A WATERFALL COMMUNITY

 

In 1853, McKewn Johnstone, son of a wealthy rice planter from Charleston, South Carolina, purchased the property that is now known as Glen Cannon. He and his two brothers owned most of the area known then as the Upper French Broad Valley. McKewn’s wife, Martha Cannon Webb, was of Scottish descent. For 52 years the Johnstones farmed and lived in Glen Cannon, and the names of the neighborhood and its roads are a reminder of their Scottish heritage.

 

For the next six decades the property went through several changes of ownership. In 1965, a group of 35 investors purchase the 1,300-acre tract to build a golf course and residential community. The course opened in 1966 and homes began to be built. Four of the original investors acquired the remaining Glen Cannon Land Inc. shares in 1975; they sold their interest to developer John Nichols Jr. in 1982, and he continued development until the majority of the home sites were sold. The remaining common areas, including 12 acres of trails and waterfalls along Camp Creek, were then turned over to the Glen Cannon Property Owners Association, and are still managed by the POA today. 

 

Like many golf courses in the United States, the semi-private Glen Cannon Country Club ran into financial and management difficulties that ultimately resulted in the foreclosure and sale of the golf course and clubhouse to Le Parc, LLC in 2014. Under its new ownership, the property is home to Skyterra, an all-inclusive private health and wellness retreat.