Grandfather Mountain Entrance Gate Photo by Hugh Morton
Half Moon Overlook Photo by Todd Bush
Showing Our Appreciation W
ithout the support of local businesses, many of which have been with us from the very beginning, CML would not be celebrating 25 years as an “absolutely priceless” publication. In our Spring issue, we featured three longtime supporters of CML, including Mast General Store, Fred’s Mercantile, and Stonewalls Restaurant. The three CML-supporting businesses we recognize in our Summer issue also have deep roots in the High Country. Their influence extends beyond, but certainly benefits, tourism to improve the quality of life that has drawn people to the mountains since the earliest settlers, the Cherokee, came to the area. Grandfather Mountain continues to educate and engage people in the High Country’s natural heritage, inspired by the early explorers who visited the mountain and those who made it popular as a tourist destination by the early 1900s. The original Cherokee name for the mountain was “Tanawha,” meaning “a fabulous hawk or eagle.” It was named “Grandfather” by pioneers who recognized the face of an old man in one of the cliffs, which is best seen from the community of Foscoe, seven miles north of Linville and 10 miles south of Boone on NC 105. Early explorers visited Grandfather Mountain, like French botanist Andre Michaux in 1794, Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1841 and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, in 1898. Tourism at Grandfather Mountain began as a horseback trail that wound its way up the slope of Grandfather to an overlook known today as Cliffside. In the early 1900s, the trail was widened to a one-lane road for cars and a wooden platform was constructed at the overlook.
30 — Summer 2022 CAROLINA MOUNTAIN LIFE
In 1952, Hugh Morton became the sole owner of Grandfather Mountain. He immediately widened the road to two lanes and built the Mile High Swinging Bridge. The Animal Habitats officially started in 1973 after Mildred the bear decided to make Grandfather Mountain her home. In 2008, the Morton family announced a plan to sell the undeveloped backcountry of Grandfather to the state of North Carolina for a state park. In 2009, the Morton family transferred ownership of the nature park to the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, the nonprofit that today continues to make the property accessible to the public, devoting all resources to preservation, conservation, education and recreation. “For some who come to the mountain we provide a place to breathe fresh air and lose some stress for a day; for others we are the location of an inspiring field trip, the place to hear a well-known conservationist during our Grandfather Presents events, a place for kids to learn how they can protect the environment in their backyard or a place to see and learn about a cougar for the very first time,” said Landis Taylor, assistant vice president of marketing and communications for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. The opening of the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery—part of an all-new Conservation Campus—in early summer 2022 nearly doubles the size of the park’s former Nature Museum, with 10,000 square feet of education space, including state-of-theart museum exhibits, three classrooms, an ADA-accessible auditorium, enhanced food service facilities to allow for catering and serving educational groups, and expanded capacity for hosting conferences and community events.
By Karen Rieley Outside the center, guests will be able to enjoy an amphitheater with terraced seating and a pavilion, as well as a new botanical garden. “We very much appreciate the spotlight that Carolina Mountain Life has given Grandfather Mountain to reach the local community and those who are passing through our area. The editorial staff has always been so collaborative and enthusiastic about the mountain. It’s made working with them for so long a no-brainer and a partnership we genuinely enjoy,” Taylor said. Sugar Mountain Nursery has built on the region’s agricultural focus from the time early settlers farmed the land to include landscaping and Christmas trees, in addition to more than 100 varieties of plants. Molly and Wayne Holden grew their small, family-owned business in 1976 from the ground up with a passion for plants and a love of farming in the community in which they were born and raised. Three daughters and their husbands have all been part of the business, and the family tradition continues on with several of their eight grandchildren also working in the business. Their five great-grandchildren show promise of a fourth generation to continue the tradition. “My family owned three acres in Newland with a garden and livestock,” Wayne Holden said. “When I was eight, I began working on my uncle’s farm. My teen years were spent in Hickory working with my uncle, who was a custom farmer. I also worked with my father as a plant collector for the nursery trade. My mother was a master gardener and had a one-acre garden every year.” “As a child of the fourth generation in Avery County, we always had a family garden,” said Molly. “My grandparents, Myrtle
