AUGUST/September 20020

Volume 16 • Issue 1 August/September 2020

CHETOLA Haven of Rest

Blue Ridge Conservancy – Protecting 22,000 Acres - So Far

Dipper on the Corner | 500 Years of History | Valle Crucis Artist August / September 2020 Photo taken at Chetola Resort by Tara Diamond

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A Publication Of High Country Press Publications

Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie

Art Director Debbie Carter Advertising Director Jeffrey Green

Ken Ketchie holding the first issue of High Country Magazine

Celebrating Our 15th Anniversary

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ou’re holding our 15th-anniversary issue that represents issue number 167 of High Country Magazine that we have published since our first issue rolled off the press in August of 2005. It was back in 2005 when we had started our newspaper High Country Press on May 5, 2005 (05-05-05). After spending that summer forming a staff and getting settled into an office on Howard Street in Downtown Boone and publishing three months of weekly newspapers, the idea came about to start publishing a magazine with its fancy slick paper and full-color presentation. After all – it couldn’t be much different than publishing a weekly newspaper.

Our old graphic artist friend Aaron Burleson from The Mountain Times days took our idea and began the task of getting the layout and format of the magazine rolling along – designing many of the elements that are still found in the magazine today. Our sales team hit the streets to sell this new concept and our writers switched gears from newspaper reporting to the art of magazine writing.

We managed to get the first 36-page issue out in August, and found out real fast – like most things – it was a lot more work than we imagined. But we were out of the starting gate. A couple of months later we had our second issue out with a lot more pages (68) as advertisers seemed to like the concept and reader feedback was more than encouraging.

Everybody loved the idea and by the next summer in 2006 we were up to 132 pages.

From there it took off like a rocket ship, and by the August issue of 2007, we had reached 206 pages. Our pages were filled with great stories about places and people of the High Country told in that classic magazine style.

Then the Great Recession began to raise its devastating head late in 2008 and things began slowing down as businesses took a big hit for several years during that recession.

We held on and never missed a scheduled issue, although our page count dropped off quite a bit from those glory days pre-recession.

We continued bringing stories to our readers, and with our magazine’s focus on the High Country area, readers could always relate to them because stories were about neighbors and businesses and places that they were all familiar with.

For us, the storytelling has been the highlight as we have been able to be introduced to lots of fascinating folks, places, and pieces of history.

Now on our 15th anniversary, we are faced with another severe economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. This time we did have to miss a couple of issues in the spring with local businesses temporarily shutting down. We’re happy to be back though; happy to have had the support of our advertisers over all these years and happy to continue to find the stories across the High Country to entertain our readers.

Thank you to all for supporting High Country Magazine!

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High Country Magazine

August / September 2020

Contributing Writers Nathan Ham Harley Nefe Jan Todd Tara Diamond Sherrie Norris

Contributing Photographers Tara Diamond

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. © 2020

by High Country Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Looking Ahead to Upcoming Events!

Events Still Happening

7 - Boone Art Crawl

August

8 - King Street Market, Boone

11 - King Street Market, Boone

3 - Stomp & Brew Festival, West Jefferson 3 - Boone Farmers’ Market 3 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

12 - Animal Enrichment Day, Grandfather Mountain

10-12 - Blue Bear Music Festival, Blue Bear Mountain Camp in Todd

13 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market

10 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market

3 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard

14-16 - Avery County Fine Art and Master Crafts Festival, Sugar Mountain Resort

11 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

4 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

12 - Music on the Mountain at Saloon Studios, West Jefferson

6 - King Street Market, Boone

12 - Blowing Rock Art in the Park

7 - Storytelling Saturdays at Mystery Hill, Blowing Rock

12 - Junior Ranger Day, Grandfather Mountain

7 - Boone Art Crawl

12 - Boone Farmers’ Market

7 - Crossnore Jam

12 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

9-10 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

12 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard

10 - Boone Farmers’ Market

13 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

10 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

15 - King Street Market, Boone

10 - Festival of the Frescoes, Glendale Springs

17 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market 18-19 - West Jefferson Old Time Antiques Fair

10 - Autumn Leaf Festival at the Ashe County Museum of History, Jefferson

18-19 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

10 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard

19 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

11 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

19 - Boone Farmers’ Market

13 - King Street Market, Boone

19 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard

16-17 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

20 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

17 - Boone Farmers’ Market

21 - Todd Old Time Community Dance at Todd Mercantile

17 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

22 - King Street Market, Boone

18 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

24 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market

20 - King Street Market, Boone

25-26 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

23-24 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

25 - Jimmy Smith Marathon at Jimmy Smith Park, Boone

24 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

26 - 50th Annual Girl Scout Day, Grandfather Mountain

24 - Boone Farmers’ Market

26 - Appalachian State vs. UMASS, Kidd Brewer Stadium

24 - App State vs. Arkansas State, Kidd Brewer Stadium

26 - Boone Farmers’ Market

25 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

26 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

27 - King Street Market, Boone

26 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard

30 - Boone Boo!

27 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock

30-31 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

29 - King Street Market, Boone

30 - Beech Mountain Halloween Family Party

OCTOBER 2 - Turchin Center Fall Exhibition Celebration, Boone

31 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market

2-3 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock

31 - Beary Scary Halloween, Grandfather Mountain

3 - Brushy Mountain Apple Festival, North Wilkesboro

31 - Blowing Rock Halloween Festival

3 - Blowing Rock Art in the Park

31 - West Jefferson Halloween Trick or Treat

3 - Creatures of the Night & Bonfire Delight, Grandfather Mountain

31 - Halloween Spooktacular at Tanger Outlets, Blowing Rock

August 22 - Blue Ridge Brutal, Ashe County

September 25-26 - Prohibition Hot Rod & Moonshine Festival, Wilkesboro

Jones House Concerts, Boone

August 29 - FaithFest, Wilkesboro

October 7 - Red, White & Bluegrass Jam, Blowing Rock

September 5 - Appalachian State vs. Morgan State, Kidd Brewer Stadium

October 17 - Valle Country Fair, Valle Crucis

September 19 - Mountain Heritage Festival, Sparta

October 17-18 - 40th Annual Woolly Worm Festival, Banner Elk

15-16 - Grandfather Mountain Amateur and Professional Camera Clinic 15 - Blowing Rock Art in the Park 15 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market 15 - Boone Farmers’ Market 15 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard 16 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock 18 - King Street Market, Boone 20 - Vintage Car Cruise, Tanger Outlets in Blowing Rock 20 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market 21-22 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock 21 - Todd Old Time Community Dance at Todd Mercantile 22 - Boone Farmers’ Market 22 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market 22 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard 23 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock 25 - King Street Market, Boone 27 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market 28-29 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock 29 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market 29 - Boone Farmers’ Market 29 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard 30 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock September 1 - King Street Market, Boone 3 - Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market 4-5 - Bonfire Nights at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock 5 - West Jefferson Farmers’ Market 5 - Boone Farmers’ Market 5-6 - Rockfest Emerald Village, Spruce Pine 5 - Tanger Outlets Blowing Rock Concerts in the Courtyard 6 - Music on the Green at Ashe County Museum of History 6 - Music on the Veranda at Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock 7 - Storytelling Saturdays at Mystery Hill, Blowing Rock

CancelLed Events

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High Country Magazine

August / September 2020

3-11 - Fall Color Ramble at Grandfather Mountain, Linville

7 - App State vs. Louisiana, Kidd Brewer Stadium

31 - Boone Farmers’ Market

Mast General Store Back Porch Music, Valle Crucis Appalachian Theatre Shows, Boone Banner Elk Music in the Park Concerts on the Deck, Wilkesboro

Across the Pond

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High Country Magazine

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Votes for Women: A Unique, Hard-won, Grass Roots Victory Celebrates Its 100th This Year

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n August 1920, suffragist Alice Paul hung women even to meet and identify inequalities vote for black men, they shunned women’s the gold, white and violet flag of the Na- was challenging. rights. The AERA died with the cutthroat tional Woman’s Party (NWP) from its Yet, before the Civil War, they had run politics of Reconstruction - women receivheadquarters’ balcony in Lafayette Square, countless local, and ten national conventions, ing no reward for working for slaves and exWashington, D.C. Thirty-six stars represent- fought for Temperance to stabilize families, slaves and no recognition or timetable for ed states ratifying the 19th Amendment. campaigned against slavery and for wives’ any reforms for women.

North Carolina could have had one, but legal rights, and advocated a Republic based The late 1860s produced two women’s on August 17, the General Assembly in Ra- on Stanton’s words from her 1848 Declara- organizations, one led by Lucy Stone and leigh postponed the vote. Tennessee ratified tion of Sentiments: “All men and women are the other by Anthony and Stanton. Stone’s on August 20. President Wilson’s Secretary created equal.” group committed to state-by-state camof State certified this thirty-sixth paigning. Anthony and Stanton ratification on August 26, and Paul pushed for a 16th amendment, celebrated in D.C. with Tennessee’s which went nowhere. They turned star. to civil disobedience with around The Amendment ended the legal900 hundred women voting under ity of voting discrimination against the Reconstruction Amendments in women, stating: several elections.

The right of citizens of the United In 1874, the federal government States to vote shall not be denied or tried Anthony for the crime of beabridged by the United States or by ing female and voting. In 1875, the any State on account of sex.

Supreme Court decided that though North Carolina had campaigned women were citizens, citizenship did hard, if only lately. Morganton womnot confer the right to vote. An iron en organized first, in 1913. Greencurtain of double standards had deville and Charlotte followed. Later, scended across the nation. And AnNWP members displaying their banners at Cameron House, Greensboro’s league had member thony resumed working for a new Lafayette Square (1917), before marching to stand silently before the Mrs. Julian W. Cone, of the Cone Amendment to end this sex-based White House to urge President Wilson to support votes for women. family of Flat Top Manor. Laura exclusion in voting rights.

This was the first time any group had protested at the White House. doubtless discussed the vote with The two groups merged in 1890, Bertha here in the mountains. The the NAWSA helped state campaigns campaign almost succeeded, losing through Meanwhile, Temperance advocate, later and by 1918 had won women’s vote in 11. an unexpected procedural gambit.

Anti-Slavery Society organizer, Susan B. An- But with state numbers and required ratificaMost North Carolina campaigners af- thony, had joined Stanton. They spearheaded tions continually rising, and successes increasfiliated with the National American Woman’s the women’s work until the early 1900s. ing voter inequalities nationwide, the task Suffrage Association (NAWSA), a large or- In 1863, angry at the shortcomings of the was never-ending. When Paul, a Quaker from ganization which deemed the NWP’s tactics Emancipation Proclamation, they launched a New Jersey advocating non-violence, returned unacceptable. Yet, the NWP firmly and femi- women’s league for statutory abolition, and from working with Britain’s suffragettes she ninely asserted their First Amendment rights their “mammoth” 500,000-signature peti- and, Brooklyn’s Lucy Burns, relaunched Annon-violently, prompting ultimate success. tion would lead to the 13th Amendment to thony’s federal amendment campaign and, The remarkable grass-roots victory of the end slavery. later, re-introduced civil disobedience. women in 1920 concluded the first successful During Reconstruction, their American In 1913, they organized the first-ever non-violent political campaign in U.S. history. Equal Rights Association (AERA) campaigned women’s march on Pennsylvania Avenue, It also ended the first stage in a struggle for equal rights for all. But politicians and controversially challenging as suffragists limthat Elizabeth Cady Stanton launched in 1848 reformers ignored them. Congress included itations on female behavior. Pushed out of with the first call for the vote and equal rights “male” in the 14th Amendment and excluded the NAWSA because of this tactical disagreefor women at Seneca Falls in New York – the “sex” in the 15th – expanding the vote for ment, they formed first the Congressional world’s original women’s rights convention. all men and excluding all women. Mean- Union (CU), then the NWP. During the following 72 years, women while, legislators refused to remove “male” Trains, planes, automobiles and feet spread campaigned in every state. Initially, support- from New York’s Constitution and Kansas the message nationally. Dressed in white, ers were few and the opposition fierce. Both electors in 1867 rejected referenda for equal with sashes of gold, white and violet, they sexes opposed a female vote, while men pub- voting for women and black men. By mid- marched in D.C. and to D.C. In 1917, carlicly attacked suffragists and hijacked wom- 1868, twelve out of 37 jurisdictions includ- rying embroidered silk banners, they walked en’s organizations, programs, and money. ing D.C. had denied votes for women. from Cameron House, (CU) headquarters With wives denied rights; all women’s wages While Congress and reformers used wom- in Lafayette Square to the White House, to half or less of men’s; and little education – for en in the fight against slavery and for the stand silently and highlight Wilson’s stub10

High Country Magazine

August / September 2020

The NWP Suffrage Flag, with 36 stars displayed outside the second headquarters at 14, Jackson Place, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. in August 1920. born opposition to suffrage. Continuing their protests when war began in April 1917, their banners began asking why the U.S. was fighting for democracy abroad, without democracy at home.

Passersby attacked these silent suffragists; authorities arrested the peaceful protesters, courts imprisoned them, guards beat them up, and force-fed them when they began hungerstrikes for political prisoner status. The war ended, and still the campaign continued. But the tide had turned. Wilson finally supported the Amendment.

In 1919, having ultimately succeeded in Congress, ratification began – a tough fight that nearly failed. North Carolina and Tennessee politicians colluded for defeat. North Carolina delivered. But the Tennessee antis’ plans fell apart when Representative Harry Burn’s mother told him to vote for ratification. This change meant the 19th Amendment passed by one vote.

During the next few days, several states considered lawsuits to block it, but it officially became part of the Constitution on August 26, and as women in most states voted in the 1920 election, Paul planned the second stage: equal rights.

In 1923, Republican Daniel Read Anthony Jr. introduced in Congress Paul’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for legal equality on account of sex. Ninety-seven years later, although having the requisite number of ratifications, the ERA sits in limbo, caught in lawsuits and congressional wrangling.

The tale of equal rights for women, which this month marks the centenary of a unique grass-roots victory that enfranchised 26.5 million women, remains the longest unfinished civil rights struggle in U.S. history.

Commentators like to write that women were given the vote in 1920. But the history shows otherwise. Women wrested it from politicians and antis who denied it for as long as they could. The women’s victory was hardwon and their very own.

By Bernadette Cahill

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High Country Magazine

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Once Upon a Time in Boone

The Story of Burrell - Who Now Has a Street Named After Him in Boone

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brothers-in-law, the Eggers and nce upon a time, long, Wilsons, and the Moretzes who long ago, pioneers vencame up in the early 1800’s tured up the mountain from Hickory. into the valley we now know Many native Watauga resias the town of Boone. Pioneers dents are descendants of Benwith names like Benjamin Howjamin Howard, Moretz said, ard, Daniel Boone, ?? Councill, including the Councills, the Horton, Burrell. Names that Harmons, the Dulas, the Lenow grace our streets and buildnoirs and the Hortons. ings, mountains and creeks.

In her research, Moretz was Some of these pioneers came intrigued by multiple mentions to expand their lands, graze of an enslaved African American their cattle, hunt for game. Some named Burrell, who belonged came to hide in the hills, to preto Benjamin Howard. “It is inserve their lives as they ran to Mary Moretz, a descendent of Benjamin Howard and other early pioneers credibly significant for the name escape those trying to kill them. who settled the town of Boone, has gathered information and stories of a slave to appear in history,” It was a tumultuous time in the about instrumental people in the town’s history. Last August, she and Sam Moretz said. “When women and country, with stories of advenFurgiuele petitioned the town council to honor Burrell by changing the minorities are even mentioned, ture and no shortage of drama. name of the southern part of Water Street. we know that something hapOnce upon a time, not so settlers from regional history books, old pened that was outstanding.” long ago, a woman in Boone, “Credit given to our African American one of the descendants of some of these deeds and wills, family genealogy records, pioneers, decided to make sure the stories newspaper articles, and historical societies. brothers and sisters is long past due,” said of these early settlers would not be lost — She isn’t satisfied with simple names and Moretz. “I am fortunate enough to have especially the stories of those who were dates, though. She yearns to understand information that places some of the recogthe lives, the motivations, the relationships nition where it belongs.” not as well known, but no less significant.

Moretz made it her quest to learn more Mary Moretz is 77 years old and has lived of the people.

Perhaps Moretz’s interest was piqued by about Burrell and to share his story. As a in Boone her entire life. She studied education and history at Appalachian State Uni- stories of her own colorful ancestors — in- result of her research and an idea sparked versity, earning an undergraduate degree in cluding Benjamin Howard (namesake of by Sam Furgiuele — who also petitioned 1964 and then a master’s degree in 1966. Howard’s Knob, Howard’s Creek, How- for the recent renaming of a portion of She taught English, social studies and his- ard Street, and many other landmarks in Hunting Hills Lane to Martin Luther the area), the Greenes, who came from the King, Jr. Street — Burrell now has a street tory at Watauga High School for 37 years.

Moretz has always loved history and Jersey Settlement in Lexington, NC after in downtown Boone named for him. The has gathered stories about Boone’s earliest the Revolutionary War along with their south end of Water Street became Burrell Street in October 2019. Moretz hopes to have a statue and historical market to furSome of the information provided by Mary Moretz ther honor him. came from a book of memoirs by Robert L. Isbell, Who is Burrell? His story, as shared by “The World of my Childhood,” published in 1955.

Moretz, is intertwined with several others, Other sources include: beginning with Benjamin Howard.

“A History of Watauga County, North Carolina” by John Preston Arthur “Western North Carolina; a History” by John Preston Arthur “A Short History of Old Watauga County,” by Michael C. Hardy “Trailing Daniel Boone,” by Randell Jones “In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone,” by Randell Jones “Boone, A Biography,” by Robert Morgan “Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman,” by John and Ina Van Noppen “Remembering the Shoals” on Wordpress.com The will of Benjamin Howard The will of Mary (Polly) Howard

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Benjamin Howard Benjamin Howard was born in Maryland in 1742, descended from the Dukes of Norfolk, who had settled in Jamestown in the early days of America. As a young man, Howard was employed as a weaver, and fell in love with his boss’s daughter.

Her family opposed the marriage, and the eloped and moved to North Carolina.

They raised cattle and farmed in an area known as “Happy Valley,” located in what now is Caldwell County. They had 12 children.

Until after the Revolutionary War, there were few settlers in the Appalachian Mountains. Following the French and Indian War, the British had issued the Proclamation Act of 1763, prohibiting settlers from crossing west of the crest of the Appalachians, in order to lessen the risk of further conflict with the Indians.

A few Colonists – mainly herders and hunters — did cross the line, including Benjamin Howard, who claimed the entire Boone Valley as his western lands. He pastured his cattle on the land, and Burrell was one of his herders. Howard had a small cabin in the Boone area, located near what is now the northwestern part of Appalachian’s campus. The cabin was stocked with some cooking pans and salt, and hunters regularly used the cabin.

Down in Wilkes County, Daniel Boone was a friend and neighbor of Howard’s.

Burrell served as Daniel Boone’s guide the first time he came up the mountain, where he hunted game and stayed at the Howard cabin. Afterwards, Daniel Boone made several trips to the area to hunt and explore, before moving to Kentucky in 1769.

Benjamin Howard was a Tory, loyal to

the King of England during the Revolutionary War. Several Patriots were attempting to kill Howard, and it is reported he hid from them on top of the mountain now named Howard’s Knob.

Howard later went to back to his home state of Maryland and joined the Patriot militia — either by a change of heart, or because it became legal for Patriots to seize the land belonging to Tories in North Carolina.

The Isbells & Burrell

the generations, and Dr. Robert Isbell, the great-great-grandson of Benjamin Howard, wrote about Burrell in his collected essays, “The World of My Childhood,” published in 1955.

He wrote, “Uncle Burrell lived alone in his cabin and at night had a custom of sitting and watching the stars in their movements and was looked upon as a weather prophet. He must have seen farther than some of the political life of his day, for Aunt Sophia recalls that he would say to her when she was a little girl: ‘You will be free some day (sic), child, but I will never be free.’ Aunt Sophia lived to see his words come true and spent most of her life as a free woman.”

“Uncle Burrell lived on the Yadkin River ... at the time when Daniel Boone lived in his cabin a few miles below. When he finally came to the end of his days he was laid to rest under the broad spreading arms of a large black pine tree about 200 yards from the white folks’ graveyard in the same upland that overlooks the delta of Kings

Burrell, who was born about the same time as Benjamin Howard, lived to a very old age. When Howard died in 1828, at the age of 86, he willed Burrell to his daughter, Mary.

Moretz said, “Burrell would have been elderly at that point, so the fact Benjamin left Burrell with one of his daughters, rather than one of his sons, may indicate he thought highly of Burrell and wanted him cared for in his old age.”

Burrell outlived Mary, and in 1836 was willed to her daughter, Prudence Howard Calloway, who lived in Ashe County. Mary’s will made it clear that Burrell and other enslaved persons were not to be moved out of state. As it turned out, Burrell spent his last days on the Isbell plantation in Happy Valley, where he had lived for many years. He died in 1845.

Benjamin Howard’s oldest daughter, Discretion, was married to Thomas Isbell, Sr. Their grandson, Colonel James Martin Isbell Mary Moretz pictured with a family heirloom, a spinning wheel dated 1840 that belonged to Prudence Howard — a source cited as an authority Calloway, the granddaughter of Benjamin Howard. in many local histories, newspaper articles and records — wrote that when he was a boy, Burrell was still alive and was over one hundred years old. Creek and the fertile valley of the Yadkin Burrell told him stories about the log hunt- ... a scene of rare and matchless beauty.” ing cabin and how he had “billeted Daniel Moretz believes Burrell was deeply Boone across the Blue Ridge to the How- loved and respected, as a guide, a herder, ard cabin in the first trip Boone ever took a weather forecaster, and even a prophet. across the mountains.”

Her desire to honor Burrell with a statue Family stories passed down through and historical marker go beyond the man himself, though.

“Burrell serves a model and an icon for Mary Moretz’s Granny Prudy’s weasel, a device all of the unnamed African Americans who that counts skeins of yarn. Children were did amazing things to build this country,” often tasked with overseeing the weasel, and said Moretz. “We will never know some of the song “Pop Goes the Weasel” was sung for their names, but we do know Burrell. So entertainment. Many weasels were outfitted when we honor him, it is a way to honor with the gears inside the box that popped all of these pioneers.” when a skein had been measured. The photo is

By Jan Todd courtesy of Mary’s brother, Eddie Moretz.

August / September 2020

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A Master of His Craft – Banner Elk Framer, Robert Hancock Earns his MCPF Designation

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obert Hancock from The Art Cellar Gallery & Framemakers in in Banner Elk earned the prestigious Master Certified Picture Framer (MCPF) designation from PPFA, taking the hands-on exam during the recent PPFA Convention in Las Vegas in February of this year.

“There are only about 80 Master Certified Picture Framers,” said Robert.

For the exam, Robert framed a koi fish cross-stitch done by his wife, a c-clamp from his toolbox, a botanical etching and an oil painting of the Trevi Fountain by Bryan

Robert (right) receives his MCPF pin from Elli Wollangk (left) in Last Vegas after completing the exam.

Keith Smith, a friend and artist of The Art Cellar. He got about an hour and a half for the exam.

“There is a lot of studying involved and they want you to be a fulltime framer for six years before you can even take the exam,” he said.

Robert, who earned his CPF in 2013, says his customers are impressed by his certification.

“I have my certificate extravagantly framed up on our wall of samples. It’s eyecatching and frequently starts a conversation about my qualifications, and we can get to know each other a bit before we get down to business,” Robert said. “The MCPF exam wasn’t just validation of a broad range of my techniques, but very instructive as well.”

Robert started building frames in the basement of The Art Cellar in 2006, converting scrap material from the frame shop into small, ready-made frames.

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“My father and uncle taught me a lot about woodworking and it was easy to start building frames, but mostly I enjoy working with my hands and doing something different every day,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have customers that prefer our nicer frame options, so I get to make some pretty creative frames.”

Robert had done memorabilia framing for a client that included books, vinyl records and autographs. But when the client brought him the inked plastic pads used to imprint their newborn’s feet, he was presented with a real challenge of how to display the negative image.

“This small frame uses an LED strip to illuminate the lightbox, and really shows a lot of detail on the footprints,” said Robert.

A U.S. Marine’s grandson asked Robert to frame an incomplete collection of med- Robert Hancock at The Art Cellar in Banner Elk is als, and required extensive research as well one of only 80 Master Certified Picture Framers. as considerable design work on the CMC. “I always enjoy building tributes for vet- my profession now. I know that we have erans and their families – this one was par- changed a lot of the things we have done ticularly educational for me and is still my just to keep up with the rapid change in favorite,” he says. “The frames were not technology. We do things completely differparticularly fancy, but we did work with ent now than even when I started,” he said. them to make sure they were well framed, “I can find something to custom frame for technically speaking,” said Robert. anybody.

The Art Cellar was a PPFA member when The Art Cellar continues to expand its Robert started working there. space to allow for more room for framing “PPFA publishes valuable technical in- projects. They are located at 920 Shawneeformation and being in such a remote area, haw Avenue in Banner Elk. it’s where I get most of my instruction,” he

By Nathan Ham said. “PFM has provided a lot of inspiration and many of the projects they’ve published have been a jumping off point for some of my better work. The WCAF and PPFA Convention are also tremendously useful for not just the instruction, but the networking as well.”

Robert has been at The Art Cellar since Robert is pictured here framing one of a series of original Warhol 2009. serigraphs donated to the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.

“I finally feel like it’s

August / September 2020

August / September 2020

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Blue Ridge

CONSERVANCY Advertiser

Blue Ridge Conservancy partners with landowners and local communities everyday to protect undeveloped land in the High Country in perpetuity.

To Conserve and Protect

Advertiser

Land highlighted in red represents land conserved

by BRC, totalling 22,000 acres. Land highlighted in grey, yellow and tan are conserved lands owned or managed by local, state, federal or private partners.

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August / September 2020

Blue Ridge Conservancy is Protecting Over 22,000 Acres of Land Across Seven Counties

T

en years ago, the merger of two smaller land management non-profit groups in the High Country formed the basis of the Blue Ridge Conservancy, one of the most popular land conservation and preservation non-profits in North Carolina.

The dream of protecting land in and around Watauga County actually dates back to 1995 with the formation of the Watauga Land Trust. The organization came about

By Nathan Ham after a small group of Appalachian State University students wanted to protect Howard’s Knob from any sort of development that could have destroyed one of the most iconic mountain peaks in Boone.

In 1997, the Watauga Land Trust changed its name to High Country Conservancy and began looking at protecting land not just in Watauga County but also in Ashe County and Avery County. During the same year, the

Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, based in West Jefferson, was formed to protect farmland and other rural lands in the seven-county area of Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties. “Both of the organizations had some overlap, although Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust had more of an emphasis on preserving rural farmland and agriculture being a significant part of the conserved values.

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The Grandfather Mountain area is globally significant. Protecting the unique ecology and biodiversity of Grandfather and the surrounding landscape has long been a priority for Blue Ridge Conservancy. Conserved lands ensure water quality of headwater streams, healthy wildlife habitat and protected scenic views from places like the Blue Ridge Parkway. BRC continues to work with Grandfather Mountain State Park to offer expanded opportunities for public access and recreation in this area. Photo by High South Creative.

High Country Conservancy was focused more on preserving wild- ects possible in the early days of the Blue Ridge Conservancy.

“They wanted to see greater efficiency and didn’t want to see life, rare plants, and sensitive ecosystems,” said John Turner, who served as president of the Blue Ridge Conservancy following the agencies overlapping and competing for resources when they could merger. “A big part of the driving force for merging was promoting better serve a common mission by uniting so that’s what we did,” greater efficiency by not having two organizations with their sepa- Turner said.

Turner remembers the Pond Mountain Game Lands in Ashe rate administration. Some of the funding organizations and private County as one of the first major projects when the conservancy first donors were very much in favor of the merger.”

The two organizations had considered merging several years be- formed. Pond Mountain rises to 5,000 feet in elevation and allows fore, but that plan never came to fruition until the two did finally people to view areas in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Pond Mountain is now one of the largest combine in May of 2010. At the time, game land properties in northwest North Walter Clark was the Executive DirecCarolina with 2,900 acres available for tor of the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, recreational opportunities that include and Eric Hiegl, who is still with the Blue fishing, hunting, hiking, horseback ridRidge Conservancy as its Director of ing, and even cross country skiing.

Land Protection and Stewardship, was Much of the land has been converted the Land Stewardship Coordinator for to native grasslands to support wildlife High Country Conservancy. and protect mountain bogs as well as “The merger had a lot of positives rare animals and plants that were on the with lots of staff and board expertise. property.

The merger made for a broader array of “This was a huge project that really talents and did not compromise the esbenefitted from combining resources,” sential mission of either agency. I think said Turner. they just worked together and blended very nicely,” said Turner. “It was promoted as something of a model for other Blue Ridge Conservancy: local land trust organizations to look at.

Who They Are and What They Do I’m thankful that it was a very positive Since the Blue Ridge Conservancy experience and I think it has resulted has already found ways to protect over in greater efficiency for pursuing land 20,000 acres of land in Alleghany, Ashe, stewardship and land conservation in Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and our region. Through really skilled leadYancey counties, it’s rather obvious the ership from Walter Clark and Eric, we organization has a keen eye for property really focused on the mission and did to protect in the High Country. not have problems with factionalizing “We are a non-profit land trust and or power playing among the board. I felt we work to protect undeveloped land in BRC works to conserve the lands that our farming very grateful to contribute some small the High Country. We focus on places communities need to be agriculturally productive and part to it.” that have special conservation value and self-sufficient. Our farms are the foundation on which our Turner also recalled two longtime mountain heritage and culture were built, and they will always those values include places with agriprivate donors, Fred and Alice Stanbeck, cultural, cultural, recreational, ecologibe our most important resource for healthy, local foods and who helped make so many of these projcal, and scenic value. We are working serene rural landscapes. Photo by High South Creative.

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August / September 2020

to protect those natural resources that make the High Country such a wonderful place to live,” said Nikki Robinson, the Director of Communications for Blue Ridge Conservancy. “We have a large landscape strategy of protecting land where we can expand existing protected lands like state parks, existing trails, Blue Ridge Parkway, game lands, river access points, places like that. For example, we helped Elk Knob State Park find new tracts of land that are adjacent to the park that came up for sale and we help them acquire it and add it to the acreage of the state park.”

Robinson says that having developed so many connections and relationships over the last 10 years inside these counties and communities have brought the organization several leads on purchasing property.

“We get so many leads that we can’t even take them all. We have to prioritize which ones will fit our mission the best and prioritize projects because there are a ton of projects that come up and every situation is different,” said Robinson.

One of the most important tools that the Blue Ridge Conservancy uses to protect these land acquisitions is called a conservation easement. An example of this would be a landowner reaching out to the conservancy with a request to conserve their land. He or she may want their land to remain as farmland or prevent a housing community development from taking over the land.

“It’s a legal document where they (landowners) forfeit some of their rights to change the land. Those restrictions are in a legal easement that travels with the deed of the land. If they were to sell a piece of the land, then those restrictions would follow the deed to the land and the land is protected in perpetuity with that conservation easement attached to it,” Robinson explained.

Preserving farmland holds a special place in the heart of Blue Ridge Conservancy’s Executive Director Charlie Brady.

“Family farms are part of the culture here in northwest North Carolina. When we have the opportunity to preserve part of that farmland and keep it going for generations, it’s not just about protecting it from development, but it’s also working with the landowner to help them keep that farm as a family farm for generations to come,” said Brady. “We do have individuals that will contact us with farmland that is their home place that they want to protect and keep in farming use. Sometimes we identify a piece of property that may fit ecologically or on a bigger scale of protection and we will reach out to that farmer.”

Brady started as executive director in 2017 after years of practicing law and observing land and water conservation in his own family.

“As a kid, I watched my dad be real active in land and water conservation when I grew up in Hickory, so it has been part of my life forever. Even my law practice in Lenoir began working with conservation easements,” said Brady. “When I moved my practice to Boone in 2012, I began to do work for Blue Ridge Conservancy so it was just a good compliment to my skills as a law-

Elk Knob, Snake Mountain, The Peak and the surrounding mountains support an enormous variety of rare plant and animal life. They are part of the Amphibolites, an unusual mountain chain containing a calcium-rich rock rare in the southern Blue Ridge. Photo By Bill Bake.

Old Orchard Creek Farm is a historic, artisanal Appalachian blueberry and apple farm in Ashe County. This beautiful cove farm is on the National Register of Historic Places and is protected by a conservation easement donated to BRC.

BRC plays a pivotal role in expanding public access to land for hiking, biking, paddling, hunting and fishing. Not only does this improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors, it significantly contributes to the region’s economy. Photo by Matt Powell.

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Protecting land in perpetuity means our children, our grandchildren, and all future generations will be blessed with the same clean mountain air, fresh drinking water, and healthy local foods we enjoy today. It means they will have even greater opportunities to get outside and explore the natural world. Photo by Laura Mallard.

yer to be able to work with land transactions and land acquisitions.”

Brady said that land transactions and acquisitions were the favorite part of his law practice.

“When I had the opportunity to do it full time and not just part of the time, I said this is a no brainer and I needed to apply and see if it would work out,” he said. “I’m tickled to be here, it has been a great experience, the staff is just fabulous and everybody is so passionate about what we do. It was a really great opportunity for me to come to work with these guys.”

While conservation easements can be used for a variety of requirements for each parcel of land that is purchased, Brady was adamant explaining that purchasing land to “lock it up” was not the only reason for these easements.

“I think every piece of property has a unique use.

Some of it needs to be protected with rare plants and endangered species, whether it be salamanders or turtles. But there are a lot of properties where we can make a great impact for the public that are not just ecological use,” Brady said. “A lot of the properties that we protect, we do it with conservation easements or farm easements, but we also purchase property and acquire it. A lot of those properties that we buy, we intend to have a partner with, whether it is state parks, US Forest Service, National Park Service, entities like that.”

A recent example of purchasing a property to sell to another partner was in 2016 when the Blue Ridge Conservancy acquired two large tracts of land that went up for sale on the slope of Grandfather Mountain near Foscoe.

“We were able to purchase those properties and held them for a couple of years until the state was able to have the money available to purchase them from us to add to Grandfather Mountain State Park,” Brady said. “We transferred that property to Grandfather Mountain 2017, and we don’t make money off of those transactions. We sell those to the state for what we paid for them.”

Following the purchase of that land from private owners and transferring the property to Grandfather Mountain State Park, that leaves approximately all but 55 feet of that ridgeline protected by the Blue Ridge Conservancy.

On other occasions, property is given to the conservancy through an estate following the death of a property owner.

“Sometimes we are left property from people that may have farms that they did not want to be subdivided or developed, and they left the property to us in their estate. Sometimes we may not want to keep that property, but we will protect it with an easement before it is conveyed to anyone else,” Brady explained.

BRC works to connect people to nature by advancing opportunities for outdoor recreation and environmental education. Photo by Brian Sain.

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August / September 2020

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How Does Land Conservation Work?

Land Management A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. It allows you to continue to own and use your land and to sell it or pass it on to heirs. Conservation easements run with the land, therefore future landowners need to abide by the restrictions as well.

BRC works with its conservation easement landowners and on its own properties to conduct land management activities to protect and enhance a property’s conservation values. From implementing Best Management Practices to controlling invasive species, BRC can help its landowners obtain the necessary resources to take care of their

land. BRC relies on its partner agencies like the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, NC Cooperative Extension, Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Forest Service to provide conservation easement landowners as well as BRC with technical expertise and other resources related to land management. Some of these agencies provide financial assistance to landowners willing to implement BMPs or enhance wildlife habitat on their property.

Stewardship BRC’s stewardship responsibility begins when we accept a conservation easement or acquire a piece of land. BRC’s obligation to ensure the permanent protection of each property’s conservation values forms the backbone of our stewardship program.

BRC’s Stewardship Program consists of annual property monitoring and land man-

agement. BRC has a legal responsibility to steward all of our conservation properties – forever.

BRC’s stewardship staff annually visits each conservation easement property to ensure the terms of the easement are being upheld and that any changes made to the property are in harmony with the easement.

Annual monitoring consists of a thorough visit of each property and may include hiking both the boundary and interior while documenting any changes on the property with photographs and GPS waypoints and tracks. Each property, its conservation values, land uses, adjoining land uses, reserved rights and prohibited activities are unique; therefore each monitoring visit is different. For example, a visit to a working farm is very different than a visit to a “forever wild” property. After each visit, the property’s condition is documented for

BRC’s Team of Conservationists

ben

Charlie Brady, Executive Director

3 Years at BRC

“I care about permanently protecting the lands that are home to sensitive species of plants and animals that also provide compatible public access for recreation.”

Caroline Poteat, Director of Development

wendy

2.5 Years at BRC

“The thing I love most about BRC are my amazing coworkers! It’s inspiring to work with a group of people who are so talented and so passionate about conservation and recreation.

CHARLIE MARIA

Eric Hiegl, Director of Land Protection and Stewardship 14 Years at BRC

I enjoy exploring our diverse landscape; from ecologically significant mountains to working farms in the valleys. We have a unique perspective that allows us to dive deep into the various lands that create our home.”

CAROLINE

NIKKI

eric

Ben Lucas, Director of Stewardship 6 Years at BRC “I am passionate about BRC’s land conservation efforts in the New River Watershed that help make it the outstanding natural and recreational resource that it its.”

Wendy Patoprsty, Director of Middle Fork Greenway

4 Years at BRC

“I love that people can get outside and enjoy some of the lands that Blue Ridge Conservancy has worked so hard to protect! Join us on a hike this summer!”

Maria Whaley, Director of Finance and Operations

13 Years at BRC

“Knowing that we are working so my great-grandchildren will have the opportunity to hike the same trails and enjoy the same views that I enjoyed with their parents and their grandparents. That is the legacy I want to leave and the manner in which I want to be remembered.”

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August / September 2020

Nikki Robinson, Director of Communications 5 Years at BRC

“I love that our work helps create parks, preserves, and trails that encourage people to get out and experience the land. Reconnecting people and nature is so important for conservation — because people will only be inspired to protect nature if they learn to love and value it.”

permanent record. Annual monitoring visits also serve to maintain good working relationships with our conservation easement landowners. They provide an opportunity for landowners to inform BRC of any anticipated changes to the land or concerns they may have. This builds positive relationships with landowners and trust in the community we serve.

BRC is also required to annually visit all the properties that we own. These properties are managed according to carefully crafted management plans designed to protect the important natural and cultural features of the property.

Visits to conservancy owned lands are focused on ensuring no encroachments have occurred that could harm the conservation values and identifying any needed management activities (i.e. exotic invasive removal, erosion issues, trail improvements, etc.)

Learn More & Get Involved with your Local Land Trust

In 2010, the North Carolina Department of Transportation proposed widening NC Highway 105 from Boone to Linville. Under the Endangered Species Act, widening that road required evaluating the project for impacts to threatened or endangered species. Through a coordinated effort with NC State Parks, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund and an anonymous philanthropist, Blue Ridge Conservancy was able to raise $1 million to purchase 174 acres needed to protect an endangered Virginia big-eared habitat. Photo by Michael Durham.

Exceptional levels of financial transparency and accountability earned BRC a four star rating from Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest independent evaluator of non-

profit organizations. BRC is accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission for meeting the highest standards for excellence and conservation permanence.

To get involved, become a member or

learn more about conservation in Northwestern North Carolina, visit www.blueridgeconservancy.org.

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T

he following properties are examples of BRC’s many projects, divided as they relate to the overall mission. You will see examples of protected farms, state parks, natural areas, culturally significant properties, and properties that have been protected specifically for their scenic value.

Protecting Farms and Agriculture Blackburn-Vannoy Farm Ashe County, 369 Acres Permanently protected by a BRC conservation easement, this historic farm includes forests, pasture, and two farm houses built in the 1880s. The property will host the new location of Appalachian State University’s Sustainable Development Program’s teaching and research farm. This will create an exciting opportunity for BRC to work closely with ASU to help draw the connection between land conservation, education, local food and agriculture.

Mountain Farm Yancey County, 24 acres A thriving agri-tourism destination, this small family farm is renowned across the state for successfully growing lavender, an ingredient used for everything from soap to seasonings in

Asheville’s restaurant kitchens. In addition to lavender, Mountain Farm offers pick-your-own blueberries, a goat diary, gift shop and farm tours.

BRC’s conservation easement on the property conserves valuable farmland and helps protect the water quality of the South Toe River.

Huber Family Farm Alleghany County, 189 acres Often referred to as “The Little Farm,” the Huber Family Farm is a model for agricultural conservation and restoration activities. With support from the National Resources Conservation Service, the farm’s owner is leading the way in restoring the banks of Brush Creek and Little Pine Creek. Also, by instituting agricultural Best Management Practices such as fencing cattle and horses from the streams and installing livestock watering wells, the farm’s owner is protecting water quality for future generations.

Protecting Ecology and Habitat Beech Creek Bog State Natural Area

plant species are located within this nationally significant area.

Camp Lutherock

Watauga County, 120 acres BRC led the way in protecting this Significant Natural Heritage Area. Created in 2002, the bog represents the first example of a southern Appalachian bog in the N.C. State Parks system.

Unlike northern bogs of glacial origin, southern Appalachian bogs form in poorly drained depressions or on gentle slopes. Beech Creek Bog is noteworthy because both the bog and the surrounding watershed show very little disturbance and contain natural communities of excellent quality. Sitting at an elevation of 4,000 feet, this nationally significant natural area supports a large population of the rare bog clubmoss as well as other unusual species.

Bear Paw State Natural Area Watauga County, 385 acres BRC led the land acquisition effort and partnered with the State of N.C. to create the new Bear Paw State Natural Area. Managed by State Parks, Bear Paw is located on Hanging Rock Ridge, a Significant Natural Heritage Area. Important natural communities with rare and threatened

Avery County, 518 acres LLocated on the southwestern slope of Sugar Mountain in Avery County, Camp Lutherock is now permanently protected after a decade long collaborative effort between BRC, the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and NovusWay Ministries. It is considered a Significant Natural Area by the NC Natural Heritage Program due to its unique ecological character. The camp hosts two endangered ecosystems, three endangered species, and numerous other rare species and high quality forests. It also contains headwater streams for the North Toe River and Sugar Creek, which provide excellent water resources and rich habitats for aquatic life. Camp Lutherock uses the land for recreation including hiking, an advanced high ropes course, rock climbing, disc golf, and other camp activities, meetings, and conferences. The project was funded by a grant awarded by Clean Water Management Trust Fund and a generous donation from Fred and Alice Stanback.

Protecting Cultural Heritage Whippoorwill Academy Wilkes County, 317 acres Home of the historic Whippoorwill Village and Academy, this beautiful 331-acre farm has been in the same family for over 200 years. Rich with 24

High Country Magazine

culture and history, the property contains a portion of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, as well as 1.5 miles of frontage on both the Yadkin River and the Upper Yadkin Way Scenic Byway. The farm hosts a variety of historical attractions including a farmhouse

August / September 2020

Grants, Donations & Fundraisers Make It All Possible To be able to protect several thousand acres of land, keep a quality staff together, and plan for the future, the money has to be there. For land purchases, grants are the major source of dollars for the Blue Ridge Conservancy. North Carolina’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund (soon to be renamed Land and Water Conservation Fund) is one of the biggest sources for money for land protection profits.

“It is a competitive process, it’s funded by the legislature and there is a scoring system so it is not just a very subjective type of award when you get a grant. There are really objective criteria so the land trusts across the state compete on a level playing field for those dollars,” said Brady.

None of the grant money goes to paying staff salaries or expenses. All of the money for administrative work and employees comes from private donations.

Money from donations, fundraisers, and club memberships also goes towards conservation projects if needed.

“For every dollar that was donated to us, we were able to leverage that to $10 for conservation projects. I think that’s one of the more impressive things that really shows how successful and well-run the organization is,” Brady said.

The Blue Ridge Conservancy is audited to very strict standards every year and Brady says that they have a four-star charity navigator rating, which is something to be extremely proud of in the High Country.

“That has been important to a lot of our donors to see that we run a really tight financial ship when it comes to donations,” says Brady.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has put a hold on the major Blue Ridge Conservancy fundraising events, but fans of the flagship fundraisers will be happy to know that they should be back and running in 2021. The annual Gamekeeper Auction includes dinner, beer, and wine tasting and has been part of the conservancy’s traditions for each year until now.

“It’s an awesome engagement tool for us to say thank you to our existing supporters, but it’s also a great introduction for new people to become involved with the conservancy,” said Nikki Robinson.

The annual Blue Ridge Conservancy 5K in Blowing Rock is another event that has happened every year since the conservancy was formed. The race averages at least 300 people running every year.

Why is there a need and urgency to protect land? • Every day, the United States loses more than 4,000 acres of land to development. • In western North Carolina, the amount of developed land is projected to increase 25% by 2030. • The outdoor recreation industry generates $28 billion annually in North Carolina. • Park and trail systems are one of the most important criteria for economic growth in North Carolina communities. • Reduced state and federal funding for conservation and recreation mean your generosity is critical for land protection.

“There are some pretty long-lasting traditions that we are a part of in this community. The relationships we have built through these traditions have been really beneficial,� says Robinson. “Bringing awareness to having an organization like this in this area is a really big deal and it’s a big responsibility for us to educate people that organizations like this do exist.�

The business roundup last year saw over 200 local businesses participate in asking patrons to round up to the next dollar with that “round up� amount being donated to the Blue Ridge Conservancy. A total of $200,000 was raised through donations and that did not include large gifts from Bank of America and BB&T Bank.

Robinson said they still had a couple of businesses do that this year even though there was no formal program to do that.

Interested donors can become a member of the Blue Ridge Conservancy and can provide annual or monthly donations. “Their consistent donations have helped us through this pandemic and this quarantine. We can rely on their donations and that has been tremendously important for us,� said Robinson.

A Passionate & Experienced Staff The Blue Ridge Conservancy staff members take pride in their passion for land use and knowledge of what they are supposed to be doing each day when they arrive for work. “We have a total of seven staff members with 140 years of experience in land and water conservation, environmental

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built in 1877, a collection of late 19th century buildings open to the public as Whippoorwill Academy and the Tom Dooley Museum. The farm also hosts the annual Daniel Boone Day. BRC led the protection of the Whippoorwill Village and the historic farm under a grant from the N.C. Scenic Byways Lands Conservation Initiative, and in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration and the Conservation Trust for N.C.

Valle Crucis

Country Fair, Valle Crucis is an area rich with history and culture—so rich that North Carolina deemed the entire community the state’s first “Rural Historic District.” The area contains multi-generational family farms and National Register of Historic Places’ sites like the Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission, Mast Store and Mast Farm Inn. It’s also an area rich in biological diversity, with four places of significant natural heritage, including Bear Paw State Natural Area.

Protecting the natural and cultural heritage of Valle Crucis remains a top priority for BRC.

Watauga County, 1,100 acres From the Mast General Store to the Valle

Protecting and Creating Recreational Opportunities YMCA Camp Harrison Wilkes County, 712 acres

11 Rooms and Suites and 3 Cottages

Thanks to a BRC conservation easement protecting 712 acres in the Brushy Mountains, children from across North Carolina can continue to renew their connection with the outdoors at Camp Harrison, a YMCA summer camp. With no state parks, game lands or other large protected tracts in the Brushies, this property constitutes the largest area of protected land in the Brushy Mountains.

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Blue Ridge Parkway, Raven Rock Overlook Watauga County, 12 acres It is said that Raven Rock Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway provides one of the best sunset viewing spots in the region. Looking west, one can enjoy the sunset and views of other BRC conservation lands on Watauga County’s higher peaks. BRC worked with a local landowner to protect the family farm below Raven Rock, bordering the Blue Ridge Parkway. Raven Rock’s views, along with a sustainable farm, are now preserved forever.

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Valle Crucis Community Park Watauga County Bordering the Watauga River behind Mast General Store, Valle Crucis Community Park is an immensely popular community resource.

To protect open space, as well as the Watauga River’s water quality, BRC accepted a donated conservation easement on the park’s riparian corridor.

Protecting the Mountain Landscape

Bullhead Mountain State Natural Area

PO Box 336, 161 Silver Springs Dr. Banner Elk, NC 28604

26

Ashe County, 1,000 acres

a rich ecology and abundant wildlife. Hunters can take advantage of a nearly 3,000-acre game land, hikers will find rugged trails and hidden waterfalls, and in the spring birders can enjoy nesting songbirds like the rose-breasted grosbeak. BRC helped expand the game land and assisted the state in adding a new recreational access area.

Known among birders as a prime spot for watching the hawk migration, Bullhead Mountain also forms a beautiful and significant portion of the mountain scenery along the Blue

August / September 2020

Ridge Parkway.

BRC’s work at Bullhead Mountain forever protects this Natural Area’s scenic beauty for hikers, bird enthusiasts and Blue Ridge Parkway visitors.

Howard’s Knob Watauga County, 46 acres Since BRC’s beginnings, Howards Knob has inspired important community conservation efforts. Thanks to a BRC conservation easement, a major portion of Howards Knob’s southern slope is protected from development forever.

This 46-acre natural area permanently protects headwater streams, plant and animal life, as well as a significant piece of scenic beauty for the town of Boone. Through an all-volunteer effort, the property now boasts a hiking trail open to the public. Thanks to the Boone United Methodist Church for allowing the community to hike and enjoy this wonderful asset.

education, non-profit management, real state, and law.

I could not be prouder of the staff. They are the ones that get it all done. They are the ones who have created the success,” said Charlie Brady.

“One of our strong suits is we rarely have any turnover with our staff. We have been very lucky to keep our staff the same for a long time. I think that stability has contributed to the success of the organization. There is a real passion for the work and everybody compliments each other well in their area of expertise. That type of stability and that type of organizational experience is not that common among non-profits. That’s something I am proud of.”

Robinson feels the same way about her coworkers, even if they have not been in the office very much together this year due to the pandemic.

“The great thing about our team is that everybody is super passionate about our work. The drive is there every day when we are together. I personally feel very motivated by my coworkers because it is such a strong group,” she said.

T

he Middle Fork Greenway is a multi-use recreational trail being developed to connect Blowing Rock to Boone, providing residents and visitors safe and healthy access to the natural world while protecting the environment and strengthening our local economy.

The Middle Fork Greenway is Blue Ridge Conservancy’s premiere recreation project in partnership with the Town of Blowing Rock, Town of Boone and Watauga County. For more information, visit www.middleforkgreenway.org.

Eric Hiegl has been with the Blue Ridge Conservancy since day one and was with the High Country Conservancy before that. He is currently the Director of Land Protection and Stewardship.

“He has been the architect of really all of our land protection projects. He’s one of the most widely appreciated and respected land protection specialists in North Carolina,” said Brady.

Maria Whaley is the Director of Finance and Operations and has been with the conservancy for 14 years.

“She knows the ins and outs of the organization financially as a CFO would for a company. She keeps a tight eye on the budget and keeps me in line. She has been a key part of our success,” said Brady.

Wendy Patoprsty is the Director of the

Middle Fork Greenway Project, an ongoing project that will eventually connect a biking and hiking trail from Boone to Blowing Rock.

“Wendy’s experience in environmental education dates back when she was with the country agriculture extension office.

The Blue Ridge Conservancy was very fortunate that she decided to take on the role and the challenge of being the Middle Fork Greenway Project Director. She’s a young lady with amazing talent,” Brady said.

Ben Lucas is the Blue Ridge Conservancy’s Director of Stewardship.

“Ben is the guy that is on the ground every day making sure that the 200-plus properties that we have conservation easements on, people are following what is required of them in the easement,” says

August / September 2020

High Country Magazine

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High Country Magazine

Brady. “He has the unique ability to work with landowners, and when there has been a problem or violation, he has been very adept at finding solutions to those issues.�

Nikki Robinson serves as the Director of Communications and is a tremendous asset connecting with the media and the community. “If you look at the progression of how the print materials look, our online presence and our E-news, Nikki is so creative.

She understands and lives our mission so she has been able to put that into words very effectively,� said Brady. “I think our media and communications outreach has progressed enormously.�

The final piece to the experienced staff is Caroline Gandy serving as the Director of Development. “Caroline has had a huge impact on us since moving over from Valle Crucis Community Park. She is extremely organized, extremely focused, and very success-oriented,� Brady said. “Our fundraising every year has jumped up and she has been largely responsible for where we have been able to raise those monies for conservation.�

Brady added plenty of praise for the Blue Ridge Conservancy’s Board of Trustees and their efforts to make the conservancy a major success story. “Our board of trustees is a phenomenal group of people. I have never seen a board as involved and engaged in the work we do as the group that we have. Each of the trustees actively participates in what we do,� he said. “When you talk about the millions of dollars that we spend to protect land, you realize that you have got to have people that are at the top of their profession, people that are also involved professionally with the environment. We have the complete package of trustees.�

What the Conservancy has Accomplished & What the Future Holds After 10 years and many, many acres of protected land, the Blue Ridge Conservancy is still full speed ahead on lining up even more projects to save some of the most beautiful and pristine locations in the High Country. In addition to the Middle Fork Greenway work, the conservancy is in the early planning stages of the Northern Peaks Trail Project, which would connect downtown Boone with downtown West Jefferson in Ashe County via a hiking trail. “It is an idea in the making and what we are doing right now is trying to protect that corridor, adding conserved lands

August / September 2020

in Watauga and Ashe County that would potentially be able to have a trail put through it,� Robinson shared. “It’s also a very sensitive area with a lot of cool plants that live up there and some high peaks. We want to protect those sensitive areas and not put a hiking trail straight through them, but we think there is a balance that can be created for public access and preservation of these rare habitats that we have.�

Throughout Brady’s many years of experience with land conservation growing up, in his law practice and now serving as the conservancy’s executive director, he can see the positive work being accomplished throughout the High Country. “The communities we serve from Alleghany, Ashe, Wilkes, Watauga, Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey all support us enthusiastically. You can’t drive through Boone during the day and not see a Blue Ridge Conservancy sticker on someone’s car. We could not do what we do without the support of the local people. We are humbled by how they have opened up to us and provided the support, particularly in a year like this that is tough on non-profits,� he said. “I know we are making a difference. When we protect a piece of property and we know that there is never going to be development here or there may be a trail there, or we protect a cool mountain bog that is full of rare and endangered plants or animals, I know that they are going to be there forever in terms of the property being there and the opportunity to manage that property for their care. It’s a huge responsibility for us, but that’s what is fun about it. We all live for that opportunity and we do make a difference.�

The first president of the Blue Ridge Conservancy might not be hands-on with projects anymore, but he has no doubt that these projects are in good hands. “I am very proud of the conservancy.

It’s a great organization. I have served on many non-profit boards through the 36 years I have been in the Boone area but I have to say that was the most enjoyable board experience that I have had. Everyone was passionate about the work of land conservation so it was a real joy,� said John Turner. “Charlie has done a great job from what I can see. He was so excited about it and that’s a big part of it. I think he is continuing to carry on the good work that his predecessors began and was a very fitting successor to Walter Clark as a great director for the organization.� t

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500 Years of History

First Immigrants • Spanish Explorers • English Traders Long Hunters • First Settlers • Tourists • Residents Researched by Fifth Generation Blowing Rock Resident

Steve Sudderth

F

ifth generation Blowknow about it before you

By Harley Nefe ing Rock resident got home.”

Steve Sudderth wrote Sudderth spoke fondly a book titled “Trails Through while remembering the two Time: A History of the Blowgrocery stores, all the motels, ing Rock Area” to preserve the theater that was open in the early history of the town the summer, and some of his of Blowing Rock. childhood memories.

The narrative contains When Sudderth was a history of the Blowing young, he decided he wantRock area from 1400 A.D. ed to go into business. Sudto 1900 A.D., including the derth’s grandfather owned people and events that led to several different pieces of the development of Blowing property, and one summer Rock as a tourist destination when Sudderth was around and home to many. five or six years old, his famSudderth, who was born ily lived in an apartment unat Blowing Rock Hospital in der what is now Sunset Tee’s January 1955 and raised in & Hattery of Blowing Rock. the town, remembers the old Sudderth spoke of long time Blowing Rock and how the Steve Sudderth stands on Main Street, across from where Storie’s Soda Shop Mayor Bob Hardin who used to be and where he spent his youth growing up. town wasn’t what it is now. owned Hardin’s Hardware “As a little kid growing and the Village Shop which up in Blowing Rock, everybody was local. It was a self-contained, is now Six Pence Pub and was run by Arline Smith and Mrs. Harlittle village,” Sudderth said. “Everybody knew everybody. You din which was a five and dime store. didn’t have to worry about sneaking around because if you did “And I would pick these weeds called cockleburs that had little something, somebody would see you, and your parents would spines on them and were sharp. I would go to the Village Shop

The picture on the left shows Storie’s Soda Shop in the 1960s. Sudderth said the soda shop was the local hangout for all of the children in Blowing Rock for around 30 years. The picture on the right, courtesy of Blowing Rock Historical Society, shows the same location, but in the 1800s.

Book Explores the Early History of Blowing Rock and buy a small can of paint, and spray painted them gold, and so I was selling them for like a penny a piece, in front of my Aunt Blair’s Beauty Shop” Sudderth said. “And actually people would buy them.”

Ellen Coffey ran a real estate office from what is now the Blowing Rock 1888 Museum located at the Blowing Rock City Park next to the Martin House, and she let Sudderth have an office in her building.

“She used the old quill pens with the inkwells,” Sudderth said. “One day, I accidently spilled the ink in one of her drawers, and that didn’t turn out well for me. I lost my office, but I think the desk is still there.”

Sudderth’s father, George M. Sudderth Jr., who was known as Sudd, was the superintendent for the Town of Blowing Rock Public Works, and he had that job for 25 years before he passed away in 1975. Sudderth’s mother, Lilac Coffey Sudderth, was a homemaker, having the full time job of raising Sudderth and his older brother, George. Sudderth’s brother is still in Blowing Rock, too, and he retired from public works as well, as he was the superintendent of the Town of Boone Public Works.

Sudderth and his brother were the youngest of their group of cousins.

Sudderth and his family lived in a little house next to his grandparents, George and Cora Sudderth across Hwy. 221 at the entrance to the Cone Estate by the intersection of Cone Road.

In 1958, Sudderth’s parents had the construction company of Henson and Craig build a house in the Mayview Section of Blowing Rock above the old Tate’s Stable.

The stable was located across from where the ball field is now on Clark Street, which at the time was wooded with New Year’s Creek flowing through it.

MaryAnn Tate ran the stable, and they would rent horses to guests who would ride up the bank to Hwy. 221 and along the shoulder of the road to the Bass Lake

entrance and along the carriage trails of the Cone Estate.

Sudderth shared information and highlighted how the Horse Show was always an end of the summer big event. The Horse Show was a four day event then, and Sudderth said people would be there from about daylight to past dark working. The older children were employed to walk through the stands and stables selling coffee and soft drinks. It paid about $20 and all you

Who were the first tourists to visit Blowing Rock and who were the first residents?

Did Spanish conquistadors travel through the High Country 19 years before the first English attempt to settle the Roanoke Colony?

Who were the English explorers, long hunters, and early settlers of Blowing Rock?

The answers to these questions and other events that led to the development of Blowing Rock as a tourist destination and home to many are found in this book.

Steve Sudderth provided photos of his distant relatives. In his book, Sudderth references these individuals to tell stories of the old Blowing Rock.

Pictured in the top left photo is from 1955. From left to right: Cordelia Sudderth Phillips, John Phillips Jr., Chaplain Rev. Lieutenant Howell M. Forgy, Mrs. John Phillips (marriage did not last and name is unknown), George M. Sudderth Sr., Carrie Sudderth Garmer, and Edward Wade Brown.

Pictured in the top right photo is William Thomas Blair and Mary Boyd Blair (bottom), and Blanche Blair, George Blair and Cora Blair (top).

Pictured in the bottom left photo is George and Cora Sudderth who are Steve Sudderth’s grandparents, as well as Steve’s father Sudd, and aunts Blair, Helen and Lib in 1925. Pictured in the bottom right photo is George and Cora Sudderth’s 50th wedding anniversary in 1958.

From left to right is Blair S. Greene, George Jr., Lib S. Lentz, Cora, Helen S. Deal and George Sr.

could eat, but the big draw was getting into the Horse Show for free. When the show ended, it heralded the end of the summer and time to return to school.

Sudderth attended Blowing Rock Elementary School and Watauga High School.

When Sudderth was at Blowing Rock Elementary School, Everett Widener was the principal. Widener was from east Tennessee, and his wife worked as a teacher at another school on the board of education. They lived in the brick house at the intersection of Morning Side Drive and Rainey Street. Widener was the director 34

High Country Magazine

of the town park during the summers and coached the Blowing Rock baseball team in the county youth baseball league. Sudderth said baseball was really big back then.

“He and Perry Coffey were excellent coaches; Blowing Rock won several countywide tournaments under their stewardship,” Sudderth said.

When Suddeth started school in the fall of 1962, the old high school was located where the current media center and school bus parking is now on Sunset Street. The first through eighth grades were located in the single story building that is still

August / September 2020

in use. The cafeteria was also located in that building, and Sudderth said, “Mary Townsend could always make the best rolls that I ever tasted,” and that he had very good teachers.

In 1966, the high school was moved to the new Watauga High School, and the old three story Blowing Rock High School was torn down and in 1969, a gym and auditorium was built and was later converted to the media center.

Sudderth shared that he did not like playing in the new gym because there was no room to play basketball. He said, if you

Pictured are the members of the Blowing Rock Fire Department on Park Street in 1974. Photo courtesy of Steve Sudderth.

Standing left to right: Jerry Absher, Glenn Tague, Hayden Pitts, Ralph Andrews, Luther Church, Sid Greene, Carl Underwood, Tom Greene, Howard Parker, Lewis Lentz, Larry Hampton, Bill Hollars, Steve Johnson and Dee Greene - Kneeling left to right: Jim Greene, Thomas Wright, Eugene Fortune, Randy Barr, George Sudderth III, Tom Collins, George Sudderth Jr., Lynn George and Ab Hayes . went to drive to the basket, you always ran into a window on one end or the stage on the other end.

After high school, Sudderth worked for a couple of years in construction before going back to school to get a degree in business administration. Sudderth then worked for Old Northwestern Bank in Lenoir and transferred back to Blowing Rock before First Union bought them out. Then, Sudderth took a different career path and went to work for ten years selling fire trucks and fire equipment, got married and had two children, Blair and William, before working as a fire inspector and building inspector in Watauga County. He ended up working as the emergency management coordinator before retiring.

Sudderth is also known for volunteering for the Blowing Rock Fire Department for 24 years and serving 10 years as the assistant chief.

One of Sudderth’s cousins, John “Bucky” Sudderth got Sudderth involved with fire. Sudderth along with his brother and father were in the fire service.

“Getting out in the middle of the night when it’s below freezing and snowing and playing with water just didn’t sound like a good idea to me, but it finally grew on

me,” Sudderth said.

Sudderth reflected on many differences between the fire service when he started and what it is now.

Sudderth said back then, 34 out of 35 volunteers of Blowing Rock Fire Department actually lived inside the city limits. Within today’s fire department, there might be one or two that actually live inside the city limits.

Sudderth said this may be the result of several different factors including property prices skyrocketing, employers being less willing to let their employees off in the middle of the day for public service and the number of calls increasing.

“When I first got on, I think we had 13 calls the whole year, and now they respond at 200-250 calls,” Sudderth said.

The role of the fire department expanded to get into Emergency Medical, search and rescues and car accidents among other scenarios.

Sudderth also talked about how the firefighting equipment was different, especially in air packs or selfcontained breathing apparatuses.

“Our first air packs were World War I rebreathers for gas,” Sudderth said. “They had nothing to do with firefighting, and they still had those on the trucks.”

Steve Sudderth, facing camera center, in 1988 as a lead instructor of a live burn at Old Heaton School in Avery County. Photo courtesy of Steve Sudderth.

Steve Sudderth with his two children, Blair and William Sudderth, in 1993.

August / September 2020

High Country Magazine

35

Robert Francis Greene

I REMEMBER

Reverend Robert Francis Greene, who was pastor and missionary, was raised in Blowing Rock and passed away in 2011. His family provided excerpts of some of his memories of growing up that he had written down to share for others.

II was born on March 8, 1935 as the second child of Robert L. Greene and Nettie Sharpe Greene. Daddy was born in Blowing Rock in 1899. I was born in a house that belonged to the town of Blowing Rock located below Mayview Lake (Broyhill Park). It was in the current location of the Mrs. Annie L. Cannon Memorial Garden. My great-great grandfather, John Moccasin Greene moved to Blowing Rock in the 1790s, but I didn’t even bother to meet him Pug’s Memories when he arrived. My great grandfather, Amos Greene, lived in Blowing Rock and was buried here. When the Presbyterian Church removed some grave markers from their church yard, Amos Greene’s stone was removed and placed in the Woodlawn Cemetery. We do not know for sure if he was buried there. My grandfather, Ben Greene, lived in Blowing Rock and is buried in the Reformed Church Cemetery. My mother and father named me Robert Francis Greene, but I grew up with the name “Pug.” I do not know how I got that name but do not remember a time when I did not have the name.

Most of the things that I remember and have written below would be a reflection of Blowing Rock from the late 1930s until around 1952 when I graduated from high school. A few things are after 1952. The memories below are as I remember them. Others may not remember these things in the same way that I do. I am also aware that some of the businesses have changed several times. Therefore, the current name and the names that I give may have had other names at different times.

I REMEMBER: The Different Kinds of People in Blowing Rock

In my growing up days, we referred to the people in Blowing Rock as being the local people (living here year around and most of them were born here and had parents who were born here). Summer people (many had been coming for many years) usually came in May and left after Labor Day weekend. The tourists were those who came for a few days sometime during the summer. Since my father was a plumber, I grew up knowing many of the summer people as I would go with him for plumbing work after they arrived in the spring. We knew who most of the summer people were, and some were friends of our family.

I REMEMBER: The Grocery Stores on Main Street in Blowing Rock

Main Street in Blowing Rock has experienced many changes. I remember when Blowing Rock had four grocery stores that were open year around. Craig’s Store was operated by Mr. Will Craig in the current location of Woodwind Antiques. I remember that they would keep their chickens in a wash tub filled with ice. Toward the end of the day, the water would look rather dirty. But I never heard of any one in Blowing Rock dying from chicken disease from dirty water.

Also, many of the former employees from the Cone Estate would buy groceries there. He also let people have charge accounts for groceries that were supposed to be paid up on payday.

I REMEMBER: Being a Caddy on the Blowing Rock Golf Course

In the days before golf carts were used, another summer job was to caddy at the golf course. If you carried one bag for an 18 hole round, you earned $1.50. For kids my age, this was better pay than most Blowing Rock jobs in the summer. I’ll not mention her name, but one summer I caddied for a summer lady two or three days a week. One time on hole number 3, she hit a ball over in the rough. I couldn’t find the ball. After a few minutes, she yelled out so that many people on the course could hear, “Come on caddy, I’d rather lose the ball than to lose you.” I got a lot of teasing out of that.

36

High Country Magazine

August / September 2020

“As far as history, you’re sitting around listening to that older generation talk about some of the stories, and when you’re talking about horses and wagons and moonshining, a lot of the different things that are so totally different from my environment — I found it totally fascinating.”

Steve Sudderth Another memory Sudderth mentioned from years ago was about the town barbecues that occurred twice a year and benefitted the fire department and the American Legion.

“My father had learned the recipe for a mustard-based barbecue sauce like you have in South Carolina, from a neighbor, Wade Klutz, who served in World War I,” Sudderth said.

“Everybody seemed to like it, and my Dad would go down to Craig’s groceries, and he would buy enough ingredients to make about 20 gallons of homemade barbecue sauce, so the house would smell like barbecue sauce for a long time.”

Sudderth said the town barbecues were open to the public, and the whole town would come out.

Sudderth also reflected on the different businesses in town and the post office during the 1960s.

“Stories Soda Shop was the local hangout for all of the children old and small in Blowing Rock for around 30 years,” Sudderth said.

“Coman Storie was the unofficial babysitter and adviser for most of the kids growing up in Blowing Rock whether listening to music on the juke box, reading comic books or playing rook. Coman was always thinking of a new nickname for someone or playing a practical joke and providing a place to hang out without getting into trouble.”

Most summer jobs for the kids were related to the tourist industry that has been with Blowing Rock since the 1880s.

“Really growing up, you either worked in the yards in the summertime, worked helping construction companies, worked at Tweetsie Railroad or caddied,” Sudderth said. “If you’re younger than that, you washed dishes.”

Sudderth smiled while thinking about his days working at the Sunshine Inn, which was

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High Country Magazine

37

I REMEMBER: The Town Baseball Teams

I remember Sunday afternoons. It was baseball time. The games were played on the high school baseball field. The team was made up of local men, and they would play teams from other communities. It was exciting to see men that you knew play the game very well. Often the players were named Pete, Lewis, Carter and Perry with the last name of Lentz. It was indeed the most popular sport in Blowing Rock.

I REMEMBER: The Four Full Service Filling Stations on Main Street

There were four full service stations on Main Street. The Esso Station was located where the Cabin Fever store is now. It was operated by Mr. Bill Lentz. Just across the street in the building now occupied by The Speckled Trout Cafe was the Texaco Station. It was operated

by Jack Pennell. I remember that the Texaco Station had one gas pump where you had pumped the gas into a glass container at the top, and the gas would flow out by gravity into the car tank. I do not remember if the others had such a pump. Across the street was the Gulf Station operated by Jack Rainey. It is now the location of Bob Timberlake Gallery. At the other end of Main Street, the City Service Station was operated by Mr. Clyde Dula. It was on the current location of the Birch Tree Apartments. The current Exxon Station was built in the late 1950s or early 1960s on a lot that used to be the location of Hob Knob Inn and later the location of the last Watauga Inn in Blowing Rock. The lowest that I remember the price of gas was 11 cents per gallon.

I REMEMBER: The 4 Number Party Line Telephone System

The party telephone system was always interesting. Each local phone number had only four digits. Three or four different families would be on one party line. Each family had a different ring to know when you were supposed to answer your phone. However, in your house you could hear when others on the line had a call. Mama and daddy always told us to only answer when it was our ring. When they were home, we only answered our own ring.

When they were not home, we didn’t mind listening to other telephone conversations.

I REMEMBER: The Yonalassee Theater on Main Street

The Yonalassee Theater was located in the rock building next to the Hanna’s Oriental Rug Store. It was owned by Mr. Sams and operated by other people. It was only opened in the summertime. I remember the three levels of the theater. The main floor is where most people entered the theater from Main Street. To get into the seating place, you walked by the popcorn and candy store. If you had any money, you were hooked. Before getting to the main floor seating, you could take the stairs to your left to go to the first balcony. Above this balcony was a second balcony. Although there was a gate to the second balcony, you could not enter through that gate. To the right of the ticket office on the street level was a door that went up a set of stairs. This is where you entered the second balcony. I was not supposed to enter that door. This was the door for the Black people to enter. We were not supposed to sit together. However, if I did not have money to buy a ticket and enter the main floor, it was possible to slip by the ticket office and sit in the upper balcony. It was supposed to be a “nono,” but it did happen. From the upper balcony, you could also get to the projection room.

Mr. Randal Foster operated the projectors and would occasionally invite me to come to the projection room and watch him at work. The room had two very large projectors. He taught me how to operate the projectors, but he was always close by.

I REMEMBER: Dreaming about a Cadillac while Living in an A-Model Ford World

Local people did not own Cadillacs. I understand my father owned some other cars before I remember; however, the only car that I remember him owning was a 1929 A-Model Ford. It was silver, and he used it in his plumbing work. I learned to drive in that A-Model Ford. I have not seen it, but I understand it has now been restored to its original shape. For most of the year, you saw only ordinary cars around Blowing Rock. However, around May, the summer people would come to town. Many of the them drove a cadillac. At that time, parking along Main Street was angle parking, not parallel parking. Those cars were too long. In those days, owning a Cadillac seemed important. But most of us, myself included, never did. It was only a dream. However, it is no longer a dream. But my, how times have changed. We no longer dream about owning a cadillac, for when we see the parades in Blowing Rock, we now dream that some day we will be able to own one of those restored A-Model Fords.

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“I learned later that you need to ask the right questions to the right person before that history passes away. Everybody’s family has that and so when you talk about history, you get to see it from another perspective or from someone who actually experienced an event.”

Steve Sudderth owned and operated by Kathryn Lawrence during the late ‘60s and ‘70s.

“It was fun,” Sudderth said. “I earned a dollar an hour, but all you can eat, and the food was good!”

While Sudderth is well known locally for the various different roles he has held in the community throughout the years, he also has an interest in history.

“As far as history, you’re sitting around listening to that older generation talk about some of the stories, and when you’re talking about horses and wagons and moonshining, a lot of the different things that are so totally different from my environment — I found it totally fascinating,” Sudderth said. “And so, I paid attention to it. And I listened to them, and the only thing I can kick myself for is I didn’t ask the right questions to the right people back then.

I learned later that you need to ask the right questions to the right person before that history passes away. Everybody’s family has that and so when you talk about history, you get to see it from another perspective or from someone who actually experienced an event. I enjoy talking with people and getting those different connections to the same story.”

When Sudderth’s last living grandmother and his father died in 1975, it dawned on him that the historical knowledge would soon disappear and there was so much to learn.

“All of a sudden I was thinking, there’s just so much that I don’t know that I wish I would’ve thought to have asked,” Sudderth said. “So, I spent time with my aunts and uncles and older people. I was just curious and listening.”

Bud Altmayer, who interviewed Sudderth for one of his books in the early 1980s urged Sudderth to start writing stories down.

Sudderth said he also talked with Jerry

Burns, who worked on the book “A Village Tapestry: The History of Blowing Rock” together. Burns was the longtime editor of the Blowing Rock newspaper, the Blowing Rocket.

Burns asked Sudderth if he would help him with his research and record stories and also told him that he should be writing some of the stories.

“But, there just never seemed enough time in the day to do it,” Sudderth said.

With Sudderth’s retirement, the internet, the re-publication of many long out-of-print books, and new archaeological discoveries and academic research, Sudderth felt that he could add a significant amount of information regarding the formation of Blowing Rock.

“I couldn’t have completed this project without a lot of the older books that had been reprinted, and there’s so much archeological work that has been done in the area since then that has really changed a lot about the way that we look at the early history in this area,” Sudderth said.

In order to write his book, “Trails Through Time: A History of the Blowing Rock Area,” Sudderth compiled information from lots of history and archaeology books, discussions with people, libraries and different periodicals.

“I titled it from 1400 to 1900 for several reasons,” Sudderth said. “That early history had not been correlated, and we’ve learned so much more in the last 25-30 years than we used to know with all the reprinting of books and primary sources. I just felt that the time frame hadn’t been reported or was really under recorded.”

Sudderth mentioned the many drawbacks to recording a local history, specifically; time, money and archeological stud-

These photos show Blowing Rock’s Main Street in 1880-1900.

Photos courtesy of the Blowing Rock Historical Society.

They can also be found in Steve Sudderth’s book.

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ies and linguistics concernSudderth also discussed ing Native Americans and information about the Little explained the work of etyIce Age that started around mologists, who are people 1400 and ended around who study the origin of 1700. words and the way in which “During the Little Ice their meanings have changed Age, they’re not sure what throughout history. caused it, but they know “They study the old for certain the effects of Native American American it,” Sudderth said. “One languages because other was extremely cold winters than the Cherokee, they with large snowfalls; in the weren’t written down. spring, there was flooding; Some of them have been in the summers, it was exlost to history, and some of tremely hot and dry; and them have been preserved,” then in the falls, you had a Sudderth said. real dry period where you Sudderth also talked might have fires.” about putting etymology Sudderth mentioned and archeology together to that during the time period see where the information of the Little Ice Age, they intersects and how it can did not have the technolbuild on each other. ogy for warm houses. They “There’s just a lot more had to go to the piedmont information out there now, of east Tennessee or North and it’s more available to Carolina to live comfortus because of the internet,” ably. There was no reason to Sudderth said. stay in the High Country.

Some of the things that After an Appalachian Sudderth found out were State University archeoloa little different than the gist excavated a site out in common knowledge.

Sugar Grove in 1970, they Steve Sudderth with his book titled “Trails Through Time: A History of the “One of the biggest determined it was abanBlowing Rock Area” that he wrote to preserve the early history things is that they found doned around 1200 A.D., of the town of Blowing Rock. that the Spanish traveled and they don’t know why. through this area 20 years Then, ASU archeologists before the Lost Colony of Roanoke,” Sudderth said. “With the excavated a Native American homestead in Todd that was from discovery of Fort San Juan just north of Morganton and that the a later date.

Spanish were in Northeastern Tennessee and Southwestern VirUT Knoxville and Chattanooga also performed an archaeoginia. So, the question becomes how did they get from Fort San logical study between Zionville and Mountain City along Roan Juan in Morganton to the Saltville, Virginia area?”

Creek in the rock cliffs, which the Native Americans used for By going back through old Spanish records, Sudderth got into burial caves, and this ties back to the 1200-1500 time frame. the study of distance and elevation and learned how easy or hard “Once they got to 1500, there was such a cultural shift in it was to go from area to area by walking historically known Na- the Native American populations, where tribes would actually tive American trading routes or locally known routes. join together to form one tribe just to survive, and they were on “Locally known trails or routes are an important part that a lot the move constantly,” Sudderth said. “So, from an archeological of historians don’t have, because it’s such a small area to cover for standpoint, it is really difficult for people to try to get a handle a larger story. You know where the trail is going into the woods on exactly what was going on and the reasons why, but after the behind your house, but somebody writing about it from another Little Ice Age started, the High Country would basically have time era or unfamiliar with the area just might not know that,” been used as a seasonal area to escape the heat and used for sumSudderth said. “So, there’s a disconnect in there, and what I’ve mertime farming.” tried to do was take that local knowledge and the overall larger Sudderth also included stories of the Civil War in his book, historical picture that they are writing about in archaeology mag- which he described as complicated business. azines and history books and combine them to give people an idea “You had people who wanted to form their new country and of activity that was going on in this area in that time period.” then you had people who wanted to stay in the United States beSudderth said he might be proven wrong, but he took the cause of the economic system, and the economic system was key available evidence that exists at this time, trying to make an as- to pretty much how somebody felt as well as well as their family sessment of when and where the Spanish came through this area. ties to the Revolutionary War, Sudderth said.

“You go back and look at the maps of the time period, the Sudderth spoke of a Civil War reunion in 1891, where one of journals and reports; then you evaluate that to see if it works out. the men wrote a letter that basically said, “I consider that man my And I think I got it worked out. So, that would push back the time comrade or fellow patriot that fought for either side and did it the Europeans were in the High Country by about 180 years.” as they felt was right. It didn’t matter which uniform they wore.

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There were local people that showed up at that reunion with union uniforms, and it was all good. It was a bunch of old men just happy they survived.”

Sudderth said the Civil War changed so many people, and the area because it became less isolated.

Sudderth’s book also contains stories of events occurring in and around Blowing Rock between 1400 and 1900 A.D., along with early western North Carolina county boundaries, trails and the first roads.

As information in Sudderth’s book progresses, the focus narrows down onto Blowing Rock’s history.

“The way I felt about it in the early history, you had to understand the larger picture world and regional history to kind of get a backstory for what was happening locally,” Sudderth said.

This history information along with answers to other questions such as who the English explorers, long hunters, early settlers, first tourists and first residents of Blowing Rock were can be found in Sudderth’s book.

In addition, the 1890 Blowing Rock voter registration is included in the book and is of value to genealogists because of the loss of the 1890 census that was destroyed in a fire.

Sudderth found the 1890 Blowing Rock voter registration with the help of Helen Hartley, who had her real estate office in the building where the Blowing Rock Bank was located. Sudderth said this was in the early ‘80s, and they were talking one day when Hartley told Sudderth about old papers that were on top of the old bank vault.

“And I found the first voter registration book from Blowing Rock on top of the old bank vault that had been there for 80 years,” Sudderth said.

Instead of photocopying the voter registration book and trying to put it in his book, Sudderth transcribed it to where the content is legible.

Sudderth said if someone thinks they have Blowing Rock roots from around the time of 1890, the voter registration is an additional resource they can use because it gives the age, occupation, name, where they were born and where their last voting district was.

“Someone might comment that there’s not a whole lot about Watauga County,” Sudderth said. “Well, Watauga County was only from 1849-1900, and so the majority of the early history of what is now downtown Blowing Rock, has at one time or another been part of seven counties up August / September 2020

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until 1849.”

When reflecting on the process of writing a book, Sudderth talked about the huge learning curve he experienced with writing.

“I’m not a writer; I’m a storyteller. You don’t write the way you talk,” Sudderth said. “Let’s just say when it came to sentence structure and punctuation, I hid behind the door in school. I rather sit there and watch the grass grow out the window than to pay attention to that stuff, which is really, really important.”

Sudderth said if someone had better writing skills than he has, it would have been a lot easier.

Jessica Cook was the editor for the book, and Sudderth met her by word of mouth.

“She is an amazing person,” Sudderth said. “She took all of my stories — it was terrible — and she actually cleaned it up to where it was halfway readable and we could take it and massage it and clean it up to where it was actually pleasant to read. The way I originally wrote, like how you tell a story, just wasn’t good.”

Sudderth published his book using an aggregator, Imaging Specialists, Inc. located in Sparta.

From the time Sudderth started writing to the time he got his work in, it took 31 months.

“There’s a difference between what I was trying to do here and writing a novel where you don’t have to double check your footnotes, endnotes and that type of thing,” Sudderth said.

His book is all factual and was time consuming to put together.

“I found so much on the internet that it sounded interesting but once I dug into it, especially in that early period of Native Americans and Spanish, once you got to digging into it, not so much,” Sudderth said.

Sudderth also mentioned that he had an interesting time trying to get permission to use pictures.

“If it’s my own collection, I’m OK, but there were so many pictures that would have added more to it, but there was just no way to get permissions to use that stuff,” Sudderth said. “So, I basically just had to rewrite and change stuff around. What I tried to do in some of the old photographs is give somebody an idea of where someone was standing and looking to take that picture.”

Sudderth said that as other information arises or resources that he didn’t use come about, the information can be added to the understanding of our early history.

Some of Sudderth’s friends have already started mentioning to him that he needs to write something else.

“What I’ll probably do is a book on short stories on people and events from different time frames,” Sudderth said.

“Trails Through Time: A History of the Blowing Rock Area” focuses on the Blowing Rock area, but it is interrelated to other communities.

“The two main things I hope to do with this book is to record that early history that is being lost from generation to generation because people did not write it down and then to encourage other people to take their families’ stories and local histories and talk to the older generation before the stories are lost,” Sudderth said. “There are so many stories of local characters and events wherever you grew up that we just lose because we don’t write it down.”

Sudderth said he tried to use everything local, and those who are interested in purchasing “Trails Through Time: A History of the Blowing Rock Area” can find the book at the following locations: The Blowing Rock, Sunset Tee’s & Hattery – Blowing Rock, Footsloggers – Boone and Blowing Rock, Caldwell County Heritage Museum – Lenoir, Wilkes County Heritage Museum – Wilkesboro and Boone Drug Deerfield – Boone.

Sudderth also has an online website for individuals who can’t get out or are away from the area. The website is https:// steve-sudderth-books.square.site/.

Sudderth said he sold close to 100 copies of his book on the same day the website launched, and he’s finding out the work has just started as he is packaging his books and mailing them out through the website and trying to keep enough in stock.

“I thought it would take me months to do that,” Sudderth said. “You’re talking about being humbled, I just hope it meets everyone’s expectations.” t

Pictured is the Blair Hotel in Boone in 1913. William Thomas Blair, who is Steve Sudderth’s great grandfather, is on the front porch.

The Gragg House on Highway 221 just outside of Blowing Rock was constructed by Burton Gragg and his son-in-law William Finley Gragg around 1878. The chestnut logs were hewn so precise that no chinking was required. The structure is still standing today.

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August / September 2020

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Dipper Garrison

Tells His

Story

Perhaps you

have seen him on the street corner in Boone near Wendy’s intersection. He’s the big man holding a big sign with a big message.

Yep, that’s Floyd Garrison, better known to most simply as “Dipper.”

Come rain, sleet, snow or shine, for about an hour every Saturday — for the last 25 years — Garrison has claimed his spot on the corner with a simple, yet profound goal: To tell as many people as he can about being a bondservant of Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior.

Photo by Tara Diamond 44

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Photo by Tara Diamond

The “Book of Dip”... Autobiography of Floyd “Dipper” Garrison

Shows How God Can Change A Man, A Marriage and More

S

By Sherrie Norris

ome people have called him crazy. Some have just stared at him in amazement and wonder. Some have brushed him off, thinking little or nothing about him as they passed through town. But, some have had life-changing experiences because he, one man, takes a stand for what he believes.

One of those people, Garrision said, he will never forget.

“This lady came up to me in tears, telling me that she had been contemplating suicide as she drove by McDonalds, and then she saw me there at the corner turn around with that sign that said ‘Jesus Loves You.’” And, the strange thing about it all is — Garrison knew just exactly where that woman was coming from, he said. As the saying goes, he’s been there — and (almost) done that.

“The Book of Dip” Tells The Story Garrison has lived an interesting life, to say the least, and one that has been, up until 2015, documented in “The Book of Dip: How God Can Change a Man, a Marriage, and More.”

The autobiography, a simple little paperback, contains a powerful, riveting life story in its 138 short pages. For the price of $10.95, plus shipping, and a quick delivery from Amazon, one might find him or herself glued to their latest purchase, way into the wee hours. (Yes, it has happened to several just like that — this writer included!) “I tell everyone who gets that book that it comes with a money-back guarantee,” Garrison

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A ride on his cycle before a horrific head-on collision that nearly claimed the life of Dipper Garrison.

Following a tumultuous college experience, Floyd “Dipper” Garrison graduated from Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone.

The happy couple on their wedding day with family members, including Dipper’s brother, Raymon, far right.

Dipper and his two sons, Aaron and Adam, enjoying an afternoon out exploring nature together.

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said. “But, no one has asked for their money back, so far.”

Garrison prepares us in his introduction, but few can comprehend what he meant when he wrote it: “Oh! what a life it’s been.

Hold on tight, and let me tell you a story.”

He said later that it’s something that only God could write. “I couldn’t have done it on my own.”

Garrison is self-described as a man who has been up, down and everywhere in between. From day one, his existence has been one of note, he said — near-death experiences, a mother’s tragic death; a promising basketball career dashed by a devastating motorcycle accident, empires built and fortunes made, a rocky marriage repaired miraculously by faith and commitment. It’s quite the story, and as has been said about it: “Fiction should be so rich.”

In “The Book of Dip” you might just be inspired, enriched, and amazed, as you discover how God can truly change lives and circumstances.

In writing the book’s foreword, Franklin Graham, President and CED of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said, “If you want to read a one-of-akind story, ‘The Book of Dip’ is a good pick.

“Not many New Jersey boys could transplant to Boone, NC and make a mark like Dipper did many years ago,” Graham penned. “His love for the High Country is evidenced in his personal account, but more than that is his love for people from all walks of life. He is a man who seeks opportunity for the Gospel, and barrels through every open door.”

Graham continued, “His journey has been full of trials and triumphs, spattered with motorcycle and car wrecks, injuries and neardeath experiences. Through it all, he has lived to tell how a broken life can be stitched together by the miraculous and intervening hand of the miracle-working God of Heaven.”

Whether negotiating a business deal or building personal friendships, Dipper is driven to testify about what the Lord Jesus will do for anyone who will repent and receive Christ as personal Savior, Graham continued. “While Dipper is nicknamed for his incredible ability to ‘dip’ a basketball into the net, Floyd Garrison’s real story is that he dipped his heart into the saving blood of Jesus Christ. His outspoken testimony for what God has done with a life that started out difficult will tenderize hardened hearts and lead them to the One who is “clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, (Revelation 19:13.)

Every life matters to him.”

About Graham, Garrison said, “I am so blessed to be able to call him my friend.

He’s been there for me. Anytime someone asks what they can do for me, I tell them to make a donation to Samaritan’s Purse. That’s where it can do the most good.”

Former App State Mountaineer’s head coach Jerry Moore had this to say about Garrison and his book: “What an amazing journey of how God moves in our lives! Here, Dipper pulls back the curtains of his life to share the good, the bad and his uncertainty.

He shares the disappointments of his young life as an athlete, and moves into the successful ventures of his life and marriage — a love story in itself! Foremost, he shares the boldness of his Christian, spiritual walk.”

Yes, it is all true of Garrison, as most who

For over 25 years, Dipper Garrison has stood his ground around Boone as a follower of Christ.

Dipper and Charlotte Garrison in recent years.

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The Wendy’s Intersection

Dipper has spent many a Saturday at the Wendy’s intersection that has also gone through many changes over the years. Probably the busiest intersection in the High Country, that adds up to a lot cars that have passed by the man on the corner with the “Jesus Loves You” sign.

know him will agree.

So, what else is it about this man behind the book that captivates our interests and curiosities, you might ask?

Well, to begin with, there’s nothing miniscule about the story of Dipper Garrison. How could there be? He currently stands about 6’6,” weighs 200 pounds and wears a size 18 shoe – with a heart as big as the sky and a faith as deep as the ocean. (He once weighed 230 and stood at 6’11”).

It is Garrison’s hope that people will read his story — and he feels pretty certain that if a reader doesn’t believe in God, and/or that God performs miracles, that notion will soon change after reading the book.

“He (God) is the only reason I’m alive to write this book,” Garrison wrote in his introduction, referring to the scripture in Jeremiah 29:11, which says. “For I know the plans I Dipper Garrison draws attention to his signs, and often uses whatever help he can get to get his message across.

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Photo by Tara Diamond

“Many people have told me how their lives have been changed by my corner ministry. It’s a small price to pay to share the gospel. Think of the cross. Standing there is the least I can do. First of all, the Lord sent me to that corner. Secondly, I don’t want any person in Boone to say they didn’t know that God loves them. The Lord called me to be a seed planter.”

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have for you, says the Lord; plans for you welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Garrison said his story is recounted to the best of his ability – “And as close to the facts as I can remember – for things that happened over 70 years ago!”

He added that it is certainly not fiction, but the true account of what can happen because of the prayers of a loving, Godly mother, and others who intervened throughout his young life so that he could have abundant life, something for which he is “eternally grateful,” he emphasized.

Garrison’s prayer is that his story will affect many people and show how God clearly moves in a person’s life.

At the same time, he added, “If anything in this book sounds like I am boasting or bragging, I pray that you will understand that my story is all about the Lord and what he did. It’s not about my accomplishments. I’m like Paul Anderson, (the strongest and most humble man in the world) unable to pick up a penny without God’s help. I love his story. And you need to remember these words of wisdom: ‘Coincidence is spelled G-O-D.’” Writing his book, Garrison said, had been on his bucket list for several years, but more than that, he wrote it in response to a promise he made to himself and to God. “I tried to write it for about five years,’ he said. “But, as usual, I hadn’t been able to slow down long enough to do it, despite it being a really big part of my life.”

He started writing on January 1, 2015 with the help of his son, Aaron.

At that time, he said, he had just recently gotten caught up on his mail —after being two years behind! “It seems I’ve been going full-throttle, non-stop, my whole life.”

Truth, Stranger Than Fiction The life of Floyd Garrision began on November 24, 1944 in Bridgeton, NJ when he was born the son of an Army sergeant who was oversees during the war. “I didn’t see him for the first part of my life. That’s probably why I was a mama’s boy until I was 11.”

He remembers his mother (who grew up on a farm) as a tall “tomboy” who was pretty and funny, loved music, could shoot a gun like Annie Oakley,

played sports, was a great cook, loved God, her family and animals.

His dad, he recalled, was a good man, a hard worker who kept his word and would never lie, steal or cheat. But unlike his wife, Garrison recalled, “He never knew the Lord and probably didn’t know how to be a father. He spent a lot of time going to the racetrack, the American Legion, playing poker and loving his wife.”

He does have good memories of his paternal grandparents, a unique couple, and spending time on their farm.

“When I saw the movie Ma and Pa Kettle, I thought it was about them ...”

He doesn’t have much else to say about his childhood. He went to school and worked — “The one consistent thing in my life was work.”

At age 5, he made five cents an hour picking berries from his neighbor’s strawberry patch. At age 6, he was selling strawberries from his own stand, started working in the fields of other farmers and sold newspapers. “I liked making money,” he said.

He worked for a “hard-nosed” farmer when he was about 10, “a Christian,” he described,” but a tough man to work for.”

“The one good thing that came from that job was going to a Billy Graham crusade with him and his family at the end of the summer in 1956,” Garrison recalled. “I had gone to church with my mom, but I don’t remember hearing the gospel message until that night in Philly.

It was, I believe, like God planted a seed in me then. I’ll never forget seeing all those people going forward. And, I’ll always been grateful to that farmer, even if he was a hard man who charged me a quarter for a drink of tea!”

Soon afterward, he turned 11 and along came his little brother, Raymon. “I tell people to this day, that even though we were born 10 years apart, we are twins.” The two brothers have enjoyed a very close and loving relationship through the years, which endures today.

Garrision’s world crashed early in life with the unexpected death of his mother. She had been hospitalized for five months — and he never had the chance to say good-bye. It was much later that he learned about the cancer that claimed her, which caused her terrible pain in the end. When he saw her at the funeral, he recalled, it was one of the worst and August / September 2020

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Photo by Tara Diamond Dipper and Charlotte Garrison moved to Boone together after they were married, where Charlotte found a job waiting tables at the Peddler Steakhouse and Dipper filled in as a dishwasher. From those humble beginnings, Dipper became a franchisee over some of the Peddler Steakhouses across the south, including the Boone location with Murray Broome.

hardest days of his life.

Her death impacted the rest of his life in more ways than one. His father basically shut down, had to sell their home, moved the boys into a trailer, hired a caretaker who did her best to provide them with a safe homelike atmosphere.

His dad finally “came back to life,” Garrison said. Eventually, he remarried a nice lady named Eleanor, a “Godsend,” he described.

From there, life took interesting turns for Garrison, one right after another, and some in unbelievable succession.

Sports became his outlet – and especially basketball. He had no trouble “dunking” the ball, and in his final year of high school, he was already 6’7” and wore a size 18 shoe.

Schools were looking at him and he was offered scholarships – even one in North Carolina, but he chose to stay closer to home, for the time being.

But what should’ve been a career pathway ended in not his first neardeath experience, but certainly one that changed everything.

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Learning About Boone, Living in “The Hole” Ironically, it was a football coach who eventually told Garrison about Boone, North Carolina, and encouraged him to apply at Appalachian State Teacher’s College.

And so it was, Garrison arrived in “a sleepy little mountain town,” but before he started to school in Boone, he met the woman he would marry — back in Jersey. It wasn’t a fairy tale love story by any means, to begin with, anyway.

Garrison’s life continued to take many twists and turns, literally and figuratively, before he and yes, his wife, Charlotte, actually ended up in Boone to live as a couple.

Before they were married, Garrison was homeless during his first winter in Boone as a college student, lived in a “hole” at the stadium, was frozen so badly at one time that he couldn’t walk, but crawled to the gym for a warm shower, and survived from food given out by a local church. Nearing a complete breakdown, he was amazingly

August / September 2020

able to finish his semester and pass his exams. But it was all taking a toll on him. Physically and mentally drained, he believed he would die.

But somehow, as God intervened, over and over, he survived, returned to New Jersey on a bus and tried to find Charlotte — who wanted nothing to do with him. His book explains all the reasons why.

He did recover, as did their relationship. And the rest is history.

Space does not permit us to tell the rest of his story — nor should we. It is documented well in his book, with the help of his son …. and it is one you don’t want to miss.

His unbelievable climb to the top, the plunges to the bottom, and back again, his outreach to — and compassion for — the homeless, his business ventures, both good and bad, and so much more, makes it all captivating and almost surreal. It’s all included in his book and one you need to have on your shelf.

Only through the pages will you begin to understand a little more about this

There’s only one way to heaven, and it is Dipper Garrison’s hope and prayer that many will follow his lead.

tall, lanky man who stands at the corner near Wendy’s on Saturdays, from noon ‘til 1 p.m., sometimes his moustache and beard freezing into ice. Only then will you be able to comprehend the neverending supply of love the heavenly Father has for his children, and how one man refuses to forget.

Only then will you understand how God can change a man, a marriage – and so much more. And, only then will you get to know most everything you may have wondered about Floyd “Dipper” Garrison.

He suffered a stroke in 2015, but again, divine intervention prevailed.

“I was driving down State Farm Road in Boone when something just didn’t feel right. My vision was a little blurry

going on, and he offered to check me out. It didn’t take long before he said, “We’re going to the hospital.’ He took me in and they worked with me for two hours. He told me I was about to blow up – my blood pressure was 280/180. If I had gone on home — like I was planning on — I wouldn’t have made it.

The Lord drew me into Hal’s parking lot.”

Garrison paused to say that Frazier had been a special man in his life for quite a while, and as a compassionate physician, had helped him many times with some of Life After the Book his tenants at the motel, Since the book was and had even paid the Dipper Garrison has handed out countless tracts through the years to young written, however, life’s hospital bill for one of and old alike during his Saturday intersection ministry. challenges have continthe men. ued, but through it all, “That’s just the kinda God’s hand has remained upon this and I knew something was wrong. I’m guy he was,” Garrison reflected. “He gentle giant. never sick, the last time I had a cold was checked on me a couple days after my His story would not be complete if 25 years ago, but I just didn’t feel right. stroke and made me promise to take we did not share a few more monumen- As I came to Dr. Hal Frazier’s parking better care of myself, to get rid of some tal – and yes, life-changing events that lot, I turned in as he was coming out to of my stress. I made that promise and have transpired in the last five years. get into his vehicle. I told him what was stuck to it, but the one problem was — August / September 2020

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“Dipper” Garrison had a special guest near and dear to his heart standing by his side on a recent Saturday.

His son Adam Christopher Garrison, 43, came out and held up a sign with him for the first time ever this summer.

“The last few months he’s really been wanting to do something for the Lord. I never told him he needed to come out there or anything but then he asked me if it was okay if he came out and stood on the corner. It’s a great blessing to me,” Dipper said.

he, Hal, didn’t take care of his stress and died a couple years later. He was dealing with life and death on a daily basis, doing what he could to help others. It just broke my heart when he died.”

Next came the near-fatal fall that his brother, Raymon, experienced from a rooftop. “It was a miracle that he didn’t break his neck and become paralyzed,” Garrison said. “He was broken up pretty bad and even though he’s healed up as well as he could, he’s still dealing with it.”

More recently, the death in 2019 of their son, Aaron, is something from which Dipper and Charlotte will never fully recover.

“That was just heartbreaking to both of us, He was such a blessing, a great encourager — and so good.”

In Arizona at the time of his death, Aaron had sought medical attention, but his diagnosis was not fully realized until his autopsy, months later.

“He died from tuberculosis. We 54

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didn’t have a clue.”

Aaron is still missed terribly and had a great impact on those around him, his father recalled.

“Even three months after he died, the lady who delivers our mail came to the door and told us how she missed his mail.

He always stamped the words ‘You are loved,’ all over money or mail. And, when he sent us mail, it was always addressed to ‘My beloved parents,’ or ‘Mother’ or ‘Father,’ never with just our names.”

The Garrisons eventually received a note, written on an old piece of paper that said, “Read me.” The message was simple: “If you are reading this, it means that I am either dead or severely injured, but that’s OK. I have accepted whatever happens and I chose to have a joyful spirit. You don’t have to be sad for me. How cool! All is well and all will be well.’

“That,” Garrison said, “was overwhelming. We miss him terribly.”

Up to that point, he added, when

August / September 2020

dealing with others experiencing hard times in life, he could usually identify with them — except for those who had lost a child.

“But, I can now. It’s a very painful thing,” he described. “It’s upside down – no parent should ever have to bury their child.”

On the positive side — where he likes to stay — Garrison said since his stroke, he has really slowed his pace.

“I finally got caught up on my mail,” he said with a chuckle. “And I get to spend more time with my lovely wife.

Charlotte never got to see me much for about 30 years , and now we have a little time together. Of course, she stays busy, too, but we’re trying to enjoy life.”

He still works out six days a week, continues to oversee some property, and is still reaching out to those down on their luck — whether it’s the fellow who fell behind on his rent for five years, or another one with a wife and three small

children who have little to call their own.

And, he’s happy for another man, he said, who he rescued from an abandoned motel that was being readied for demolition.

“I thought there might still be some Gideon Bibles laying around that could be used, so I stopped by that place, and instead, found a guy living there. I took him out of there and found him a safe place to live. “ That was about 10 years ago; Garrison received a call from the man recently, telling him that his father had died and left him $1 million. “They are waiting to settle the estate. He’s 61 now and told me he was grateful that it didn’t happen earlier. If he had been given that money years ago, he would have blown it, but now he’s stable and going to buy a house with some of the money.”

Garrison is not building anything new these days, he said, unlike the years he managed his two motels, man-

aged another 36 units and built a house every year.

“I look back on those 30 years, and if you could see it through my eyes — you would know it was impossible to do what I did. The guys who I sold a motel to and some of my houses have a sixman crew and a woman listing agent.

And they told me recently they didn’t know how I ever did it. The only answer to that is our Gold Almighty empowered me. It was super natural.”

And, yes, he’s still standing on the corner of Hwy. 105 and 321 in Boone

every Saturday.

“Many people have told me how their lives have been changed by my corner ministry,” Garrison said.

“It’s a small price to pay to share the gospel. Think of the cross. Standing there is the least I can do. First of all, the Lord sent me to that corner. Secondly, I don’t want any person in Boone to say they didn’t know that God loves them. The Lord called me to be a seed planter.”

Garrison has been able to hand out “hundreds and hundreds” of tracts and to pray for countless people at that corner. “It’s such a gift to be able to share Jesus with so many people,” he said. “And, he added with his big smile, “Please tell people to be sure to honk their horn when they go by!” ◆ For the rest of the story, get your copy of Garrison’s book today. “The Book of Dip” is available at amazon.com

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Chetola

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August / September 2020

A Place for All to Enjoy

With its 174 Year History of Providing Family Memories

T

outdoor restaurant where others he whispered promise of Story and Photography by Tara Diamond enjoy watching people on the lake Chetola Estates is held in canoes and paddle boats…And by a lake that borders the yes, it truly is idyllic, and what a north end of Main Street in Blowpromise it makes! ing Rock. As you drive by, a quick So, what is the promise and glimpse of the lake lures you to who keeps it? the entrance, where just beyond The original owner cultivated the gate house, the grandeur of the sustaining properties of nature beauty it reflects is more than you that have been honored and nurexpect. tured by future owners over the As you drive in, across the lake decades. It was said the “hill” was you can see a stately manor, a resa place to stay that attracted many taurant with outdoor seating, and health hunters and fishermen. The a lodge for guests. A boathouse next owner’s wife felt it would be provides recreation, an outdoor good for healing her husband’s fire pit makes evenings warm and tuberculosis, so they bought the cozy, and a large white tent emland and renamed it Chetola, braces weddings and celebrations Kent and Greg Tarbutton stand outside of their offices which means “Haven of Rest,” a of all kinds. It truly is a dream that overlook Lake Chetola. fitting name for the promise that come true for guests and lovers nature affords with maintenance of nature. of its purity and beauty.

As you slowly drive on, a The list is long of what has happened over time wooden fence separates you from a lake that reflects to enhance the healing quality of the property, and the beautiful grounds where people walk over a today’s modern facility offers exercise, massage, perfect bridge and along paths to feed ducks, or indoor swimming, and outdoor activities in keepwatch swans from chairs beneath willow trees. As ing with nature’s intent for wellbeing. you cross the bridge, you may see a family viewing Today, the keeper of the promise is Kent Tarbutthe grounds from a large swing just down from an August / September 2020

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Lot Estes

ton, the owner of Chetola for the past 23 years, and now a partner with his brother, Greg, for the past 3 years. Kent’s knack for what appeals to others as well as his passion for marketing and his loyalty to family and friends gave him the fortitude to take on Chetola and present it to the world for everyone to see. He did this in a special way that anchors Chetola as a vital, supportive part of the Village of Blowing Rock and surrounding area.

Greg Tarbutton embraced his passion for the outdoors and runs their off-themountain shooting reserve and the fishing program. Kent’s daughter, Morgan, shares her uncle’s passion for the outdoors, and she is an integral part of the success of a fishing program that insures guests have an unforgettable experience reeling in trout.

History

Luther Snyder and his dog Andy on the porch of his Chetola home.

William Stringfellow

A ribbon cutting ceremony held in the early 80’s Left to right: DeWayne McCauley, Fred Silver, Mayor Hayden Pitts, Barney Hodgson, and Phil Templeton. Four of the gentlemen had formed a partnership in 1981 to take over ownership of Chetola Resort

Chetola is a Blowing Rock icon that dates back 174 years. To this day, it still resembles its original vision as a family home with surrounding property that serves residents and visiting guests year round. Chetola extends its support to the area by providing simple to lavish events for personal, business, and entertainment functions.

Originally, Lot Estes bought the property for five dollars in 1846. The 100acre parcel came with a barn and a way station that served the area as a transfer stop for mail, freight and travelers. Estes added a four-room house for his family and a row of cabins nearby that he rented to travelers.

Estes kept the property for 15 years, adding a wooden dam that formed a pond where he established the only mill in the area. That dam site still forms the lake Chetola has always been famous for.

In 1814, Dr. Chaimers Davidson wrote “Mr Estes’ hill was the place to stay 100 years ago. It attracted many health hunters, and fishermen contributing to this land being famous for the abundance of large brown trout in the streams.”

Estes established a mill at the dam site that folks came from miles around to use. Their home later became Blowing Rock’s second boarding house. The manor house, which is still the focal point to The Bob Timberlake Inn Grand Opening, November 2004. Left to right: Kent & Shelley Tarbutton, Rachael Renar, Virginia Morton, Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence, Grandfather Mountain’s Hugh Morton, tan Renar, and Bob Timberlake.

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The Holt family purchased Chetola from William Stringfellow in 1919. this day, was built at the spot of his first four-room home.

The property was sold in 1892 to William W. Stringfellow, an Alabama banker who bought the property at the urging of his wife, Susie. She convinced him that the mountains would help cure his severe tuberculosis. They changed the name of the property to Chetola, a Cherokee word meaning a “Haven of Rest.”

Stringfellow combined the existing structures on the property to form the manor house that still stands today. The estate home was fitted with running water and electricity, and they used oak and maple trees from the surrounding land for the floors, wainscot, and beams. The large stone fireplaces were added and remain part of the structure today.

The Stringfellows were friends with Moses and Bertha Cone who visited them at the Estate, fell in love with the area, and purchased 3,600 acres to build the historic Flat Top Manor that later became part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The name was changed to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park where visitors can still enjoy the 25 miles of horse and buggy trails the Cones built.

Susie Stringfellow began building the beautiful Episcopal Church on Main Street in Blowing Rock in 1918 as a thanks to God for her husband’s restored health. She died in 1920, one year before completion, and her husband finished the project as a memorial to his wife. The church still stands today as a beautiful landmark of Blowing Rock.

In 1919, Stringfellow sold the estate to the Holt family, who then sold it to W.P. Alexander in 1923. Alexander had developed the Mayview Manor Hotel complex in Blowing Rock. He passed away in 1925, and the estate was purchase by James Luther Snyder, perhaps Chetola’s most prominent owner, who was also known as the “Coca-Cola King of the Carolinas.”

Snyder lived in Charlotte and bought Chetola as a second home. In 1928, he tore down the old wooden dam and rebuilt a more modern steel and concrete structure that still stands today.

He added several new houses to the property for his children and built the area’s first swimming pool. As the story goes, lavish parties were thrown at the estate during the Snyder era. He passed

William Stringfellow enjoying a family outing on Chetola Lake, circa 1892.

This rare photograph above is the home during the early 1920’s.

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Chetola’s Lake and Open Spaces Lake Chetola is the centerpiece of the 78-acre resort and the first thing locals and guests see when driving onto the property. The manicured grounds surrounding the lake allow space for morning yoga, romantic strolls, bird watching, picnics, fishing, roasting marshmallows and more. The lakeshore is also a popular spot for weddings, receptions and festivals. Each summer, the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce hosts Symphony by the Lake at Chetola Resort.

Geese on the lake

A place to fish

Enjoying lake activities

A place to relax

away in 1957, but the estate remained with the family until 1972 when it was sold to a Florida developer.

The new owners tried to develop condominiums and a ninehole golf course on the property, but were unsuccessful, and Wachovia Bank and the Snyder Family reclaimed the property.

In 1981, the partnership of DeWayne McCauley, Barney Hodgson, Fred Silver and Phil Templeton acquired the 95-acre property and resumed construction of the condominiums. Chetola had been idle for a number of years and much had to be done to restore the manor house, restaurant, lake, tennis courts, The entrance to Chetola features a welcome house and surrounding property. that greets guests The partners worked hard to to the resort. bring the property back to its former glory, and by 1996, they had added a 42-room hotel, 52 more condominiums units, an indoor pool, and a recreational facility.

They maintained their progress and weathered record high interest rates and severe economic downturn in the ‘80s. The partnership lost DeWayne McCauley and his family to a tragic plane crash, and when the present owner inquired about the property in 1997, the decision was made to sell the resort.

A number of different families have called Chetola home in its 174-year history. For the last 23 years, the Chetola Estate has been in the hands of Kent Tarbutton. He decided to call the resort home, took up the caretaker position and carried on the tradition for family and guests to enjoy.

Twenty-three years ago, Kent was recently divorced, a single dad, and wanted to raise his 13 year old daughter somewhere other than Virginia Beach.

He had never seen or heard of Chetola before his uncle brought him up the mountain and happened to pull into the estate to drop off paperwork for a listing.

His uncle, Clarence Johnson, a famous hotelier and hotel broker in Charlotte, was helping Kent look for potential hotel

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Restaurant - Locals Welcomed Timberlake’s Restaurant offers a true culinary experience both indoors and on the patio. Locals and guests alike choose from an ever-evolving seasonal menu crafted by executive chef Matt Rivers. Rivers sources local produce and proteins whenever possible, providing a farm-to-table element throughout the selections For dessert, pastry chef Candace Hagaman satisfies everyone’s sweet tooth, while a curated cocktail menu complements the experience. Reservations are recommended.

Restaurant Patio

Table for Two by Fireplace

View from Dining Room

On The Menu

properties in the Charlotte, Hickory and Granite Fall areas.

Kent’s family business had a number of franchised hotel properties up and down the east coast, and Kent had been managing Econo Lodges and Red Carpet Inns for 17 years. He had reached out to his uncle for help, and on one of those trips, his uncle asked if Kent would like to go with him to visit his nieces who were attending ASU. On the way back, they turned into Chetola to deliver the paperwork. His first sight of Chetola took him off guard, and he said, “Wow! What’s the story on this place?”

From Kent’s inspired reaction, his uncle quickly told him that this property wasn’t for him due to his background in franchise hotels. But the unexpected surprise had planted a powerful seed, and it was too late for a warning. For as Kent put it, “He warned me, but with the piss and vinegar of youth and a lack of wisdom that goes with that, I said – why not?”

They reached out to the owners at the perfect time, as the partnership had reached a point where, after the plane crash and tragic death of one partner and health issues with another, it was a good time to pass the property on to a new owner. After some time spent on due diligence, Kent was ready to move forward… and with family support.

“I got a degree in night school for financial planning and my mom let me run her portfolio, which I did for 10 years,” said Kent. “Eventually my mom took an interest in my idea and helped out with the financing.”

Kent looked at what Chetola offered and said that the previous owners had done a great job building a good product.

“It was bankrupted when they came in and bought it and took a big chance,” said Kent. “They built a nice product, and when I arrived, it was beginning to be known in the Charlotte and Greensboro markets. Chetola was getting good name recognition, so we decided to blow the walls out of the marketing side. That was our first mission – to really put it on the map, and we started out spending a couple hundred thousand dollars in marketing.”

Kent was successfully able to talk their builder, AC Howard, into staying around to focus on the ever-growing condo market that Kent believed was going to be the cornerstone of Chetola’s business.

“I was scared of building condos, but that was what was working, and it kept us afloat. It was what I had to learn until the restaurant started finding its footing and the Bob Timberlake opportunity came along,” he said. “The restaurant was a core

Groups Are Welcomed at Chetola Chetola has a long history of hosting groups and private events. The resort’s indoor and outdoor meeting facilities allow it to host everything from 10-person executive retreats to large weddings.

All group functions are supported by full-service food and beverage options, an attentive staff and multiple lodging options.

At the resort’s core are banquet and meeting rooms in the Lodge. Chetola’s staff can be as hands-on or hands-off as the group desires.

Full audio-visual capabilities support business meetings and civic gatherings. For full-day and multi-day functions, attendees are free to move about the facilities and take advantage of several amenities at the resort.

Manor House

The estate’s beauty make it especially popular for outdoor group functions. The gazebo and Arbor by the Lake can combine to host smaller weddings, receptions and gatherings up to 40 people. For larger groups, Chetola’s event tents can encompass up to 4,800 square feet to host 250 people.

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Chetola’s Playtime Guests at Chetola have a lengthy list of activities to choose from.

More than 20 activities are included in the daily resort fee, including paddleboats, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboards, tennis, pickleball, disc golf, cornhole and hiking. Fishing equipment is provided for those looking to outwit the trout in Chetola Lake. Hiking trails on the 78-acre resort also connect to 25 miles of carriage trails at the adjacent Moses Cone Memorial Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Boathouse

The Bridge

The Swing

The Firepit

piece of the Chetola story, so it was important to maintain it.

I was not a restaurant person and lost quite a bit money trying to figure it out. Finally, I had a retired restaurateur come in, a real estate consultant who had owned, managed, and taught the restaurant business. He gave us 16 hours a week to train me and our staff, and we finally turned it around.”

The strong condo sales allowed for the Chetola staff to focus more on opening the Bob Timberlake Inn. “We spent $1.4 million on eight rooms, and the builder was so concerned about the idea that he called my mom. She said, ‘Well, I think he knows what he’s doing,’ and she ended up backing the idea, not so much for the project, but investing in me and my idea. So we did it. Timberlake Inn opened in 2004, struggled for a couple of months, and went into the black in about 11 months,” said Kent. “The idea for it came about from a worker who suggested I shut down the restaurant and turn the Manor House into a bed and breakfast. I couldn’t shut down the restaurant, but the upstairs office I was using for myself, marketing, and accounting could certainly be remodeled into something like that. I just had to make that work.”

To make the inn happen, Kent had to come up with model for a quaint Blowing Rock inn that would be successful and bring people to the area from off the mountain.

“We needed to turn that space into accommodations. When an employee ask me to describe the vision, I said something from the ‘20s to ’40, a big leather chair…sitting in front of a fireplace after a day out hunting…or finishing a glass of brandy and a cigar…and the dog sleeping by the fire…that time period.

She said, ‘You are describing a person that is living today, Bob Timberlake,’” Kent said. “I found out that he had been coming up to this area for years for fly-fishing, and had sold some of his first painting out of a truck up here. So we connected, started talking, and he trusted us enough to let us do it. One of Bob’s designers helped me visualize it, and she and Bob got together and did a great job. It was such a great success.”

Things were running smoothly until 2011 when the restaurant at the resort caught fire. What was initially believed to be smoke from a fireplace or from the kitchen exhaust, turned into a fire that took 11 and a half months to rebuild after discovering that the foundation was still the original locust logs that were rotted badly.

Through the mostly good times and a few bad times, it’s still been a great life story for the Tarbutton family.

Kent and his wife, Shelly, had known each other for years and reconnected after Kent was clearing out old boxes and found a recording of her playing music. Months later he got in touch with her, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Our step children are here, and we’ve had seven family weddings on the lawn at Chetola, including mine. I married

Shelly Parker 16 years ago when it was raining so hard you couldn’t see the lake. I have a wonderful wife. We dated for five years, a long distance relationship because of her job and raising her kids. She has been very good for my life. All the kids get along, and now we’re grandparents.”

The other Tarbutton brother is happy to see what Chetola has become and enjoys the working family atmosphere that has been ongoing for over a decade.

“We have local folks that regularly enjoy our facilities, from the shooting range, to the restaurant, and to the spa. One of things Kent has done is provide different levels of activities that fit any budget from the bare essential to more elaborate packages. We have things families can do together without spending much money,” Greg said. “The biggest blessing of this is that Kent and I get to work together and our wives enjoy each other. We made an agreement that when it’s an outdoor decision, that falls on me. If it has to do with the restaurant and hotel business, he makes it.

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We certainly have had discussions back and forth, but in the Tarbutton way, we grab a cup of coffee, banter back and forth, and for the past 10 years, we always came to a shared decision.”

Today, Chetola is seeing price increases, as urbanites are ready to get out of the cities. In May, AAA gave Chetola the Regional Housekeeping Award. The resort also received the Inspector Choice Housekeeping Award, and RCI won the Triple Crown Award, which Chetola has had for 27 years. The resort currently manages between 70 to 100 condos.

“Who knows what the future will hold, but for now, the good Lord willing, we don’t have plans to go anywhere. So we just want to carry it on as a family place, and we’re hoping that maybe the family will carry on the tradition here,” said Greg.

The Chetola Sporting Preserve

As the condominiums, the inn and the restaurant continued to flourish, Kent re-

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Chetola’s Lobbys The lobby décor welcomes each guest on their relaxing stay in the Chetola Lodge and the Bob Timberlake Inn, where the lobby features the feel of a rustic mountain retreat dating back to the old days of the original Manor House Estate. The lobby includes the original stone fireplace as well as comfortable furniture to sit and relax as you plan your day deciding what you want to do in the High Country on vacation.

Restaurant Lobby

Hotel Lobby

Hotel Lobby

Bob Timberlake Inn Lobby

ceived some additional help from family members, particularly in getting the Chetola Sporting Reserve off and running.

Kent’s brother, Greg, and his wife, Annie, have been living here permanently for the past 10 years. Prior to that, for a number of years he was up and down the mountain managing his section 8 housing business in Atlanta. He sold it on December 6, 2007 and began focusing on the shooting range and the fishing program at Chetola.

Chetola is an Orvis endorsed fishing lodge working with several local outfitters. At times, they couldn’t get trips for the guests because when the season hits, if you don’t have your own in-house people, guides aren’t available.

While working with several local guides, Greg was fortunate enough to meet Dustin Coffey, who came on board with Chetola, as did Kent’s daughter, Morgan. She helped Greg put their outdoor program together.

“Morgan came up here with me at 13, leaving behind her friends and the life she knew. She attended ASU, learned Japanese, went to Japan for a while, and came back to live with me while she needed to have her passport renewed,” Kent said. “Of course I had really missed her, and while she was here, she ended up falling in love and bought the house right next to me.”

Morgan Tarbutton has been working at Chetola since 1996.

She starting as the front desk manager for a number of year, but her love for fishing took over and she wanted to apply it to the Chetola experience. So when Greg started the shooting range, she started developing the guides and marketing program to take fishing to the next level.

“A lot of it is about selling us as guides, because once you make a good adventure and experience, they will come back,” said Morgan. “Chetola is a great base camp to start your fishing expeditions here in the High Country. It’s certainly not like your wilderness base camp where you may be sleeping on a cot.

The accommodations are wonderful to come back to after a day out fishing, and of course, it’s easy to bring along your whole family, because they will have things to enjoy here if they don’t accompany you out on the streams for fishing. My job is to make memories so people will want to come back here.”

Chetola is North Carolina’s first Orvis endorsed lodge offering some of the premiere fly-fishing waters in the state and opportunities for year round trout fishing in private waters. There are over 3000 miles of stocked trout waters that NC Wildlife regulates from catch and release to catch and keep. Having a great, local guide makes these fishing trips even more fun.

“It’s important to hire a guide, because we know what all the regulations are, and we want to find out what you want to get out of your trip so we can customized your outing for that.

And a guide can really help you get to the spots that are best for that time of year. We know what they are eating and where the fly needs to be in the water,” Morgan explained. “We see a

Shooting Reserve

“The exclusive 67-acre Chetola Sporting Reserve includes a well-appointed clubhouse, fivestand shotgun station, 12-station sporting clays course and pistol, archery and rifle ranges.

Guests receive one-on-one accredited instruction with only the best equipment provided

lot of local folks who use our services to entertain out of town guests. Locals enjoy using us for access to private waters where you can find those 20 plus inch fish, which are pretty hard to find in public waters. Private trophy waters give people a chance to go where they can experience that big fish fight with the help of a guide to land your catch. With a larger fish, there is a lot going on as you navigate the waters and terrain to bring the fish in. That’s what we’re here for, to guide you to those catches that you will remember forever.”

The next addition to the sporting reserve at Chetola would be acquiring a location for the shooting range.

“So we got the fishing program going, and in the mean time, I had been looking for a spot to put in a shooting range, actually a sporting clay range,” said Greg.

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Finding a location was challenging because of no zoning in Watauga County. Greg kept being shown property on top of mountains, which wouldn’t have worked because, as Greg said, “you could hear the shots for miles.”

Fortunately, Jim Pitts of the Blue Ridge Mountain Club had the perfect location, a boxed canyon that was an abandon tree farm nobody had worked for 35 years. Chetola bought 67 acres from Blue Ridge Morgan Tarbutton Mountain Club to build

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Chetola’s Amenities A state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor pool with whirlpool, and The Spa at Chetola Resort are the headline amenities. These allow guests to focus on either fitness or relaxation year-round. The spa features a mission motif with furnishings and décor by Bob Timberlake, Charleston Forge and local artists. The relaxation room invokes an aura of calm as a wall fountain cascades nearby. A variety of spa services are available, including massage therapies, facials, manicures and pedicures.

Indoor Pool

Exercise Room

Conference Room

their shooting range and fishing programs. These things fit the market and it’s what Kent calls, “A cast and blast program.”

So they bought and cleared the land of huge pine trees, put in roads and collaborated with architect David Mullins to design a sporting clay club that fit the time period and the Chetola motif. And Bob Timberlake loaned them his interior designer.

Chetola avoided disaster after a fire came within a few feet of the shooting reserve.

“The same week we got our certificate of occupancy, an arsonist set fire to the area around Blue Ridge Mountain Club. Flames were only 15-20 feet away from us, but the winds switched and they were able to put out the fire. We dodged a bullet there,” said Greg.

The shooting reserve has expanded to offer more than just shooting clay targets.

“We are a National Rifle Association Club, and we have a lobby of women that shoot with us. In fact, they are the fastest growing part of the shooting population. We’ve added archery, a pistol range, and a mountain rifle range. And we’re seeing what we really wanted to see… lots of families enjoying each other’s company,” Greg said.

Community Relations

Spa Complex

Spa Life

Over the years, Chetola has nurtured a relationship with Blowing Rock by becoming an integral part of the Chamber of Commerce. Chetola hosts events for the Village, holds conferences for associations, and provides assistance with civic leadership programs.

“They have always partnered in our co-op advertising and they do a great job of not just promoting the Chetola Resort, but the Town of Blowing Rock as well,” said Charles Hardin, the President/CEO of the Blow-

ing Rock Chamber of Commerce.

“Kent has done a great job, and has been very respectful of the environment, the town, and the community in everything they’ve done. He’s been a very strong advocate of Blowing Rock, served a lot of volunteer hours at the chamber, was the TDA board chair for about eight years, and has put in a lot of time outside of his job of running that resort.”

The resort even helped Blowing Rock when they were facing serious water shortages.

“When the town almost ran out of water during a severe drought in 2007, Kent allowed the town to build a pipeline from the water connection over to the Chetola Lake and put a pump in there and pump water out of that lake. That was before we acquired our new water reservoir, so before that, Chetola Lake was the source. We came very close to drying up. That was something they didn’t have to do,” said Hardin.

Chetola has also been the home to several of the most popular events hosted in Blowing Rock.

“Chetola host two major events for us each year. Winterfest, for example, is held inside their restaurant, and they close every year so we can have it. The other one is the popular Polar Plunge, which is a lot of work to put on. They orchestrate that event, and I remember the early years for that Kent was one of the first ones to just him with Jimmy Crippen and Tracy Brown. They kind of led the whole initiative.”

In addition to those two events, Chetola is a “huge partner” in the annual Symphony by the Lake concert, according to Hardin.

“If we didn’t have that setting – you can’t get real estate like that anywhere else – and it makes that event.

They work so hard on it that people think it’s a Chetola event that we talk about, but it’s the other way around,”

Three Lodging Options

Condominiums

Suggested Headline Change: When it comes to lodging, Chetola is really three resorts in one. Guests can stay in Chetola Lodge, the Bob Timberlake Inn or spacious one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom condos. All Lodge rooms have been renovated within the past two years. The boutique eight-room Timberlake Inn offers a pampered luxury experience, while vacation condos spread across the 78-acre resort provide social distancing for families and groups of most any size.

Hardin added. “There’s hardly anything we’ve ever asked them to do that they didn’t step up to the plate, and not just hit the ball, but knock it out of the park.”

Chetola has been fortunate enough to even hold some regional events, including two annual conventions for the Carolinas Association of Chamber of Commerce.

“Everyone loves coming to Chetola because it’s small and intimate, and they always work with us to get the pricing right,” said Hardin. “Greg’s wife, Annie, was the one that got us the Flower America in Bloom Award a couple of years ago. She went out and led that whole charge.”

Hardin complimented the job that Kent has done developing a culture at Chetola. Not all the businesses are able to do that. He’s created lots of jobs and has had a huge economic impact on the town with employment, as well as revenues. There are around 120 people currently employed by Chetola Resort.

Hotel Room

Hotel Complex

Come Visit Chetola

So what starts with a glimpse of a lake, could end as a powerful stance in flowing water reeling in large trout like they did 174 years ago. The promise of Chetola, etched by its beauty at first glance, echos through everything you do there, and is felt as a lifting, peaceful promise of finding the wholeness inside - where our own nature resides.

“Chetola is one of the most welcoming place in the High Country.

We call our gate house the welcome center,” says Kent. “So please come in, take part in the history and enjoy the amenities. We’re just a piece of the puzzle, and it will be here long after I’m gone.” t

Hotel Room

Painting the Valle Howard Murry paintings depict everyday scenes that were typical of the Valle Crucis area in the early 1900’s

V

the style of art is typical of the iewing a painting by

By Jan Todd 1930’s – 1960’s, and his paintHoward Murry is like ings capture the buildings of stepping back in time to Valle Crucis as they stood in the “olden days” of Valle Cruthat era.” cis and the surrounding mounHancock, who studied art tain area — with quaint hillhistory at Winthrop University side farms, farmers in the field, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, tobacco barns and churches said the style is realistic with an nestled in the valley of the Blue impressionistic feel. “The peoRidge Mountains. ple in the paintings are loosely His paintings depict Valle painted, without distinctive deCrucis landmarks such as St. tails, so they could represent John’s Episcopal Church, historanybody,” she described. ic family houses, as well as evAlthough modern farm eryday scenes that were typical equipment and electricity were of the area in the early 1900’s. commonly used during Murry’s Murry, who lived from 1891– lifetime, he preferred to paint 1968, was a prolific painter who the community as uncontamicaptured culture, landscapes and nated by modern technology, mountain life, producing huneliminating evidence of utility dreds of oil paintings and walines and automobiles from his tercolors from the 1930’s until pictures. his death. During his life, Murry Hancock’s grandfather, Tom was a well-known regional artMcDaniel, who retired and lived ist, winning many recognitions many years in Linville, was also and showing his work in the a painter during the time of Carolinas and in the Washington Murry. Hancock said there were D.C. area. many similarities in their styles Since Murry’s passing, much of painting. “For me that makes of his work has been in the Murry’s paintings even more hands of his family, until the colHoward Murry lived from 1891–1968 and was a prolific painter who special,” she shared. lection was introduced to The captured culture, landscapes and mountain life, producing Much of what is known Art Cellar Gallery in Banner Elk hundreds of oil paintings and watercolors. about Howard Murry’s life and in 2016 — where it is now being work is due to a graduate school displayed and offered for sale to thesis composed by Mary Cheek Mills, currently a historic glass the public.

Sarah Myers Hancock, the gallery director at The Art Cel- specialist in the Cultural Resources Department of the internalar Gallery, said, “Murry’s work is like a time capsule, because tional engineering firm AECOM in Trenton, Pennsylvania.

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In 1934, Murry built a log cabin for his family in Valle Crucis and named it “Ontaroga,” a Native American name meaning “place of hills and rocks.”

They used the cabin as a summer home.

Mills, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UNC-Greensboro, was working on her first master’s degree, in public history, at Appalachian State University in the early 1990’s when she was first introduced to the art of Howard Murry.

“Dr. Charles Alan Watkins, who was then the director of the (now defunct) Appalachian Cultural Museum and a museum studies professor at Appalachian State, encouraged our class to produce an exhibit of Howard Murry’s paintings at the museum as a class project,” Mills recalled.

Mills co-curated the exhibition and worked closely with Watkins and her classmates to choose the paintings and write the label text for the show. Mills, who was very interested in the history of Valle Crucis and Appalachia studies, decided to expand her research about Murry and develop the topic for her degree thesis, which she wrote in 1994.

“I had visited Valle Crucis and stayed at the Mission House (now the Valle Crucis Conference Center) in the late 1970’s as part of an undergraduate course,” said Mills. “Like Howard Murry, I felt drawn to the valley and seemed to fall under its spell. Also, as I grew up in the rural Piedmont of North Carolina, I appreciated the lifestyle Murry celebrated in his paintings.”

Mills interviewed Murry’s two children, James and Marjorie Dumbell, to learn about Murry’s background and his art. She also researched museum records, historical articles and art critiques published in newspapers during the artist’s lifetime and delved into Murry’s own published and unpublished manuscripts that were in the possession of his children.

Mill’s thesis provides the source of Murry’s biographical information and insights about his art in the following section of this article.

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Murry considered himself an integral part of the Valle Crucis community, designing and building welcome signs on all roads approaching town.

He was instrumental in organizing a community club that met regularly to discuss local needs.

The Life of Murry Murry was born as Howard Murry Dumbell, Jr., in 1891 in Memphis, Tennessee. (He legally changed his name in 1947.)

His father was an Episcopal clergyman, and Murry’s family relocated to Great Barrington, Massachusetts — a small community in the Berkshire Mountains — when Murry was about five years old.

Murry’s unpublished manuscript, “Under the Round Collar,” was a humorous fictional account of his childhood, growing up as the eldest of five sons raised “under the vigilant eyes of a congregation eager to spot the faults of the minister’s boys.” Mills wrote that Murry’s father taught him to respect individuals regardless of their status or occupation — values that emerged in both his paintings and his written works.

As a young adult, Murry moved to New York City and was hired by McFadden Brothers, a cotton brokerage. As a cotton buyer, he was transferred to Montgomery, Alabama, where he met and married his first wife, Algie “Kitty” Ware. They had two children, James and Marjorie.

The family lived in Europe for a short time before settling in Charlotte. They often vacationed in the mountains of western North Carolina, visiting Little Switzerland, Cashiers, Highlands and Blowing Rock. During the summer of 1929, the family stopped in Valle Crucis on their way to Blowing Rock from Highlands.

Since evening was approaching, the 72

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family decided to stay the night and lodged in the home of C.D. “Squire” Taylor, who welcomed travelers and summer guests.

During that time, it was common for residents to open their homes to overnight boarders as a source of modest income, as there were very few motels and inns along the way.

The beauty and serenity of Valle Crucis captured Murry’s heart and his family returned to the area regularly for summer vacations, staying at the Taylor’s or with members of the Mast family. Murry, who never had formal art training, painted as a hobby and enjoyed this passion while visiting the mountains or the seashore.

Back in Charlotte, Murry was very successful professionally and financially in the cotton business, until the industry collapsed in the 1930’s. At that point, Murry began to pursue art seriously. As a businessman, Murry had moved in elite social circles, which enabled him to market his art in the cities where he had worked and traveled.

In 1934, Murry built a log cabin for his family in Valle Crucis and named it “Ontaroga,” a Native American name meaning “place of hills and rocks.” They used the cabin as a summer home.

Murry loved mountain architecture and craftsmanship, and wrote about his cabin: “My house is quite as much a creation of mine as are my paintings. I was my own architect and, in fact, did a great deal of the work. Last winter I became interested in the artifacts created and used by those remarkable and admirable people, the pioneers who moved into and settled

this mountain country when it was a practically unbroken forest of virgin timber . . . I find that few people know what a froe is . . . It was used in making “boards” or “shakes,” laid on roofs in shingle fashion. My house, being of logs, simply had to have such a roof.

After a few years they twist and curl, casting dramatic shadows which give a wonderful textured effect. They would seem utterly inadequate to turn aside rain, yet mine have served splendidly for 18 years and are probably good for many more.”

During his summers in Valle Crucis, Murry painted outdoors in the countryside, catching the landscape at different times during the day. In his early art, he painted with oils, but then turned to watercolors for most of his later pieces.

Murry got along well with the people of Valle Crucis and enjoyed chatting with the subjects of his paintings as he worked. He rapidly became a recognized regional artist, in spite of his lack of formal training.

In her master’s thesis, Mills wrote that news releases in 1941 referred to Murry as a “well-known North Carolina artist” and “one of the South’s noted artists.” He exhibited regularly from 1941 to 1956 at Charlotte’s Mint Museum of Art and often won prizes in annual competitions held at the museum.

He also had a number of exhibits in the North Carolina mountains, including a show at the Mayview Manor in Blowing Rock during the summer of 1948.

Murry’s wife, Kitty, passed away

News releases in 1941 referred to Murry as a “well-known North Carolina artist” and “one of the South’s noted artists.” He exhibited regularly from 1941 to 1956 at Charlotte’s Mint Museum of Art.

Jim Dunville of Charlotte is Howard Murry’s grandson who took over the collection from his father who was Murry’s son, when he passed away in 2002.

Among the boxes of memories and paintings left to him were sketch books that contained the work of Murry’s capturing scenes from around the area.

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Art Cellar Staff holds three framed works by Howard Murry. The Gallery holds the estate of the artist, over 300 paintings including watercolors and oils. in 1946. Shortly after, he married his art a real vacation — one that is different — and was opposed to development, campaigning to maintain the natural beauty of agent Barney “Toga” Robinson from Char- away from summer throngs!”

Murry planned to offer art instruction the valley. lotte, and lived with her in New York and Murry and Sue spent some of their Baltimore, where he had some success with and morning sketch groups to guests at the inn. However, before the inn could open winters in Washington, D.C., where Sue sales and exhibitions of his artwork.

Murry and Toga moved to Valle Cru- Sue broke her leg, and their plans never was employed in the government. While there, Murry published “Salt O’ Life,” a cis permanently in 1948, and Toga died came to fruition.

Still, Murry considered himself an in- collection of fictionalized stories based on of complications from a stroke just a few anecdotes from Valle Cruyears afterwards.

“Very often people who come to see my cis, which was called “Dutch After the death of his Cross” in his book. He illussecond wife, in 1953 Murry paintings will say to me—“I don’t know the book with black married Sue Hill Taylor, the anything about art, but…” they feel, but they trated and white reproductions of daughter of Squire Taylor, who owned the house where are afraid to put trust in their own instinctive his watercolors.

In the book, Murry Murry’s family first stayed in feelings. It is true that there are many things wrote: Valle Crucis years before. The that go into the making of a piece of art and “The life of these people newly married couple moved the artist may spend many painful years has few frills, but they plod into the bark cottage beside mastering them; but I do not think that the along and seem even more the Sue’s childhood home — which is now known as the average layman need much concern himself content and better satisfied Taylor House Inn. about them. The test is do you like it? Does it than do many other people who encounter less arduous The couple originally suggest something other than mere surface conditions and have more of planned to open a bed and appearance?” – HOWARD MURRY material possessions.” breakfast inn in the Taylor Murry penned that the seHouse, and even printed a brochure illustrated with one of Murry’s tegral part of the Valle Crucis community, cret to survival was a good sense of humor. paintings. The brochure advertised Valle designing and building welcome signs on Many of his stories came from the “Jot all roads approaching town. He was in- ‘Em Down Club,” a group of men who Crucis as a quiet summer haven: “If you are tired of busy days, a crowd- strumental in organizing a community club gathered around a wood stove at a local ed city and bustling traffic, you can have that met regularly to discuss local needs, general store in Valle Crucis. Members of 74

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August / September 2020

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this unofficial club had their names “on the books” of the store, buying supplies on credit until harvest time.

Cashiers would “jot down” the purchases until payment was received.

Murry died in 1968, and his wife’s family sold many of his paintings at an auction. Murry was a very productive painter and had a very large collection of work. In his journals, he offered an explanation for his diligence in painting: “The artist who waits for inspiration might as well give up. I feel that we humans move in a sort of inner cycle. When we are “on top,” we are capable of our best work, but it is significant that we can seldom if ever know when we are on top. Then, too, things have a way of happening that break and change one’s rhythm; so the only safe thing is to work daily as a matter of habit. Keep that up long enough, and though you may do a string of bad ones there will be some work certainly as good, and perhaps better, than the earlier work.”

A Lesson in Art

Mary Cheek Mills, who earned a second master’s degree in 1995 from the Winterthur program in Early American Culture from the University of Delaware, said her interest in American art history deepened as she studied Murry’s work.

In her thesis she wrote that Murry’s paintings are part of a long tradition of American landscape and genre painting instilled with a sense of place. Mass publishers such as Currier & Ives helped popularize this style of painting in the 19th century.

The Armory Show of 1913 marked a turning point in the history of American art, Mills wrote. Although the majority of the exhibit consisted of American works, for the first time in the United State a collection of art showed the evolution of European modernism, with works by Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp, and Van Gogh.

Artists began to express their art in a way beyond realistic scenes of American life.

However, during the 1930’s the hardships of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe caused American artists to return to the comfort of “American Scene” painting, Mills wrote, where place, politics, social change and history became the major sources of inspiration.

Mills wrote that the American Scene movement can be divided into two categories: Regionalism and Social Realism. The Regionalists — including Howard Murry — usually painted romanticized and nostalgic scenes of Americans on farms and in small towns, whereas the Social Realists were more concerned about making social and political statements about oppression in urban America.

Mills wrote that when Murry first visited the small mountain crossroads of Valle Crucis in 1929, he found a community experiencing an economic decline that would persist until the Mast General Store became a successful commercial tourist attraction in the 1980’s.

But to Murry, a summer visitor not primarily concerned with the town’s economics, Valle Crucis seemed a qui76

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et, warmly welcoming community whose residents exhibited admirable values and a compelling relationship with their land. The mountain landscape, local architecture and local population inspired the artist for the remainder of his lifetime.

Now Showing at The Art Cellar Gallery

Murry’s son James died in 2002, and his sister Marjorie died in 2016, leaving the collection of Murry’s paintings to James’s son, Jim Dunville, in Charlotte.

One of Dunville’s friends, artist Kathy Myers Reece, recommended that he contact The Art Cellar in Banner Elk about exhibiting and selling some of Murry’s artwork. “Sarah Hancock and Pam McKay at The Art Cellar have done a terrific job in cataloguing and exhibiting the work,� Dunville said. “It seems especially appropriate that the gallery is in such a beautiful setting in the High Country, where most of my grandfather’s paintings were done more than fifty years ago.�

Typically, The Art Cellar Gallery would feature work such as Murry’s in a seasonal exhibit, holding an event for the opening. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Hancock said they haven’t been able to hold events at the gallery. However, they have Murry’s work currently displayed. “We’ve sold a number of his pieces,�

Hancock shared. “A lot of people from Valle Crucis have purchased Murry’s art, local collectors, and other artists that might want a piece of history from that time. They are so beautiful and unique. We can imagine what life was like during his time.�

The Art Cellar Gallery, located at 920 Shawneehaw Avenue (Hwy 184) in Banner Elk, is open Monday – Saturday from 10am – 5pm.

Murry shared the Regionalists philosophy that art should be understood by the common people. In his speech entitled, “Man Lives Not by Bread Alone,� Murry said: “Very often people who come to see my paintings will say to me, “I don’t know anything about art, but . . . � They feel, but they are afraid to put trust in their own feeling.

It is true that there are many things that go into the making of a piece of art and the artist may spend many painful years mastering them. The test is: Do you like it? Does it suggest something other than mere surface appearance?

I would say to those who don’t know anything about art – perhaps you know more than you think. Make yourself receptive and if feeling comes, trust it.� t

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Parting Shot...

Blue Ridge Parkway Serves as Retreat for Cabin Fever

T

he Blue Ridge Parkway was eerily quiet in early spring.

The National Park Service began closing portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway on April 8 in Virginia before locations in North Carolina began to close around the Moses Cone manor, Grandfather Mountain, and the Linn Cove Viaduct on April 15.

All of that was thanks to the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic that was continuing to spread across the United States.

Slowly but surely, people have been able to find themselves back outdoors, back in the friendly confines of Mother Nature and enjoying the clean mountain air.

“Across the Highlands District of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which includes areas like Blowing Rock, Boone and Grandfather Mountain, we noticed an uptick in daily use of the trails soon after the pandemic began. Locals and visitors alike wanted to get out after being at home and cooped up,” said Tracy Brown, the Executive Director of the Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority. “When parts of the Parkway were closed, it didn’t mean that the trails were closed. Only what the Parks Service calls the Motor Road. People tried to stay active and sought those outdoor activities that this area can provide. Our area is well known for wide-open spaces with room to roam.”

Several folks took advantage of being able to walk and ride their bicycles on the Linn Cove Viaduct. The road is normally closed to foot traffic, but with no vehicles allowed on the parkway, it was flooded with pedestrians and cyclists.

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a remote spot only to find that a good many others had the same idea. We’ve seen popular trails like Rough Ridge, Moses Cone Estate, and Linville Falls really busy over the past several months.

I guess that could’ve been expected given the desire to get out in nature and fresh air,” said Brown.

With visitor centers and campgrounds being closed early on, the Blue Ridge Parkway turned into a crowded day trip for many people. Trails have remained extremely busy throughout because after all, you don’t need a campground or a picnic shelter to be able to enjoy a relaxing walk or a strenuous hike in the High Country. We all hope that everyone has picked up their trash and kept from damaging the plant life along the numerous nature spots on the Parkway.

“The ‘over-use’ of trails may have been skewed a bit by the closure of some areas like campgrounds and portions of the motor road early on. That pushed visitors to concentrate in some of the same accessible areas when they normally could’ve spread out more over several recreation areas. Hopefully, people are being respectful of one another and our public lands,” Brown said.

On July 29, the National Park Service announced the reopening of campgrounds at Julian Price Park and Linville Falls in the High Country as well as Peaks of Otter and Rocky Knob in Virginia. Visitor Centers currently remain closed, as does the Doughton Park Campground in nearby Alleghany County.

By Nathan Ham

Southern Charm in the High Country

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