Volume 14 • Issue 4 April / May 2019
DOE / NASA 200kW
EXPERIMENTAL WIND TURBINE Howard’s Knob, Boone, North Carolina 1979
Jim Cottrell’s Skiing Influence A Very Modern Avery Airport Miller’s Farm Supply Some Kinda Place Hemp Farms Cropping Up
April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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CELEBRATING 40 YEARS!
DIANNE DA V ANT &ASSOCIATES Margaret Handley,
ASID
Dianne Davant, ASID Pamela McKay, ASID
Priscilla Hyatt,
Banner Elk, North Carolina 828.963.7500 Stuart, Florida 772.781.1400 davant-interiors.com B
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April / May 2019
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April / May 2019
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Home and community information, including pricing, included features, terms, availability and amenities, are subject to change, prior sale or withdrawal at any time without notice or obligation. Drawings, photographs, renderings, video, scale models, square footages, floor plans, elevations, features, colors and sizes are approximate for presentation purposes only and may vary from the homes as built. Home prices refer or 2019 premiums, unless otherwise indicated for a specific home. Nothing on our website should be construed as legal, accounting or tax advice. Sotheby’s g h Ctootheubase n t price r y ofMthe a house g a zand i ndo e not include Apriloptions / May International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.
LIVE ELEVATED Blowing Rock, North Carolina | premiersir.com/id/212764 | 828.295.0776
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Lake Norman | 704.727.4170 PremierSothebysRealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein is derived from various sources including, but not limited to, county records and multiple listing services, and may include approximations. All information is deemed accurate. *Source: Carolina Multiple Listing Service. Sales volume based upon sales from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.
April / May 2019
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C O N T E N T S Winds of Change: Howard’s Knob Wind Turbine......16 The Town of Boone made history in 1979 with the world’s largest wind turbine constructed on top of Howard’s Knob.
38
Taking a Chance: Hemp Farming Returns to NC.... 58
After being fully legalized in 2018, hemp production ushers in a new era of farming potential in the High Country.
16 Taking Flight: The History of Avery County Airport................. 38 Building a Ski Culture One Lesson at a Time................ 26
Jim Cottrell and the French-Swiss Ski College have taught over one million ski lessons in nearly 50 years of operation.
Three Generations of Farm Supplies in the High Country..... 50
Miller’s Supply in Zionville has been a provider of farming and gardening supplies for 45 years in Watauga County.
50
26
58
In the small community of Ingalls nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Avery County Airport has an interesting history.
Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery Celebrates 25 Years....... 68
Tim Miller shares his story about how a newfound passion for framing led to the creation of Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery.
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EAGLES. BIRDIES. AIRPLANES.
JACK NICKLAUS “Elk River is an exceptional golf course. But the best work was accomplished by nature long before I got there.”
AN EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY AT ELK RIVER CLUB Elk River is now accepting requests for an exclusive opportunity to enjoy all the club has to offer in Banner Elk, NC. Learn more: 828.898.9773 | DiscoverElkRiverClubNC.com
As a 501(c)(7) private, member-owned club, Elk River Club membership is limited and by invitation only.
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High Country Magazine
April / May 2019
READER SERVICES ABOUT US
The first High Country Press newspaper was published on May 5, 2005, and the first issue of High Country Magazine went to press in fall 2005. In March of 2012 the newspaper made the transformation to an online newspaper at our new website: www.HCPress.com. Our new “webpaper� is still packed with information that we present and package in easy-to-read formats with visually appealing layouts. Our magazine represents our shared love of our history, our landscape and our people. It celebrates our pioneers, our lifestyles, our differences and the remarkable advantages we enjoy living in the mountains. Our guiding principles are twofold: quality journalism makes a difference and customer care at every level is of the greatest importance. Our offices are located in Boone, and our doors are always open to welcome visitors.
ADVERTISING & MARKETING
Our magazine is a wonderful way for businesses to advertise to our readers. Our magazines tend to stay around for a long time, on coffee tables and bed stands, and shared with family and friends. To find out about advertising, call our offices at 828264-2262.
BACK ISSUES
Back issues of our magazines are available from our office for $5 per issue. Some issues are already sold out and are no longer available.
Through the Eyes of Robert Eoff & The Nature of Clay by Judy Brater May 14 - June 8 Opening Reception May 25, 4-6pm
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography and page reprints are available for purchase. For sizing, prices and usage terms, please call our office. Some photos may not be available and some restrictions may apply.
FREELANCE OPPORTUNITIES
Writers and photographers may send queries and samples to the editor at hcmag@highcountrypress.com.
Contact us at:
High Country Press/Magazine P.O. Box 152 1600 Highway 105 Boone, NC 28607 www.hcpress.com info@highcountrypress.com 828-264-2262
artcellaronline.com | 828-898-5175 Hwy 184. Banner Elk, North Carolina April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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FRO M T HE PUB L ISH ER
A Publication Of High Country Press Publications
Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie
Art Director Debbie Carter Advertising Director Jeffrey Green Contributing Writers Ken Ketchie
A Place in the History Books for Wind Technology
I
t didn’t last long – and if you ask anyone who was around Boone 40 years ago – there response is usually, “oh yeah, I remember that.” Boone was once the home to the largest windmill in the world. It set atop Howard’s Knob from 1978 to 1983. It was an experimental project designed create energy from wind, which I guess you could say puts Boone on the map as a footnote in history as the site for the beginning of wind energy technology that was a predecessor to what is around today. NASA was in charge of the project and the agency had experimented with a couple of earlier models that involved generating power from the wind. For their latest model named DOE-NASA Mod-1 2000-kilowatt Wind Turbine Generator, they looked at 65 potential sites across the country. Howard’s Knob was ultimately chosen after determining the winds atop the mountain fit the model that they felt was needed to turn the blades of the turbine. In theory, if everything worked according to plan, once the turbine was up and running, the local electric co-op BREMCO would take over running and maintaining the wind turbine, which would generate enough power for 500 houses. The plan was that it would be integrated into the local energy grid and could be the beginning of an alternative energy source for the country to pursue. In 1978, construction started on the massive 140-foot tower. The two 100-foot blades traveled from Oregon and somehow made it up the old dirt road to Howard’s Knob. The whole apparatus weighted 327 tons and it was quite the sight up there on Howard’s Knob for everyone to see. Unfortunately things didn’t go as well as planned. On July 11, 1979, there was no wind so the giant blades had to be turned manually during a festive dedication ceremony in downtown Boone that included government speakers and scientists on hand to explain how it all worked. Soon after the dedication, little issues started cropping up as the wind turbine was still being tested and fine-tuned. Something no one saw coming was the noise the blades made when spinning in the wind. The noise began bothering residents in 10 homes nearby. They called it a whooshing and thumping sound. Also, for about 35 homes close by, the wind turbine would mess with their TV antenna signal. Then the wind atop the mountain was not as constant as the scientists and engineers thought it would be – it blew too hard in the winter and not enough in the summer. Repairs and adjustments had to be made on the generator and some were quite expensive. Finally, a bunch of bolts broke on the blade attachment and that was about the final straw. It wasn’t good PR to have the world’s largest windmill sitting up there not working for everyone to see. It was dismantled in 1983 and faded off into history. We hope you enjoy our story on the historic Boone Windmill, it’s pretty interesting if you think about it! 8
High Country Magazine
April / May 2019
Nathan Ham Jan Todd Tim Gardner Sherrie Norris Joe Johnson Hailey Blevins
Contributing Photographers Frederica Georgia Jeanine Davis
High Country Magazine is produced by the staff and contributors of High Country Press Publications, which serves Watauga and Avery counties of North Carolina
HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINE P.O. Box 152, Boone, NC 28607 828-264-2262 Follow our magazine online where each issue is presented in a flip-through format. Check it out at:
HighCountryMagazine.com Reproduction or use in whole or part of the contents of this magazine without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Issues are FREE throughout the High Country. © 2019 by High Country Press. All Rights Reserved.
WE SUPPORT
SHOP LOCAL
April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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Calendar of Events april 2019
1-30
Dollar Days, Grandfather Mountain, grandfather.com
18
BRWIA Farm-to-Plate Dinner Series, Reid’s Cafe & Catering, reidscafeandcatering.com
19
Todd Community Old Time Dance, Todd Mercantile, toddmercantile.com
19
All About Bears Educator Workshop, Grandfather Mountain, grandfather.com
19-21
Meet the Easter Bunny, Tweetsie Railroad, tweetsie.com
20
Hoppy Easter Party, Buckeye Rec Center, Banner Elk, beechrecreation.org
25-28
Merlefest, Wilkes Community College, merlefest.org
21
Nobel Peace Laureate (2014) Kailash Satyarthi: Making Positive Changes in the World, App State, I.G. Greer Theater, appstate.edu
King Street Farmers’ Market, Poplar Grove Connector, Boone, 919-624-5301
23
Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market, Park Avenue, blowingrock.com
24
Music in the Valle, Valle Crucis Community Park, vallecrucispark.org
25
Blowing Rock’s Art in the Park, Park Avenue, blowingrock.com
25
Watuaga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, www.wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
26
Mountain Home Music Memorial Day Salute, Harvest House Performing Arts, mountainhomemusic.com
28
King Street Farmers’ Market, Poplar Grove Connector, Boone, 919-624-5301
30
Blowing Rock Farmer’s Market, Park Avenue, blowingrock.com
26
MAY 2019
MERLEFEST, WILKESBORO, april 25-28
2-5
SAVOR Blowing Rock, Food and Wine Festival, Downtown Blowing Rock, savorblowingrock.com
3
First Friday Art Crawl, Downtown Boone, downtownboonenc.com
3
YMCA Golf Tournament, Linville Golf Club, 800-742-6717
4
Corkscrew & Brew 5k, Chetola Resort, chetola.com
4
Families Learning Together, Turtle Island Preserve, turtleislandpreserve.org
4
The Joy of Spring Birding, Grandfather Mountain, grandfather.com
30-6/1 Nature Photography Weekend, Grandfather Mountain
4
2nd Annual Kentucky Derby Party, Rising Star Equestrian Center, 828-963-4223
4
Watuaga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
11
Watuaga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
13
Avery Chamber Golf Classic, Linville Golf Club, 800-742-6717
16-18
Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival, BRAHM, blowingrockmuseum.org
18
In Cold Mud 5k, Buckeye Rec Center, Banner Elk, beechrecreation.org
18
Watuaga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West, wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org
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April / May 2019
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Music in the Valle, Valle Crucis Community Park, vallecrucispark.org
watauga county farmers’ market, horn in the west
CARLTON GALLERY DON’T FORGET 1SZSP`ObW\U !%GSO`a
EVENTS
2019 Golf Tournaments at Linville Golf Club 4th Annual Avery Chamber of Commerce Classic Golf Tournament Avery’s Golf Tournament is on May 13. Registration for this tournament begins at 11 a.m. The price is $800 for golf teams and $200 for individuals. Lunch will be provided by Chick-fil-A and a reception following the play will be provided by Stonewall’s Restaurant. Prizes will be awarded for getting a Hole-in-one (vehicle provided by Friendship Honda) and for the longest drive (provided by Friendship Honda). Golf player gifts will be provided by The Lodges of Eagles Nest. Call 828-898-5605 for more information. William YMCA of Avery’s 4th Annual On A Course For A Cause Golf Tournament The YMCA’s Golf Tournament is on May 3. The format is Texas Scramble, and each team member will drive from the tee at each hole. The entry fee is $175 per player and includes lunch, favors, cart fees, practice balls, and an awards social following the tournament. Registration is at 10:30 a.m., and the range opens. Lunch is at 11:30 a.m., and Shotgun Start is at 1 p.m. The Awards and Cocktail Reception is at 6 p.m. Trophies will be awarded to first place net and gross teams. Gift certificates to Grandfather Golf and Country Club Pro Shop will be awarded for the first, second, and third best net and gross teams, and other on course winners. For more information or to become a sponsor, call 737-5500, ext 320.
A^`W\U 5`]c^ 3fVWPWbW]\ “New Beginnings with Jewels of Art�
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Farmers’ Markets Opening Avery Farmers’ Market Starting May 16 and ending in October, this farmers’ market is open Thursdays from 4-6:30 p.m. at the Old Banner Elk Elementary School. Visit www. averycountyfarmersmarket.net. Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market From May 23-September 26 every Thursday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. Located on Park Avenue next to library. Call 828-773-8269 for more information or to become a vendor. Watauga Farmers’ Market Located on Horn in the West Drive, this farmers’ market is open every Saturday from May to October from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. and November from 9 a.m.12 p.m. . Visit www.wataugacountyfarmersmarket. org/ for more information. April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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mountain
echoes
Watauga County Community Recreation Center Rising
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he idea of a recreation center in Boone has been tossed about for in Boone throughout the construction period. The Watauga County at least two decades. In 2001, a voter referendum was placed on Swim Complex will close on April 30th and their services will not be the ballot asking Watauga County voters whether they would sup- available until the new recreation center opens in the spring of 2020. The Watauga County Community Recreation Center will be a port a small property tax increase of .25 percent in support of a new recreation center in the county. At that time, the vote did not pass, 100,000 square foot facility featuring a wide variety of recreational which put the idea of a new recreation center on the back burner spaces for people of all ages. The recreation center will include four gym floors, a multi-purpose room, two separate party rooms by the for a few years. The push for a new recreation center ramped back up about a pool that can be joined together into one bigger party room, two separate pools, including a lap decade later when discussions pool and a warm water pool were held regarding the possithat will host various play feability of funding a study to find tures for kids as well as areas for a good location to build a new water aerobics and youth swim recreation center in Watauga lessons. The recreation center County. will also feature an indoor walkIn 2014, it was determined ing track, a fitness area with aerthat the Watauga County Swim obics equipment and workout Complex on State Farm Road machines, a spin room, a climbwould be a perfectly viable loing wall by the pool that people cation for a new possible recwill be able to dive off the top reation center because of the of into the pool below, and ofcentral location and the existing fice space for all of the staff of recreation infrastructure that the Watauga County Parks and is already there. Since the new Recreation department. recreation center would include Watauga County Parks and multiple swimming pools, the Recreation intends for the recreswim complex would not be The new Recreation Center under construction. ation center to be a destination necessary in the future anyway. With a new group of commissioners in 2017, the board success- not only for local citizens, but also for anyone who would like to have fully passed a property tax increase of four cents by a 3-2 vote with a high quality recreational experience. “In the recreation world we do master plans every 10 years and the property tax money being allocated toward funding for the new we do a survey of the community every 10 years; the Community recreation center in Watauga County. In September of 2018, Watauga County Commissioners unani- Recreation Center was the number one identified need for Watauga mously approved the full funding of the new facility that would be County,” said Watauga County Parks and Recreation Director Stephen constructed at the intersection of Hunting Hills Lane and State Farm Poulos. “We’re hoping to be able to identify needs in the community Road, replacing the Watauga County Swim Complex and situating the and provide more opportunities for kids and adults to live a healthy new recreation center near the many baseball and softball fields just lifestyle. This is a game changer, a once in a lifetime opportunity for down the road. The recreation center will also be near the Middle Fork any community and I’m just extremely appreciative of the board of commissioners, the county manager and staff that has really worked Greenway that is currently under development. hard to get us where we are The Watauga County and we’re just very excited Community Recreation for the community to have Center is scheduled for this facility. completion in the spring of Poulos added that the 2020, with construction on goal is to also be able to ofthe recreation center curfer a little bit of something rently underway. In order to for everybody. accommodate the construc“Whether it’s the 90 tion of the new recreation year old in here walking or center, the Watauga County the six-month-old doing Parks and Recreation Deswim lessons, we’re going partment will relocate their to be here for everybody of offices on April 29th to the all ages,” he said. East Annex Rock Building located at 331 Queen Street An artist’s rendering of the finished Recreation Center. 12
High Country Magazine
April / May 2019
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April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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Savor Blowing Rock Moves to Main Street F
Bikes, & Brews with a dozen local breweror the first time ever, Blowing Rock’s ies, with proceeds benefitting the Children’s quaint Main Street will host the main tastCouncil of Watauga County. The Speckled ing event for the upcoming Savor Blowing Trout welcomes NC distilleries at “Liquor Rock on May 2-5, 2019. Previously known as in the Lot” from 12-4 pm on Saturday. Both the Grand Tasting, the revamped Saturday events offer more food and entertainment! event is called Vintner’s Village and will feaThe Gospel, Grits, and Gravy event on ture wine and food pairings right along the Sunday became an immediate favorite at its central thoroughfare! Formerly Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival debut last year, and will return for the 2019 “We are incredibly excited to showcase festival. Timberlake’s Restaurant will provide over 35 wines from 8 different regions, along with small bite pairings from some of the best restaurants in the area” a delectable selection of southern breakfast favorites and flights of gravy said Loni Miller, Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce. “Attendees will at this event at Chetola Resort. Other perennial favorites return to be able to taste, shop through downthis year’s lineup, like the Reserve Wine town, and enjoy live music presented Join us April 14-17, 2016 for SAVOR Blowing Rock (formerly the Blue Ridge Wine & Food Festival), a celebration of the senses. The festival has a new name and an expanded focus, featuring craft beer and spirits in addition to your favorite wine and food events. Tasting, which will welcome California by Blue Ridge Mountain Club at the • Pairing Dinners • The Grand Tasting • Satellite Tent Tastings winemaker Andrew Murray. The 2019 Main Street Stage from 1 – 5 pm on • Cooking Classes & Seminars • Reserve Wine Tasting • Downtown Wine Down • Taste! A Restaurant Showcase • Chetola’s Corkscrew 5K • Cork & Canvas schedule also includes the Corkscrew Saturday. It’s a true celebration of all & Brew 5K, Grilling Classes, the Taste! things Blowing Rock.” Blowing Rock Restaurant Showcase, pairing dinners, While the Vintner’s Village will showTickets Available Online: SAVORBlowingRock.com | 877-295-7965 and an impressive selection of wine case wines from around the globe, fans and beverage seminars. For a full listing of brews and spirits can enjoy concurand description of events, along with rent tastings at two more locations on ticket sales and lodging packages, go to Main Street on Saturday, May 4. Town A picture from Heritage Days celebration in 2010 that savorblowingrock.com. Tavern Blowing Rock will present BBQ, was held on Main Street in Blowing Rock. A Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce Event
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High Country Magazine
April / May 2019
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High Country Magazine
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Howard’s Knob, Boone, North Carolina
Rotor Number of blades....................................2 Diameter, ft.........................................200 Speed, rpm...........................................35 Direction of rotation........ Counterclockwise (looking upwind) BLADE Length, ft..............................................97 Material...... Steel Spar/Foam Trailing Edge Weight, lb/blade.............................21,500 TOWER Type......................................... Pipe truss Height, ft.............................................131 Access.............................................Hoist GENERATOR Type................................Synchronous ac Rating, kVA.......................................2225 Voltage, V................... 4160 (three phase) WEIGHT klb Rotor (including blades)......................103 Above tower.......................................330 Tower.................................................320 Total...................................................650
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DOE/NASA 2000kW experimental WIND TURBINE
High Country Magazine
April / May 2019
1978 to 1983
The Big Whoosh
It Will Be 40 Years Ago This Summer That NASA Dedicated Their Largest Wind Turbine perspective, the wind turbine that is visible from Boone’s downtown today, the Broyhill Wind Turbine on the campus of Appalaorty years ago, the country was in the midst of the Iran chian State University, is 152 feet tall, has three blades each meahostage crisis, the first Star Trek movie was in theaters for suring 34 feet across, and generates enough electricity to power the first time, a peanut farmer was President of the United approximately 11 homes. The Broyhill turbine was installed in States, the Village People had just released “Y.M.C.A.” and gaso- 2009 and cost just over half a million dollars. Site preparation and construction began in June 1998 and line was 86 cents a gallon — more than double the price earlier was completed in early summer 1979. In typical small-town fashin that decade. Meanwhile, the town of Boone was abuzz with the installa- ion, the installation was celebrated as “Windmill Day” on July tion of what was then the world’s largest wind turbine, set atop 11, 1979 with a dedication ceremony and street festival on King Street including music perHoward’s Knob. Partly beCourtesy of Historic Boone Collection, Watauga County Public formances, craft vendors, cause of those “high” gas Library, Digital Watauga Project, Boone, NC. food and plenty soft drinks prices, NASA and the U.S. — because Boone was “dry” Department of Energy had at that time. Nevertheless, developed an experimental tourists packed the streets windmill, named the NASA and excitement filled the air. MOD-1, as an alternative Rebecca Eggers-Gryder, response to the energy crisis. now a North Carolina DisIt was to be one of the first trict Court Judge, rememcommercial scale wind turbers singing at the dedicabines in the United States, tion ceremony, along with and Boone was chosen out fellow local bluegrass musiof approximately sixty concian Mark McGuire. “We tenders for the site. were playing on the street The peak of Howard’s It was hard to miss the wind turbine on its perch atop near what is now Our Daily Knob, a mountain in Boone Howard’s Knob. It was clearly visible from most places Bread,” said Eggers-Gryder. with an elevation of 4,396 in Boone and surrounding neighborhoods. “I was so thrilled because feet, was selected to host the MOD-1 because its winds, reported to be “a steady 25 mph” WSOC out of Charlotte had a brief — very brief! — clip of our were sufficient to generate enough electricity to power up to 500 performance on the 11 o’clock news!” The song they sang? Aphomes. The Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation was to propriately enough, “Blowing in the Wind.” Had there been a story-book ending on that dedication day, operate the program locally and harvest the power generated for the wind would have been blowing through the hair of cheering the local energy grid. The structure was massive: a 140-foot tower with two blades onlookers as the newly installed windmill spun gallantly on top of spanning 200 feet across, weighing in at approximately 350 tons. the knob. Instead, that particular July day was seasonably warm The price tag on the project was approximately $6 million. For and still, and the six-mph wind that day wasn’t sufficient to turn
By Jan Todd
F
April / May 2019
High Country Magazine
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Headed up towards Howard’s Knob, the truck hauling one of the wind turbine blades rounds the corner on what now is Eastbrook Drive in Boone. Courtesy of George Flowers Collection, Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Digital Watauga Project, Boone, NC.
the propeller blades and they had to be rotated manually. The disappointing performance on dedication day could have been considered a bad omen, as the project ultimately fell short of the glory. Mechanical and structural problems afflicted the MOD-1 windmill; its design incorporated some shortcomings of its predecessor, the MOD-0, that were not discovered in time to resolve in the later model. The MOD-1 design had two steel blades facing downwind. Later generations of wind turbines improved performance and balance by using three upwind facing blades constructed of fiberglass. As designed, the MOD-1 rarely turned on its own at all, and when it did it was exceptionally loud and disrupted television reception in nearby homes. Vibrations traveled through the mountain and rattled windows and caused pictures to fall off walls and knick-knacks to dance off shelves. NASA replaced the original engine with a quieter model and suspended operation during primetime television hours to respond to the numerous complaints.
Quite the Road Trip
The trucking company used a steerable rear dolly, with a driver seated below the load. The independently steered dolly allowed the truck to navigate tight turns with its oversized load. Courtesy of University Archives, Appalachian State University.
Arial view of the winding road leading to the top of Howard’s Knob, where the wind turbine was under construction during the winter of 1978/79. Courtesy of University Archives, Appalachian State University. 18
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Construction of the MOD-1 on Howard’s Knob took about a year. The tower was built on-site, the generator was supplied by General Electric, and the propellers were built by The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. “It was interesting to watch,” said Skip Greene, owner of Greene Construction, Inc. in Boone. Before the windmill was installed, the top of Howard’s Knob was a “parking place,” Greene said, “a place where kids would go to hang out. There was just a rough road going up there, not much more than a trail.” “NASA did a whole lot before they even started construction for the windmill,” Greene said. “They had to drive pilings in to reinforce the road all the way up the hill, to support the weight of the trucks and equipment.” Greene had a chance to talk to the drivers who transported the blades from Seattle. “They drove down on the interstate through California, then got on I-40 to drive across the country, all the way to Hickory where they got on Highway 321 — the first two-lane highway they hit the whole trip. They had these specialized rigs, two-trailers hooked together,” said Greene. “There was a driver in the front cab, and one in the back.”
The trucking company used a steerable rear dolly, which allows two sections of a truck to be independently navigated, essential for handling tight turns with an oversized load. The driver on the back end sits under the load, close to the ground. “The front and back drivers had walkie-talkies to talk with each other,” Greene described. “The back driver said coming across the country, out there where there was nothing, he’d sometimes move over to the other lane just to have something to do.” “NASA had surveyed every intersection and overpass from Hickory to Boone, before the trucks ever left Seattle,” said Greene. From Hickory to Boone, the trucks had escorts for the drive up the mountain. Once the trucks arrived in Boone, they parked in a lot where Walmart is today, Greene said. “About everyone in town went over to look at it,” Greene said. The load stayed in the lot for a couple of days while final preparations were made. Trucking the 100-foot blades —oversized loads requiring special permits state-by-state — over 3,000 miles to Boone was no routine task, but the last couple of miles were a doozy. Howard’s Knob is reached by a narrow, steep, and winding road with tight curves. In addition to using the steerable dolly to maneuver up the road, there was a crane following as back-up. If a curve was too tight, the crane was able to pick up the load and move it around the curve suspended in the air. A crowd gathered to watch the process, a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle in this small mountain town.
Cranes were used in attaching the 100 foot blades to the wind turbine’s nacelle, which was about the size of a railway car and sat on top of the 140’ tower. Courtesy of George Flowers Collection, Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Digital Watauga Project, Boone, NC.
Photo Courtesy of University Archives, Appalachian State University.
Close Encounters
Roachel Laney, longtime Watauga County resident, former Appalachian State University Director of Athletics and current Boone area sports commission director, has fond memories of the windmill. “My family lived on Howard Street back then, and we had a big picture window in our kitchen that looked right up at Howard’s Knob. I remember one time sitting at the kitchen table, and one of my boys jumped up and yelled, “Look! It’s turning!” April / May 2019
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Each of the two blades were 100’ long. The entire structure weighed out 350 tons, and the turbine was designed to generate enough electricity to power up to 500 homes. Courtesy of University Archives, Appalachian State University.
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“The boys were so excited, jumping up and down. It just didn’t turn that often,” Laney said. When the windmill did turn, it was an awesome sight. It also produced a distinctive “Whoosh Whoosh” sound that became a sensation. Bill Fisher, who hosts the morning radio show on Boone’s WATA, recalls standing beneath the windmill one evening. “They didn’t worry too much about security back then,” he laughed. “I actually stood with my back to the fence that surrounded the tower, about as close as you could possibly get to the thing. I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to be there.” “That night, the wind was howling and the blades were turning as fast as I ever saw them. With it being such a big behemoth, you’d expect the noise to be deafening. But standing there the way I was, all I could hear was the wind passing through the tower, and the whoosh whoosh whoosh as the blades went by. It was an amazing experience,” Fisher described. Dr. Harry Davis, professor of banking at Appalachian State, remembers going up to Howard’s Knob on a “brilliant Sunday afternoon. The windmill was turning slowly, but I could hear the whoosh whoosh. I tell you, it was a thing of beauty,” he said. Tony Todd, who was a student at Appalachian beginning in 1980, remembers the windmill as an awesome sight. “I was walking on campus on one of those overcast days,” he said, “and I looked up towards Howard’s Knob. The top half of the mountain was completely covered by a cloud, except at the very top, where the windmill was churning. It looked like a huge propeller of an airplane, emerging through the cloud. You couldn’t see anything except those giant blades.” Mike Hobbs grew up in Boone, graduated from Watauga High School in 1978, and attended Appalachian State. “If I recall correctly, they were constructing the windmill during my freshman year,” he said. “I often looked up there to watch the progress.” Hobbs studied communications at Appalachian and was a student journalist and photographer for “The Appalachian” campus newspaper, “The Rhododendron” yearbook, and freelanced for “The Mountain Times” and “Watauga Democrat.” He said, “After it was complete, it was exciting any day to look up at Howard’s Knob and see the blades spinning — that didn’t seem to happen very often.” Hobbs said he often ventured up to see the windmill. “I was up there a couple of times when it was turning,” he said. “It was impressive, seeing those big blades come swooshing around. Something about it was exciting,
How Does a Wind Turbine Work?
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rent Summerville, practitioner-in-residence in Appalachian State University’s Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, explained how wind turbines work to generate electricity. The historical MOD-1 on Howard’s Knob and the current turbine on Appalachian’s campus, the Northern Power Systems (NPS) 100-21, also known as the Northwind 100, were both developed in-part by NASA, Summerville said. “The Northwind 100 is version B of their 100 kW wind turbine. Version A was originally developed with NASA and designed for remote and isolated sites. The Northwind 100 has an innovative gearless direct drive, permanent magnet generator and is known for its reliability.” “The Mod-1 was two-blade, downwind design using a gearbox and high-RPM generator. The NPS100 is a 3-blade, upwind design with a low-rpm direct drive generator and no gearbox,” Summerville described. “In both cases, wind flows through the rotor and over the airfoil shape of the blades, creating aerodynamic lift which creates a suction force that pulls the blades around and turns the main shaft, which ultimately turns the electric generator. Both stay oriented with wind direction by actively yawing (rotating around the axis) to align with the wind direction,” he explained. In the case of the MOD-1, Summerville said power was fed into transmission lines running through Boone, similar to how modern utility-scale turbines perform. He said, “The Northwind 100 feeds its power directly into the Appalachian State grid, serving as a distributed wind turbine.”
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High Country Magazine
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probably because it was such a big machine, and the thought that we might be able to make electricity with wind power. But the sound — that was the most impressive aspect.”
The Whooshies
The distinctive sound was the impetus of a legendary group that called themselves “The Whooshies.” Regardless of how well it operated, the presence of The World’s Largest Windmill was newsworthy, especially at first. One day, a crew from the syndicated television series “PM Magazine” came to Boone to film Howard’s Knob windmill in action. According to local legend, when a group of young people from the town, along with some theater students from Appalachian heard about the film crew coming to town, they dressed in bedsheets, beads, and household garb. Carrying drums and other noisemakers, the group sped up to Howard’s Knob prior to the arrival of the media. When the film crew arrived, they found a group of strangely clad people sitting around the windmill, chanting prayers to their “god” Nay-zuh (a name derived from “NASA,” which was painted on one of the supports.) The group was so convincing that the focus of news show was not the windmill, but the “cult” that it inspired! Not only were the reporters fooled, but some of Boone’s townspeople were as well. Joe Miller, founder of Boone headquartered Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff corporation, was a pharmacist and co-owner of Boone Drug at the time. “I had people coming in, worried about this new cult that had emerged, and I had to reassure them that it was all a joke, just kids having
fun,” he said. “I think there was even a Whooshie song,” said Roachel Laney. “One of the local musicians wrote it.”
The Buzz, The Souvenirs
The Whooshies weren’t the only ones to have fun at the expense of the news media. “One of the funniest things I remember is when one of the major news companies contacted us at Boone Drug downtown and wanted to do a story about the windmill, filmed with the coffee crowd at Boone Drug,” Miller recounted. “I remember thinking that’d be great, with national exposure.” “(The late) Bob Bumgardner was the president of Blue Ridge Energy, and they asked Bob to come downtown and sit at a booth with me,” said Miller. “We were supposed to have a conversation about what the windmill was going to do for our
energy source in the area.” He recalled, “The people from the station came that day, brought four or five people, and set everything up. They had ladders, a big camera set up on the counter at the fountain, and there was a little guy jumping around all over the place. It took a lot of time.” “People couldn’t even get in the drug store — there was so much stuff from the station — we might as well have shut the store down that day,” continued Miller. “They finally got ready for the interview, and I was sitting on one side of the booth with Bob on the other. I was supposed to say, “Tell me Bob, what do you think about the windmill? How much energy is it really going to produce?” and Bob would go into his spiel.” Miller chuckled. “The little guy from the station climbed up on the ladder and counted down, “Three, two, one,” and I said, “Tell me Bob, just how long have you had this hemorrhoid problem?” “Of course, Bob cracked up,” said Miller, “but that little producer guy was hoppin’ mad. He started yelling and said, “Do you know how much it is costing us to come down here?” “I said to him, “I don’t know how much it’s costing you, but it’s costing me a lot, because my customers can’t even get in the door.” But then we did a real interview,” said Miller, “They weren’t too happy with me, though.” Joe Miller was never one to miss a marketing opportunity. “When the townspeople heard about the windmill, we thought it was going to be good for the town. It would attract tourists and bring a lot of attention to Boone and the High Country.” At Boone Drug, Miller sold windmill t-shirts, pins, and even canned “Whoosh-
Watauga TDA Has Plans for New Park
I
n 2018, the Boone Tourism Development Authority released a Howard’s Knob Master Plan that will redevelop and revive a park that has needed a makeover for quite some time. Some of the improvements that the master plan discusses include a viewing platform for visitors to the park to get a better view over downtown Boone, a natural play area built with maintenance-free materials, a walking trail throughout the park, a new and revitalized entrance and visitor education materials that provide information and history about many of the natural features in and around the park. The plan also makes mention of adding up to 25 additional parking spots and making some much-needed enhancements to the current picnic facilities that are already there. New seating, tables and a grilling area would be included as part of the upgrades. Maybe the most ambitious addition to the Howard’s Knob Park would be the Northern Peaks Tower. The viewing tower would stand at a minimum of 55 feet tall to extend above the tree canopy and allow visitors to get a 360-degree view from the highest point in Boone. 22
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Stone Cavern
Tile & Stone Showroom
April / May 2019
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Can you find the wind turbine?
App State WIND TURBINE
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or the last 10 years, drivers coming into Boone from almost any direction can spot the towering wind turbine on Appalachian State’s campus. The wind turbine, a Northern Power Systems Northwind 100, was constructed in 2009 with funds raised from App State’s Renewable Energy Initiative and New River Light & Power Company. The Renewable Energy Initiative allocated $319,800 for the project while New River Light & Power provided $213,200. Located at the highest point of Appalachian’s campus on Bodenheimer Drive, the 100 kW wind turbine is the largest in North Carolina. Standing at 152 feet tall, it provides enough electricity on average to power 11 homes with roughly 104,000 kilowatt hours annually. As wind turbine technology
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continues to grow in popularity and become more efficient, more wind turbines will likely start popping up. Most recently, Elizabeth City became the first location in the Southeastern United States to have a largescale wind farm with 104 wind turbines as part of the Amazon Wind Farm developed by Avangrid Renewables in 2017. The wind farm encompasses 22,000 acres.
High Country Magazine
Photos by Marie Freeman / Appalachian State University
Name: Broyhill 100 Installed: June, 2009 Location: 755 Bodenheimer Drive Average yearly electricity production: 104,000 kWh Height: 152 feet
April / May 2019
Air.” He explained, “We had a kraut factory in Boone back then, and I had them seal up some empty cans for me. I made up labels myself and sold ’em for $1.99 as ‘windmill sliced air.’ People bought ’em.” “I even handed out free passes to ride the windmill, just as a joke,” Miller added. “If you were a lady, there was an option to ride sidesaddle,” he laughed. “I had a good time with it while it lasted.”
Gone With the Wind
Fun aside, the windmill was plagued with problems, both mechanical and environmental. With numerous complaints from nearby residents over the noise, vibrations, and interference with television reception, operation of the windmill was curtailed. Wind on Howard’s Knob was sometimes non-existent, and sometimes too strong for the windmill to operate safely and efficiently. At significant cost, NASA repaired mechanical failures and installed re-designed parts until in early 1981, when a number of bolts holding the windmill’s blades to the generator shaft broke. The estimated cost for that repair was in the neighborhood of half a million dollars, adding to a tab that was producing negative attention to the project. In Washington D.C., the Reagan Administration had cut the budget for wind energy research, so the decision was made to close down the MOD-1 on Howard’s Knob. Mike Hobbs noted that the windmill was more successful at generating attention than generating electricity. As the structure was being dismantled, Hobbs headed up to Howard’s Knob to document the event. “As a journalist, I was invited to ride up in a basket and step out on the hub,” he said. While thrilling to witness a slice of Boone’s history from such a perspective, Hobbs said it was sad to watch pieces of the windmill leave town on flatbed trucks, sold for scraps to a company in Lincoln County for about $50,000. The tower was later donated to Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the windmill’s blades made their way Winston-Salem, where they were on display on the front lawn of the Nature Science Center — painted with the name of the museum. When the museum was renamed SciWorks in 1992, the blades were removed to make room for a new sign, and damaged beyond repair. While the windmill on Howard’s Knob didn’t succeed in producing much electricity for the High Country, it did provide valuable learning in designs for wind power. Today industrial wind turbines are used across the country to provide renewable energy, generating electricity as the wind blows. t
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Jim Cottrell on the Slopes
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Jim Cottrell wearing his USA sweater, which represented the ski program developers for the President’s Council on Physical Fitness in Sports. The French-Swiss Ski College awarded more presidential awards for physical fitness than any other organization in the United States.
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rench-Swiss Ski College founder Jim Cottrell was in for a special surprise when he arrived at Appalachian Ski Mtn. on March 19. Friends, family, former ski patrol members and ski instructors were on hand for a surprise party honoring and celebrating the half-century that Cottrell has spent of his life building the ski culture in the High Country. The college has taught well over 1,000,000 ski lessons; they reached that mark in 2005. “We’re here to enjoy a fun day with our beloved friend, Jim Cottrell, and share some of his passion and enthusiasm for skiing. We’ve got a room full of people that are joined by their love of Jim and love of skiing,” said Brad Moretz, the owner of Appalachian Ski Mountain. Cottrell was honored with an award from the Professional Ski Instructors of America for his “longstanding dedication to and enthusiasm for snow sports education in the southern region.” The award has been given out since 2005 and Jim is just the sixth person to receive this award in the southern region, which extends from Maryland to Florida. Reba Moretz, who spent so many years working with Jim at Appalachian Ski Mtn. when her husband, Grady, ran the ski slope, had nothing but praise for Cottrell and the work he has
By Nathan Ham
50 Years Leading French Swiss Ski College
done for the ski culture. “Not many people have the very special privilege of having a business partner for 50 years. If you think about getting along with one person and working with them for 50 years, that can be a challenge, but with Jim, it has been a special privilege,” Reba said. “Working with someone like Jim through all the years, I can’t tell you what a pleasure it has been. We always got along; Jim is just a special person. I don’t think people realize the impact that Jim and French-Swiss have had.” Teaching people to ski was one thing, but the amount of energy Jim and the French-Swiss Ski College put into marketing the sport and bringing people to the High Country was truly a huge economic boost for this area, something that Boone Area Chamber of Commerce President David Jackson took notice of.
Five members of the original 1969 staff of the French-Swiss Ski College. Far left is Stevie Cohen, an unknown staff member, Jim Cottrell in the middle, Paul Greer and Jones Cottrell. April / May 2019
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In the photo above, the entire French-Swiss Ski College staff in 1969 that worked with the original seven colleges in the first year. By 1974 that list of schools had grown to over 100 åcolleges. At the right, a photo shows a huge group of college skiers. It was not unusual to have 500 to 700 students at a time taking physical education ski classes in January. Below, “Patch Skiing” happened when there was not a lot of snow available, but ski lessons continued, giving new skiers a chance to be on the snow.
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“The impact that Jim has had not only on all of us that learned how to ski through French-Swiss, but just the people that got exposed to this area that kept coming back and kept coming back, bought homes here and made a life here. A lot of that is because of you my friend,” said Jackson. “Thank you very much to everybody you have put a little bit of that passion in to make this home for so many people.” Thanks to a special proclamation from Blowing Rock Mayor Charlie Sellers, March 12, 2019 will always be remembered as a day honoring Jim Cottrell.
The French-Swiss Ski College
When Jim Cottrell started the French-Swiss Ski College in 1969, it was hard to imagine that skiing in the south would ever be as popular as it is now. Cottrell, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all born in Boone, developed a passion for skiing when the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge opened in 1961. He learned to ski and then even took the skiing physical education class during his time at Appalachian State University. Jim became a ski patrolman after two years of ski classes and looks back on those days with fond memories when he first started the French-Swiss Ski College “Most of them (the staff) were ski patrollers. I was head of the national ski patrol here, so I was already familiar with all of them,” Cottrell said. The story of the ski college started in 1968 when Jim says he was teaching accounting at Central Piedmont Community College about the same time that Grady Moretz took over the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge and transitioned it to Appalachian Ski Mtn. “I went to the administration at Central Piedmont and asked them about setting up a class similar to the one at ASU, where they would come five Saturdays and complete a course that was modeled after a class at Appalachian State. They agreed that if 10 people signed up for the class, they would offer it if I would go through all of the paperwork to put the class together,” said Cottrell. “I had taken a class at Appalachian on how to do that paperwork, which was really nice, so I was able to do that. We put it out, and 120 people signed up for it. I had to put together a staff in 1968 to help me teach that group, and it was pretty much all ski patrollers. That was the start of the ski college but just for that one class.” The ski college really started to drum up the interest when Cottrell partnered with promotional expert, businessman and fellow skier Jack Lester. Lester was an avid believer in the new short ski technology, as opposed to the more traditional Austrian long skis that others used and ridiculed Lester for not using. “His (Lester’s) motivation was vendetta. He said let’s start a ski school and run these Austrians out of the country. That was his motivation to do this, and he was a retired promoter of the InkSpots and various other groups. He had a lot of experience in promotion and handling stars and that sort of thing. He said let’s start a ski school so we decided to do that,” Cottrell said. Jim and Jack put their minds together to figure out how to turn this idea into a moneymaking venture. Jim said that Jack would call around to other schools to make appointments for them to go down to these colleges
Reba Moretz gives Jim Cottrell a big hug last month at the special event honoring Jim.
Some of the original members at the French-Swiss Ski College. From left to right: Wilson King, Mike Lamb, Duffy Smith, Tom Ford and Mark Curry. That represents 50 years of ski instructors.
A big crowd gathered at Appalachian Ski Mtn. to celebrate the half-century that Jim Cottrell has dedicated to the ski culture.
News articles and memorabilia about Jim Cottrell and the ski industry in the High Country were prominently displayed. April / May 2019
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Above is a picture of one of the college student orientations at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Boone. At the left, Jim Cottrell uses dry land skiing techniques to show large groups of people the basic ski stance and the movements of skiing. Cottrell says this part of the lesson was important because it showed students the proper techniques needed to ski before they ever even hit the snow. in the piedmont and talk with them about the opportunities that the French-Swiss Ski College could offer. “We went to Davidson and Belmont Abbey, Gaston Community College, Caldwell Community College and Catawba Valley Community College. By the end of that year, we had seven colleges lined up to take the class,” said Cottrell. “After the fall semester, I was teaching accounting at Central Piedmont. I went there and told them I would like to take a leave of absence for the spring semester to come up and do these programs.” When Cottrell and Lester got to work at Appalachian Ski Mtn., Cottrell said that they were basically doing all the business planning and scheduling on an old card table at the ski lodge. “We did those seven colleges and it went very well, and we kind of got our feet wet with it. So we said okay, let’s go at this thing full-time and see what we can put together,” Jim said. “By the next year, we had 43 col30
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leges lined up. Within the first five years, we were at a little over 100 colleges who were doing credit or recreation classes.” In addition to offering classes to colleges, Lester was able to meet with recreation departments to offer classes and used his connections to military officers to offer training classes to many military personnel groups. “He pretty much convinced them that instead of going out to Colorado from Fort Bragg to come out to western North Carolina and that we had an established teaching program and a very good safety record,” said Cottrell. “When they were doing ski training, they were usually using this old military equipment and they were having a lot of injuries. That special program that we put together for the Green Berets, they bivouacked in the back parking lot there. They had a tent village back there, and they brought in 125 troops every week for a month. We were rotating them in. We trained a lot of troops, and because of that training, we got to go out and ski with them some.”
April / May 2019
Ski instructors from the West Point Military Academy came down to take classes with Cottrell and Lester. One of the special memories of that training event was when Olympic skier Jean-Claude Killy was in the area and came by to help out with ski instruction. All of this time and effort put into these classes really started putting southern skiing in Western North Carolina on the map. “One of our primary motivations for it was to develop. There were no skiers in the south in those days, so we were looking for any type of group we could to develop skiers. Jack, being our promoter, said okay, if we do these types of programs, we will develop the credibility that this is the place to learn how to ski. We had Jean-Claude Killy, the greatest skier in the world, working with us. We had West Point coming here to train and all these military training programs and college physical education programs,” said Cottrell. “That was how we were trying to create skiers. The colleges worked very well because it wasn’t just a single visit. A person came
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and skied with us five times, and when they left here, they had the skill for it to be a lifetime sport. A large portion of those people had been in and taken this program and then they became future instructors. Now we have the kids of those people teaching for us. We have a number of family groups where we have the father and all the children or the family and the mother and all the children or the mother and all the children that are teaching with us together or in circuits.” Cottrell remembered back to when he himself was an amateur trainer taking lessons on how to properly teach other people how to ski. “I wasn’t good at it in the beginning. That’s where the Professional Ski Instructors of America came in, I started going to their training programs and I worked hard at getting to be a good instructor. I would go to all of these things. Then Mike Lamb, he had some teaching experience, and he came in and was a director for a while. He was very instrumental in helping us get everybody up to speed. We just kept going to these training events and got higher certifications and bringing that information back here to train our staff,” he said. Another part of the ski training was what Jim called Patch Skiing where small patches of snow would be used to teach the basics on flat ground before sending people down the mountain. “There’d be a patch of snow, maybe a 50-foot square, and we’d have this whole lodge laid out to where over here you’d learn about equipment, we’d do dry land training, which Killy taught us about, and then you’d work your way around. We had that artificial snow surface, you’d go out there and learn to walk and all that on that artificial surface,” Cottrell said. “Then you’d get your time to make a turn or two on the snow before you rotate around. We taught hundreds of people to ski and we had big parties at night. It was fun, and everybody had a good time. People went away, and it became part of their life because they said heck, if I can ski on that stuff, I can ski on anything.” Cottrell and Lester built a ski ramp in sections that could be put in a trailer and transported to malls across the Southeast for the public to see for themselves what the skiing world was all about. 32
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Taking the Show on the Road
One thing that can sometimes fall through the cracks when people think back to how important Jim Cottrell was to getting the ski industry started in Boone and the southeast was the de-
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In 1968, Jean-Claude Killy won three gold medals in alpine skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Killy took gold in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and the Downhill. In 1970, First Union Bank in Charlotte and French-Swiss brought Killy to Appalachian Ski Mtn. to do a promotion. He became friends with Jack Lester and Jim Cottrell and visited several times to assist with special programs, including instructor training and West Point Military Academy instructor training. When he was visiting the French-Swiss Ski College, Jim Cottrell said he was one of the most famous athletes in the world. Killy wrapped up his international skiing career with 18 World Cup wins, 25 World Cup podium finishes, four team world championships (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968), three Olympic gold medals (1968 – Grenoble, France) and two FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (1966 – Portillo, Chile).
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cision to turn skiing into a traveling, mobile unit. Cottrell and Lester built a ramp, put on ski uniforms and let the public see for themselves what the skiing world was all about. “We put that out for several years, going around to malls and doing these demonstrations. It took marketing and publicity and getting it out in the newspapers. When we did these ski shows in the malls, part of our contract was that they had to spend x amount of dollars to promote it, so you had full page ads in the Charlotte Observer, the Atlanta Constitution, so it was just part of it. It was putting that word about skiing out there,” said Cottrell. “The first ramp show that we did was at the opening of the South Park Mall. It was called ‘Skiing in July.’ They estimated that a half a million people came and saw that show in that week. You couldn’t get through the aisles. I remember the ad they ran in the Charlotte
Observer said ‘It’s Snowing at South Park,’ and it’s in the middle of July. People just poured in there.” The ski road shows benefitted everyone involved. Cottrell got to expand the minds of so many people about skiing and winter recreation. People got to see first-hand how much fun it can be and of course, malls saw a boatload of extra foot traffic coming to see the show. “We sold that ramp show to the malls to bring people into their malls. It was very successful because people would come in to see it, which was good for the merchant sale. We were able to put this thing together where it paid for itself, and we got all the marketing from it. It was really good, and we would see those people showing up to learn to ski, so we knew it was working,” Jim said. Laurie Karr, an administrative assistant with the French-Swiss Ski College, played a big part in helping Jim with the school. Laurie has been there for 42 years and helped take care of booking the traveling ski show in the early days. “Laurie is a constant. She is a very organized, tenacious individual to keep a bunch of ski instructors and free spirited people in line. She was kind of the glue, the ‘we need this done now’ type of person, the type of personality that went well with keeping us in line,” says Cottrell. “She oversaw all of our finances, making sure that money got in the bank and that sort of thing. Anything and everything that needed to be done, she went through that struggle with us.”
Learning to Ski
In the early 1970s and early 1980s, French-Swiss conducted military training programs for the 5th Special Forces Group, Navy SEALS, Marine reconnaissance units and West Point Military Academy instructors.
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Over 1,000,000 ski lessons have been taught at the FrenchSwiss Ski College. Generation after generation have come through the college and been down the slopes at Appalachian Ski Mtn. In the early days of the ski college, students would pack the slopes for so many weeks throughout the winter with interest building both through college programs as well as the general public. “We did more lessons then than we do now because there weren’t any skiers, and they were coming in. We had years where we were doing 50,000 lessons a year. The first three years, it was only colleges. And then our program had grown so much they had their own ski school here at Appalachian. It just didn’t make any sense to have two and, quite frankly, people were seeing what we were doing and then they were seeing traditional ski schools and saying well we want to be a part of that school. So the mountain did away with their school and we became the exclusive ski school here, and we have been for 47 years or so,” said Cottrell. “But we were working off that card table for a long time. Before they did all this lodge expansion, there was a clothes closet down there in the bottom corner that was half the size of this room, and we felt like we were doing great. We had an 8-by-10 office to work out of, and that was so much better than having a card table. Then as the lodge expanded, we’ve kind of grown into this suite of offices now that overlook the slope, and maybe that says something to the effect of how many people we were bringing here.” Jim says that the partnership with Appalachian Ski Mtn. has continued for 50 years and has been mutually beneficial to everyone involved. “They needed people and we needed a place to put them. We worked hard,” he said. The partnership between Jack and Jim came to a sad ending after just five years when Jack Lester passed away from heart problems. Looking back, it’s hard to ignore the major economic benefits that the ski industry, in particularly all of the marketing and selling that Jim and Jack did in the early years, had on the towns across the southeast.
“I was very instrumental in the development of the High Country Host. I was the president of the High Country Host. Grady (Moretz) was on that original board. The concept was exactly the same: get everybody to work together to go out and bring people into the community,” said Jim. “We had the top marketing people; all of the ski area operators worked together to create that High Country Host that we were all instrumental in. You couldn’t afford to hire all these marketing people, but they volunteered their time to come in because they saw the common good.”
Special Work for the Special Olympics
Cottrell says his most rewarding moments with the ski college have been his time working with the Special Olympics. “After we started adding social groups, scouts, recreation departments, any kind of group that we would do, I became very active in the ski area associations, college physical education associations and the NC Association of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. I was a regular presenter at those conferences, and that’s how we got started with Special Olympics,” said Cottrell. At one of these conferences, a group of Special Olympians were on hand so Jim asked who was going to train these seven athletes and the response was that no one would be training them. They would head to Steamboat Springs where they would get a brief tutorial and then they would compete. “I said let me see what I can do. The Holiday Inn put them up and Daniel Boone Inn furnished meals as did various restaurants, the mountain donated ski tickets and equipment, and we put together the instruction and brought the seven athletes up here for a three-day training program. They went out there and they did very well,” Cottrell said.
Cottrell continued to offer these Special Olympians a place to train and Appalachian Ski Mtn. eventually started hosting the Southeast Region Special Olympic Games. “The first year they came, it was close to 300 athletes. We were doing cross country, ice skating and alpine skiing, and we were putting all that together,” Jim said. There was also a steep learning curve involved with hosting the event. Jim said, “it took hours to get everyone equipped.” “The instructors who worked with us said okay, how could we fix this? So what we came up with was okay, when they first get here, they’ll meet at the Holiday Inn Conference Center and we’ll teach everybody over there before they get over here how to put their boots on, how to get in and out of their skis in a dry land program, and we’ll fill out all of their rental forms and that sort of thing there so that when they come out here it will all be ready, and they can just go right at it,” said Cottrell. Things started to get even smoother when the group realized that they could coordinate race bibs with the equipment so everyone puts on the correct gear that has already been fitted for them. “As it evolved over those three years, we came up with a corral that had all the numbers lined up there. We were already getting the stuff filled out ahead of time, so we could have the skis sitting out there, and in 15 minutes, we could have 300 people outfitted and ready to go. Then when they took a break, it all came back and they had a numbered slot there to put it in,” said Cottrell. “As they had different ability levels, we took the color code of the slopes. Yellow was for caution. The people who need a lot of individual, one-on one-attention, would be in the yellow group. If they could ski on green terrain, they had a green dot. Blue terrain, blue dot, black terrain, black dot. You could look at that bib and
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Most of Jim Cottrell’s proudest moments came as a trainer for the Special Olympics. In 2000, Cottrell received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Appalachian State University for his work with Special Olympics for 42 years. Cottrell is pictured here congratulating one of the many Special Olympic athletes that have made their way to Appalachian Ski Mtn. it had the state they were with. If they had any type of handicap, it was written on the front and the back. Going or coming, we could always call the athlete by name. We could issue their equipment quickly, take it back in quickly, any volunteer could put it together.” Cottrell and the staff at the FrenchSwiss Ski College did such an outstanding job with their Special Olympics work that the founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, came to Appalachian Ski Mtn to watch the games. “She tried to hire me to go to Washington, and I said no, I’m staying right here. There’s not enough money to make me move to Washington but I gave them 30 days a year for 3 years, and I traveled all over the country, going to areas and showing them how to put these games on,” Jim said. “We wrote a manual on how to do it, and then when the second games came around, I became the advisor on how to handle all this equipment and that sort of thing. I went up to New England. It was at Smugglers Notch. They put this system into place, and it’s still being used today internationally. But we were just the only ones who did it year after year in a row, so we had it figured out. We wrote the first coaches manual and we wrote the first manual on how to conduct the games.” The ski college still uses the same system today whether they are training Special Olympians or teaching a new student how
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to ski. The system has proven to work for everyone regardless of skill level. “That basically teaches you that everybody is different, and that you can’t just use the same methods with everybody. You look at their physical abilities. Are they in shape, are they athletic, you gear the instruction to the individual, and it’s been invaluable to us. That’s what we think separates us as a ski school from everybody else. It’s all of that special handling that we’ve come up with. We’ve learned how to do that with large volumes of people,” said Cottrell.
What the Future Holds for Jim
Jim will not let age keep him off the slopes anytime soon. While he has turned over the day-to-day operations of the ski college to his son, Pace Cottrell, and college director Benjamin Marcellin, Jim says he’s still going to be there. “I hope I’m going to be skiing for a lot longer yet. Benjamin is in charge of everything on the snow and Pace is in charge of everything in the building, and I’m kind of the advisor to answer questions and help. Next year, they’re going to be finished with their training and I’m going to be the figurehead. I’m not going anywhere, I love this,” Jim said. Cottrell gives credit to his wife Wynne for “putting up with me for all these years,” and for getting him to take a small step back from the ski college. “She’s got me convinced that I need to
be here to help but not to be here all the time. She’d like to do a little traveling in the winter and get out of the cold weather and that sort of thing,” Jim said. “She’s been a big asset too. She’s on our board, and she’s our checks and controls. When we get all these flamboyant ideas that we want to go off and do this and do that, she’s the voice of reason that says you’ve got enough going on, you don’t need to add more to it.” Pace joked around saying that they were going to let Jim have some hope of being able to leave the ski college. “He says he’s an advisor, and that works out really well because he has an extensive amount of knowledge to help us in almost any situation. It seems like everything has changed in the last 50 years, but it’s all the same, just a different day and different technology,” said Pace. “Going back through all the information we had, all the probJim Cottrell (left) with his son and Operations Director Pace Cottrell (center) and lems that they had to overcome and challenges in the early years, we’re completely spoiled.” Benjamin Marcellin, the Director of Skiing, coordinate the 100-member staff that Jim spent a lot of time traveling and working will continue teaching skiing into the future. at the ski slope, so Pace did not get to see his fa“It was just hard work, but it was a labor of love. We love this. ther a whole lot at home, but being out with him on the ski slopes and working in the ski business has prepared him The people are wonderful, and what a wonderful job to be able to help people have a good time. It’s not like teaching accountfor where he is at today. “I started getting involved over at the rental shop, I was always ing. This is a lot more fun,” Jim said. “We’ve got a great staff of able to help over there even at a younger age handing out poles, about 100 people. Mark Curry over at Creative Printing has taught cleaning boots and drying boots. I learned basically the start of the for us for 40 years. We’ve got their teenage and 20-year-old kids sport, which is the equipment,” Pace said. “I’m happy to be in this coming back with the instructors that have been with us who have position. It is hard but it is very fulfilling. I get the opportunity to been with us for 20, 30, 40 years because they love it too. You come out here, and you have a really put on my ski boots and go skiing. great time, and if you like to teach, My dad is one of a kind in the busithis is a great thing to teach because ness and I think he has set up someit’s just fun to do and you meet a lot thing nice for me and my family to of people.” enjoy for 50 more years.” This year will celebrate the 50th Laurie, who met Jack and Jim year of the French-Swiss Ski Colwhile working at the Ramada Inn in lege and Jim says plans have already 1975, said that Jim told her to come started for what they’re going to do work with him at the ski school that to celebrate the occasion. winter, and the rest is history. “We’re working on trying to pull “He put me at the circular desk together some stuff for our 50th anand then brought me into the office niversary. Those were kind of the to manage the office,” Laurie said. things that we’ve been looking at that She helped organize the famous we think we’ve made a contribution mall shows and the malls would Jim Cottrell is pictured here with Laurie Karr who has been an with. Developing all of these college pay them to come and demonstrate invaluable asset for French-Swiss for 42 years. skiing. Laurie said that the shows She has been responsible for taking care of the all details that physical education programs, the ramp show, the way we train instrucreached as far north as Staten Island, has kept the business running smoothly and on time. tors, Special Olympics, and just creatNew York and made stops all across ing this ski culture in the south has the southeast. “From my own personal point of view, Jim’s integrity was what been kind of a lifelong challenge and fun to do,” he said. You’ll still see Jim around the ski mountain quite a bit. Skiing got me to stay on year after year. We had the same ideas about being fiscally responsible and putting out a good product and grow has been such a huge part of his life and for a man who is widely a company that we could be proud of. There was never a year I considered to be the reason why the ski resorts in the High Counwasn’t proud of this place,” Laurie said. “I am very proud of this try really took off, he’s not going to stop doing what he loves. “I’m 74. Sometimes I don’t feel young, but I feel like I’m in company, I am very proud of being part of this business and very good health, and I think I have a very positive attitude. I think proud of being part of this school.” that’s a big part of staying healthy. Keep moving and keep posiThe ski school will definitely be in good hands even if Jim isn’t tively. When you sit down and think negatively, it gets you quick,” on the slopes every single day teaching novice skiers how to presaid Jim. t pare for their first run down the mountain. April / May 2019
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Avery County Airport at Morrison Field A North Carolina High Country
Aviation Jewel
Few airports anywhere across the globe have such a majestic and panoramic setting as the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field. The airport’s new 3,001-foot long by 60-foot wide runway is prominent in the middle of both pictures with its hangars, offices and other facilities to its left and parts of the Sibelco Corporation which processes quartz and feldspar, is shown on its right and is adjacent to the airport on all physical sides. 38
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By Tim Gardner
N
orth Carolina is famous for many things; high on the list is flying. After all, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, four miles south of Kill Devil Hills, NC, near Kitty Hawk, on a small stretch of land along the Atlantic Coastline. Since those first flights, there have been many small fields eventually turned into small airports throughout the world, particularly in the United States. All have their own special features, charm and even mystique. And aptly and collectively personifying those is the Avery County Airport at
Morrison Field in the Ingalls Community – the only public airport in the North Carolina Mountains. Some even go deeper such as long-time Avery County Airport Authority member Sam Ray, Jr. with his following, to-the-point comments about this even famous small airport: “One of the milestone happenings in Avery County and the surrounding area’s history has been the establishment and continuous operation of the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field. I would gladly, and without any reservation, put our airport up against any of its size in the world for what it offers to all who use it and what it has
meant to the county and region in general in making positive and lasting benefits.” Continue reading and if you don’t already know, you’ll discover for yourself that Ray, Jr. is accurate with his assessments of this true Avery County and North Carolina High Country treasure.
Airport‘s General Information
The Avery County Airport at Morrison Field encompasses approximately 70 acres and is located four miles Northeast of Spruce Pine, NC and sixteen miles Southwest of Newland NC, at 400 Brushy Creek Road, one fourth mile off U.S.
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Top: The Avery County Airport at Morrison Field and airport elevation signs shown at its main entrance Middle: A view of the airport hangars from the runway’s far South end. Bottom: Airplanes sitting in one of the Avery County Airport’s 23 hangars wait to have their propellers mechanically checked.
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Highway 19-E. The airport’s runway for takeoffs and landings is 3,001-foot long by 60-foot wide with a 120-foot over-run on the South end and a170-foot over-run on its North end. The runway has a 3-percent slope which causes 35 to be desirable for landing and 17 for takeoff. A right hand turn out is recommended to pilots after takeoff from runway 17. Morrison Field is identified in airport data, publications and aeronautical charts as: 7A8. The airport coordinates are: N35° 56.72’ W81° 59.78.’ When taking off to the north it is recommended for pilots to make a left turn before crossing the first ridge due to sinking air. The mountain peak to the south reaches 4,500 feet, while the peaks to the East are almost as high. In fact, Green Valley Baptist Church sits atop a hill less than a tenth-of-a-mile on the North side of the airport and its steeple was considered to be too tall by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines for airplanes to land over and fly above right after take-off from that side of the runway. So the Airport Authority met with the church officials, who agreed to have the steeple removed and replaced with a shorter one that met FAA recommendations if the Airport Authority would pay all costs. The Airport Authority did so and the church steeple is no longer a concern to pilots taking off and landing on Morrison Field’s North end. The FAA advises pilots flying in and out off the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field to check density altitude as well as weight and balance as in the summer months it can exceed 5,500 feet. That greatly reduces aircraft performance. Pilots flying out of the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field are urged to consult the performance charts and
From Left to Right: The Avery County Airport Authority Members Dempsey Clark, Dean Harris, Sam Calvert (Chairman), Sam Ray, Jr. and Jack Riley with Airport On-Site Administrator Doug Jennings. serving as a North Carolina State Judge Advocate at Veterans of Foreign Wars, President of the USS Arizona Reunion Association and as a United States Naval Aviator; Dempsey Clark, a longtime professional businessman and financial broker who handles much of the airport’s mandated paperwork in preparing contracts and grant applications; and Ray, Jr., a retired United States Air Force Colonel and Fighter Jet Pilot who worked out of the United are Planely Wing Buffs States Defense Headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, DC for many years. Doug Jennings, also a licensed pilot, is the on-site administrator at the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field. Calvert and Ray, Jr. are charter members of the Avery County Airport Authority, formed in 1994. Thus, they are celebrating their Silver Anniversaries in the posts. Above: The spacious airport hangars shown from the West “Because serving on an side of the runway. Bottom: A side view of the airport’s Airport Authority requires a administration building and front hangars. lot of knowledge about, and experience in the profession, and since there’s not many pilots in our area, it’s sometimes hard for county commissions and related governments to find qualified people to serve on an Airport Authority Board,” Calvert explained. “But each
their aircraft POH, a handbook intended for the pilot or operator of an aircraft to obtain information about the operating limits, speeds and related information for a specific aircraft, before departing. Because Avery County Airport is a mountain airport, pilots using it should also be aware of the possibility of localized and unforecast turbulence when flying in such areas.
Local Authority Members
The airport is operated locally by the Avery County Airport Authority with its five members appointed by the Avery County Commission. Each of these individuals possesses a keen enthusiasm, special love and downright passion about aviation as well as keen expertise about its many intricacies. The current members include: Sam Calvert (Chairman), a retired United States Navy Flight Engineer; Jack Riley, a pilot, retired Nuclear Engineering Manager at the Charleston, SC Naval Shipyard and a United States Merchant Marine Academy alumnus; Dean Harris, another pilot, whose multiple professional experiences includes
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Top: Avery Airport Authority member, long-time pilot and Young Eagles flight instructor Jack Riley shows off some of his vast memorabilia collection in his office located inside his plane’s hangar. Middle: Avery Airport Authority Member Dempsey Clark on the far left and Airport On-Site Administrator and Pilot Doug Jennings discuss the airport’s many features. Bottom: Jack Riley’s airplane sitting in his hangar with flags above it of the various states in which he has flown.
member of our Airport Authority takes this responsibility seriously and we work very hard and diligently to fulfill our duties, of which there are many. And we’re eager to promote the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field in every conceivable way. Many people don’t realize how much work is involved in serving as an airport authority member. But it’s a role each of our members cherishes.” While Calvert offered thanks to many for the patronage and help with the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field, he especially had words of commendation for three entities. “I and all other Airport Authority members for the 25 years it’s existed deeply appreciate so many using our airport and helping us promote it by word-of-mouth and in other ways,” Calvert said. “But we especially thank the Avery County Commissioners and other county officials during that time period who have generously funded the airport and also helped it in every other way they can. Also, the Sibelco Corporation (formerly Unimin), which processes quartz and feldspar, and is adjacent to the airport on all physical sides… Its officials have also assisted the airport whenever asked. I can’t say enough good words about the Avery Commissioners, other County officials and Sibelco, and the airport authority remains mindful of their tremendous efforts for the airport.” Avery County Manager Philip Barrier, Jr. had the following glowing words of praise for the airport and the Airport Authority members: “The Avery Airport is the county’s most important hidden gem and the citizens of the county, the surrounding areas and all who use the airport cannot thank the Avery Airport Authority enough for the vision and hard work they commit to the county and the airport. They are all most skillful in the aviation field and have helped make and keep the airport as one of the best and most prosperous anywhere.”
Airport Boasts a Long and Varied History
The Avery County Airport was founded by a group of local business men and pilots, most notably Roy Weld, Ramey Beam, Bill Laughridge and Brad Ragan, in the early 1950’s as a small private grass field on land donated by the Morrison Family. It originally had a 2,400 feet grassland runway. After work started on the airport, a delegation of local businessmen made a trip to Washington, DC to meet with the State’s District Representatives and persuaded them to fund the airport through the FAA. The FAA agreed to fund the airport if it was transferred to a municipality. The airport was given to Avery and Mitchell counties and the FAA finished the airport as a public use airport. Since, the Avery County Airport at 42
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Morrison Field has flourished and received various upgrades through the years. Until the late 1980’s, the airport upkeep was entirely funded by the users, primarily Brad Ragan Inc. and Feldspar Corporation – both of nearby Spruce Pine. Then in the 1990’s the Avery County Airport Authority was formed by the North Carolina Legislature. Avery and Mitchell counties then began to provide funding for the airport. At that time, the airport was designated a municipality and awarded a grant to pave the runway which was extended to its current length. Mitchell County eventually stopped giving any funding to the airport, which currently is funded entirely by Avery County and through multiple Federal and State of North Carolina grants. In 2016 a grant was available to start the installation of the Wildlife/Security Fence around much of the airport. The airport, in addition to private usage, is used by many other individuals, families and businesses including military, life-saving flights, religious missionary flights and disaster relief coordination. JAARS, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Waxhaw, NC that provides Bible translations and communication solutions to some of the Earth’s most remote places, often uses the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field for its instructors and pilots to practice flying in the mountains. Also, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has been provided a facility at the airport and has been quite active in introducing young people to aviation through its Young Eagles Program. Besides its regular meetings and other functions, the EAA partners with Scouting clubs and offer the use of their building there for camp-outs and other related Scout activities. That EAA building was remodeled in 2016, adding bathroom facilities, kitchen and extra seating capacity. Additionally, the Camp Lejuene, NC Marines Base has had units hold military exercises at the Avery County Airport-Morrison Field for several years and will do so again in June. The Avery County Airport at Morrison Field’s most historical happening was when former United States President Gerald R. Ford spoke to a massive, public gathering there in1976 during his election campaign against Jimmy Carter. Presently there are 23 privately owned hangers, housing mostly single engine, but also some twin engine planes, with aircraft tiedowns. Additionally, the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field has a helicopter port and a maintenance hangar. The Avery County Airport at Morrison Field leases its hangars for 20 years. If the 44
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Top: Pilot Ted Richardson shows off his single-seat aircraft. Middle: Richardson stands to the left of his plane, which is admired by Airport Authority member and long-time military pilot Sam Ray, Jr. Bottom: Richardson enters his plane to prepare for takeoff
leaser is in good standing with the Airport Authority at the end of that time period, the lease will automatically be extended for another ten years if the lessor wants it renewed to make it a 30-year lease. The airport has increased dramatically in usage during its years of existence. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field had more than 3,000 aircraft take-offs and landings, according to airport authority data.
An up-close view of the Avery County Airport’s newly overhauled runway.
Colossal Economic Impact
North Carolina airports serve as a vital economic engine connecting people and business enterprises with the world. They are among the primary economic drivers in their local communities. The most recent analysis of the economic impacts of North Carolina’s public airports, conducted by North Carolina State University’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), reveals that North Carolina airports benefit far greater economic benefits than previously reported. The Division of Aviation is responsible for state airport and aviation system planning and development, and provides fund-
ing to communities for constructing and improving airports throughout the state. Airports and aviation-related businesses that engage with the state’s 10 commercial service and 62 general aviation airports contribute more than $52 billion in economic
output, 307,000 jobs, $12.6 billion in personal income, and $2.2 billion in state and local tax revenues, based on ITRE’s 2018 analysis of 2017 airport data. The increase in economic output from the $31 billion reported in 2016 was primarily due to two factors: economic growth and methodology that captures both the impact of jobson the 10 commercial service airports and the impact of business travelers to those airports. The commercial service airport analysis quantified the impacts of leisure visitors, on-airport contributions (jobs, income and spending by tenants such as airlines, rental car companies and airport security) and the impact of airport capital projects and operations such as construction, facility maintenance and operational services. The general aviation airport analysis quantified the jobs supported by the airports directly, jobs supported by businesses that rely on the airport and the impact of visitors. Using the criteria for a general aviation airport, the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field offers 125 jobs, a personal income of $5,900,000.00, $543,000.00 in state and local taxes and an economic output of an astounding $20,270,000.00.
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Big Day at the Avery Airport in 1976 When President Ford Made a Visit
T
he milestone happening in the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field’s rich history came in 1976 when United States President Gerald Ford visited. President Ford (fourth from left) stands moments before addressing a massive gathering at the airport during his candidacy to remain President. The crowd there was estimated to be around 15,000 to 20,000 and considered to be one of the largest for any single event in Avery County history. President Ford was to fly in the early afternoon via Presidential Helicopter Marine One to Ingalls from Asheville, where he also had a speaking engagement. Shortly after President Ford departed the Asheville Regional Airport it was announced over loud speakers at
haul, that included all new stone, compaction and four inch asphalt as weight was upgraded to 18,000 pounds per single gear. The project was finished in 2018and brought the airport up to meet the specifications of the FAA and State of North Carolina for airport runways. According to Calvert, the Airport Authority would like for the runway to be extended to 4,300 feet in the future, which could accommodate larger planes and make it even more favorable for bringing more business to the tri-counties of Avery, Mitchell and Yancey. The North Carolina Board of Transportation also approved funds last year for much-needed improvements to nine of North Carolina’s publicly-owned airports, including the Avery County Airport. That $3.7 million in funding was used to provide improvements such as better runway lighting, new fuel tanks and safer taxiways at airports receiving parts of those funds. Calvert said the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field received around $250,000.00 in those funds with a $10,602.00 county fund match, for a new fueling system. The new fueling system was installed in 2018 and replaced old tanks and pumps with new ones for pumping 100 octane low level aviation and Jet A fuel. The new fuel pumps are credit card equipped for self-service convenience. Over-all, the Avery County Airport Authority estimates that the airport will receive $2.5 million in funding during the next three to five years. Plans are underway for These fuel pumps were installed in 2018 and can pump100 numerous renovations and octane low level aviation and Jet A fuel. The new fuel pumps other new facilities at the are also credit card equipped for self-service convenience.
Harris said that although he knew the airport is a tremendous benefit for the county and region, he was surprised and borderline shocked when he saw the figures of just how large its impact has been. “The Avery County Airport at Morrison Field is thriving, but I didn’t realize what a gigantic boom it has been until I studied those statistics compiled by the North Carolina State University’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education,” he remarked. “Our airport has been as beneficial, perhaps in as many ways and over a longer period of time, for this region as any business has. And I expect that impact to become much greater and reach farther depths in the future as it keeps offering more to more people.” Barrier, Jr. added: “Many may not be aware of the economic impact the airport has; and will have for the future of our county. Its renovations and expansions not only have and will meet Federal and State aviation objectives, but have and will make it possible for more aircraft to use our facility. It’s amazing what’s happening at our airport. It’s more than exciting.”
Facility Improvements and New Additions
The Avery County Morrison Airport received State and Federal funding in the amount of $1,549,750.00 for Runway Rehabilitation. Its runway then did not meet the specifications of the FAA nor the State of North Carolina for airport runways. As a result, the Airport Authority applied for, and received, Federal and State grants for a complete runway over46
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the Avery County Airport that he was en route there and would be arriving in less than 30 minutes. Shortly after takeoff, however, a very heavy rainstorm hit the Asheville area and the helicopter carrying President Ford had to be re-routed back to Asheville. It was then announced at the Avery County Airport about the weather delay and that President Ford would still be arriving – just a few hours later via motorcade in the official car of the United States President – Limousine One. He did so among hundreds of Secret Service agents and other law enforcement personnel from the state and local levels saturated around him, the limousine and all throughout the airport and surrounding grounds.
April / May 2019
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airport to expand and improve its services and capabilities. The first focus will be on construction of a new, 3,200-foot terminal building, which will be built in the design characteristics of a log cabin to give it a mountain feel, with an expected completion in 2020. The terminal will accommodate pilots and passengers, offering a lounge area, food and drink vending machines, a flight planning area and local tourist attractions information. A new, 10,000-square foot maintenance hangar will also be constructed and should be ready for use in 2021. Additionally, a new ramp and taxiway are scheduled for the airport within the next two-to-three years. The Avery County Airport Authority has also worked jointly with officials of the nearby Green Valley Fire Department to have one of its fire truck stationed full-time at the airport. There are even more plans on the Avery Airport Authority’s drawing board. These include a instrument approach procedure for Morrison Field which will assist pilots with landing during inclement weather; installation of lighting along the runway so landings and take-offs after dark can be made; and collaborating with rental car companies to make ground transportation available to fly-in visitors. These improvements will add additional dimensions in tourism to the county and region by making the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field even more appealing and inviting to the flying public. “Its growth has been phenomenal, but the greatest part about the airport is that it’s only going to keep getting better and better as it grows and expands. It’s a special blessing for the mountains it serves,” proclaimed Jennings.
Summation
As Avery County is located in the very heart of the North Carolina High Country, it’s the ideal place for visitors to come for a day, a weekend or longer, and tour the many tourist attractions here such as the Blue Ridge Parkway, Grandfather Mountain and many others, to golf on one of its various courses, and to enjoy the many other amenities the region has to offer. And the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field has helped make that possible for people numbering in the high thousands as well as for many more in the future. “There’s a unique and true fascination by many about airports from both young and adults,” Clark declared. “Our airport has as much interest in it by as many, or more people than ever. Its future is a bright one, indeed. All our Airport Authority members encourages anyone interested in aviation, those who want to schedule a flight , tour our facilities or just to generally learn more about the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field to contact us.” The airport is open seven days a week, year round. Further information about the airport can be obtained by writing via U.S. Mail: Avery County Airport /Morrison Field, C/O Sam Calvert, PO Box 927, Newland, NC 28657 or by calling the Avery County Manager’s Office (828) 733-8201. t - Tim Gardner is a freelance journalist and his articles have appeared in national, regional, local and specialty publications. Tim is a life-long resident of the North Carolina High Country and lives near the Avery County Airport at Morrison Field. *Thanks to the Avery County Airport Authority members and Avery County Manager Phillip Barrier, Jr. for their assistance with data and other information used in this article. *Photographs supplied by Jack Riley and Doug Jennings.
Encouraging and Inspiring the Next Generation of Aviators
E
ver wondered what it’s like to fly? Have you been curious to learn all about how airplanes function? Or have you even dreamed about becoming a pilot? If you answered “yes” to any or all of those questions and are between the ages of 8-17, you’re invited to take to the sky and become a Young Eagle. Launched in 1992, the Young Eagles program has dedicated more than 25 years to giving youth their first free ride in an airplane. The Young Eagles gives access to aircraft and a shared community of flying, training, and safety. It’s the only program of its kind, with the sole mission to introduce and inspire kids in the world of aviation. Currently, more than 2 million young people have enjoyed a free introductory flight through the Young Eagles program. These flights are made possible through the generosity of around 180,000 EAA member volunteers who allocate their time and aircraft to make those flights possible. The youth who participate in the Young Eagles program fly with a local EAA volunteer pilot who will show them what real pilots do on the ground and in the air. It’s an experience the participants will remember the rest of their lives. Following their flight the pilot will present the Young Eagle with his or her very own logbook
with a unique code to activate their free EAA Student Membership. A membership unlocks various other opportunities and resources to take part in the exciting world of flight. An EAA Student Membership includes: • Free access to the Sporty’s”Learn To Fly Course” ($199 value) • Free admission to 300-plus science and technology museums • Free Academy of Model Aeronautics Student Membership • Free Electronic Copy of EAA Sport Aviation • Free First flight lesson ($120 value) -Upon completion of the first three volumes of the Sport’s “Learn To Fly” Course • Access to valuable flight training awards, education scholarships and Air Academy Camperships The Young Eagles program is taught in the Tri-Counties of Avery, Mitchell and Yancey of the North Carolina High Country by pilot and instructor Jack Riley, member of the Avery Airport Authority Board. More pilots are needed to work as flight instructors and others are needed to help in additional parts of the program. They will offer each child, tween and teen the opportunity to experience the Spirit of Aviation by becoming a Young Eagles volunteer. “The Young Eagles is one of the best and most rewarding programs available to young
people who are eager to learn more about aviation and perhaps become pilots,” said Riley. “I strongly urge those who want to be Young Eagles to get enrolled at their earliest convenience. I introduced the Young Eagles program to a group of students interested in flying at Mitchell High School recently and I’m available to do the same at other schools, clubs and related gatherings of young people. I hope the parents and guardians of young people interested in aviation will also further spur their children’s interest in flying through their encouragement and involvement in helping them learn about, and take part in the profession. “I also encourage pilots and all others interested in helping in different capacities with the Young Eagles program to get involved. They can be such a positive help and guiding influences in the lives of young people wanting to learn, first hand, about the wonderful world of aviation.” Further information about enrolling as a Young Eagle or working with the program as a pilot or in another capacity, can do so by calling Riley at (828) 467-3625 or through the EAA by writing: EAA Aviation Center, 3000 Poberezny Road,Oshkosh, WI 54902; phone (800) 564-6322; or email: membership@eaa. org.
BEFORE April / May 2019
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r a m Supp F s ’ r e l l l i y M
Three generations and two employees make up the staff at Miller’s. Back row: L-R, Caleb Isaacs, Jennifer Miller; Tony Trivette & James Payne (both employees). Front row: Terri Miller, David Miller, Leslie Tankersley, Titus Tankersley. Silvie the cat occasionally works the counter.
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Miller Family Serving the High Country and Beyond for 45 Years
Three Generations Keep the Legacy Alive Story by Sherrie Norris • Photography by Frederica Georgia
D
avid and Terri Miller have been come in for farm, garden and home sup- to chat about the news and weather and meeting the needs of the High plies, but where newcomers to the area try to solve the world’s problems around Country and beyond since they seek advice on everything from who the counter. It all began for the Miller couple in joined forces with their respective family to hire for their plumbing, fencing and the mid ‘70s, three years bebusinesses 45 years ago. fore they were married, when Starting out with the ferthey built a body shop beside tilizer, feed and seed busiEarl’s feed store just down the ness owned by David’s father, road from their current locaEarl Miller, combined with tion. the auto body shop started by In March 1977, David obTerri’s dad, Nulan Watson in tained his dealers license for Boone many years earlier, the the fertilizer/chemical and couple grew their own busiseed business, while, at the ness through the years to cresame time he continued to ate what is known today at paint and sell cars through DaMiller’s Supply, Inc. vid Miller’s Used Cars, which Occupying a busy corner he did for the next 28 years. just off Hwy. 421, at 155 West Terri was at his side every step Slabtown Road in Zionville, and just a short distance from David Miller chats with customers, JV Potter and David Keller. of the way. The couple tried to meet the needs of the North Carolina-Tennessee line, the building needs — to who to vote for in business is known as a community hub, the local elections. It’s a warm, welcom- the community as they arose, and before of sorts. It’s where regular customers ing atmosphere where locals drop in just they knew it, their business went far and April / May 2019
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Miller’s services a broad rural area in western Watauga County (NC) and Johnson county, TN. above a simple feed, seed and fertilizer store. They remember well when one of their first customers, Tommy Harmon, who runs a backhoe service and remains loyal today, said if they would start carrying pipe fittings, he would buy from them, that it would be closer than driving into town.
David contacted a salesman about the idea, who drove to Miller’s place of business as agreed, but looked around and left before going in, saying to himself, “These people aren’t going to sell any hardware.” David called him a short time later and asked, “Are you coming, or not?” The salesman responded, “Fine, I’ll
Bottom (clockwise) Jennifer Miller (daughter of David and Terri) assists customer, Chuck Johnson. Tony Trivette (top R) and James Payne load endless 50-lb bags and whatever else fits in your car or truck.
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come on.” He returned the next week; the Millers ordered just a few fittings at first “to test the market,” they said. When those sold, they added more, and as they experienced with other requests, the rest is history. After about 20 years, the Millers outgrew their site and began building at their current location, which is ten times larger
than where they started. It was a work in progress, they admit, requiring six months to move everything, one truckload at a time, every day. “There wasn’t anything easy about it,” David said. Adding new items just about every week, Miller’s now carries everything from the original line of items, in addition to lodge cookware, canning supplies, greeting cards, hardware, electrical, plumbing and septic systems, culverts, paint, and yes, most everything needed for farms, gardens and animals, including a wide variety of plants, hanging baskets and herbs. Most of the plants are obtained at a local greenhouse, but they do start a few of their own from seed. Miller’s Supply is an independent Southern States dealer, has obtained specialized training and licenses for handling their chemicals, septic systems, etc., and partners with about 100 companies. “If we can’t find something for someone, we know who can,” said David. Among some of the more unusual requests they’ve received include a lady asking if they carried catheter supplies, which is understandable in light of the wide variety of items they do offer. “We try to get about anything anyone has asked for,” said David. “Just about everything, except bread and milk.” With seven employees, five of which are family members, everyone has his or her own area of interest and expertise in the store, but similar to most family businesses, everyone usually ends up wearing multiple hats to meet the needs of their customers. When asked what they attribute to their success, the answer was simple: Being so far out of town, the community needed a place to buy supplies and they were able to fill a need. More importantly, they have great customers who have continued to support them through the years. While grateful for year-round businesses, the Millers are definitely busier in the springtime, as customers are preparing their gardens and pastures and doing repairs around the house. Also, getting septic systems cleaned and/or installed, replacing pipes, “things they can’t get done in the winter.” In the colder months, it’s all about ice melt, tire chains, pipes and feed for the animals. Why is a family business important
Service with a smile. James Payne assists a happy customer.
Miller’s offers nearly everything AND even the kitchen sink.
A typical Saturday morning with Caleb Isaacs waiting on customers non-stop until they close at noon. April / May 2019
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Miller’s is the perfect place for many locals to catch up on news and gossip. Customers become ‘almost family’ (including some pets). Top, Left to Right; Christopher Welch, Frank Lawrence, Joe Brown and David Hicks. to the Millers, we asked? There is “a certain feel” with family business that you just don’t get with other businesses, they said, a sense of serving the community, and in turn, receiving support. “One thing is that we can trust and rely on each other. It is also pretty special when you have three generations working in the same business.” And, it’s a big plus, they all agreed, that they are able to work well together. What are the down sides to running a family business? “Even though one of the upsides of a family business is spending so much time with family, that can also be stressful. You tend to take out more frustrations on family, even though you shouldn’t. Also, if there is a family emergency or sickness, there is no one else to work.”
What would the Millers recommend to a family, or advise one that is thinking about opening a family business? “Be ready to put in long hours and be willing to work hard.” Good community relationships are important, all the way around, the Mill-
ers stressed. “Without the community and customers, we would not have a business. We are lucky to have good relationships with customers. Not only does it help your business, but it also makes the day so much nicer, being able to talk to customers who are also your friends.” They’ve also hired some of those friends through the years, too. If the store had a motto, the Millers said, it would probably be what some of their customers have told them: “If you don’t’ have it, we don’t need it.” And those customers? “We have them from all around — Johnson County Tennessee, and Ashe, Watauga and Avery in North Carolina.” What are some of the most important lessons they’ve learned from their customers? “You learn what you are doing right,
Three year old Titus Tankersley entertains himself and others. “He’s learning far more than he would at daycare,” says Terri Miller (R), his grandmother. Titus’s mother, Leslie Tankersley, brings him to work nearly every day. 54
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as well as what you need to improve upon,” they said. “By listening to the feedback, we are able to identify the gaps in our services and try to make improvements as needed.” We asked the Millers about their long-range business plans, how they anticipate the future of the business, 10-20 years from now? “We hope to continue to just keep doing what we’re doing. We hope the importance of buying local in our community continues — and that future generations still value that tradition.” David added “The Lord has been good to us. We are very thankful to be caretakers of this place.”
More About the Millers
Leslie Tankersley (daughter of David and Terri) sorts through some garlic.
David Miller with a handful of fertilizer. David’s father Earl Miller, started the business selling fertilizer, feed and seeds.
David Miller, son of the late Earl and Lucille Miller, grew up in his father’s business, so it was only natural that he continue the family tradition. His dad was a well-known mailman for many years, too. It was the same for Terri, whose parents, Nulan and the late Pearl Watson, taught her a legacy of hard work and determination. Both active in and around their community, the Millers were instrumental in the establishment of Zionville Fire Department for which they helped raise money and build. David served as fire chief for 13 years, Terri as president of the ladies’ auxiliary. They are also active in Mountaineer Ruritan Club, which does a lot for the community. David and Terri are the parents of three daughters, two of which, Leslie and Jennifer, graduated from Appalachian State University and work in the family business; their daughter, Cindy, is a regis-
L-R James and Tony enjoy a lunch prepared by one of the gals. Caleb never skips a beat behind the counter. 56
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tered nurse, and along with her daughter Cheyenna, also an RN, works at Watauga Medical Center. Their grandsons Caleb Isaacs and his little cousin, Titus, at 3, round out the staff at Miller’s Supply. Bearing the initials “TNT,” Titus is a live wire, said David, and lives up to his name. At the store daily, he entertains his family and customers, alike, and always in the company of his cat, Silvie. “He learned his colors by identifying the tops of paint cans, and learned to count by adding up various items in the store” says David. “He rides his toys up and down the aisles and knows where just about everything is located; He climbs up on the counter and opens the cash register, and knows our regular customers by name — and he has his favorites, too.” And that’s just part of his contribution to the business. What do they enjoy in their free time? “Work,” David responds, referring to their farm in nearby Trade, Tennessee as “my golf.” “I love to put up hay and work outside.” He has also done a lot of hydro-seeding for customers, after hours. Terri, too, loves the outdoors, enjoys gardening and helping with their animals, four donkeys, several chickens and ducks. They also have a rental business and are currently in the process of restoring a house for Caleb, one that David inherited from his parents. And, as Terri pointed out, having their children and grandchildren close by is a tremendous blessing. “We all live within about a mile of each other and the store,” she said. “And we go to church together at Zionville Baptist. We are very fortunate.” Reflecting upon their family, the business and their success, in general, the Millers agreed, “We are blessed.” t For more information, call Miller’s Farm Supply, Inc. Phone: (828) 297-4488 Located at 155. W. Slabtown Rd., Zionville, NC 28698 Hours of operation: Mon.-Fri. 7:30 – 5 p.m.; Sat. 7:30-12 noon Closed on Sunday
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Back to the
Future
Hemp Growing Returns to the High Country O
ne of the earliest crops known to exist in the world, and a staple crop of early American settlements, is slowly returning back to its roots being grown on farms across North Carolina and the United States. Hemp growers are sprouting up across the High Country following the passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill, which was signed into law in December of 2018, allows for established farmers (those with a prior year’s Schedule F tax form on file, or a farm organized as a corporation) to be able to grow the plant and have it tested by the Department of Agriculture. “The laws in North Carolina and federal changes in the 2018 Farm Bill are very strict on the THC levels being less than 0.3 percent of the biomass of the plant. That’s what the Department of Agriculture will be testing permitted growers for and growers are expected to abide by that in their attempt to source these plants,” said Richard Boylan, who is an extension agent at the North Carolina Cooperative
By Nathan Ham 58
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Pictures from the North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, located in Henderson County where an early pilot studies for hemp production began.
Extension office in Boone. He works specifically with plant production and other unique crops that can be grown in the area. The THC in the hemp plant, which is in the cannabinoid family, is what determines the difference of a cannabinoid being classified as hemp versus being classified as marijuana, a drug that is still considered illegal by federal guidelines in the United States. One of the reasons hemp has been such a fascinating crop for growers for thousands of years is the wide variety of products that can be created from the crop. Food, paper, clothing, plastic and lotions are just a few of the things that hemp can produce. The most popular product right now is the CBD oil that can be sourced from the plant, which makes it such an intriguPhotos by Jeanine Davis
April / May 2019
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ing plant in the High Country because it is the best fit for the shorter growing seasons in the mountains. “Fiber is an exciting possibility, most of that production in North Carolina would probably be centered on the coastal plain in eastern North Carolina. To grow a fiber crop, you grow plants that reach 10, 12 or even 15 feet in height. You need a longer growing season than perhaps we have here in the mountains, and you need large combines and equipment to harvest it,” said Boylan. “The crops of promise in the mountains would be hemp seed production for food and dietary supplements. For the smaller farmer, the focus is on medicinal extracts like CBD oil.”
The History of Hemp
Leonora Stefanile, one of the North Carolina State University researchers at the Mills River farm in Henderson County, harvests hemp for data collection and research. Photos by Jeanine Davis
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Historians have found records of hemp farming dating as far back to 8,000 BCE in parts of Asia, both used as food and used for fiber. Hemp began to migrate west as did many people during that era. Hemp would be discovered in areas of Europe and Africa before eventually making its way to North America in the early 1600s. Once early American settlers discovered the crop, it became so popular that farmers were required by law to grow hemp on their property. Hemp was first used as fuel for lamps and lanterns as well as paper, clothing, food and ropes. The most famous known use of hemp that has been passed down from historians is the paper that Thomas Jefferson used to write the Declaration of Independence was made from the hemp plant. Hemp continued to be an extremely popular crop through the early 1900s when suddenly it came to a crashing halt. The plant, sharing the
CBD is a Non-Psychoactive Compound From Cannabis Plants C
BD — or cannabidiol — is a nonpsychoactive compound from cannabis plants. CBD oil is extracted from hemp plants and may be useful for treating health issues including anxiety, pain, depression, acne, insomnia, heart disease, seizures and other maladies. It may ease inflammation and provide antioxidants, promoting overall wellbeing. Research is ongoing, but studies suggest that CBD products are considered safe and powerful natural treatments for many health conditions. Many people relate the cannabis plant with marijuana, but in truth there are several varieties of cannabis. The two most abundant components in cannabis are THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD. THC is the element that contains a psychoactive component, producing the “high” associated with marijuana, explained Larry Meek, pharmacist and owner of Lake Wylie Pharmacy. “The le-
gal form of CBD comes from industrial hemp, which is tested by law and contains less than 0.3% THC. Even at very strong doses, CBD will not produce a “high.” Hemp is one of the world’s oldest crops, with evidence dating back to use by civilizations more than 10,000 years ago. It was grown extensively in the U.S. until the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 established a list of banned drugs, grouping hemp with marijuana as a drug, even though it didn’t contain the same properties. In 1998, businesses were allowed to import hemp from other countries, but it wasn’t until 2014 that the Agricultural Act (Farm Bill) defined industrial hemp as distinct and opened the doors for states to legalize cultivation. In 2016, hemp products became legal to sell in South Carolina, and a limited number of permitted farmers can grow the crop com-
mercially. And a couple of cautionary statements: Meek said that many of his customers are concerned with the marijuana relationship and ask if they will fail a drug test if using CBD oil from hemp. “Even the tiny amount of THC in CBD oil is enough to trigger a positive test, which is why Ananda makes the THC-free oil. That’s a good option for customers who are routinely tested,” explained Meek. “Currently no prescription is needed to purchase CBD products, but we recommend having a consult with a doctor or pharmacist to go over any current medications and recommended dosage. There can be interactions with other medications. Also, a patient should never discontinue any prescription medication without discussing with their doctors first,” Meek emphasized. By Jan Todd
which authorized the study and research of hemp by allowing a pilot program to start where universities and other research institutions could begin growing the crop. Fast forward to 2019 and now it is legal for any licensed growers across the United States to begin cultivating their own hemp products.
Growing Popularity in the High Country
North Carolina State University Researchers in Mills River started one of the early pilot studies for hemp production. Mills River is located in Henderson County just south of Asheville. The primary purpose of the study would be to test how well the hemp plant can go in mountainous climate and terrain. Margaret Bloomquist, a research assistant at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and North Carolina State researcher Margaret Bloomquist gets a close-up view Extension with NC State, says that the university of some of the hemp plants that are being grown for research in Mills River. Photo by Jeanine Davis has been researching with the pilot program since it was first off the ground in North Carolina, and same appearance and growing patterns as marijuana, started to they have worked with NC A&T and other rebe regulated under the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, which placed a search institutes to learn about hemp and how it grows in the steep tax on all sales of the cannabinoid plant including hemp. western part of the state. Growth and sales of the product began to decline and was even“We’ve gotten results on varieties, spacing and fertilities and tually deemed illegal under the Controlled Substances act in what work we’re doing now we hope we can help the growers. 1970, which classified marijuana and hemp as both Schedule I Hemp is bringing a lot of enthusiasm as well as a lot of research controlled substances. opportunities and economic dollars,” said Bloomquist. Popularity for the product began to surge again in the late In late January 2019, the agricultural extension offices in Wa1990s when the United States began importing hemp seeds and tauga and Ashe County came together to host a special informaoils. In 2007, the first hemp license in over half of a century was tion session for farmers to come and learn more about the plant granted to a pair of farmers in North Dakota. and its potential. The meeting was held in Jefferson and had over President Barack Obama signed the 2014 Farm Bill into law, 200 farmers attend the event. Presentations were given on numerApril / May 2019
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Dwayne Tate
Blake Butler Margaret Bloomquist Richard Boylan These five speakers took part in a hemp information session that happened in Ashe County in late January to share research, production and marketing details.
ous topics from soil quality and plant growth to hemp marketing and the processing of hemp plants into CBD oil.
The Research Behind It All
A lot of the information provided at the meeting held earlier this year featured several points of research and data to help farmers get an idea of what they might expect if they choose to enter the hemp growing market. Bloomquist presented data that shows how well outdoor crops grew based on spacing of between four and six feet, how they grew comparing plasticulture and tobacco rows and even based on whether a grower used white plastic or black plastic on the soil. The researchers at NC State also tested 11 different varieties of the plant and how well they grew in the mountain climate and soil. Plant variety sizes ranged from 16 inches in height up to 42 inches in height and 21 inches in width to 67 inches in width. “We intend to grow all of these varieties and probably 10 more so we can get a much larger variety trial in 2019 and across the state. We’ll have at least two locations and maybe three locations to look at all of these plants side by side,” said Bloomquist. During her presentation, Bloomquist noted that they have al-
ready developed a sizeable list of ideas to research during 2019. In addition to the plant spacing and mulching, they plan on studying more varieties, different planting dates, fertility trials and other collaborative research involving agronomic testing and greenhouse testing. “Right now we recommend growers should really stick with the production method that you are used to and you have the equipment for. We’re not seeing huge differences in what the best production method is at this time,” Bloomquist said. Leonora Stefanile, who works alongside Bloomquist as a researcher for NC State, took a look at studying the plant in terms of methods that might change how many flowers that each plant can produce “We also wanted to do an experiment looking at different pruning techniques for hemp and if that could influence yield or other factors such as air flow,” she said. “The method of topping is removing the very top part of the plant right after transplanting. This decreases all of the energy being directed to the very top flower and instead splitting that so you have two, three or four main flowers in the hopes that we could increase the yield of the actual flowers within the plant.” NC Department of Agriculture agronomist Dwayne Tate, who
The Hemp and Hops Research Twilight Tour gives people a chance to see what all is taking place at the research farm in Mills River. Photo by Jeanine Davis 62
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Leonora Stefanile
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High Country Herbs farm near the Watauga and Caldwell County line grew hemp last year and is preparing to plant again for the 2019 season. ther Mountain, Blowing Rock and Table Rock. Gupton said for generations, his family grew tobacco in the south, as did many farmers, and the crop was really good to his family. However as time went on, tobacco crops became few and far between in this area. Gupton joined the military after high school and served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne. After returning from Iraq and meeting his fiancé, Kristopher decided to enroll in college at Appalachian State where his fiancé, Heather, was also enrolled. “Career wise, I was actually interested in hops and the craft beer industry,” he said. “I went to this hops workshop in 2017, had no idea what I was walking into, it just so happened to be the first big meeting that the Mills River researchers did, so you had all the big hemp people there.” Gupton, who had been a farmer growing other crops, said he stuck around for a meeting afterward where everybody discussed hemp and he learned the ins and outs of what it might take to be able Kristopher Gupton alongside his fiancé, Heather, and man’s best friend. to start growing his own hemp crop. He
continues to research and learn about the optimal soil quality for growing hemp, said that the pilot program has helped a lot of researchers and growers to start experimenting but that “they are still trying to get caught up on the information and research that is available.” “The plant seems to be very adaptable to soil conditions. The challenge is that it’s a photoperiod responsive plant, meaning it responds to day length. If the day length is extending, it is in a vegetative state, meaning there’s biomass growth. The plant is in a reproductive state when it is past the (summer) solstice when days begin to get shorter,” Tate said.
Growing Hemp at High Country Herbs
Local farmer Kristopher Gupton, who has a small farm just outside of Watauga County in the rural backwoods of Caldwell County, has been one of the most involved and eager growers in the High Country. His farm is at an elevation of roughly 2,500 feet with great views of Grandfa64
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“Over the course of my education and career as a breeder, my goal is to make that hybridized strand for our farmers here in the High Country.”
YOU HELP CHANGE LIVES. MARIA
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– Kristopher Gupton said he initially planned on doing his senior biology thesis on hops but switched to doing his thesis on the cannabis crop. “I got my license, I imported six different varieties. My thesis was to identify which of these varieties that people want to buy here in North Carolina and what we can grow here,” said Gupton. “I wanted to focus on being a community member, not a superior, but your neighbor. I live here, I work here, I grow here, I study here just like everybody else.” Kristopher says that by having the farming experience and being able to look at this new, blossoming industry from a farmer’s perspective, it will allow him to be able to pinpoint what plant may grow best here or be able to make a hybrid breed of a hemp plant that produces a big yield for a local grower. “We are a small operation with five to six full-time members of the LLC. We have seven varieties of the most popular CBD strands and are testing the market to see which variety people want to buy. I will grow all seven varieties this year, but I want to see which ones are being sold too so I can compare that to what grows well,” he said. “Over the course of my education and career as a breeder, my goal is to make that hybridized strand for our farmers here in the High Country.” Being able to find what grows best here is important, not just for the farmer to be able to have a crop spring up, but to also be able to make an income off of the thousands of dollars he or she would have spent on their respective plants. “Something I am focused on outside of the growing season is our climate. We have a very humid climate here so moisture concerns me with mold, mildew and rot,” said Gupton. “Last year being the wettest year on record, I lost my whole crop, I lost $60,000 worth. I was able to get a hurricane relief re-seed loan, it’s not $60,000 but at
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Growers at High Country Herbs are able to grow their hemp indoors and outdoors. Pictured here are a few of the greenhouse hemp plants that they have been growing through the winter season least I can start over this year.” Ben Caruso is another farmer who is planting hemp for the first time in North Carolina. He is currently a member of the High Country Herbs LLC and is growing his hemp on about six acres of land with the Guptons. “I fell in love with the plant, I fell in love with the lifestyle. You can make a living doing it,” said Caruso. “We’re on a family farm in North Carolina, everything just sort of fell into place. I’m working here with my uncle and we’re going into the hemp business.” Caruso has spent a long time traveling and has spent time growing hemp in California but has ties to Blowing Rock as his grandparents came here for their honeymoon in 1946 and fell in love with the area. “Blowing Rock has been a home for me. As much as I’ve been traveling, it’s always the place I come back to,” he said. As one might imagine, growing crops on the west coast versus growing crops in the mountains of North Carolina have many differences that a farmer will have to deal with. “This will be a new challenge. I’m used to growing where there is no water except for what you add. We had a well run dry last year in August. The challenge here will be the amount of water we can receive. It was real close to 100 inches last year as opposed to the 50 to 55 inches where it should be,” Caruso said. “A lot of it is just 66
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staying within your scope and your means and not trying to go too big too quick and end up with a big mess on your hands.” Ben said that both Kristopher and Heather have been happy to lend a helping hand to help him get his hemp crop ready to go into the ground for the 2019 growing season. “Heather and Kris have come together with me so I can get started on time. They’ve been awesome getting me set up and being a huge help keeping me on time and on schedule. We’re doing a little coop collaboration and getting after it,” said Caruso. “It feels good to be doing something that you believe in and something that is actually a good opportunity where good results come with it.”
The Plants Are Grown, Now What?
Growers can grow as many plants as they want, but to make any money off of their hard work, they have to know what to do with the end product. That’s where the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association comes in to play. The association can help growers find buyers and processors and also help buyers find ways to process and sell their own plants at local farmers’ markets or through their own local stores. Blake Butler is the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association’s Executive Director and he wants to see North Carolina become the leading hemp producer in the country.
April / May 2019
“We have 600 licensed growers in three years and 62 new growers last month,” Butler said in January. “It’s in our DNA how to grow this crop. It’s very similar to tobacco. You co-op together, the processor harvests the crop and hands it off. We’re trying to spread the word that this is a professional business and before you get into an opportunity like this, you need to have a plan like with anything else. Most importantly, don’t plant without having a buyer in mind.” Statistics show that some of the most successful hemp growers in the state have anywhere between two and five acres of land for plants. Growers can also amend their permit if they choose to add more land to their hemp farms. However, farmers should start out smaller and expand. It is much easier to increase product and yield than it is to decrease it and still make any money. Butler said that North Carolina is the only state that did not take taxpayer dollars to legalize hemp. Butler and 60 other people raised $200,000 to be able to get pilot applications reviewed and approved
without having to involve public dollars. “Everybody is looking at North Carolina. We were at that stage of agricultural greatness at one time for tobacco. People say ‘they know what they’re doing, they grow the best tobacco.’ So can we return there? The answer is absolutely yes, but navigating what’s ahead is important,” said Butler. Since hemp is now defined as an agricultural commodity and not a Schedule I controlled substance, it is something that can be grown, transported and sold across state lines without interruption by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “We have worked really hard to get to this point. The most important thing we want is to make sure everyone is successful with this opportunity. In my opinion, this hemp opportunity will show signs that it is working when we see the smallest towns across the state come back to life,” said Butler. “Towns that have needed a new agricultural community, finding those growers that can take land that has not been utilized for so many years and plant a new seed.” With anything new or anything taboo to the traditional ways of life always comes some criticism or detractors. Butler encourages farmers to not be deterred from what people in the community, civic organizations or churches might say about them choosing to grow hemp. “You have got to believe in it. You can’t let someone make up some narrative that you’re a drug dealer. Forget all of that. It is an agricultural commodity. Live it, breathe it, own it,” he said. “Applications are being approved so fast that we will have 1,000 growers in the state by June. Raleigh is on our side; they just want to see what we’re going to do with the opportunity. After it is all said and done, one or two states will stand out as the hemp states. We have got to seize this opportunity, we are that state. It is all about the North Carolina grower and farmer making money.” t
Ben Caruso and Kristopher Gupton take a break for some lunch after a morning of getting the farm ready wwfor the fast-approaching growing season.
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Blowing Rock Frameworks & Gallery Celebrates Their 25th Anniversary By Joe Johnson
T
Tim Miller and Alex Cirulis work with clients who are interested in selecting the im Miller, owner of Blowing Rock correct framing materials for ink drawings that will be displayed in their home. Frameworks and Gallery is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his busi- and Design Framing School in Charlotte school, and the Abe Munn School of Gold ness this year. Over the course of those 25 and I successfully completed that course and Leafing and Carving in New York City. After years, Miller has continually strived to pro- decided that Blowing Rock and the High that, I proceeded to study for a national test vide the highest quality framing and art gal- Country needed a really nice frame shop. I called the ‘Certified Picture Framer’ test and lery experiences to the High Country. Since decided to open Blowing Rock Frameworks became a Certified Picture Framer in 1997. he opened in 1994 Miller, estimates that he in 1994. Soon after, I decided to get more By 1998 the business was doing very well; has framed over 32,000 pieces of art. His certifications so I went to a shadowbox we sold many wonderful frames and framed business has a loyal following of customers school, French map school, fabric-lining for a lot of the galleries in the area.” who live all over the United States, from 34 Miller had found his niche in the High out of the 50 states, and all the way to EuCountry with Blowing Rock Frameworks rope. Along the way Miller has continually and in 1997 decided to expand and open an took classes on the art of framing, earning a art gallery in a retail space that was vacant number of world-class certifications. next door to his framing shop. “So many Miller grew up in Boone and left in 1982 really established artists: Phillip Moose, to work for Sunoco Oil Company. His work Edward Szmyd, Raymond Chorneau, all of there, until 1994. allowed him travel to 33 these really talented, well-known artists got countries. It was during this time that Miller us to start framing for them,” said Miller, became interested in art from the many mu“One day, Edward Szmyd said, ‘Well Tim, seums he had the opportunity to visit and the you have the best framing in the area, why different cultures he was exposed to from not have the best gallery in the area too?’ Tim Miller and Alex Cirulis have been all around the world. So we took over the working together for four years. Travelling with Sunoco space next door, essenwould lead to his next tially knocked a hole in work opportunity when the wall, and became an he returned back to the original art gallery; it High Country. just went off like gang“In the early part busters! We started sellof the 1990s, I went to ing lots of nice, higher China and brought back end paintings.” some rolled up, antique, The success of his Chinese scrolls,” said frame shop and gallery Miller, “I took them to motivated Miller to the only frame shop in continue his education Boone and it was quite that would take him expensive to frame to London. “I found them, which I was okay out that the only place with; but after that I you can get the Guilddecided I wanted to try Commended Framer framing myself. I went Endorsement is at the to Roanoke Molding Fine Art Trade Guild in Picture of Blowing Frameworks shortly after it had opened in 1994. 68
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The gallery and frame workshop went under major improvements in 2017 and were completely updated. “They are like new now,” says Miller London. In early 1998, I went to England, studied at the Fine Art Trade Guild, and successfully passed the Guild-Commended Framer Endorsement. If there was such a thing in the framing world, this endorsement is like the PhD of framing; at the time there were only six Guild-Commended Framers in the U.S. As the years have gone by, we have been getting all types of framing clients from around the world! We’ve had framing jobs from England, Germany, Hawaii, Florida, lots of New York pieces, lots of Pennsylvania pieces, Virginia, and of course North Carolina pieces. But all along, our bread-and-butter is still Blowing Rock,
Lita Gatlin
Boone, Banner Elk, Linville, and the larger cities of North Carolina.” When you think of framing, you usually think about picture framing. But just about anything can be framed. Miller says that, “We’ve framed an original set, not just one of them, but an original set of Jack Nicklaus golf clubs. We’ve framed dresses, Civil War cutouts, letters from George Washington, Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, and needlepoint samplers from as early as 1720. Antique pieces that are very fragile need to be conserved to let them live on for more generations, so they need to be framed properly!” Miller, along with his coworker Alex
Karla Mann
The Happy Mother by Elliott Daingerfield
The frame shop has hundreds of frames, glass and matting to choose from.
Robin Wellner April / May 2019
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The computerized mat cutter.
Tim Miller points to boxes framing wood that they keep on hand. There’s one particular popular piece that he estimates they have sold over seven miles worth. Cirulis, are the only two Certified Picture Framers working side-by-side in northwestern North Carolina. “Alex just passed her Certified Picture Framer test three weeks ago,” said Miller, “There are Certified Picture Framers working together in Asheville, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem. But in northwestern North Carolina we are the only two Certified Picture Framers that are working together, Alex and me! There are other Certified Picture Framers in North Carolina, but for the Guild-Commended Framers, I’m the only one. Alex has been with the business for four years and she has shown incredible knowledge in the art industry. Alex can sell paintings and design frames better than anyone I’ve ever met.” Not only does Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery provide the highest quality services, but their equipment operates at the highest quality as well. “We have in our shop the latest state-of-the-art equipment in the framing world,” said Miller, “We have a computerized mat cutter that will do anything better than a human can do because it will do it flawlessly without mistakes. We have a French underpinner that actually will glue and put the nails underneath the frame for a perfect joint; it puts the pieces of wood together like they were grown together! That’s a nice piece of machinery; it’s something that you need to have if you’re going to set the standards for framing in northwestern North Carolina. Our framecutter is a Pistorius, Double-miter, threephase, commercial grade saw that has two purposes in life: cutting two different 45degree angle pieces of wood at one time to make a perfect 90 degree fit, cutting them to where they are like silk and the pieces can join together very well. It’s a machine that 70
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your frame shop or your art gallery cannot live without. That, as far as the framing aspect of our business goes, is what we do. We do museum The French underpinner for a perfect joint. mounts to make pieces of art last for infinity. We only sell acid-free, pHneutral materials for long livelihoods of artwork that we frame.” Miller decided to open the art gallery portion of Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery in 1997 due to his passion for the artwork he had been framing. “Art is so important to us,” said Miller, “Alex is an artist, I’m a big art collector, and I love art! Whether we sell it to people or not, we just love being around it. Miller works with the Pistorius, Double-miter, It’s the best job in the world; we can three-phase, commercial grade be around art 6 days a week and it’s saw for 45 degree cuts. like all of the pieces of artwork are our babies! Over the years, we’ve to them. Jason Drake, a local artist, has an represented some of the Southeast’s most Andrew Wyeth quality about him that I’ve talented painters, everyone from Bill Mcnever seen and probably never will again. Cullough to Raymond Chorneau. Also, over He has a huge following; we are the only the years we have represented the estates of gallery in the South that represents Jason many artists who have died. For example: Drake and we are very proud to have him Elliot Daingerfield. We are the number one in the gallery.” gallery in the United States for selling ElMiller emphasized the selectivity inliot Daingerfield paintings; we have sold volved in finding the right painting that 164 Elliot Daingerfields so far in our 25 could be an investment for the future. years of business. Daingerfield paintings are “Very few paintings are investment paintmasterpieces that could go into a museum! ings,” said Miller, “The best thing about We thrive on selling antique paintings like buying art, and what we try to convey to Phillip Moose, who was a Blowing Rock our clients; buy a painting mainly because artist that won the Pulitzer Prize for art in you like it! Some paintings, of course, such 1947, and Edward Szmyd, who was an inas Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, or Modigliternational master of color and light. Right ani are paintings that are only going to do now we represent an artist named Karla one thing: go up in price. But if you’re Mann who paints wildlife like nobody has buying a painting for $1000, $5000, or ever seen. Her pieces look even better than $10000, more than likely that is not going photographs because there is a 3-D effect
April / May 2019
Alex Cirulis takes great care handling art work as it comes into the shop for framing. They treat it like their babies! to be an investment painting. It all depends on who the artist is. All 164 Elliot Dangerfield paintings we’ve sold have gone up in price as well as all of the Hermann Herzog pieces we’ve sold. We have actually sold two Picasso signed paintings as well. We’ve dealt with a lot of high-end, world-renowned painters. Yes, these pieces are going to increase in value, but it’s not like the stock market or real estate; it’s something you may have to hold on to for a good while. If I were going to invest in art, I would borrow money to buy the super masters’ pieces; pieces that everyone would recognize.” Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery has undergone major improvements since 2017 with both showrooms having been completely renovated. “Over our 25 years in business we’ve made quite a few changes in the gallery,” said Miller, “We’ve remodeled many times over the years. In 2017, we remodeled the gallery as well as the frame shop, because after 25 years we felt like we needed to change things around to keep things updated. The gallery is like a new gallery now and the frame shop is like a new frame shop.” In celebration of their 25th year in business, Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery will be holding an informal anniversary event on Saturday, May 25th from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. “Morris Hampton, who goes around the country winning a bunch of barbecue awards, will be coming to the event and supplying free barbecue to the events attendees,” said Miller, “We will also have beer and wine at the event. We will be giving away some gift certificates that day and giving away some cash as well; we also have 2 original paintings that we will be giving away that day. Whoever wants to put their name in the hat to win the paintings, gift certificates, or cash prizes does not need to be present during the event as long as they come by some time on Saturday, May 25th to enter their name. We would like people to RSVP that they’re coming because we don’t want Morris to have too much barbecue or not enough to feed everyone. The best way to RSVP is to give us a call at (828) 295-0041 or send us an email at brart@bellsouth.net.” The first gallery show of the season for Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery is scheduled to begin on June 3rd and will last until June 15th. The gallery will feature watercolor pieces from the infamous artists Joe Miller and Wes Waugh, two of the High Country’s most prolific and recognizable names in watercolor paintings. An artist’s reception will be held on Saturday, June 8th from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery is located at 7539 Valley Blvd in Blowing Rock, near the Food Lion off the Hwy. 321 By-Pass. t
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Thinking of ...
Beverly Kay Giles
Parting
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Remembering Bev’s Newspapering Days
everly Giles passed away on April 9th, and the news has been very sad and heartbreaking for all who have known her. Over her years in the High Country, she crossed paths with many, keeping close friends close and constantly making new friends. And being far from shy, her energy and bubbly personality was infectious. She was loved by workmates, business associates, customers, clients, and partygoers everywhere. Bev’s presence made an impact on businesses, and she was constantly involved with organizations such as the Moose, the V, various fundraisers and parades. She enjoyed every opportunity she could find for just plain fun – she loved going out and having a good time. You name it ... she was into it. In short, Bev got around. Bev was just 63 when she lost her battle with cancer. The past year had been rough for her since her diagnosis. She chose to keep that time private for the most part, and many people had no idea what she was going through. Those who were with her said she was a pistol right up to the end. It was that part of her character that touched and tickled so many lives. Growing up in Florida, Bev met and married her husband, Nelson Giles. In 1976 they decided to move to Boone. Nelson worked in construction and Bev worked around town with restaurants. She had her two children, Amanda and Nathan, a year apart in 1981 and 1982. 72
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In 1987, Bev came across an opportunity to sell advertising for The Mountain Times. That’s when she found her calling, you could say. It was a natural fit for her personality, and she soon became the face of the rising newspaper. Her weekly sales route took her across the High Country from Blowing Rock to Banner Elk and all spots in between. The Mountain Times was almost 10 years old when Bev started selling ads in September of 1987. Within just a few weeks, she became the Advertising Sales Manager, a position that was meant for her and would always remain hers. Newspapers were in their heyday back then, and there were lots of advertisers to keep up with. Bev was intensely loyal to her advertisers and took her responsibilities very seriously. She managed to keep up with hundreds of existing clients while being the first one to meet and greet new businesses. She went out of her way to help them with their advertising, over-see their presence in the newspaper, and she would also take time to connect them with the services and people that could help get their businesses going as well. Over the years, she trained a slew of salespeople, turning some inexperienced and frightened ones into confident sales professionals forever grateful to her for helping them turn their lives around. Bev was an effective mentor for new employees at the newspaper. She made them
April / May 2019
feel welcome, taught them the ropes of getting the newspaper out on the streets every week, and she became a close friend to many of her workmates. She loved her job and the opportunity her role at the newspaper gave her to just be herself. Bev knew how to work hard and have fun too, usually at the same time. The newspaper was famous for its parties back then, and she made sure they were a success by getting everyone to show up. She was the life of the party and saw to it that everyone had a great time. Beverly had many interests outside of work, but the newspaper became her identity and her anchor in life. She came along as the High Country was growing and new businesses were starting in the area. She was in the middle of it all and loved to contribute and make a difference. Beverly Giles was the face and soul of The Mountain Times, and she would go on to help create the High Country Press, once again adding her loving energy until health issues forced her to retire. We will always remember that smile, that can do attitude, her jokes and her stories, and the way she would light up a room when she walked in. Beverly Kay Giles indeed crossed many paths along her journey through life. I feel very lucky to have traveled along with her as she helped The Mountain Times become the great newspaper it was. Ken Ketchie
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