In the early 1930s, logging operations of the Champion Lumber Mill at Sunburst, NC had clear cut all the timber on the surrounding mountains, the saw mill had been sent to another location and Sunburst, the company town in the valley, was about deserted. The President of the company, Reuben Roberson, convinced his Board that if the valley were dammed and a lake formed there, it would assure a reserve water source for paper operations at Champion's paper mill in Canton downstream. So the town was disassembled, the dam was built and the water from the Pigeon River was impounded to form Lake Logan, named for Mr. Roberson's son . Today, some 75 years later, we are the beneficiaries of one of the most beautiful mountain lakes on the East coast. It is the centerpiece of an ecologically bountiful environment punctuated only by the scenic byway that runs through it and whose occasional traffic reminds us how peaceful this remote valley really is.

Beside his new lake, Mr. Roberson created a family compound called Sit 'n Whittle Village, consisting of a main Lodge and six log mountain cabins moved from the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and reconstructed at Lake Logan. Sit 'n Whittle became the nucleus of Champion Paper Company's Executive Retreat, which eventually grew to accommodate 80+ visitors . In the late 1990s, Champion sold out to its employees; and in 2000 the Executive Retreat was divested to the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina for its present use as a conference center, while the surrounding timberland was acquired by the North Carolina Land Conservancy and transferred to State and Federal ownership.