Bountiful Botany

Here on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau and in the surrounding Southern Appalachians, we are lucky to be amongst an incredible diversity of plants. As spring has progressed with wildflowers popping up and a leafy canopy emerging overhead, we at the HighlandsCashiers Land Trust have been excited to see all the plants at their height for the year.

A great way to see them is at our public properties around town and we hope that you’ll visit them all to see the distinct landscapes that we protect.

One property we are highlighting this summer is the Brushy Face Preserve where we will be celebrating the season through a native medicinal plant hike!

Our region is home to a rich cultural history surrounding the use of traditional medicinal practices and we will be sharing some of these in our program, Bountiful Botany: Medicinal Plants of the Plateau. It is primarily taking place in the form of a self-guided hike at Brushy Face Preserve that will be up for the month of June. The hike will consist of informational signs along the trail highlighting some of the medicinal plants found on the property. Appropriate for all ages, and a good opportunity for children to learn while school is out, anyone is free to come and enjoy the hike at their own pace any day of the month.

With the help of the International Friendship Center and funding from Environmental Educators of North Carolina, the signs will be in both English and Spanish.

We hope you will come out to enjoy this program and the Brushy Face Preserve as well as our other public properties. The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust conserves property around the plateau which provides habitat for native plants and animals such as these medicinal plants. For more information about our programs, public trails, or the land we protect please visit hicashlt.org.

For questions or information regarding Bountiful Botany please contact me, Logan Kallam, AmeriCorps Member assigned to the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, at logan. hitrust@earthlink.net.

by Logan Kallam, Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust

Literacy & Learning

The Literacy & Learning Center relies upon a committed community to help it deliver its vital services. For more information, call at (828) 526-0863.

Kellan Day

The Literacy and Learning Center in Highlands is one of those places that makes you so happy you want to burst into song, so come on, join them and “celebrate good times, come on”: celebrate education, literacy and community spirit.

Since its inception in 1995 the Literacy and Learning Center (formerly the The Literacy Council) has been embraced and nurtured by our community. The care, love and support it has shown has enabled it to grow and flourish, providing literacy and education services to people of all ages.

Director Bonnie Potts says that it truly is a community effort, and they encourage the community to take advantage of their services. Countless people support it through volunteering or donations, and their contributions have allowed the Center to grow into a resource for people of all ages.

They are enthusiastically supported by other nonprofits and organizations within the community who bring their programs on site to make their children’s programs as hands on and fun as possible. The Bascom supports them with arts and crafts programs, the Land Trust and Biological Station offer hands-on opportunities to learn about science and our natural world.

Volunteers find they enrich their own lives while helping others reach their potential. The Reverend Kellan Day enjoys her time and says that, “I’ve deeply enjoyed my experience tutoring for the Literacy Council. Spending time with my student each week, working on improving his reading or helping him with his multiplication tables, has been joyful on a number of levels. I have seen him grow in confidence and be more comfortable reading at a higher level in English. I have witnessed his desire to learn expand and intensify. And we have laughed a lot along the way! The Literacy Council has created a program and community resource that prioritizes students and is highly rewarding for volunteers’”

As with most things in our post-Covid world, many of their classes and services have moved to an online format, but they are gradually moving back to on site programs with staggered schedules. For more information, give them a call at (828) 526-0863.

by Mary Jane McCall

Ross Landscape

For Ross Landscape Architecture, moving into the Peggy Crosby Center was something of a homecoming.

It’s poetic that the Peggy Crosby Center began as Highlands Community Hospital, then evolved into the home of many organizations, profit and not-for-profit groups that continue to take care of the town.

Henry (Hank) Ross of Ross Landscape Architecture, “Blending People and Nature,” is one of Peggy’s devoted tenants.

We can’t say most devoted, because every tenant champions their place at Peggy.

Ross is a landscape architect. He’s the talent that draws the plans for outdoor spaces (like his Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park design). Once he lays out his concept in two-dimensions, nurseries/installers add the third on site.

Over the years he’s called a lot of spaces his business hub: his home office, niches in real estate offices, shared architect’s workplace, or anywhere his designer’s hat could hang.

But hands-down, Peggy Crosby is the headquarters that satisfies his every need; abundant, beautiful space; easy-access to copying/scanning; a cozy dining nook; a sense of safety and peacefulness; and a welcome mat for his pup, Sophie.

Perhaps Peggy’s most compelling draw is its location. . .right in the heart of Highlands. Ross can walk four doors down to chat with friends and associates at Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust or walk outside, breathe in the garden’s sweet fragrance (he designed Peggy’s landscape pro bono, over a decade ago), then head to Main to meet a friend for lunch.

All tenants at Peggy are focused on people and/or environment: Counseling/mental health, learning/enrichment, a foundation for health, international family outreach, veteran support, and Land Trust represent the non-profits. Peggy also nurtures start-ups like home care, acupuncture, accounting, investment, construction, catering, and more.

For more information, visit: peggycrosbycenter.org, or contact Hank Ross: henry@rosslandarch.com.

by Donna Rhodes

When most of us talk about the Cashiers Crossroads, we conjure images of that intersection of US 64 and Highway 107, and the beckoning meadows of The Village Green.

But one group of citizens is focused on the Crossroads between the Pitfalls and Possibilities faced by the community in the second decade of the 21st century.

On one side of the equation is the specter of unbridled development without concern for consequences.

On the other, the careful cultivation of initiatives that’ll improve the lives of all the community’s residents.

Vision Cashiers is a volunteer organization “dedicated to those who live, work and play in Cashiers.” Operating as a 501(c)(3) public charity, volunteer leaders work to solve problems and guide the growth of Cashiers.

“In 2017 I had been living here half-time and wondered who was doing anything to preserve and enhance Cashiers,” recalls Paul Robshaw. “I went to 10 friends and said this is going to take some money and time and all 10 said ‘yes’ to my ‘ask.’ It was born! Now we have 200 volunteers, 12 initiatives going and some great accomplishments. We have ‘task forces,’ not ‘committees.’ Task forces do, committees talk.”

So what have these task forces done?

Well, there’s Cashiers Connect, which built a free WiFi service throughout the Cashiers business district on 64 and 107.

There’s the commitment to improving the educational opportunities for students of Blue Ridge School and Summit Charter School.

“We also have aspirations to create a permanent full time primary care clinic in Cashiers, staffed with two full-time doctors and doing everything a great clinic provides,” says Robshaw. For now, understand that this vision relies upon an engaged community. If you’d like to volunteer your time or donate funds, visit visioncashiers.com.

Vision Cashiers

Vision Cashiers is setting the stage for a dynamic community that benefits all of the village’s residents and visitors.

Keeping Up with the Critters

Sue provides us with updates on the beloved Battersea Tracy, a horse suffused with an astonishing tenacity; and sweet Jethro, the canine tornado who’s assumed the role of Carpe Diem Farms’ tail-wagging greeter.

It’s been a tremendous gift, a blessing of Marjorie and Janet, providing space to share the stories, happenings, animals and people of Carpe Diem Farms all these many years.

I have written every article every month and the funny thing is when the magazine comes out and I read what I wrote it all sounds new! I just read the April article, yes, I’m a little behind, however, that article gave me the subject of this one.

Our readership seems to be a loyal group and those who know me stop me in the grocery to ask about the continuing stories they have read.

Life on the farm is just that, ebb and flow. It flows with the seasons, the lives of each of the animals, horses, dogs and cats.

The stories most are asking about seem to be, “How is Tracy doing?” and “What’s up with Jethro?”

Since November of 2019 when our magnificent Morgan, Battersea Tracy, had her first hoof surgery, followed by two more and then a tendonectomy, hundreds from here and around the globe have followed her recovery, setback and been her prayer warriors and cheering squad.

As I write this, she is still with us, being her magnificent self. On May 1, we nearly lost her to a gas colic. Again, her grit, her determination and fortitude kept her here. She welcomes visitors, especially those bearing peppermints! Arriving here as an 18-month-old filly, she celebrates her 18th birthday on June 1.

And then there is Jethro, featured in the March Laurel as our newest addition. He’s a sweet BerneDoodle who was estimated to be 40-60 pounds full grown. At six months he has tipped the scale at 75 pounds! He grows in all directions daily and awakens each day wondering how to fit in his body!

A joy-filled character; he also welcomes visitors to the farm.

Carpe Diem Farms is a 501(c)(3) educational foundation, Exploring the Human Potential Through Equines.

by Sue Blair, Carpe Diem Farms

A Community Role

Bottom row – left to right – Jill Katz, Crossroads Custard & Cold Brew – Kristina Newsom, Specialties Plus of NC Back row – left to right – Badge Siler, Crossroads Custard & Cold Brew – Scott Alderson, Native Prime Provisions – Kathryn Davis, Davis & Company. Concierge – Daniel Fletcher, Hotel Cashiers and Chamber Board Member.

As the Cashiers Chamber continues to grow stronger, we invite you to join in the journey.

The Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce was established in 1982 and has provided the community with outstanding service for over 40 years. The Chamber’s mission is to “Provide extraordinary leadership as an Advocate for business, Information Source for the community and a Conduit for building destination awareness and responsible growth.”

As part of the Chamber’s community role, we offer membership opportunities for three important sectors of the Cashiers area: General Business Membership, Non-Profit Membership and individuals or Associate Membership. These categories offer many benefits to the participants along with providing support to the Chamber to continue working on the community’s behalf.

Chamber General Business Membership (Annual Investment $220) and Non-Profit Membership (Annual Investment $75): Listing in the Cashiers Area Visitor Guide and Membership Directory (25,000 copies annually) and other print publications plus numerous online editions through our regional partners; presence on CashiersAreaChamber.com and DestinationCashiers.com website directory listings; distribution of your marketing materials through our high-profile office and visitor center to potential customers; referrals via the Chamber website and office, plus inclusion in related sites with hotlinks to your business; exclusive invitations to Chamber events and networking activities; and sponsorship opportunities to showcase your business.

Chamber Associate Membership (Annual investment $125): Exclusive invitations to support our civic initiative at Chamber functions hosted by local businesses and non-profit organizations and the opportunity to network with opinion leaders, stakeholders, our board of directors and other community members; and, ongoing communication including timely public service announcements about community activities and exclusive updates on the Chamber’s advocacy of local assets and initiatives.

The Chamber works diligently to ensure our unincorporated area receives its due reinvestment of Jackson County tax dollars, to protect and increase property values, and to enhance our quality of life on the Plateau. We will continue to promote local economic prosperity through our representation on behalf of all our members to county, state, and federal officials.

If you’re interested in learning more about membership in the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce, please contact them at (828) 743-5191 or by email at office@cashiersareachamber.com.

by Thomas Taulbee, Director of Membership/Community Relations, Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce

The Highlands Bubble

Highlands emerges from Covid lockdown in a stronger financial position, thanks to a small but steady flow of visitors.

There are scores of reasons we are fortunate to live in Highlands, and now we can add one more to our gratitude list: Our Visitors. The continued strong economics of tourism we have experienced in Highlands is not reflected in our state.

In the state of North Carolina, visitor spending for 2020 dropped significantly due to Covid-19, taking a huge toll on the state’s tourism industry.

North Carolina is the sixth most visited state in the country and relies heavily on visitors to keep our economy strong. The latest reports are showing a 32 percent drop after a 10-year run of record visitor spending according to the U.S Travel Association and Tourism Economics.

These downturns not only affect tourism related businesses but also local residents, and governments. In 2020 total visitor spending in the state was $19.96 billion, a drop of 29.5 percent in domestic and 79.4 percent in international visitors. State and other local governments saw similar decreases in visitor-generated tax revenues. For more information go to: nccommerce.com/news/ press-releases/annual-tourism-spending-report-released.

Because of Highlands’ geographical location and abundance of natural resources for outdoor activities we have thrived during Covid. Current predictions show towns like Highlands, in remote mountain and beach areas, will continue in a travel bubble a little longer. Visitor sentiment during Covid drove travelers to small, isolated destinations where they could spend their time outdoors and feel safe.

The question is: when or will the bubble pop?

So far, so good for Highlands. We are grateful for businesses that serve residents and visitors; for keeping neighbors employed; for taxes, paid by visitors who support our town government; and for Occupancy Tax which supports many local jobs, events for residents and visitors, grants to nonprofits, our Welcome Center, and marketing for months when we have low visitation and need the economic boost.

Taxes collected in Highlands last year increased over prior years, all because we had visitors, while, sadly, other areas in North Carolina struggled. Highlands dodged the Covid economic bullet, and for that we are deeply grateful.

Thank you, Visitors!

by Kaye McHan, Executive Director, Highlands Chamber of Commerce

Dynamic Duo

Bombshell Hair Boutique adds another stylist to meet its burgeoning, outthe-door client list. To book an appointment or to learn more about the services offered, call (828) 342-9623.

Robyn Willard and Carla Gates