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The sport of fox hunting began in the English countryside as part of entertainment for the gentry during the 17th and 18th century. However, many of the sons who would not inherit their father’s title or their entire estate, brought their families and their foxhounds to the new world. And with them came their hunting culture, as they settled in Maryland and Virginia.
According to history, it was believed that in the year 1650, Lord Baltimore appointed Robert Brooke to a position with the “Province of Maryland.” Brooke traveled from England and disembarked on the shores of Maryland with his wife, two daughters, eight sons, 28 servants, and his pack of foxhounds. Down through the years his sons and descendants, carried on the Brooke Hound bloodlines, which supposedly provided the basic stock in America.
One of my fondest memories of growing up with my cousins on Robbinsville Mountain was the sound of the fox horn high on the ridges below Joanna Bald. It was a haunting sound that floated down to the valley floor and we knew that Battle had let his Walker foxhounds out on the mountain the night before to let them run. Unlike the English, he did not hunt fox on horseback.
After a night of running. Battle would come back the next morning and call the dogs with the fox horn. There was a stray or two that would not come, and days later they would wander in to the home of Helen and Harold Birchfield, who lived at the base of Robbinsville Mountain.
Battle would stop by later to see if any of his hounds were there. When the hounds would come in the yard, we would give them water and food, then tie them up until Mr. Battle stopped by to get them. And he always gave us money for our Saturday trip to Franklin’s store, where we could get a little bag of candy for a dime.
Wayne and Anna Jean Battle moved to Andrews in 1944 from Bryson City, and had three children: Wayne Jr., Betsy and Mary Jo. The couple purchased the Charlie Brown Furniture and Hardware Co. After selling the furniture part of the business to Mark Elliot, they named their business Battle Hardware. Many of the older folks remember buying appliances at the store because they could purchase them on time making weekly payments of a dollar or two.
As a child I really wanted to learn how to blow a fox horn, but I knew it would be unpolite to ask Battle. I was simply mesmerized by that low commanding sound that came out of the horn. Then, years later when I was a teenager, I worked at Nichols Department Store with Faye Sherrill, and I told her about Battle and his foxhounds, and my fascination with how he made that sound with a horn.
Faye told me to come by her house on Sunday afternoon that Junior, her husband, had something he wanted to give me. Since he was such a baseball fan, I figured it had something to do with that sport, or his collection of train or racing memorabilia.
When I walked into Junior’s den, he smiled and handed me a fox horn, that he said belonged to his father. I was speechless, and so moved that I cried. As a child, I dreamed of owning a fox horn, and my dream had come true – and Junior even showed me how to blow it.
But I am here to tell you it took a lot of practice to perfect that sound. It is one of my prize possessions, and I have taught my grandson the art of blowing a fox horn.
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 828-361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.