Sam Parker:
So, in 1967 we – one summer day – drove to Wolf Laurel to look at the project. At that point in time there were few houses, no golf course, no ski area. 2,500 acres of virgin land, basically. Of course, Paula fell in love with the place. I quit my job at State Farm Insurance Company, we packed up, and moved into one of the log houses at Wolf Laurel. I got a real estate license and commenced to attempt to sell land – houses – for Wolf Laurel.
Interviewer: So at that time, in '67, had that 2,500 acres already been purchased?
Sam Parker: Yeah, it had already been purchased. Now, it was all still raw land. Wolf Laurel – the thousand-acre section of Wolf Laurel – was the only area that had roads in it. There were a few houses built, maybe ten or twelve. The road to Wolf Laurel was not paved. The main road from the gatehouse to the top of the mountain – at that point in time a restaurant – was paved. But the rest was not. So we had to drive on four or five miles of unpaved road to get to Wolf Laurel.

- Sam Parker, resident of Madison County since 1967

Interview with Sam Parker by Rob Amberg, December 5, 2000, Interview K-0252, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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