Flat Top Manor: The Estate that Moses & Bertha Built

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The couple’s blend of morality, planning and civic responsibility lives on in a property that Bertha Cone did all she could to keep from becoming part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, much less the signature attraction that is undergoing major renovations today.

Spotting workers crafting a mansion in the mountains of Western North Carolina must have been quite a novelty in the late 1800s. George Vanderbilt created his massive Biltmore Estate during that era in Asheville, but he wasn’t the only one with lofty shelter goals. A little more than 75 miles to the northeast, Moses Cone, known as the “Denim King,” worked on his own expansive summer home near Blowing Rock.

While George Vanderbilt scooped up 125,000 acres for his estate in Asheville, Moses Cone set his sights on the High Country of North Carolina, where he bought, between the years of 1892 and 1908, more than 3,600 acres.

It’s stunning in today’s high-priced real estate market to realize how cheaply he acquired mountain-top views. In the book, “Mansion of the Mountains,” author Philip Noblitt writes, “Cone paid $29,000 for roughly 3,650 acres of land, for an average per-acre cost of $7.95. As might be expected, prices varied from tract to tract, but largely remained in the range of five to ten dollars.”

Cone reportedly fashioned his home after Biltmore, but it was significantly modest in scale. Vanderbilt created a 250-room house spread over 175,000 square-feet, complete with indoor bowling alley, swimming pool and a multitude of priceless treasures set amid carefully landscaped grounds.

In comparison, the white Colonial Revival manor home Cone built, known as Flat Top Manor, encompassed about 13,000 square feet and boasted 23 rooms including 11 bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a billiard room, music room and library.

Cone also paid attention to the landscaping and outdoor recreation. He gained advice from his friend, noted conservationist Gifford Pinchot, who served as the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Pinchot is known for his landscaping and conservation work at Biltmore Estate. At Pinchot’s suggestion, Cone planted white pine forests and hemlock hedges. He also created 25 miles of carriage trails on his property as well as three manmade lakes (Bass Lake is perhaps the most popular with guests with its easy walking loop and serene surroundings), flower gardens and he added 32,000 apple trees, known for producing prize-winning fruit. Those trees were planted in four orchards spread out across 200 acres and included 80 different apple varieties.

Becoming the “Denim King”

Moses Cone was born in Jonesborough, Tennessee in 1857. The family soon moved to Baltimore where his father ran a dry goods and grocery business. His father had immigrated to the U.S. from Bavaria, Germany. When he arrived in this country, his name was Herman Kahn, but he changed his last name to Cone.

By 1878, Moses and his brother Ceasar were full partners in their father’s business and it became known as H. Cone & Sons. Moses and Ceasar were the oldest sons of 13 children. They spent a decade as traveling salesmen in the South. Times were rough economically and many customers could only offer baled textiles and yarn in payment for groceries. Accepting those goods led to a whole new career opportunity as the Cone brothers became commissioned sales agents for some of the textile companies.

As they achieved success, other opportunities continued to evolve. In 1891, Moses created the Cone Export & Commission Company in New York City and then moved the headquarters to Greensboro, North Carolina in 1893. Then in 1895, Moses and Ceasar launched a denim mill called Proximity Manufacturing Company on the outskirts of Greensboro. The Cone brothers continued to expand their operation by acquiring other North Carolina mills including ones in Asheville, Salisbury and Gibsonville.

They provided subsidized housing for the mill workers along with large lots for raising gardens and fruit trees. They also encouraged education and offered mill schools at the villages. Moses found local schools in Greensboro lacking, so to make up for that deficit, he paid 50% more salary to teachers willing to come to the mill schools. Workers who wanted to continue their own education could do so through night classes.

By the time of Cone’s death in 1908, his mills were producing a third of all the denim produced in the world and this earned him the moniker of the “Denim King.”

Creating Flat Top Manor

As he began acquiring land from farmers in the area where Cone Manor would rise, Moses Cone prioritized planting his apple orchard before beginning the building of the summer home.

The February 2, 1898 issue of The Greensboro Patriot announced his endeavor: “Mr. Moses H. Cone has purchased 3,000 acres of land near Blowing Rock during the past year, and during the winter has had 20,800 apple trees planted… Many varieties have been planted indigenous to the climate, but mostly the Albemarle Pippin, a large luscious green apple in the fall, which turns to a beautiful golden yellow in the winter.”

The article briefly mentions his plans for his house saying, “Mr. Cone will build a handsome summer residence on these lands during the year.”

Construction on the house began in 1899 and reached completion in 1901. Talk must have buzzed through this mountain community of Cone’s plan to spend $25,000 on a summer home. In comparison, most regular homes in the area cost about $200 at that time.

The house was outfitted with modern amenities including indoor plumbing with hot and cold running water, wood-fired heating system and carbide gas lighting system. Electrical lines were established in 1927.

Cone, and his wife, Bertha, did not have children, but they enjoyed entertaining guests at Flat Top Manor, particularly for dinner parties. The estate produced much of the meat, vegetables and fruits prepared by cooks and served up by a butler and other service staff.

Noblitt says it would have been up to Bertha to set the tone for the evening’s conversation. “As hostess, she tried to keep the subject matter light,” he writes. “Controversial topics and deep discussions had no place at the dinner table, nor did loud or boisterous talk… Also, no matter how delightful the meal, diners never commented on the quality of the food. That would have suggested sensuality and animal gratification, something Victorians were loath to acknowledge.”

Widow Takes the Helm

In addition to marking the WNC landscape with their names and their wealth, there are other similarities between Moses Cone and George Vanderbilt. Both men died at the age of 51. Cone died in 1908 from heart disease and Vanderbilt passed unexpectedly in 1914 while recovering from surgery for appendicitis. He reportedly suffered a pulmonary embolism, which happens when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in a lung.

Their untimely deaths forced their wives into positions of maintaining the large estates. Bertha Cone and Edith Vanderbilt lived into their 80s. Bertha died at age 89 in 1947 and Edith in 1958 at the age of 85.

“I always have to mention to people that Bertha ran that estate for 40 some years,” says Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. “What a great story of a woman entrepreneur. She left her mark on that estate, that’s for sure. She’s often not given as much attention as she perhaps should.”

Bertha Cone was definitely hands-on as she supervised all aspects of running the estate. In 1913, she created the Flat Top Manor Dairy, which served as the first Grade A facility in Watauga County. The dairy supplied milk to local hotels and others around the Blowing Rock area into the 1940s.

She also improved harvesting measures of the estate’s apple crop and she kept a keen eye on expenses. As Noblitt writes, “She kept abreast of market prices and advised her foremen when to sell and at what price. In October, 1913, for instance she directed [them] to ‘Keep your prices.’ Her number two apples, she said, were as good as most growers’ number one grade, and should bring five dollars a barrel.”

The apple crop was a main source of income, but the estate also sold sheep, cattle and wool. By 1915, there were approximately 250 sheep at the estate along with 82 cows, 13 horses and mules, and also chickens and turkeys.

Bertha was a petite woman standing approximately five feet two inches tall, but she was known to be authoritative and even a bit intimidating. Workers knew she expected them to live up to a high moral code and that she would strongly disapprove if they sipped moonshine.

But it wasn’t all business. Bertha continued to enjoy entertaining guests for dinner, taking part in horseback and carriage rides around the estate and engaging in community involvement. She served as a trustee for the Appalachian Training School (now Appalachian State University) and she was a committee member for the Watauga County school system. She ran a school at the estate for the children of the workers and paid for their textbooks and supplies.

Bertha also invested time in challenging plans to route the Blue Ridge Parkway through her property.

She wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt about her concerns and she invited dignitaries, including Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, to her home for dinner parties. This way they could see the beauty of her estate for themselves. She told them it would be a crime to route the parkway through her land. Ickes reportedly assured her that no road would be built there in her lifetime.

Part of her objection to the road was that Bertha Cone did not want the public to have access to her home. According to Noblitt, “Bertha directed in her will that the manor house be closed never to be opened again for any purpose. That was her private domain… Flat Top Manor had been hers, and she wanted to keep it that way. As time would tell, this wish would not be honored.”

After Bertha’s death, money from the estate paid for the creation of the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro. It took four years to complete the project, beginning in 1949 and reaching its opening date in 1953.

Bertha also willed her estate to the hospital with her express wishes that it never be sold to the National Park Service. Ownership of the property proved to be a costly burden to maintain. Hospital officials took the will to the State Supreme Court in 1950 and won the right to donate the estate to the National Park Service to become part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The expansive orchards that the Cones planted are diminished today. Likewise, many of the farm’s buildings and tenant housing disappeared as they were sold, dismantled, and then repurposed elsewhere.

But Flat Top Manor remains as a stunning landmark at the Moses Cone Memorial Park, along with a carriage barn, apple barn, the 25-mile system of multi-purpose carriage trails that Cone designed, and the spirits of Moses and Bertha. A family cemetery is located on the property. A popular 5.6-mile roundtrip hike takes visitors from Flat Top Manor to the Cone Cemetery and on to the Flat Top Observation Tower, which offers incredible mountain views.

The Craftsman’s Trail provides an option for a shorter stroll. It takes about 20 minutes to follow this path around the Manor. Moses and Bertha were known to walk together on this trail every morning.

Renovations at Flat Top Manor

By the end of 2021, visitors to Flat Top Manor, the former summer home of Moses and Bertha Cone, will be able to see the exterior of the mansion restored to its original glory. Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, says she has deep gratitude for all the donors who have joined in funding the project, which nears $2.4 million dollars in cost.

“One of the first projects the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation ever funded was replacing the balusters, so we’ve been raising money for the entire memorial park really since our inception. It’s a full circle project for us to see it restored,” says Ward.

Crews began work in December 2020 to tackle long-needed repairs on the weathered structure. First steps included removing the windows, porch columns and the railing and balusters of the widow’s walk. A preservation workshop in Greensboro, North Carolina is working to repair and restore these items to their original condition.

Other renovations, continuing through the summer of 2021, include replacing deteriorating wood siding, shingles, doors, the porch ceiling, gutters and additional features.

The Moses Cone Memorial Park is easily accessible off the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 294. Guests are welcome to hike the trails and explore the grounds, just as Moses and Bertha allowed from the early days of the estate when they permitted public horseback riding and other recreational activities.

Today’s visitors can also soak in the myriad of crafts available for sale on the main floor of the Flat Top Manor in a shop maintained by the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Open seasonally mid-April to October.

The story above first appeared in our May/June 2021 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!