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Discovering the Kingdom of the Happy Land: A Hidden Chapter of History

By tena

The Kingdom of the Happy Land began as a roving band of freed slaves from Mississippi who earnestly set out to establish a cooperative kingdom based on the philosophy of “one for all, and all for one.” Their journey took them through Georgia and South Carolina and eventually into the mountains of Western North Carolina, where the promise of land and safety awaited.

 

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The journey and the dream

Sometime close to 1867, this weary entourage arrived at the Davis property, Oakland, just inside the North Carolina state line. To them, it must have felt like the Promised Land. Serepta Davis, the aging matriarch of the property, welcomed the group and offered housing and land in exchange for labor—a heaven-sent opportunity after the uncertainties and dangers of freedom.

The Davis family had a remarkable history of their own. John Davis (1780–1859), born in Virginia to Welsh immigrants, served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 under General Andrew Jackson. Afterward, he established a trading post in Merrittsville, near Greenville, South Carolina, where he met and married Serepta Merritt Davis (1802–1889). The couple later moved to the mountains of North Carolina, acquiring over 1,000 acres along the Buncombe Turnpike and building a large plantation inn, Oakland, amid a grove of oak trees above the “winding stairs,” a steep slope on the SC/NC line.

Oakland became a hub of activity: a stagecoach stop, inn, gristmill, and lumberyard serving travelers between North and South Carolina. After John Davis died in 1859, the property fell into neglect, and Serepta, now aging and with limited means, struggled to maintain it. When the freedmen arrived, she saw an opportunity. They purchased 180 acres for a dollar an acre, and the Kingdom of the Happy Land was born.

 

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Building the Kingdom

By 1870, the Kingdom had grown to nearly 400 residents, transforming Oakland and its surrounding land into a thriving community. They cultivated communal gardens, built a network of barns, and purchased additional land. Children like Ezel Couch, brought to the Kingdom in 1873 at age one, grew up immersed in its communal life; he lived until 1961 in Hendersonville, a living link to the Kingdom’s legacy.

The community thrived economically and culturally:

• • Happy Land Liniment, an outstanding natural curative, along with cash crops and a variety of crafts, provided steady income.

• • Men and women worked both inside and outside the Kingdom as carpenters, stonemasons, ironworkers, domestics, cooks, and seamstresses.

• • Timber was harvested for railroad construction, and newly developed zircon mines in the Green River Valley offered jobs.

• • The Oakland Inn was brought back to life, serving travelers once again.

• • Happy Land wagons, the lifeblood of the community, transported products for neighboring farmers and innkeepers along the Buncombe Turnpike. Legend even tells of residents producing moonshine and stepping across the state line if trouble arose.

This settlement was no ordinary community—it was a kingdom. In fact, only two kingdoms have ever existed in U.S. history: the indigenous monarchy of Hawaii, overthrown in 1893, and the Kingdom of the Happy Land in Green River Township, Henderson County, North Carolina.

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The apex of the Kingdom

At its peak, the Kingdom was a model of freedom, cooperation, and self-determination. Men and women worked together, children were raised in a culture of shared responsibility, and the community maintained both economic and social cohesion. Life was far from easy—mountain terrain, weather, and the demands of daily survival tested everyone—but the residents of Happy Land carved out a life that was theirs entirely.

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The decline

By the turn of the century, the Kingdom began to fade. The arrival of the railroad shifted commerce in the region; businesses no longer needed Happy Land wagons, cutting into a major revenue source. One local pastor reflected:

“The economic situation finally spoiled it… The people had to go where the work was. Like my grandfather, Perry Williams, who had always worked with horses, and then the cars came.”

Age and mortality also took a toll. The original settlers grew older, deaths accumulated, and new recruits were scarce. Many residents moved into Flat Rock, Hendersonville, and beyond. By 1900, almost all had departed except for Jerry Casey, who moved into the cabin of former king Robert Montgomery. When Jerry’s health deteriorated, Elmira Montgomery, Robert’s daughter, returned to care for him until his death in 1918. Eventually, the property was abandoned entirely and confiscated by Henderson County due to unpaid taxes.

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Today

Little physical evidence remains of the Kingdom of the Happy Land. Most details survive only in oral histories, county deed records, and a handful of studies such as Sadie Smathers Patton’s work.

Yet one thing is certain: there was once a kingdom atop Staton Mountain near Tuxedo. Its true legacy—the dream of a place where people could live their lives in peace, happiness, and autonomy—still resonates in the Green River Valley more than 150 years later.

Walking through the forests and hills of Western North Carolina today, you might not see the cabins, barns, or wagons—but if you listen closely, you can almost hear the echoes of a community that built a kingdom out of freedom, resilience, and hope.

In closing

The Kingdom of the Happy Land is more than a footnote. It is a bold statement: that in the mountains of North Carolina, formerly enslaved people made a choice— to buy land, build cabins, create a community, govern themselves, and stake their claim. And while the kingdom faded, the legacy remains: in the land, in the stories, in the possibility of freedom.

Walking through the forests of Western NC, let’s keep our ears open for the echoes of that dream. Because if you listen carefully, you can almost hear the saws in the cabins, the song of harvest time, and the pledge: “one for all and all for one.”

Thanks for reading. Come back soon!

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