Sunburst, North Carolina

Champion Fibre Company began operations in the planned logging community of Sunburst in 1907. 75 houses, a general store, barber shop, post office, a forty room hotel, commissary, and a three story building housing two public schools, a church, Carl Schenck’s forestry school along with a dance hall, skating rink, and business quarters were constructed. The town flourished with electricity, phone lines, passenger train, and 500 – 1,500 residents. In 1911 Sunburst moved 4 miles downstream renamed the upstream site Spruce, currently known as the Sunburst Campground. In November, 1925, after a dry summer, a major fire depleted the forest. Sunburst remained in production until September 15, 1926. In the following years, the logging camp was removed and the West Fork of the Pigeon River was dammed creating Lake Logan.This photograph shows the building that housed a church and school