sentences:  Apparently intimidated by the formidable range of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the home of the Cherokee, now home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Pardo left the area the following year.In 1748, "Hunting" John McDowell received a land grant for property known today as Pleasant Gardens including acreage originally located from Swan's Pond (Catawba County) up the Catawba River west to present day Marion and into the region known as Buck Creek.During a hunting expedition with his friend Henry Weidner, the two came upon a lush green valley with thousands upon thousands of acres of virgin forest.