Slenkers, the Bullards, and the Bills. Additionally, families from nearby areas also made the town their home; they included the Amens, Millers, Palmers, Godbys, Winstons, Graysons, Bishops, and Abels. Several of these families have relatives residing near Snowville today. Across the Little River and just downstream on the Montgomery County side, the Graysons established Graysontown. These families had various backgrounds and skills. The Slenkers were skilled in the textiles; the Bills were merchants and promoters; the Snows, Palmers, Godbys, and Winstons were millwrights and carpenters; and the Bullards were tanners and shoemakers. This variety of skilled artisans, coupled with the town's location, was the cornerstone for future development and allowed Snowville to become an established and prosperous town. Industry and commerce The mountains surrounding Snowville were, and in many places still are, rich with iron ore. One of the first factories established in Snowville was a trip-hammer forge. It was located at the confluence of Little Laurel and Big Laurel creeks (near present-day Blue Ridge Mountains Council property) and was operated by Asiel Snow and his son-in-law, David B. Bill. Cast and wrought iron products were transported to Snowville by wagons and oxen carts. The cast iron was collected as scrap and later made into stoves, kettles, corn shellers, cane mills, and many more other cast-iron products. The wrought iron on the other hand was quickly produced into horseshoes and horseshoe nails, buckboards and buggies, and hearses; it was also used in forgings for sawmills, gristmills, and cane mills. Several years later the trip-hammer forge was moved to Snowville with a three-story adjacent building. The first floor housed machinery for the production of linseed oil which was made from flax seed found nearby. The second floor was used for sawing trees that had been transported from the nearby mountains. The lumber was used in for new buildings and factories. Finally, on the third floor, there was mill which took wool and converted it into men's jeans and dresses for women. An important woolen mill was started by the Messrs just before the start of the Civil War. However, with tensions rising between the North and the South, the mill went unfinished; Isaac Slenker completed the three-story mill just after the close of the war. The mill brought radical change to Snowville's social life. People from near and far brought their wool to Snowville to be converted into jeans, blankets, and