#ThowbackThursday, The Leg Lock that Won P.G.

Sitting between Old Fort and Marion is the community called Pleasant Gardens, or commonly called P.G. It's a beautiful area and probably the best wrestling prize that has ever been awarded.

Not quite the wrestling matches we're accustomed to on TV, with an audience, commentator, surprise ladders and tables used as weapons, this was a "friendly" wrestling match between John McDowell and his friend Henry Weidner.

McDowell had received a land grant for what is now the PG area. The area known as Buck Creek, between Swan's Pond in Catawba County and the Catawba river, was discovered by McDowell and his friend on a hunting expedition. It was a lush, green area rich with resources. Talk it out? Pft. These are rigid mountain men, you don't settle disputes with words, you wrestle (as was customary in the 1700s).

The details of the bout are lost to history but I imagine it was something like this (see gif lol). Ultimately, it was a leg lock that sealed the fate of Weidner and a new World Champion was crowned...I mean two land grants were awarded.

McDowell set up his homestead in the P.G. area, and the early seeds of McDowell County were planted. Think about that the next leg lock you see or give, it's a winning McDowell Move.