Carter County Living Staff

Carter County Living’s spring edition is finally here and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Spring is my favorite time of the year, with the smell of fresh-cut grass, flowers blooming, baseball and softball fields, and parks full of people. I was raised in a close nit family and can remember the picnics at the parks, lake and the Laurels, playing baseball, riding our bikes and playing outside until dark with my friends and family. I was very blessed to experience this and when I see families together, it reminds me of my childhood. That was the most memorable time of my life. All my life I heard people say there is nothing to do in this town, but I beg to differ; Carter County has plenty to do. We have the Bonnie Kate, Tweetsie Trail, Downtown Shopping with some of the best restaurants that you have ever eaten at, beautiful parks and Roan Mountain State Park; we also have the Downtown Car Show, First Fridays and Covered Bridge Jams coming up. Sycamore Shoals State Park, Sabine Hill and the Carter Mansion also have many events for a family. You will likely see this person at all three when enjoying one of these events. His name is Chad Bogart and we are excited to have him as our cover story. The native Carter Countian married his wife, Anna, whom he met while both were part of Sycamore Shoals State Park’s outdoor drama cast.

He organizes several special events, including Old Christmas at Fort Watauga, The Carter Mansion Celebration, The Siege of Fort Watauga, Independence on the Frontier, the Overmountain Militia Muster, Scary Stories at Fort Watauga, Death Comes to Sabine Hill, The Colonial Harvest Celebration and Christmas at the Carter Mansion. He also serves as the Colonel of the Washington County Regiment of NC Militia, the host living history organization at Sycamore Shoals.

“I am very thankful for the opportunities afforded to me at Sycamore Shoals which have allowed me to share my passion with people from all over the world,” Bogart said, “and as a part of that, preserving the history for future generations should always be at the forefront. It’s left up to good old-fashioned storytelling to get the word out that we have a proud, rich heritage that encompasses many cultures.

“We live in a remarkable area that has an amazing story to tell. There just must be voices to tell it and I am both proud and humbled at the same time to be one of those voices.”

Our second feature story is Kevin Hayworth, who on work days, drives 60 miles round trip from Mountain City to Elizabethton to run his business. “I may live in Mountain City, but I reside in Elizabethton,” Hayworth said of his shop, Hayworth Tire & Auto Service, at 4074 US-19E.

It’s a family affair: Brother Jeff and his son Mason run a Johnson City location, while another brother, Brian, and son Austin run a shop in Kingsport. If you have lived in Carter County any length of time I am sure you had come in contact with Kevin. The strength of the Hayworth name can be found in a promise to treat others as they would want to be treated. “Dad always said that if you treat your customers like friends, they become friends, and then their families become friends,” Kevin said.

To keep on the theme of family, we have Nanny’s Kitchen for our restaurant story. When you visit Nanny’s Kitchen, you’ll not only be pleased with the delicious home-cooked meal; you’ll be blessed to find neighbors and friends at the next table, happy to see you. That’s how Nanny’s Kitchen works: The restaurant is Kim Scalf’s ministry. “We’re Christians,” Kim said of herself and her family, many of whom work at the restaurant. “The Lord is No. 1 in front. We are family oriented and we want our customers to enjoy each others’ company. That’s why we don’t have televisions here –even when a table has people looking at their phones, I’ll walk by and say, ‘hey, y’all visit with each other!’ We don’t want anything that takes away from family time.”

When Kim opened her standalone restaurant that sits at 112 E. Elk Ave., she named it after her grandmother. “I wasn’t sure what to name it, but I thought when the Lord tells me, I’ll know,” she said. Apparently, the Lord thought Nanny’s cooking was superior and that’s the name Kim found fit the place best.

These are just a few amazing stories in this issue that remind us what makes Carter County what it is today, the greatest place on earth to live.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and if you know of anyone that would make a great story, please let me know at delaney.scalf@ elizabethton.com.

General Manager

DELANEY SCALF delaney.scalf@elizabethton.com

Editorial Director

ROZELLA HARDIN rozella.hardin@elizabethton.com

Human Resources

BRANDY TRIVETT brandy.trivett@elizabethton.com

Customer Service

KATHY SCALF kathy.scalf@elizabethton.com

Operations Manager

SCOTT SCALF scott.scalf@elizabethton.com

Marketing Consultant

JOYCE BARTLETT joyce.bartlett@elizabethton.com

LINDA JENKINS linda jenkins@elizabethton.com

Copy Editor

JANIE MCKINNEY janie.mckinney@elizabethton.com

Composing

ROBIN JOHNSON robin.johnson@elizabethton.com

Star Correspondents

ANGELA CUTRER

ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN

LYNN J. RICHARDSON

Contributing Photographers

LARRY N. SOUDERS

DELANEY SCALF

BOB LILES

BAILEY MARVEL

6

Local artist molds jewerly into life.

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Have You Been Spotted

Check out these photos from area events

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Upcoming Events

Plan ahead for these favorite events.