A fading place-name, central to local history, gets its due
The name “Arneechee ford” crops up as the locus of the first organized Baptist work in the Oconaluftee region in the early 19th century. As such, it figures into the origins of three different congregations — including the Lufty Baptist Church, whose latter-day building still stands at Smokemont.
A key document for tracing this story is the History of Tennessee River Baptist Association, North Carolina, from the year 1830 to the year 1892, published in Bryson City in the year 1893. (The above link is to an online, digital copy of this work.)
On pages 8 and 9 of this history we find the basic story laid out for us:
MINGUS MILL 