Gardening Traditions

The garden thriving at the Zachary-Tolbert House is a patch of precious living history.

Living history is found in many forms: cities, re-enactments, museums, and even gardens.

On the grounds of the Cashiers Historical Society, site of the Zachary-Tolbert House, is a historical representation of a 19th century garden, which is planted with heirloom seeds.

Extension services and horticulturists alike classify heirloom seeds as either grown for a “certain length of time” or passed down by a family or group that has preserved them.

However, one hard-fast criteria for heirlooms is this: The seeds must be gathered from an openpollinated plant; hybrid seeds do not count as they are helped along by humans.

In Elvira’s Kitchen Garden, named for Elvira Keener Zachary, Mordecai Zachary’s wife, are heirloom vegetables grown, harvested, and then donated annually to Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry in Cashiers.

Garden co-chairs Teed Poe and Bette Hines, along with Master Gardener Sally Carpenter, work in the garden. They were inspired to establish the garden after a 2017 Cashiers Historical Society symposium featuring landscape architect Mary Palmer Dargan in 2017 focusing on early American kitchen gardening.

“The information presented in the symposium directed us on how to build a garden like the one Elvira would have had to feed her 11 children and the boarders who stayed in the house,” said Poe.

The garden is 20 by 20 feet in size and is surrounded by hand-carved wood fencing. However, because the garden is situated on a historical and archaeological site, the volunteer gardeners had to bring in the soil and mound it up instead of digging down, where there might be artifacts from the 19th century.

Said Poe, “We decided to purchase heirloom seeds that represent vegetables that were planted at that time, such as what is known as the ‘three sisters’ – corn, beans, and squash. And we also plant cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, carrots…about seven different vegetables in all.

“People are so interested in heirloom seeds that they are purchasing them and passing them down. We love for people to come and see the garden and get ideas for their own gardens.”

by Deena Bouknight

Somewhere on the journey to discovery that we all traveled during the pandemic, we all found real estate.

After all, it was, for more than a year, the only trip we could take.

And so real estate, and more specifically our homes, became the central question. Together we mused about availability and price, home values, land costs, whether to build or rent or buy or renovate or restore. Unquestionably, the pandemic magnified and exacerbated what was already a perplexing conundrum for most of us.

To the rescue are Jeannie and Tucker Chambers of Chambers Realty and Vacation Rentals. The firm has been helping residents, prospective buyers, and vacation renters navigate the Highlands market for generations.

As they say, “We’ve been here for ages.” Tucker’s grandfather, Tudor, a fifth-generation Highlander, founded the agency in 1941. They have the distinction of being the oldest continuously owned family real estate business in town and Highland’s first Realtors.

In 1990, Tucker and Jeannie moved from Greenwood, South Carolina, and took over The Chambers Agency in 1997, under the tutelage of Tucker’s parents, Tony and Isabel Chambers. When they married in 1989, Tucker told Jeannie that they would one day move back home to the mountains. Then, with an engineering degree, Tucker also worked for a couple of surveyors in Highlands. Tucker knew Highlands and understood real estate. Jeannie had honed her management skills during a 15-year career in a hospital business office. Jeannie became a broker in 1992, and Tucker in 1998. Though the company has grown in the years since then, they continue to operate with the same family-owned, small-town business vision as their predecessors.

Indeed, the last 15 months have brought changes and challenges. The rental market, a substantial part of their business, was affected first and dramatically.

As Jeannie told me, “When the pandemic hit, we had no clue as to whether or not we would have a job. For one month, everything was completely shut down as no rentals were allowed during April.”

And when they did reopen, stringent new cleaning measures and longer intervals between stays had to be instituted.

But then, as Jeannie said, “The whole world discovered Highlands.”

And what started as an explosion in the visitor market eventually led to a boom in residential sales. Last year was their best year ever. Houses have been selling so fast that people are knocking on doors asking to buy homes.

To prospective buyers, Jeannine advises caution and getting to know the area before making a purchase. As she says, “Highlands does not fit everyone. It’s not a little Vail or Aspen, but for most of us it’s heaven on earth.”

For inquiries about vacation rentals, residential or land, and acreage for sale or property management, call (828) 526-3717 or visit highlandsiscalling.com.

80 Years in the Making

Buoyed by a track record that stretches back to the 1940s, Chambers Realty and Vacation Rentals has emerged from a global pandemic into a white hot real estate market.

Jeannie, Tucker, and Isabel Chambers

by Marlene Osteen

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photo by Susan Renfro