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A Sigh of Relief: At last, Bass Lake visitors have proper rest facilities in the Bass Lake Reading Room
Journal Photo by Monte Mitchell
Flat Top Manor on the Moses Cone Estate near Blowing Rock stands out amid the changing fall colors above Bass Lake.
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Published: October 9, 2009
BLOWING ROCK - The Bass Lake Reading Room opened yesterday to gentle bathroom humor, but included no books or magazines, at least inside the men's room.
If Moses and Bertha Cone were still alive and sitting on the porch of Flat Top Manor, they could have looked out yesterday and seen the orange leaves reflected in the Bass Lake, but they would have missed the new restroom.
It's positioned flush to the parking lot so as not to spoil the nice view. The Cones would have recognized the architecture, though, because the new restroom is built in the style of the old laundry house that once stood near their mountain mansion.
Bass Lake attracts hundreds of people daily who run, walk, fish, or sit and take in the views or gaze at Flat Top Manor above. But when nature called, they have either had to use the smelly portable toilets or go in the woods.
"It's really pretty difficult to enjoy the natural resources when the hierarchy of needs are kicking in, and you've got to go," said Phil Francis, the superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
That had become a maintenance issue for the park's staff.
It's been 10 years now that plans have been proposed for a new restroom at the Bass Lake, but the National Park Service couldn't afford to build it.
Two years ago, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation posted its "When Nature Calls" capital-campaign sign by the lake. More than 350 people donated a total of more than $80,000 to buy the materials. Park service staff members provided the labor, and the town of Blowing Rock hooked up water and sewer service.
Just before officials held the grand-opening toilet-tissue cutting, Rita Griffith of Blowing Rock took the microphone to tell how she came up with the name Bass Lake Reading Room, which beat out 58 other entries in the restroom-naming contest.
Her late husband, Serge, was a pharmacist who kept current on stacks of pharmaceutical journals while in the bathroom.
"I put a bookshelf in the bathroom, and he stayed there for hours," she said.
Her winning entry won her the right to be among the first to use the new women's restroom.
Ira Abrams of Boone was a lucky winner whose name was drawn to give him first rights in the men's room.
"I've been saving it up!" he called out, as people nearby offered him coffee.
mmitchell@wsjournal.com
667-5691
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