When visiting Montreat, you may notice occasional differences in how we use the word “Graybeard” or “Greybeard.” Typically, Graybeard with an “A” refers to Graybeard Trail and Graybeard Mountain, while Greybeard with an E is used when refering to Greybeard Road. So why are they different? We’ve asked ourselves that question and the research seems to indicate that these variations in spelling are not the result of two separate origins but instead reflect a gradual shift in spelling conventions over time. It appears that variations of this kind are actually quite common with locations named before standardized naming practices were …
