no place to shop for gifts, she decorated with “masses of holly, laurel, and hemlock,” and festooned her tree with cookies and picture cards. She invited her new friends over for a holiday tea – as many people as she had cups and saucers.
The community also gathered for a “social” at Montreat’s lone and hastily assembled hotel, Hotel Montreat (opened in 1900). “It is the most marvelous structure,” she quipped. “It looks more like a row of bath houses than anything else.” Mary referred to it as “Big Piney Out,” since the promised Big Piney Inn was yet to materialize.
At the Martin house, Christmas dinner was a young chicken, picked and cleaned, for which Mary had paid twenty cents. One friend gave her a mousetrap as a gift. It was all wonderful – she was happy and healthy. “It is remarkable how safe one feels in this wilderness,” she wrote. “A walk in the woods is like a journey into fairyland.”
Mary spent many subsequent Christmases in Montreat. In 1902, she married James Miller, a retired civil engineer, and they raised three children in Chinquapin.
The information in this article was adapted from: “Mother Pioneered at Montreat: Her Letters 1898-1899.” Drop by the PHC to pick up a free copy.
Thanks to the Presbyterian Heritage Center, especially Nancy Midgette, for this glimpse from the past. Stop by the PHC for additional Montreat history and so much more. Have an idea for a future “Did You Know?”? Let Nancy know at midgette@elon.edu.
Updates and Reminders
- Interested in serving on a board, commission or committee of the Town? Complete an application to let us know of your interest. Online applications are LOCATED HERE. A complete listing and description of boards, commissions, and committees can be found by CLICKING HERE.
- Do you receive your own copy of the Montreat Minute or know someone who doesn’t? Sign up for the Sunshine List to receive the Montreat Minute and stay “in the know” about the Town’s happenings. CLICK HERE to sign up for the list!
- Do you receive Montreat CodeRedalerts, an emergency communications system used a number of times during the hurricane and wildfires? To learn more about CodeRed or to be added to the list, CLICK HERE.
Questions or Comments?
Do you have Town-related questions or comments to offer? If so, please send them to Angela Murphy at info@townofmontreat.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Have a very Merry Christmas!
