Smoky Mountain Living June 2013

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING

ATOMIC OAK RIDGE | CHEROKEE’S MANDARA SPA | SUNBURST TROUT JUNE/JULY 2013

Celebrating Southern Appalachians THE

AMPC WINNERS • N.C. FURNITURE MANUFACTURING’S GOLDEN AGE • GLOBAL IMPACT OF SMALL TOWN’S MINING INDUSTRY

Business is Brewing

JUNE/JULY 2013 • VOL. 13 • NO. 3

smliv.com

Asheville, N.C.’s beer industry

Quartz Crystals in The Mineral City

Shutting Down Furniture Mill Towns

Appalachian Mountain Photo Competition Winners Songwriting with Steve Martin & Edie Brickell

we lco m e :

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

It was common knowledge in our neighborhood that an abandoned mica mine was located somewhere on the mountain above my parents’ house. Despite a decade of roaming the woods, I’d never found the mine. It wasn’t for lack of trying. I was allowed to explore on my own as long as I was within earshot of mother’s whistle—a good 200 yards in any direction. I had a favorite grapevine sturdy enough for swinging. I unearthed the artifacts of an old springhouse under a thick blanket of periwinkle. I knew where to avoid the ancient rusty springs of a long-ago discarded mattress and where grew the brambles, trilliums, and ground cedar, a member of the clubmoss family colloquially known as turkey foot.

As well as I knew the landscape, the mine eluded me until one holiday forced my father and me to wash dishes together at the kitchen sink, above which there was a window that looked out on the mountainside. Through the trees I saw a darkened indentation.

“Look!” I said to my dad, my soapy dishwater covered hand pointing out the window. “Look!”

“What?” he asked.

“It’s the mine!”

“Where?”

“There, just like right THERE,” I said, emphatically pointing.

“Ohhhh, yeah.”

We immediately launched an expedition. Shoes tightly laced, my father and I trudged straight up the mountainside. Closer up, it Sarah E. Kucharski was easy to see why the spot had never drawn my attention. It wasn’t much to look at—red clay mud, roots, dead leaves, and small cakes of mica surrounded a hole not much taller than I. “Should we go in?” I asked.

“Do you think we can?” Dad replied.

“At least for a little ways,” I said.

“It’s probably not safe,” Dad said.

“Well … no,” even my teenage self had sense enough to say.

Dad clambered a bit further up the mountain.

“Here’s another entrance,” he yelled back down to me.

I headed up hill too. Dad was standing by a long-since caved in dent in the mountain.

“This must be the top of it,” Dad said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, the two of us clearly demonstrating our vast knowledge of mica mine operations.

The caved in dent was much less interesting than the open hole below, so I scrambled back down and, while Dad wasn’t looking, inched my way closer to the opening and finally about a foot inside.

“Hey, hey, hey, gumball,” Dad admonished me. “Gumball” was one of his nicknames for me, bearing different connotations based on its tone and inflection. Either I was being cute, or mildly more intelligent than chewing gum. “Get away from there.”

“It goes way in,” I said, still hunched in the mouth of the hole.

“Yeah, well it’s probably full of bats,” Dad said.

2

Deterred and muddy, I backed out.

It took several more months of cajoling and my enlistment of a high school friend as a fellow explorer before I again was allowed to approach the mine. With a battery powered Coleman lantern and a sturdy flashlight in tow, we climbed the mountain and stood negotiating by the mine’s entrance—the concept of death by mine collapse was not unfamiliar to us. Our “plan” was that if anything seemed amiss, we would hightail it out.

I held the lantern in front of my face and ducked inside. The shaft opened enough to allow us to stand upright, though we still had to walk single file into the mountain. There was a small incline, and from about 20 feet in we no longer could see the entrance. Our lantern and flashlight, once so bright and powerful, then made us seem ridiculously ill equipped. We followed the shaft as it curved to the left. We each grew silent, neither of us willing to say to the other that the expedition was a tremendously bad idea. And just as my heart beat a little faster, the mineshaft ended.

“Awww,” I said. “Guess this is as far as we can go.”

We stood next to one another in a space about six feet tall and five feet wide.

“Turn off your flashlight,” I said, clicking off the switch on the lantern.

We were plunged into darkness. It was darker than dark. It was the kind of dark I’d never been in before and have only been in since when tour leaders at commercial caves like Linville Caverns like to pull the trick of turning out all the lights to scare the bejeezus out of tourists. It works. Inside that mountain, the phrase, “so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face,” took on a very distinct new meaning.

“Okay. Let’s get out of here,” I said.

We headed out of the mine much more quickly than we had entered. Daylight was a welcome sight. We scuttled down the mountain, breeched the yard, and made it back to the house unscathed.

“How was it,” Mom asked.

“It was pretty cool,” I said.

My appreciation for those brave souls who made their living— and all too often died—mining deep within the earth is rooted in this memory, which in turn is responsible for this issue of Smoky Mountain Living’s overall theme of industry. Mountaineers were not sissies, and today the region bears an abiding respect for the hard work that shaped it and the industrious nature that redefines it.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Our lantern and flashlight, once so

bright and powerful, then made us seem ridiculously ill equipped.

We each grew silent, neither of us willing to say to the other that the expedition was a tremendously bad idea.

— Sarah E. Kucharski, managing editor

About our writers Marla Hardee Milling is a VOL. 13 • NUMBER 3 Publisher/Editor . . . . . . . . . . . Scott McLeod editor@smliv.com General Manager . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd ads@smliv.com Advertising Sales Manager . . Hylah Smalley hylah@smliv.com Managing Editor . . . . . . . Sarah E. Kucharski sarah@smliv.com Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Bumgardner travis@smliv.com Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Micah McClure Finance & Admin. . . . . . . Amanda Singletary Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd, Whitney Burton, Amanda Bradley Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Collier Editorial Assistants . . . . . . . . . . Colby Dunn, Glenda Kucharski Contributing Writers . . . . . . . . . . Paul Clark, Chris Cox, Joe Hooten, Marla Hardee Milling, Jack Neely, Anna Oakes, Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, Garret K. Woodward Contributing Photographers . . . Dave Allen, Chuck Almarez, Jon D. Bowman, Sharon Canter, Mark Haskett, Eric Heistand, Margaret Hester, Elizabeth Jensen, Kimberly G. Lane, Anna Oakes, Amanda Prince, Tommy Penick, Nicole Robinson, Phil Savage, Rob Travis, Debra Vanderlaan, Garret K. Woodward Contributing Illustrator . . Mandy Newham

lifelong resident of Asheville, N.C. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and her work has appeared in Our State, WNC, Charleston, Denver, Blue Ridge Country, Luxury Living, Health, Parenting, Redbook, Pregnancy, American Style and many others. She spent ten years at WLOS-TV as a news producer and six years as Director of Communications at Mars Hill College—but her greatest role is that of mom to Ben and Hannah.

Anna Oakes is a reporter for the Watauga Democrat in Boone, N.C. Raised at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in Caldwell County, Oakes is proud to be a mountain girl and a graduate of Appalachian State University. She tolerates the harsh and downright offensive mountain winters in exchange for the heavenly summers of the High Country, where you’ll find her on the river, dancing to an old-time string band, or attempting a vegetable garden.

Smoky Mountain Living is published bi-monthly

by SM Living LLC. Smoky Mountain Living has made every effort to insure listings and information are accurate and assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

Paul Clark is a resident of Weaverville, N.C., and has worked as a journalist for more than three decades.

He is currently studying photography

For advertising information, contact Hylah Smalley at 828.452.2251 or hylah@smliv.com.

For editorial inquiries, contact Sarah Kucharski at sarah@smliv.com.

Smoky Mountain Living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Queries should be sent to Sarah E. Kucharski at sarah@smliv.com. ©2013. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reprinted without the express, written consent of the publisher.

Smoky Mountain Living is published bi-monthly (Dec/Jan, Feb/Mar, Apr/May, Jun/Jul, Aug/Sep, Oct/Nov) by SM Living, LLC, 34 Church Street, Waynesville, NC 28786. Periodical Postage paid at Waynesville, N.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: please send address changes to Smoky Mountain Living, PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786.

and videography.

Chris Cox lives in the Crabtree community of Haywood County, N.C. and has been teaching English and humanities at Southwestern Community College for 22 years. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University and the author of “Waking Up In A Cornfield,” a collection of his columns.

Currently, his column appears in The Smoky Mountain News. He likes to write in

WWW.SMLIV.COM

the same brown chair, always while listening to the Miles Davis album “Kind of Blue” and drinking lots and lots of coffee.

Garret K. Woodward grew up in the tiny Canadian border town of Rouses Point, N.Y., spending his childhood on the shores of Lake Champlain and in the mystical woods of the Adirondack Mountains.

When not wandering and writing about the high peaks and low-lying valleys of Southern Appalachia, he spends his time seeing live music, running, hiking, and starting conversations with strangers over a cup of coffee at a diner.

Jack Neely is a reporter and associate editor for Knoxville’s alternative weekly, Metro Pulse, where he may be best known for his awardwinning column, “Secret History,” about the city’s oftenstartling past. He is the author of Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth (2nd ed., 2011) and Knoxville: This Obscure Prismatic City (2009). Neely also is cohost of the live-audience radio/internet show, Scruffy City Roots. He grew up in Knoxville, and spent many weekends of his childhood hiking and trout fishing with his dad in the Smoky Mountains.

Joe Hooten was born in Macon, Ga., but spent his formative years surfing the beaches near his home in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. He eventually found his way to Western North Carolina. Hooten taught public middle and high school history in Hendersonville, Cary and then Raleigh for ten years before moving back to Asheville with his wife and three young kids in 2008. A second-rate guitarist, he can be found most evenings pickin’ some tunes on the back porch while enjoying the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains.

3

Contents

FEATU RE STO RIES

GROWING

BY HOPS & BOUNDS The brewing industry in Western North Carolina continues to attract entrepreneurs and now major beer companies, developing a tasty tourism market.

BY MARLA HARDEE MILLING

PAGE

A LEG TO STAND ON

COFFEE & PIE

North Carolina furnished homes across the country when mill towns bustled.

BY ANNA OAKES

PAGE

42

Knoxville, Tenn., was once home to the staple grocery brands JFG and White Lily.

BY JACK NEELY

PAGE

50

34

MINERAL MATERIALS The Spruce Pine Mining District is quietly running the world.

BY PAUL CLARK

PAGE

58

Contents MOUNTAIN VOICES

DEPA RTME N TS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A young journalist finds himself in a state of flux, much like the industry.

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell team up for a new release.

OUT & ABOUT

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort opens new high-end facilities.

OUTDOORS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Beware the wounded wildlife.

MOUNTAIN LETTERS ARTS

Fresh green hops, which give beer its bitter characteristics, accompany a selection of beers from Green Man Brewery in Asheville, N.C.

CUISINE

PHOTO BY MARGARET HESTER PICTOGRAPHYBYMARGARET.COM

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Exhibitions celebrate “Appalachia” and “Nature Inspired.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Farm-to-table dinners at Trosly Farms in the N.C. High Country.

MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Good Living

16 18

26 28

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Learning to be industrious in a changing economy.

14

24

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oak Ridge, Tenn.’s, rise to fame in the Atomic Age.

ON THE COVER

12

72

Waynesville, N.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Crossword Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Select Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

E XPLORE M ORE THAN W ESTERN N ORTH C AROLINA C OMMUNITIES I N O NE L OCATION

As an authority on Western North Carolina living, Private Mountain Communities offers the region’s most comprehensive Buyer’s Resource and Discovery Showroom where you can find the mountain property you seek. On your terms. At your pace.

With more than 75 years of experience, the PMC team of Broker professionals specialize in retirement relocation, residential and second home communities.

Our online Community Finder™ will streamline your search by guiding you through an easy questionnaire, analyzing factors such as preferred amenities, architectural tastes and lifestyle preferences to match you to communities that are right for you.

From rustic retreats and downtown condos to mountain lake properties and golf communities, let the experts at Private Mountain Communities help you find the property of your dreams.

888. 517. 3322 Downtown Asheville in the Grove Arcade One Page Avenue, Suite 150 pmcdiscoverasheville.com

A partnership between Appalachian State University Outdoor Programs, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition celebrates the unique people, places, and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians. Submissions are now being accepted for the 11th Annual AMPC. Visit appmtnphotocomp.org for more information.

(Clockwise) Best in Show: Sharon Canter Another Autumn In early October, I arrived at Craggy Gardens (Blue Ridge Parkway) just as the clouds and fog were quickly moving in.

Special Mention: Kimberly G. Lane Seen Any Good Flicks Lately Spied in Western NC on the road between Burnsville and Plum Tree.

Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Category: Tommy Penick Fall Cycling An early morning ride along the Blue Ridege Parkway viaduct in the peak of the fall.

Adventure: Eric Heistand Lucy’s Dream Day A young girl paddles to adventure in the N.C. High Country.

Landscape: Dave Allen A Glorious Greeting Roan Mountain Rhododendron Bloom Rhododendron blooms along the Appalachian Trail near Roan Mountain.

Your lens sees. Submit images to photos@smliv.com by June 19, and visit smliv.com for more information.

(Clockwise) Culture: Chuck Almarez Porta Portrait After the late June “derecho� tore thru Clifton Forge, Va., the shed roof that covered this area exposed it all to the elements, including the farm outhouse.

Environment: Rob Travis Towers While necessary to our society, communications towers intrude on the natural landscape and impact the immediate environment.

Special Mention: Debra Vanderlaan Scenic Overlook Eight young Mennonite women gather on the scenic overlook wall at Newfound Gap on a rainy morning in the Smoky Mountains while our group readied our packs to begin our overnight hike up to Mt. LeConte.

Special Mention: Nicole Robinson Ice Castles Ice and Snow blanket the Lump Overlook and the valley below. This is one of the few areas of the Blue Ridge Parkway that remain open during inclement weather.

Flora and Fauna: Amanda Prince Just Bee Honey Bee. The AMPC exhibition is on display at the Turchin Center in Boone, N.C., through Aug. 17.

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN VOICES

The source of the sound

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Journalism, like the music industry, is an industry in flux.

On my first day of my first journalism class, my professor casually walked in, set his briefcase on the table, and scanned the room slowly, silently. After few moments passed, he finally spoke.

“So you all want to be journalists, eh?” he grinned. “Well, I will tell you right now, if you want to work in this industry you’ll probably never own your own home, probably never own a new car, or really make any money for that matter.”

“And I’m not joking,” he added. “But, I will say, if you stick to it, and really believe in what you’re doing, then journalism will be worth every second you spend in it.”

It took a road trip, a Jack Kerouac novel, and 90,000 sweaty people gathered together for the three-ring circus branded as a music festival known as Bonnaroo to make me believe. I headed out from my home in Upstate New York down to Eastern Tennessee with a fresh copy of Kerouac’s On The Road sitting on the bench seat of my rusty pickup truck.

The seminal post-World War II novel launched the two following decades’ counterculture and chronicles Kerouac’s haphazard journey across America as he chases after the faces, spaces, and places he’d only read about or imagined in his dreams. It was the ideal, if not coincidental, accompaniment for my own travels.

I started reading the novel on brief breaks along the highway and then during my downtime at Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo represented an epicenter of culture and humanity in the rural south, and Kerouac’s manic ambition to talk to every stranger, smell every flower, turn over every rock, and pursue every opportunity resonated within me. It was early on the second morning of the festival that I found my belief in myself—I was supposed to be a writer.

Beliefs have a way of being tested. By my senior year, the journalism industry had hit a sharp decline, and newspapers were falling by the wayside as people turned to online sources to get their information or, sick of depressing stories, just stopped reading the news in general.

“Well, if you were a freshman today, I would tell you to turn around and go into law school or something,” said the professor who had issued my first cautionary tale. “This industry is on the way out, but if you truly know this is what you want to do, then do it.”

So I did. I told myself, “It’s not that people are sick of reading; it’s that they’re sick of what they’re reading.”

My mission became to seek out the personalities and experiences that make for good stories and write about them—honestly and

12

“This is important for relationships and for the community.

There are a lot of young souls here.”

— Dana McGwire

passionately. Fortunately for me, I’ve been finding that, like my own revelation about writing, many of those personalities and experiences have musical roots as well.

Every Tuesday evening, like clockwork, there’s a weekly mountain music jam session in an old garage tucked away in the hills of Canton, N.C., where 86year-old S.R. “Sha” Shahan gets together his instruments, which range from a gutbucket bass to a pizza box that, when combined with a couple of drum brushes, becomes a percussion instrument.

“It’s almost like coming back home, coming here,” Shahan said.

“If you pick at all, get that axe out and sit in. It’s all about enjoying the music and being a part of it.”

Joshua Grant, 31, of Whittier, N.C., was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he figured out that the old-time music and culture he was exposed to as a child was what mattered to him most.

“There came a realization when I was out there [on the trail], away from materialism and consumerism, that fads come and go so fast that nothing sticks around or is true anymore,” he said. “Constants are so hard to find these days that when you do find one you find the value in it.”

The weekly music and dance at the Fines Creek Community Center happens every Saturday throughout the year. Each week, different oldcountry, early rock-n-roll and mountain music groups grace the stage. Couple Jonathan Hicks and Dana McGwire (foreground) enjoy a slow dance. GARRET K. WOODWARD PHOTO

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

community. There are a lot of young souls here.”

Grant couldn’t afford a banjo, so he started The young at heart hope to pass on their bebuilding his own. The endeavor turned into liefs that the music, which may seem outdated Grant Custom Banjos. Using large gourds, disor irrelevant in the modern world, is one of the carded wood, and whatever else he thinks can foundations of local culture. be made into a quality-sounding banjo, Grant Renowned banjoist Raymond Fairchild’s pieces folk art together with musical tradition. unassuming music hall is tucked behind a Tradition holds at the community center in quaint motel in Maggie Valley, N.C. It’s seen Fines Creek, N.C., each Saturday night as better days, and the town itself has seen better about 100 cloggers, two-steppers, and square dancers answer the call.

Dana McGwire and Jonathan Hicks stood out their first night at the dance—as much for their youth as their exuberance to learn.

“Mountain tradition is important and it’s just fun to Owner of the Maggie get out and do this, which Valley Opry House, we like to do,” Hicks said. legendary banjoist “It’s great to be here, to learn Raymond Fairchild and see how the older genhits the stage every eration does it.” night of the week from the late spring “I like it here because I until early fall. can shake a leg,” McGwire GARRET K. WOODWARD added. “This is important for PHOTO relationships and for the

WWW.SMLIV.COM

years. But every night of the week, from late spring to early fall, Fairchild, age 74, opens his banjo case and takes to the stage.

“It’s great here, but people just don’t turn out to sit like I think they should. They got other music on their mind, especially the youngsters,” Fairchild said. “Some of the old people will come here and sit, but very few young people. I think bluegrass is the greatest music in the world, and it’s done suffered.”

I continue to run around the Smokies, talking to strangers, finding out what makes them tick, finding out what makes me tick, all in an effort to discover and share the beauty of people and things we either take for granted or have merely forgotten in an age of rushed priorities and the lost art of face-to-face communication.

And, through all the struggles and hardships, those tiny apartments and used cars, it has been worth it— every single second.

13

department:

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

Clawhammer creativity

BY JOE HOOTEN

DONATED PHOTO

Rounder Records is set to release a fantastic collaboration between longtime banjo player extraordinaire Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin for those of you who haven’t been paying attention) and singer/songwriter Edie Brickell, the result of a true partnership in songwriting.

Produced by the legendary Peter Asher, Love Has Come For You is a charming 13-song album that may just surpass the works put out by both musicians to date.

“This is the kind of music that I’ve always wanted to make, but I never knew how until now,” Brickell said. “I just fell in love with all of these songs because they all represent something that’s true.”

14

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

DONATED PHOTO

d e p a r t m e n t :

DONATED

F

or both Martin and Brickell, this album was a departure from previous projects. Martin picked up the five-string banjo at the age of 17 and began learning both the clawhammer and Earl Scruggs style of playing. In the 1970’s, Martin’s stand-up comedy acts would wind up with a banjo tune or two in the set, but he never pursued the idea of writing a musical album with his own material.

He won a Grammy in 2002 for his remake of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and then in 2009 released The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo, which garnered him his second Grammy. His second album, Red Bird Alert, also was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. In the midst of his own recording, Martin teamed up with the North Carolinian-band the Steep Canyon Rangers, earning him Grammy awards, an extensive tour schedule, new fans, and a whole new artistic side of himself to experience and express.

Brickell, a lovely and talented songstress, earned her place at the table with a score of albums in her catalog, bursting onto the music scene in 1988 with her first album, Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars, with her band the New Bohemians. While performing on SNL that same year, she met her future husband, Paul Simon. The two maintained separate but successful musical careers.

Brickell and Martin met at a party and eventually discussed Edie adding her evocative lyrics to the Appalachian-inspired banjo melodies Martin was writing. However, the two lived on different sides of the country, so Martin began sending his riffs via email, and in return, Brickell would send her vocals back.

“Looking in my inbox and seeing an attachment from Edie was always like getting a Christmas present,” Martin recalls. “We really divided the creative work, so being off alone gave each of us freedom to work.”

This splendid gem of an album is mostly acoustic—some of the songs are just Martin and Brickell with a little help from a few special guests, such as members of the Steep Canyon Rangers and Sean & Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. It’s more folk than bluegrass. The songs are based around — Edie Brickell character studies and narratives that Edie drew upon from her family’s history in rural Texas. The stories become central to the album’s tone, like on the lead-off track, “When You Get to Asheville,” which earned a live performance on Letterman in April.

Brickell’s narrative presents an underlying sadness caused by loss, but offers up a ray of hope & forgiveness: “If it don’t work out/You can turn around/And come on back to me/You can come on home to me.”

Martin’s banjo melodies lead the way into each song, setting the mood but at times offering a dichotomy to songs like the title track. The song is based on a scandalous tale and the melodic banjo runs are uplifting despite being pitted against the tragedy found within Brickell’s lyrics. Songs like “Get Along Stray Dog” and “Sun’s Gonna Shine” are rousing numbers that make for great toe-tapping sing-a-longs, while “Yes She Did” and “Remember Me This Way” are reflective but stirring tunes that highlight Brickell’s vivid imagery and Martin’s ability to allow the banjo to take a seemingly natural place within the song’s context.

Love Has Come For You sounds like it comes from the heart of the Appalachians where banjo music remains a permanent fixture and influence in our culture.

Martin and Brickell have created an album that exceeded all expectations, yet with an abundance of talent, the duo have found a way to make it sound effortless and pleasantly accessible. As the banjo continues to transcend into the sounds of modern popular music, it remains a true joy to listen to on this refreshing new album from two creative forces.

“This is the

kind of music that I’ve always wanted to make, but I never knew how until now.”

WWW.SMLIV.COM

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

Q&A with Steve Martin SML: Love Has Come For You is a departure from the two albums you’ve recorded with The Steep Canyon Rangers, more folk than bluegrass. Was this a self-imposed challenge?

Steve Martin: Not at all. The CD turned out this way only because it turned out this way.

Edie’s voice and your banjo playing become quite endearing throughout the album. How did the two of you meet and decide to work on this project?

We met at a party and just started chatting. One thing led to another, and I mentioned that I had some melodies lying around, and she said she’d love to write some lyrics to them. So we met and started working.

Working with digital files—sending emails back and forth—is certainly a modern method for composing music.

Did this cause any lack of spontaneity when writing the album?

We really divided the creative work, so being off alone gave each of us freedom to work. I liked trying to surprise Edie with melodies that might inspire her.

Brevard, N.C., is home-away-fromhome for you. Did you point Edie in that direction when writing “When You Get to Asheville”?

She came up with that with no direction from me.

When you’re working on certain melodies or songs, do you get a sense of placement for the banjo within the final piece of music?

Edie always left room for the banjo to express itself. She surprised me with her lyrical phrasing, leaving gaps for the banjo’s melodic riffs.

Bluegrass is alive and well in Western North Carolina. Do you draw any inspiration from the Blue Ridge Mountains when composing?

I have always been inspired by traditional music that has originated in North Carolina, and beyond.

15

d e p a r t m e n t :

OUT & ABOUT

Defending the homeplace

B

uilt between 1775 and 1780, the Carter Mansion is the oldest frame house in Tennessee. John Carter and his son, Landon, built the home on land purchased from the Cherokee Indians in what is today the town of Elizabethton.

Carter was elected to serve as Chairman of the Court under the terms of the Articles of the Watauga Association—a semi-autonomous government sometimes referred to as the Republic of Watauga, which early settlers along the Watagua River created in 1772. The entity was deemed a threat to British rule and became the basis for several frontier governments. When Tennessee became a state in 1796, Carter County was named for Landon Carter, and the town for his wife, Elizabeth Maclin Carter.

Carter Mansion, managed via the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area, typically is only open to the public by appointment; however, the Carter Mansion Celebration and Militia Muster brought colonists’ struggles to life this April. Local craftsmen demonstrated skills such as natural dyeing and colonial cooking, and period re-enactors performed their interpretation of a raid on Carter’s home during which he escaped with important land records.

Other upcoming historical events include the Sycamore Shoals Native American Festival held June 1-2; 19th Century Independence Day and Muster June 29-30; and Tennessee’s official outdoor drama, Liberty: The Saga of Sycamore Shoals, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, July 11-13, 18-20, and 25.

Sycamore Shoals is open on a regular basis from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Monday-Saturday, and 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. There is a two-mile walking trail and picnic facilities.

For more information, visit tn.gov/environment/parks/SycamoreShoals or call 423.543.5808.

A re-enactor fires during a standoff at the Carter Mansion. SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

NEW CREATURE COMFORTS AT HARRAH’S CHEROKEE Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort welcomed visitors with an extensive remodel and addition to the property this spring, unveiling new gaming facilities, shops, restaurants, and lushly appointed Mandara Spa. The 15,000-square-foot spa is located in Harrah’s original hotel tower, renovations having turned a public, atrium-style seating Harrah’s new Mandara spa is a area into an airy sanctum where place of ritual and relaxation. spa patrons may relax before, SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO between, or post-spa services with a glass of infused water and healthy snack by the large fireplace gilded with sparkling glass tiles. The treatment menu reflects Mandara’s Balinese origins with massages incorporating bamboo or seaweed, while signature experiences such as the Dream Catcher and Sacred Feather Ritual For Two draw inspiration from the Cherokee location. Within the separate

16

men’s and women’s locker rooms are facilities to complete any spa experience with a hot tub soak, heated lounge chairs, sauna, and showers.

One need not be a guest to visit the Mandara Spa or enjoy other casino and resort amenities including Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Brio Tuscan Grille, live poker, blackjack, craps, and roulette, music and dancing at Essence. Harrah’s concert and event center brings some of the biggest names in the industry such as Billy Idol, Jeff Dunham, Reba McEntire, and The Black Crowes.

For more information, visit harrahscherokee.com or call 828.497.7777.

SO MANY TALES TO TELL Join a different storyteller every week in May at the renowned Storytelling Live! Program held at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tenn.

The program includes matinee performances Tuesday through Saturday as well as special children’s and evening concerts.

Matinee tickets are $12 for adults, $11 for seniors, students, and children under 18. Reservations are recommended.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 423.913.1276 or visit storytellingcenter.net.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Music Mountains IN THE

— all summer long!

Concerts on the Creek

July 18-21

FREE summer music series every Friday night from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at Bridge Street Park in Sylva.

Concerts begin Memorial Day weekend and conclude Labor Day weekend.

Jackson County Chamber www.mountainlovers.com for a detailed schedule 828.586.2155

Groovin' on the Green 58974

U.S. Cellular Center Downtown Asheville, NC Thu.-Sat.: 10am-6pm Sun.: 10am-5pm

Select Friday summer nights from 6:30-8 p.m. in Cashiers at the Village Green.

The Greater Cashiers Area Merchants Association www.visitcashiersvalley.com 828.743.8428

Susan Marie Phipps

Jackson County, NC JACKSON COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY www.craftguild.org 828-298-7928

WWW.SMLIV.COM

800.962.1911

www.MountainLovers.com 17

SOMETIMES A HELPING HAND IS NOT NECESSARY

d e p a r t m e n t :

OUTDOORS

ELIZABETH JENSEN PHOTO

Celebrate fly fishing at Cullowhee festival

18

A BIT OF CANADA GROWING IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS The Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest is a montane coniferous forest that grows in the highest elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States.

It is the highest and coldest forest ecosystem in the Appalachian range, thriving in elevations above 5,500 feet (1,700 m) where the climate is too harsh to support the broad-leaved hardwood forest that dominates the region’s lower elevations. A relic of the last Ice Age, this forest type covers just over 100 square miles (260 km2), and is considered the second-most endangered ecosystem in the United States.

Southern spruce-fir stands consist primarily of two needle-leaved evergreen species— the red spruce and the Fraser fir, nicknamed the “he-balsam” and “she-balsam,” respectively. The southern spruce-fir forest sometimes is referred to as the “Canadian” or “boreal” forest due to its resemblance to the boreal forest of Canada.

FILE PHOTO

MARK HASKETT PHOTO

T

he Southeastern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers will hold the 2013 Southeastern Fly Fishing Festival May 17-18 at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. The festival is designed to attract both experienced and beginning anglers. There’s an extensive lineup of guest speakers, fly-tying experts and exhibitors, as well as a strong educational component for novices who wish to learn more about the sport.

“If you’ve ever been to fly fishing shows, they’re more commercialized and do not have nearly as much instruction,” says Marvin Cash, president of the FFF’s Southeastern Council.

“Conserving resources and teaching people to fish is really what we’re all about.”

Headlining presenters at the festival include: expert guides Ian and Charity Rutter from Townsend, Tenn.; Bryson City native Jim Casada, a noted author and outdoorsman; and two-handed fly rod guru Al Buhr of Welches, Ore. There’s also a Friday barbecue dinner, in conjunction with Trout Unlimited, to support brook trout restoration in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The evening includes a screening of this year’s Fly Fishing Film Tour, a contest for short films about fly-fishing.

Team Trout Slayer hosts a mini competition on the Tuckasegee River on Friday, and there will be opportunities to fish the WNC Fly Fishing Trail all weekend long.

“We intentionally scheduled the show on a Friday and Saturday to let people have the opportunity to fish on Sunday.

That’s a big draw, particularly for fishing clubs,” Cash says.

“The great thing about being in Jackson County at that time of year is the fishing will be good.”

Festival hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Daily admission price is $5 for individuals and $10 for families.

Admission price includes free presentations and programs, along with the opportunity to sign up for paid instruction in casting and fly-tying.

Complete details and registration info are available online at SoutheastFFF.org.

As the weather warms and people spend more time outdoors, they sometimes come in contact with seemingly “orphaned” wildlife.

“Despite good intentions, young wildlife taken into captivity can lose their natural instincts and ability to survive in the wild,” explains John Bowers, Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division assistant chief of game management. “In most instances, young wildlife that appear to be helpless and alone is only temporarily separated from adults. This natural behavior is a critical survival mechanism. Adults spend a significant amount of time away from their offspring to minimize predation.”

Upon encountering a seriously injured animal or an animal that clearly has been orphaned, please contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

Handling of any wildlife or bringing them into the home poses health risks for both people and domestic pets.

Wildlife can transmit life-threatening diseases such as rabies and can carry unhealthy parasites such as roundworms, lice, fleas and ticks. Certain ticks are especially known to transmit diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness to humans.

According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division, the two most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your pets from rabies is 1) get pets vaccinated; and 2) avoid physical contact with wildlife. As a precautionary step, adults should instruct children to NEVER bring wildlife home.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

75-9

Trave l W it h You r L oc al Fri en d s

te Gather your family and friends together to share and crea some real memories. It’s more affordable, you can travel anytime, and do it with your own private sanctuary.

Tom Johnson is a NC family owned, loca l dea ler, since 1967 with 2 locations that will treat you like family.

Marion: 888-707-2014

|

TomJohnsonCamping.com WWW.SMLIV.COM

|

Concord: 888-605-1994 19

« ÙÊ» ͕ E

877-716-6711 828-497-9151

ĂďŝŶ ZĞŶƚĂůƐ e m o s e k &,h Zs ^ŝƚĞƐ a m ! e s u m h t Co i w dĞŶƚ ^ŝƚĞƐ s e i r o mem ZŝǀĞƌƐŝĚĞ ĂŵƉŝŶŐ

^ǁŝŵŵŝŶŐ WŽŽů dƵďŝŶŐ ŽŶ ZŝǀĞƌ dŚĞŵĞĚ tĞĞŬĞŶĚƐ dŚ &ŝƐŚŝŶŐŐ

cabins Fishin

g

RV Camping

Ravenf

ork Riv

er

me i t y l i m fa

20

Fishing

trout

Heyy-H Hey ey Ridde

Fishing

comfort

Fun in

the Sun

www. JellystoneCherokee .com

YOGI BEA BEARSMOKY and aallMOUNTAIN related characters and elements LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUEare 3 trademarks of and © Hanna-Barbera.

(s13)

d e p a r t m e n t :

OUTDOORS

Can’t-miss hikes to add to your bucket list

J

oin Friends of the Smokies in celebrating its 20 years of support for Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a Classic Hikes of the Smokies overnight hiking retreat at Fontana Lake June 18-19.

Explore this more remote and lesser-known part of the Smokies with expert guides and fellow Friends of the Smokies. Participants will board a boat to Hazel Creek where local historian Lance Holland will talk about the history of the Fontana Lake communities and lead a walk around the historic remnants of the community of Proctor. A reception with Smokies Superintendent Dale Ditmanson will follow and guests will spend the evening at The Lodge at Fontana Village.

On Wednesday, June 19, hiking enthusiast and author of two regional hiking guides Danny Bernstein will lead an 11.7-mile hike to the Shuckstack Firetower.

The hike is moderately strenuous in difficulty, has a

total elevation gain of 3,000 ft., and celebrates Friends’ support of the Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner program. Keith Hoffman, Friends of the Smokies’ AmeriCorps Outreach Associate, will guide a 5-mile walk along the Lakeshore Trail past historic old cars.

Those who opt to join the Lakeshore Trail walk will learn about pollinators in the park in celebration of National Pollinator Week.

Registration is $160 for current Friends of the Smokies members and $195 for non-members.

Double occupancy rates are available. Price includes room, round-trip boat shuttle to Hazel Creek, guided excursions, and reception. Meals are not included.

Non-members receive a complimentary one-year Friends membership.

To register, contact Friends of the Smokies at outreach.nc@friendsofthesmokies.org or 828.452.0720. For more information about this event and a complete list of the Classic Hikes held monthly on the third Tuesday of each month, visit friendsofthesmokies.org.

COURTESY OF FRIENDS OF THE SMOKIES

When skiing is out, biking is in This summer speed your way down narrow dirt trails on a mountain bike or increase your heart rate and improve overall physical fitness while climbing Sugar’s 1,200-foot vertical rise.

Bikers and hikers alike may use the trail system, which winds throughout the Village of Sugar Mountain. Trailheads are accessible from many points throughout the Village. Daily usage is free of charge from dawn until dusk on Oct. 20. Trail maps are conveniently located at the base of Sugar Mountain and online at skisugar.com/summer/trailmap.pdf.

For a slightly less adventurous outing, take in nature’s beauty while relaxing in a chairlift up to Sugar Mountain’s 5,300foot summit. Scenic chairlift rides operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday July 4 through Sept. 1. Vistas provide extraordinary views of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain and beyond.

For mountain bikers, hooks mounted on the back of the liftchairs carry bikes to the top of Sugar Mountain. One-time or allday lift tickets are available as well as group tickets. Kids 4 and under ride free with a ticketed adult.

For more information, call 800.SUGAR.MT or visit skisugar.com.

COURTESY OF BUSHPHOTO.COM

WWW.SMLIV.COM

21

CLAY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE welcomes you to CLAY COUNTY, NORTH

CAROLINA Saturday, July 27

Incorporating the towns of Hayesville, Brasstown & Warne, nestled in the Majestic Appalachian Mountains and along Lake Chatuge, Clay County is truly a place like no other. From camping and fishing to shopping and the arts, no matter what you are here for, we know you’ll enjoy it. Come for a visit, stay for a while.

It’s Grillin’ Time! Craft Vendors, Food Vendors & Music from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Cook-off from 1-5.

Saturday, August 10 Clay County Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Tournament and Low Country Boil, Ridges Golf Course, Hayesville, NC.

Bus. Hwy. 64 • Hayesville, North Carolina

828.389.3704 • ncmtnchamber.com

July 4: Independence Day & Town of Hayesville Centennial Celebration on the Square 8 a.m.: Pancake Breakfast • 11:30 a.m.: Parade 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.: Music & Food

August 10: Old-Fashioned Family, Farmers & Business Day on the Square

ncmtnchamber.com • 828.389.3704

Noon to dark, a day of storytelling, old-fashioned games, and family fun featuring agriculture and local businesses.

JOIN US FOR A WINE TASTING OR BRING A SNACK OR PICNIC LUNCH ~ SHARE A BOTTLE WITH FRIENDS AND RELAX THE DAY AWAY WHILE ENJOYING THE VIEWS OF THE VINEYARD, MOUNTAINS, POND AND RUSHING CREEK.

22

JUNE 15:

Art Expo on the Hayesville Town Square. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Featuring area artists, food & music.

JULY 12-14:

Annual Festival on the Square & Street Dance. Friday night, 7 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Music and over 70 booths featuring area crafters

225 Dick Jones Rd. • Hayesville, NC • 828-389-8466

Old Jail Museum & Cherokee Homestead Exhibit located on Bus. Hwy. 64, Hayesville, NC.

eagleforkvineyards.com

www.clayhistoryarts.org • 828.389.6814

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 2

Foxfire

Museum

The Octopus Garden Smoke Shop 210 Rosman Hwy Suite C, Brevard, NC 28712 - (828) 884-8796 2000 Spartanburg Hwy 300, Hendersonville, NC 28792 - (828) 697-1050 140 Airport Rd. Suite M, Arden, NC 28704 - (828) 654-0906 1062 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28806 - (828) 232-6030 660 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28804 - (828) 253-2883 80 N. Lexington Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 - (828) 254-4980 1269 Tunnel Rd. Suite B, Asheville, NC 28805 - (828) 299-8880 -

100% Locally Owned

& Heritage Center

Experience Southern Appalachia as recorded and documented by the students of Rabun County, GA—and shared with the world through The Foxfire Magazine and The Foxfire Book volumes. Visit the legacy they created in honor of their families and neighbors over 45+ years.

Home of the Foxfire books– our newest:

45th Anniv.

1SR ÂŻ7EX EQÂŻ TQ

Museum gift shop offers regional folk pottery, home-made soaps, knitted & woven textile crafts, Foxfire books and related titles on history, plant lore, skills & trades, more!

If we don't have it. You probably don't need it.

JUNE

1 • 40th Annual Helen to the Atlantic Hot Air Balloon Race Helendorf Inn. 706-878-2271 7 • First Fridays Music Pickin’ on the Porch 6-9PM, Sautee Village. 706-878-0144 8 • Cabbage Patch Tea Party Babyland General Hospital.

Reservations required. 706-865-2171 cabbagepatchkids.com 7-9 • Northeast Georgia 2013 Arts Tour Meet over 100 local artists. artstour.org 15 • Youth Fishing Days at Buck Shoals 8AM-12PM. No registration required. 706-878-3087 15 • Kids Day at the Park 10AM-2PM, Smithgall Woods. No registration required. 706-878-3087 15 • Swinging in the Vines Music Series Sautee Nacoochee Vineyards. Music from 2-5PM in the amphitheater and complimentary wine tastings. 706-878-1056 sauteenacoocheevineyards.com 15 • SummerFest Lawn Party SNCA, 706-878-3300 snca.org 29 • Art in the Park Unicoi State Park. 1-800-573-9659 GeorgiaStateParks.org

Take US 441 to Mountain City, GA. Turn onto Black Rock Mtn. Parkway.

One mile up, follow the brown signs. [[[ JS\½VI SVK ˆ -

The Art & Soul

OF THE

NORTHEAST GEORGIA MOUNTAINS

JULY

1-7 • 4th of July Celebration Babyland General Hospital.

Costume Characters, candy. 706-865-2171 cabbagepatchkids.com 4 • July 4th Mountain Style Unicoi State Park. Contests, sack races, hoedowns, and more. 1-800-573-9659 GeorgiaStateParks.org 4 • Annual Fireworks at Dusk Behind the Alpine Village Shoppes. 706-878-2181, www.helenga.org 5 • First Fridays Music Pickin’ on the Porch 6-9PM, Sautee Village. 706-878-0144 8-19 • Camp Cabbage Babyland General Hospital. Reservations required. 706-865-2171 cabbagepatchkids.com 11-21 • Headwaters (community story play) Thursdays – Sundays, SNCA, 706-878-3300 snca.org 20 • Youth Fishing Days at Buck Shoals 8AM-12PM. No registration required. 706-878-3087 20 • Swinging in the Vines Music Series Sautee Nacoochee Vineyards. Music from 2-5PM in the amphitheater and complimentary wine tastings. 706-878-1056 sauteenacoocheevineyards.com 26-27 • Folk Life Festival Unicoi State Park. 1-800-573-9659 GeorgiaStateParks.org 26-27 • 9th Annual Show and Shine for Cystic Fibrosis Open Car Show, 639 Edelweiss Strasse, Helen. All proceeds will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 706-795-2264 27 • Art in the Park Unicoi State Park. 1-800-573-9659 GeorgiaStateParks.org

HELEN • SAUTEE CLEVELAND 1-800-392-8279 whitecountychamber.org WWW.SMLIV.COM

23

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN LETTERS

State secrets in east Tennessee

BY REBECCA TOLLEY-STOKES

DONATED

H

undreds of young American women poured onto trains heading South, all uninformed about their destination. It was 1943 and women didn’t ask details about the work they were glad to have as it might help take their minds away from everyday difficulties like rations, metal drives, the draft, and whether their families would receive a telegram announcing the loss of a loved one. The women were united by one thought: their work in the civil service would “bring a speedy and victorious end to the war.”

Denise Kiernan interviewed dozens of people to discover the effect of the Manhattan Project upon the East Tennessee area, though her text narrows in on nine women (one is black and eight are The Girls of Atomic City: white) working there The Untold Story of the before the secrecy of Women who Helped Win Oak Ridge, Tenn.’s, World War II by Denise Kiernan. wartime industry was New York: Knopf, 2013. unveiled. Celia Szapka had escaped her mining town of Shenandoah, Penn., for work in Washington, D.C., New Jersey, and Manhattan before signing to head south without knowing any specifics about where she was going, the how long

Denise Kiernan interviewed

dozens of people to discover the effect of the Manhattan Project upon the East Tennessee area.

24

the work would last, or what she would be doing. Women like her filled a variety of roles from secretarial and janitorial to technical and scientific.

Other women, like Clinton, Tenn., native Toni Peters kept close watch on what was taking shape just down the road. As a member of the class of 1943, she wanted a job after graduation. However, Peters’ family was one of region’s families to have tousled with the government over land rights, a topic that colored mountain development through the New Deal and construction of the Norris Dam and Great Smoky Mountain National Park among other projects.

Peters’ sparkplug personality was well-aligned with the Rosie the Riveter model of femininity promoted for women during the era thus helping her land a job with the Project.

Kiernan’s lively narrative brings warmth to an otherwise mechanical and cold nuclear industry lacking warmth and happiness given tragic associations in our mind such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, and most recently Fukushima Daiichi. In telling Oak Ridge’s story through its workers’ anecdotes and contributions to the Manhattan Project, Kiernan derives deeper meaning from this industry’s legacy upon the region and its people.

I

n 1999, there was a secret meeting during which the heads of the food industry met and decided they might—or might not— make a “sincere effort to be part of the solution” after studies revealed that America’s obesity problem was related to the industry’s culpability Salt Sugar Fat: How the in providing “ubiquity of inexpensive, Food Giants Hooked Us good-tasting, supersized, energy-dense

by Michael Moss. New York: foods” to consumers.

Random House, 2013.

Michael Moss spills the beans on the science of how the food industry has hooked consumers on processed foods. In this brilliant tome of investigative reportage, Moss takes readers into laboratories where food scientists manipulate consumers into craving fat that has been chemically altered and processed foods that are specifically designed to make them feel hungrier so that consumers will buy and eat more of the product.

He details marketing campaigns designed to deflect consumers concerns about the health risks of products with “smoke and mirrors” redirection of their attention. Readers learn about the bliss point, “the precise amount of sugar or fat that will send consumers over the moon” and essentially guarantee that profits keep rolling in.

The prologue alone is filled with scary tricks and tips that will send a food enthusiast reeling. Moss shares the mathematical equation for the ideal snack: taste and convenience. He then goes on to reveal jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes information that readers really may well not want to know about their food. Moss cites Nestle as one of the heavyweights in the game because the company has the largest research operation and also has the wealth to solve the obesity problems not just for humans but our canine and feline brethren—they own the Purina brand as well.

Reliance on processed foods has integrated into cafeterias, restaurants, and grocery stores and lifestyles demand quick, easy and tasty food. The food industry gave us everything we wanted, and for cheap, too, but at a much greater cost than assumed.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Create

“We wish we had moved sooner.”

It’s the comment we hear most often from new Deerfield residents. They delight in our location and their new-found friends; love the state-of-the-art amenities; feel safe, secure and well cared for by our expert staff – their only complaint is that they didn’t make the decision to move sooner. Since the best time to move may have been years ago, then isn’t the next best time now?

Call to schedule a visit and learn how you can thrive at Deerfield – in body, mind and spirit.

A N E P I S C O PA L R E T I R E M E N T COMMUNITY 75-30

1617 Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC (828) 274-1531 press 1 www.deerfieldwnc.org

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN ARTS

T

Enter to be a part of Knoxville’s pedigreed woodworking show

he East Tennessee Woodworker’s Guild and the Arts & Culture Alliance have issued a call for entries for the 17th Master Woodworkers Show. The call for entries is open to all craftspeople and artists working within a 200-mile radius of Knoxville.

The Master Woodworkers Show has quietly gained a reputation as a premiere woodworking event in the Southeast, with attendance more than doubling over the last three shows and great reviews from both makers and the public. This three-day event is held every other year in downtown Knoxville. The goal of this biennial show is to highlight the work of craftspeople and artists in East Tennessee and the surrounding region.

The show calls for all types of woodwork, from traditional to whimsical, in fine furniture, cabinetry, turning, sculpture, and lutherie. Selected works will be displayed in the Emporium Center at 100 S. Gay Street from Nov. 1-3, 2013. The nonrefundable entry fee is $65 for up to three works; additional works may be submitted for $20 each. The deadline for entries to be received is Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013.

The jurors for the exhibition include: Dan Duncan, Cabinetmaker and Master Class member of the East Tennessee Woodworkers Guild; Bill May, Owner of May Studio and Executive Director of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; and Doug Sigler, Professor Emeritus from the Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craft.

Download an application at www.masterwoodworkers.org, or send an SASE to 17th Master Woodworkers Show, 4132 Rocky Branch Road, Walland, TN 37886.

Exhibitors are encouraged to display portfolios along with their piece(s). Although there are no formal booths, exhibitors are encouraged to be present as much as possible. Selected artists will be notified on September 5.

For more information, contact Scott DeWaard at 865.681.4798, or etwgmws@gmail.com.

2011 Master Woodworkers Show - Best of Show: Lotus Table (mahogany with satinwood and ebony inlay of antique tools) by Michael McDunn of Greenville, SC. DONATED PHOTO

LEARN THE WARTIME STORY OF A MOUNTAIN TOWN The Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge, Tenn. highlights the town and the role it played in ending World War II. On June 21-22, historic displays explain the fascinating history of the area. World War Two living history demonstrations take place all weekend long. Visitors can also tour original Manhattan Project sites, including the Graphite Reactor and the Y-12 National Security Complex. Arts and crafts vendors, antiques dealers, food

26

vendors and exhibitors can be found scattered around the festival grounds. There are special activities for children including mule and wagon rides, a rock climbing wall, and water slides.

Music and entertainment from local, regional, and nationallyacclaimed artists goes on all day with special headliners taking stage around 9 pm. Previous headliners include 38 Special, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Skaggs, Village People, Chubby Checker, the Charlie Thomas Drifters, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and more.

For more information, visit secretcityfestival.com or call 865.425.3610.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Gallery exhibits local culture The Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86 is hosting an exhibition called “Appalachia” through Saturday, June 29 in Waynesville, N.C. The North Carolina mountains have become a melting pot of arts and crafts of the Appalachian region. The arts and crafts of the Appalachian region of North Carolina included many forms such as pottery, basketry, woodturning, and music. This culture is how the people of this region thrived. Haywood County Arts Council’s exhibit, “Appalachia,” commemorates many of these forms and techniques.

Who knew the great outdoors could be this dramatic?

“AHH!,” featured in the “Nature Inspired” exhibit. DONATED

The featured artists of “Appalachia” includes: potter Doc Welty, painter Patti Best, painter Sandra Brugh Moore, painter James Smythe, potter Crystal Allen, woodworker Mike McKinney, basket maker Matt Tommey, woodworker Caryl Brt, potter Susan Balentine, and potter Kaaren Stoner.

Gallery 86 will follow up its Appalachian exhibit with “Nature Inspired,” July 3-27. “Nature Inspired” celebrates the form of mixed media used to express the influence of nature on its creator. An artists’ reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.

Friday, July 5 during downtown Waynesville’s Art After Dark gallery stroll. Featured artists of “Nature Inspired” include: Norma B. Hendrix, Nina Howard, Dawn Behling, and Nancy Blevins.

For more information, visit haywoodarts.org or facebook.com/haywoodarts.

“Unto These Hills” Outdoor Drama

June 1-August 17, 2013 | 8pm nightly, except Sunday | Tickets $8-$23

Oconaluftee Indian Village

May 1-October 19, 2013 | Open until 4pm daily, except Sunday | Tickets $10-$19 Whether it's watching historic reenactments of ancient Cherokee customs in the Oconaluftee Indian Village, or marveling at the stories performed in “Unto These Hills,” drama is in store, as are memories that will last a lifetime. This isn’t just a vacation. It’s your chance to be transported to another time and place. For tickets, visit CherokeeAdventure.com or call 866.554.4557.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

27

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN CUISINE

Kaci Nidiffer holds a baby chick that will grow to provide fresh eggs for Trosly Farm.

SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

Avery County farmers grow it on their own Tucked away in Elk Park, N.C., Trosly Farm is using mountain heritage to usher in small-scale artisanal farming.

Owners Kaci and Amos Nidiffer grew up with farming in their families.

Kaci’s grandmother was raised on a small farm in southwest Virginia and kept a garden well into her 80s, while Amos’ great-grandfather had a garden and kept a dairy cow within what are now Elizabethton, Tenn.’s, city limits. Shortly after Kaci and Amos married in 2007, the couple purchased the relatively small parcel of land and old farmhouse that has become Trosly Farm. With no small amount of ingenuity, creativity, and old-fashion grunt work, the couple remodeled the farmhouse, built a greenhouse and chicken coop, dug garden plots and began raising chickens, ducks, 28

pigs, and crops. Kaci added bread and chocolate making to the mix, and Amos discovered a love for charcuterie.

To be at Trosly is to appreciate all of life’s simplicity and honesty—plus really good food. In addition to operating a CSA and farm store, open from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays through October, Trosly Farm also hosts farm dinners. Participants get a tour of the grounds and a five-course meal featuring items raised and prepared on the farm. Tickets are $45 per person, and reservations are required. Farm dinners will be held June 14 and 15, July 20, Aug. 10, and Sept. 21.

Visit troslyfarm.com for more information and selected recipes or call 828.733.4938.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Sunburst trout finds its way to the finest tables Sunburst Trout is a family-owned business tucked away in southern Haywood County, N.C., along the waters of the Pigeon River.

The company’s trout has earned a reputation with chefs near and far—guests at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., will find it on the menu with slow braised collard greens and buttermilk-chive cornbread.

Charles Hudson, Sunburst’s research and development chef, shares some of his own recipes using fresh trout filets.

Lime Basil Grilled Trout Fillets Serves 4

SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

WELL-FED IN WEAVERVILLE, N.C. Well-Bred, a bakery and café in Weaverville, N.C., is a favorite among locals and visitors alike, and most come in seeking something sustaining along with a little something sweet.

Open daily until 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 9 p.m. on the weekends, Well-Bred changes its menu with the season offering items such as scones, quiche, soup, gourmet grilled cheese, assorted deli salads. The café has its own garden, now in its second year. All produce is grown under Chef Evan Chender’s watchful eye. Chender studied food culture and sustainable agriculture at Vassar College and is expanding WellBred’s fresh offerings.

Impossible to miss is Well-Bred’s eye-popping dessert case.

While one may have heard of a cat-head biscuit (a biscuit the size and shape of a cat’s head), Well-Bred is home to cat-head eclairs—if the mountainous custard-filled pastries topped with chocolate can even be called that. To eat one unaided would be a delicious feat. Cakes, brownies, cookies, crème brulee, baklava, and other goodies are equally tempting.

The café is cozy, best for parties of two or four, though larger parties can be accommodated. If the weather is nice, grab one of the small tables on the sidewalk.

Special supper club events to be held June 3, July 11, and Aug. 8 will offer a four-course meal with or without wine pairings with seatings beginning at 6 p.m. For more information about the supper club or to make reservations, visit wellbredbakery.com.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

4 Sunburst Trout Fillets Juice of 1 lime One handful fresh basil (about 1 oz) 2 cloves of garlic, chopped ¼ cup olive oil 1 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

order:

sunbursttrout.com or 800.648.3010

Chop basil and mince garlic, combine with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper; marinate trout fillets for at least an hour. Preheat grill to medium-high to high heat. Oil grill grates to prevent fish from sticking.

Remove fillets from marinade and place on grill flesh side down for about 3 minutes then flip to skin side down and cook 2-3 minutes.

Marinated Tomato Salad with Kalamata Olives and Cheese Serves 4 3 medium tomatoes, diced ¾ cup Kalamata olives sliced length wise 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar 1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil 2 oz block of hard cheese, shaved (Parmesan or Romano) Sea salt to taste Fresh ground pepper to taste Combine all ingredients except cheese and toss. Add shaved cheese in and toss. Serve chilled.

29

Celebrating 26 years as a NC Main Street City!

76-38

WAYNESVILLE PHOTO BY VICKI LYNN PASSMORE • THEMEMORYARCHIVE.COM

Stroll brick sidewalks lined with shade trees. Visit fine shops, galleries & restaurants. Sit on a bench surrounded by views of the Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

June 7 & July 5 — the original “ART AFTER DARK”

Visit over a dozen fine galleries on Friday evening, 6-9pm Held the 1st Friday each month through December

June 8, Saturday — APPALACHIAN LIFESTYLE CELEBRATION A heritage themed event, music, dance, storytelling, educational & entertaining, 10am-5pm

June 28, July 12 & 26, August 9 — Friday Nights — 4 MOUNTAIN STREET DANCES An old-fashioned mountain hoe down, mountain music & cloggin” 6:30-9pm

July 4 Thursday — STARS & STRIPES CELEBRATION July 17-28 — FOLKMOOT USA begins!

Music & entertainment 11am-3pm

Dancers & musicians from around the world entertain us

July 19 Friday — FOLKMOOT USA PARADE

1pm

July 20 Saturday — INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL DAY A daylong extravaganza of music, dance, crafts & food

10am–5pm

DOWNTOWN WAYN E SVILLE AS S OCIATION

w w w.downtownwaynesville.c om • Waynesville, NC 2878 6 • 828.45 6.3517

SPONSORED IN PART BY HAY WOOD COUNT Y TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORIT Y • 800.334.903 6 • W W W.VISITNCSMOKIES.COM

We Carry ...

• German Cuckoo Clocks • Dolls including Lee Middleton & Adora • Over 3,000 Ornaments • Jim Shore • Wood Wick Candles • Much, much more!

113 N. Main St. • Waynesville 828-452-7945 christmas-is-everyday.com

76-35

Eclectic Home Decor, Jewelry and Gifts!

A stylish blend of old & new.

First Friday each Month 6-9 pm May-December WAYNESVILLEGALLERYASSOCIATION.COM 76-45

A new shop in Hazelwood Village phone 828.246.9697 486 HAZELWOOD AVE. | WAYNESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Funded in part by Haywood County Tourism Development Authority 1.800.334.9036 • visitNCsmokies.com 75-02

Take Home √a bit ITALIAN

of the

MEDITERRANEAN

Mountain’s

Spring Magic

STEAKS • PIZZA • CHICKEN SEAFOOD • SANDWICHES ———————————————————————————————————

Enjoy summer in the North Carolina mountians with an outdoor dinner on our patio.

ARTIST MARGARET ROBERTS

“WHERE ART DANCES WITH NATURE”

———————————————————————————————————

OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK

98 N O RT H M A I N ST R EET • D OW N TOW N WAYN ESVI LLE • NC

1863 SOUTH MAIN STREET WAYNESVILLE, NC HWY. 19/23 EXIT 98 828.454.5002

828.456.1940 O P E N M O N . - S AT. 10 - 5 : 30 W W W. T W I GSAN D L E AVES . CO M 76-65

VISIT

Waynesville NORTH CAROLINA

76-48

31

EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

2013 BLUE RIDGE BREAKAWAY

AUGUST 17, 2013 FEATURING: SPONSORED BY

The Hawk, a Century • The Trout, a Metric Century The Panther, a 40 mile ride • The Rabbit, a 24 mile ride THERE WILL BE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! All routes will begin at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center.

Riders will explore mountain valleys near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah National Forest and in the shadow of Cold Mountain.

Early Registration is recommended!

Registration is available through active.com or BlueRidgeBreakaway.com

28 Walnut St. 828.456.3021

Waynesville, NC 28786 HaywoodChamber.com

Sponsored in part by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority | 800-334-9036 | www.visitncsmokies.com

ARTIST OF THE

BLUE RIDGE

76-37

“Grace” ~ Colored Pencil Drawing 100th Anniversary of Lake Junaluska, NC

15 N. Main St. • Waynesville, NC | (828) 452-9284

Pick one up at your favorite gallery.

76-42

tpennington.com

For more information, call 828.452.4251.

57336

ISSUES OPINIONS A&E OUTDOORS & MORE

FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

From

Stovetop to Tabletop From

Soup to Nuts h

Home Tech has it all!

75-17

HOME•TECH

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — “The Kitchen Shop”

Smoky Mountain

5 N. Main Street Waynesville, NC

828-452-7672

SUBSCRIBE OR READ ONLINE AT

MON-SAT 9:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. SUN. 11:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M.

smokymountainnews.com 828.452.4251 VISIT

Waynesville NORTH CAROLINA

33

ASHEVILLE’S EXPLOSION

BY MARLA HARDEE MILLING

MAGARET HESTER PHOTO

34

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

WWW.SMLIV.COM

35

nna Wong worried at times about her husband’s decision to come out of retirement to launch a brewery in Asheville, N.C. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” she asked the former engineer. But Oscar was persistent, and in eight years Highland Brewing Company finally broke even.

The first legal brewery to open in Asheville since the Prohibition, Highland Brewing surpassed 30,000 barrels of beer last year—25 times its 1994 production. Today Highland offers five year-round beers—St. Teresa’s Pale Ale, Gaelic Ale (the best seller), Kashmir IPA (British styled), Oatmeal Porter and Black Mocha Stout. Seasonal brews include the popular Cold Mountain Winter Ale and Thunderstruck Coffee Porter, among others.

The 73-year-old Wong holds status as somewhat of a rock star in the Asheville craft brewing scene since he helped blaze the path that’s led to a growing interest in regional craft beers, as well as, Asheville’s claim to fame as Beer City U.S.A. for four straight years as the result of an online poll conducted by the Examiner.com.

“I’m a very fortunate pioneer,” Wong said.

“It was the right time in the right category. My thought was we’d become the top in the area with maybe one or two other breweries opening up. But there are ten, soon to be twelve, in Asheville alone.

“I see Western North Carolina becoming a real brewing Mecca,” he continues. “The fact that New Belgium and Sierra Nevada are moving here shows there is a good water supply, accepting community and quality of life. That’s what happened in Colorado and Portland.”

and hiking trails, but those items won’t start surfacing until 2014.”

Once the tap room and other things get cranked up, Arnold estimates Sierra Nevada will employ 80 to 100 people in Mills River, with an additional 40 to 60 part-time jobs.

At the site of New Belgium’s facility in Asheville’s River Arts District, spokesman Brian Simpson says the company is finishing up deconstruction of old buildings on the property.

“We are working with Old World Architectural Salvage in Asheville to reuse and repurpose as much as possible,” he said.

The next step focuses on flood plain mitigation, with ground breaking expected to be held in September with an estimated completion date of January 2015.

“I see Western North Carolina becoming a real brewing Mecca. The fact that New Belgium and Sierra Nevada are moving here shows there is a good water supply, accepting community and quality of life. That’s what happened in Colorado and Portland.”

— Oscar Wong

HEADING EAST Two of the nation’s top craft breweries, New Belgium, based in Fort Collins, Colo., and Sierra Nevada, based in Chico, Calif., are moving full steam ahead on plans to expand their production with new breweries in Asheville and Mills River, respectively.

“Our hope is to do some test batches later on this summer and ideally be producing beer and getting it out the door this fall,” says Ryan Arnold, communications manager for Sierra Nevada.

A small portion of Sierra Nevada’s 180-acre site in Mills River will be used for the production facility. The majority of land will remain untouched and in its natural state.

“We’ll look at how to incorporate that into outdoor recreation,” Arnold said. “We will have a tap room and restaurant, river access 36

The site will include a 400,000-barrel production facility, brewhouse, and bottling line.

“We’ll also have a tasting facility called the Liquid Center which is an opportunity for folks to try our beers, plus on-site tours, and an open space—green pasture area for events down the road,” says Simpson.

“Quality of life was really the determining factor,” Simpson said, when asked how Asheville was chosen for their new brewery.

“It’s a great community that appreciates craft brewing. There’s great quality water and it’s centrally located, which makes it perfect for distributing up and down the East Coast.”

Simpson said the company looks forward to collaborating on new varieties with other brewSMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

eries in the area. While their main production will focus on the core products, they will make some interesting smaller batch beers in Asheville.

Down the road in Brevard, Oskar Blues, based in Longmont, Colo., opened the doors of a new facility in December 2012. While Brevard is 45 minutes from Asheville, the company has found a way to appeal to Asheville’s craft beer fans by offering free trolley rides to its brewery.

Every Saturday and Sunday, the Oskar Blues trolley picks up riders on a first come, first serve basis in front of the Aloft Hotel at 51 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville. Aloft is located right across from Barley’s Taproom—one of the town’s best-known places for a pint. Pick up is at 5 p.m. on Saturday with participants dropped back in Asheville at 9 p.m. On Sunday pick up is at 3 p.m. with drop off at 7 p.m.

Dodie Stephens, senior communications manager at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau, sees the craft beer scene growth as an acknowledgement of the industry’s strength in the region. “The fact that several respected national craft beer brands have chosen the Asheville area further solidifies Western N.C. as a brewing stronghold in the east,” she said. “It’s no coincidence these breweries have planned significant tourism and experiential components.”

“Some say we’ve reached critical mass, but I don’t believe we’re there yet,” said Julie Atallah who, with her husband Jason, owns Bruisin’ Ales beer store in downtown Asheville. “Time will tell the impact of big players like New Belgium, Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues, but it does mean jobs, and the industry, as a whole, is good for the community.”

NATIONWIDE TREND Latest figures from the Brewers Association, the largest organization of brewers in the U.S., indicate there were 2,403 total breweries across the country in operation for some or all of 2012.

This is the largest number of brewers since before the Prohibition. The retail dollar value for craft brews in 2012 was an estimated $10.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2011. Craft brewers sold an estimated 13,235,917 barrels in 2012, an increase over the 11,467,337 barrels in 2011.

“Beer has been a big part of U.S. history.

Prohibition got in the way of that,” Atallah said.

“Beer never went away, but many styles were lost. I like to think of the resurgence of craft beer breweries as a ‘renaissance.’ There’s a new awareness and creativity and the craft beer resurgence follows the trend to bring things back to the local level. It’s nice to drink a beer that came from five miles down the road.”

One of those favorite breweries “down the road” for many Asheville locals, as well as

22nd Annual

Fine Art & Master Craft Festival On the lawn of historic downtown Banner Elk Elementary School

July 19, 20 & 21 Friday 4-8, Saturday 10-5, Sunday 10-4

August 16, 17 & 18 Friday 4-8, Saturday 10-5, Sunday 10-4 This is one art festival you won’t want to miss.

85 artisans presenting their handcrafted Fine Art and Masterfully Crafted mediums for those with discriminating taste, and art for the whimsical in all of us!

— Free Family Event | Food & Music — Sponsored by The Avery County Chamber of Commerce Banner Elk, N.C. 800-972-2183 | AveryCounty.com

1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments available.

Just a short 25 minutes to Asheville, Sylva, or Cherokee

17 Wilkinson Pass Lane | Waynesville, NC 828.454.5505 | vantagepointehomes.com 76-74

WWW.SMLIV.COM

37

Hop harvesting.

COURTESY OF SIERRA NEVADA BREWING COMPANY

tourists, is The Wedge, owned by Tim Schaller, a past president of the Asheville Brewers Alliance. The brewery is located in Asheville’s trendy River Arts District.

The late John Payne, who once owned the building where The Wedge is housed, used to hang out with Schaller. The two would frequent Dirty Jacks bar—now part of Green Man Brewery in downtown—and they envisioned a similar place, “an old man’s bar with

no TV and about 20 to 30 people sitting around voicing their opinion.”

As beer lovers tasted the brews, word spread and the crowds grew larger. The rising exposure of the River Arts District also attracted new people. “People kept coming,” says Schaller.

“They would sit on rocks in the parking lot so we’ve had to adapt to that.

“We’re not big in terms of production,” he adds. “That allows us to make really good beer.

It’s less pretentious, but good quality. People come in to have a conversation. That’s a big deal right now in an age where everyone is texting and no one is talking to each other.”

One of the The Wedge’s beers received a nod on CNN blog’s “Best beers of 2012.” The Vadim Bora Russian Imperial Stout honors the memory of the internationally known sculptor and artist who lived in Asheville and suddenly passed away in 2011.

JON D. BOWMAN PHOTO

Oscar Wong of Highland Brewing Company. COURTESY OF HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY

38

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Brewing Frenzy

LEARNING THE CRAFT With all the interest in the craft beer industry, new programs are popping up at area tech schools and colleges. AshevilleBumcombe Technical College in Asheville has added craft brewing classes to its slate of offerings as well as classes in beer management and distribution and sales.

At Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., students are signing up for a new B.S. degree in Fermentation Sciences or earning a B.S. in Chemistry with a fermentation concentration.

“The industry is growing quite rapidly and I think that growth will continue for some time,” says Dr. Brett Taubman, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Appalachian and head of the High Country Brew Fest held on the ASU campus each September.

“Our program is designed to accommodate growth in many industries and gives students a very hands on experience,” he continues. They can pretty much hit the ground running when they graduate.”

One student, Nathan Kelischek, has already opened his own brewery in Boone—Appalachian Mountain Brewery.

Kelischek ran the High Country Brew Fest’s pizza and beer pairing class last year, leading a group of more than thirty eager drinkers and eaters through rounds including Duvel paired with Mellow Mushroom’s Philosopher’s Pie featuring an olive oil and garlic base with grilled

graduating from the program have gone on to work at major breweries across the industry and are trained to do a lot more than just drink a cold one.

“We’ve got about a dozen students in the major right now with the same number in the chemistry degree program with the fermentation concentration,” says Taubman. “Next fall we expect close to 50 majors. It’s a very rigorous scientific program—not just for people who want to brew beer. This is for people who want to be fermentation scientists. They could go to work in many industries from environmental consulting to alternative fuels to pharmaceuticals.”

MARGARET HESTER PHOTO

The boom in craft brewing isn’t limited to what’s going on in Asheville, N.C. Brewers in other parts of WNC and East Tennessee are also jumping on the bandwagon.

“We’re not quite at the pace of Asheville, but we’re catching up,” says Marty Velas, director of brewing operations of Smoky Mountain Brewery, which has locations in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Turkey Creek and Maryville.

Smoky Mountain Brewery produces ten regular beers and four seasonal varieties.

The staff also experiments at times with one-off flavors. Of the regular offerings, the Mountain Light (pale, American style lager) is the best seller, followed by the Velas Hellas (German styled lager) and the Cherokee Ale (amber ale).

“I did my training in Bavaria,” says Velas.

“We specialize in lager beers and brew them without preservatives. It’s making the craft brewing industry so popular— people tasting beer at the source. Beer doesn’t age well. The closer you can get it released from the brewery, the better it is.”

Part of the reason for Tennesee’s delay in brewery industry growth has been the state’s regulatory atmosphere. “We’ve actually had some laws changed in the past couple of months,” Velas said.

One issue was the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s restriction on “togo” beer sales, which Velas says is being addressed. Taxing was another issue. “The taxing had been punitive to small brewers,” Velas said. “Craft beer is a higher cost per unit to produce, but we were taxed on those numbers instead of a flat excise tax.”

A new law changes the tax rate to volume, making it the same for all brewers.

Velas says among tourists who visit Smoky Mountain Brewery, many say they build their trips around a night or two at the brewery. They enjoy the fresh beer and the music. The brewery also offers sales of 12 ounce bottles featuring eight flavors as well as growler jugs that are filled right at the tap and mini-kegs.

steak, portobello mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and Kalamata olives; Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Bastard, and American Strong ale, partnered with the aptly named Mighty Meaty; Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout with Funky Q. Chicken, a barbecue sauce based pizza; and the floral and hoppy Bell’s Two Hearted Ale with Maui Wowie, a pesto pie with pineapple, jerk chicken, and banana peppers. Kelischek’s own Appalachian Mountain Brewery is open on Boone Creek Drive and offers Long Leaf IPA, 163 Pale Ale, King’s Kolsch, and Black Gold Porter.

ASU’s program is in high demand, but Taubman is quick to point out that it’s about far more than fun. Students

WWW.SMLIV.COM

39

Join the Fun From tasting rooms at the breweries to area restaurants and bars featuring craft beers on tap, as well as festivals and special events, there are many ways to enjoy Asheville’s beer scene and to develop an expanded appreciation for the craft beers being produced.

Here’s a quick look at some things to put on your craft brewing bucket list: y Beer City Fest: Happening June 1 from 1 to 6 p.m., this fourth annual event takes place in downtown Asheville on the Roger McGuire Green. Dozens of breweries will be pouring their brews, plus live music. Asheville Beer Week leads up to this festival and offers a variety of tastings, dinners, speakers and other beer-related fun. www.ashevillebeerweek.com y Brewgrass Festival: There’s always a mad scramble for tickets once they go on sale for this festival. More than 40 different breweries will set up booths where they will distribute samples of more than 120 different beers. Set this year for September 21, noon to 7 p.m. in Martin Luther King Jr. Park in downtown Asheville. brewgrassfestival.com y Book a Tour: Asheville Brews Cruise provides an easy way to visit a variety of breweries, tour the facilities, sample the beer and learn more about the history of why Asheville has risen to Beer City status. www.ashevillebrewscruise.com y Buy a Book: Anne Fitten Glenn, the former beer columnist for Asheville’s Mountain Xpress and current regional marketing rep for Oskar Blues brewery in Brevard, authored a comprehensive guide called Asheville Beer: An Intoxicating History of Mountain Brewing. Published in 2012, the book details the history of beer in Asheville and how it has evolved, along with information about area breweries. She’s @brewgasm on Twitter and has a website of the same name: www.brewgasm.com

40

They used to say you couldn’t swing a yoga teacher without hitting a massage therapist in Asheville. Now, it’s you can’t swing a brewer without hitting another brewer.

—Dennis Thies, Green Man Brewery

ASHEVILLE’S EMERGING BREWERY DISTRICT The newest buzz in Asheville’s craft beer scene is coming from an area of town known as the South Slope. Green Man Brewery, which is the second oldest in Asheville, has been flying under the radar a bit for years at its unassuming location on Buxton Avenue, but everything is about to change.

Green Man, owned by Dennis Thies, has gone through a massive expansion with a new 30-barrel system and 12-ounce bottle production.

Thies also purchased another building at the corner of Buxton and Lexington as well as an adjacent lot where he plans to build an 8,200-foot warehouse. The tasting room once known as Dirty Jacks now features a 10-barrel brewing system, a laid back bar in a welcoming environment and outdoor patio.

“What’s happening is quite epic,” Thiese said.

“They used to say you couldn’t swing a yoga teacher without hitting a massage therapist in Asheville. Now, it’s you can’t swing a brewer without hitting another brewer.

“Certainly with competition, it’s been like the Las Vegas strip of breweries, but we don’t worry about that,” Thiese said. “We will just focus on what we do. We feel like we have a brand that’s important to Asheville. We’ll never compromise the quality of our beer or our brand. In a nutshell, it’s the craft beer lovers of Asheville who have enabled all of this.”

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Burial Beer is one of the newcomers to the South Slope area. The three partners—husband and wife team Doug and Jessica Reiser and Tim Gormley—plan to open what they call a “nanobrewery” by early June.

“We’re starting with a 30-gallon or 1 barrel system,” Jessica Reiser said. “Most production breweries are doing at least seven barrels, so we’re starting out small.”

They are looking for two to eight acres of land outside of Asheville where they can expand their operation. Right now, though, they are focused on making their mark at their location on Collier Avenue.

“We’re right around the corner from Green

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Man,” Jessica Reiser said. “We feel really lucky to be close to them. They’ve been really supportive of our tiny little operation. We’ve gone to them for advice and information. They have such a great business model.”

Similarly, Steph Weber says she and her husband, Tim, can’t believe their luck. They made plans to open Twin Leaf Brewery at the corner of Coxe and Banks Avenues before hearing about other South Slope activity.

“We chose the spot because we like the laidback, open feel of that area of downtown, and the building is absolutely perfect for a brewery,” Steph said. “After we chose it, we started hearing all the news about the up-and-coming South Slope and all the new businesses and growth coming to the area.”

Steph and Tim are both mechanical engineers by training. They began making their own home brews right after college in 2006 and soon began dreaming of one day opening their own brewery.

When they realized they were miserable in the corporate world, they decided the time was right last summer to move from southeast Pennsylvania to Asheville and launch their business.

The couple received certification from the American Brewers Guild after completing an intensive Brewing Science and Engineering Program in 2011. “Tim built our computer-controlled automated pilot system, and we’ve brewed around 250 test batches over the last 7 years,” Steph said.

Hi-Wire Brewing is up and running in space once occupied by Craggie Brewing on Hilliard Avenue. Adam Charnack and Chris Frosaker are the two primary owners, and they’re excited to introduce Asheville to what they call “sessionable” brews. “These are craft beers that are not overly alcoholic,” explains Charnack. “This allows people to have sessions where they can have more than one or two at a time.”

The brand features a circus theme with hand drawn artwork and four year round brews—the Hi-Wire Lager, Prime Time Pale Ale, Hi-Pitch IPA and a brown ale called Bed of Nails Brown.

They’ll also create an eccentric line up of seasonal beers.

“We think people will find our beers approachable and find our brand fun,” Charnack said.

“2013 is going to be crazy and we’re excited. I firmly believe Asheville will become the east coast capital of craft brewing.”

Stay & Play

2,500 feet

ABOVE STRESS LEVEL!

# # # #

Private Outdoor Hot Tubs Nestled in the Woods including a Cold Plunge, Sauna, Robes & Towels. $42 World-Class Massages & Spa Packages Unique & Private Accommodations Perfect for a Romantic Get-away or Girls’ Weekend Escape!

8 Minutes from Downtown Asheville, N.C.

828-299-0999 S H O J I R E T R E ATS . c o m 76-08

Experience our private 250 acre mountaintop inn, where you will find award-winning overnight accommodations, fresh farm-to-table menu selections daily in our restaurant, world-class hiking trails and warm hospitality awaiting your arrival at 5,000 feet.

The Swag, where Great Smoky Mountains National Park is our backyard, and 50 mile panoramic mountain views are our front.

Offering a variety of lodging, restaurants, and activities within minutes of Bryson City, the Nantahala Gorge, Fontana Lake and other area attractions.

Serving hors d'oeuvres and dinner nightly, daily backpack lunches, Wednesday gourmet picnic and Sunday Brunch.

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED 800-789-7672 (bring your own wine and spirits) 76-71

2300 Swag Road • Waynesville • TheSwag.com WWW.SMLIV.COM

828.488.9000

WWW.NANTAHALAVILLAGE.COM

41

BY ANNA OAKES

Since the early twentieth century, High Point, N.C., has been the state’s furniture city, garnering the highest profile and largest markets. But vibrant manufacturing bases also rose up in Western North Carolina’s Catawba Valley, with some of the country’s most elite furniture names hailing from Lenoir, Hickory, and Morganton as industry men were drawn south, motivated by a vast supply of hardwood lumber and cheap labor.

“Back then, that furniture factory a’running, they had big whistles on their engine inside…these were steam. You could hear ‘em for six miles,” said Norman Austin, now a centenarian.

“Every furniture factory in Caldwell County, I reckon, blew their horn one hour and never even stopped. We didn’t know what had happened.”

The din was a joyous nation spreading the news—the war was over. However, as the bombs fell silent, the industry, like the U.S. stock market, plunged. Quality and style suffered.

“About 1924 a bedroom suite then like most of the small furniture stores sold was made out of gum and poplar lumber and, well, if it lasted ten years, that was doing well,” said Ralph L. Bowman, a Hickory Chair Company retiree, in a 1979 interview. “If you happened to drop a chest or a large dresser, it would just about collapse.”

The furniture industry was hit like every other. At Bernhardt, the company was forced to use “script” with promises to pay employees after banks reopened. “‘Mr. J.E.,’ as many knew him, worked hard and struggled financially in those early days,” remembered Paul Broyhill, son of Broyhill founder J.E. Broyhill and longtime president of the company. “Certainly, he did not have excess money for luxuries.

“Although by no means the only contributing factors, the profitability of furniture manufacturing over lumbering, the time in which North Carolina manufacturers entered the market, the availability of a trainable work force, and the low wages those workers could be paid relative to competitors in both the North and the South gave North Carolina industrialists an extraordinary and consistent advantage,” wrote Michelle Kilbourne-Minor in a 1991 master’s thesis on the Catawba Valley furniture industry.

Furniture from North Carolina traveled across the country. In 1889 John Mathias Bernhardt organized a company in Lenoir building furniture out of native white oak; he shipped sturdy chests and tables to distributors and merchants in Chicago and New York by train, at prices less than $4 per piece. The 1890 census counted six furniture plants in the state employing 182 men, and by 1903 Drexel Furniture was established in Morganton.

Towns flourished around this burgeoning industry, with furniture families playing fundamental roles in the development of key infrastructure and community amenities. J.M. Bernhardt and other furniture makers were instrumental in the expansion of railroads across the area. Thomas Broyhill, brother and business partner to J.E., helped build Lenoir’s first hospital, and the Broyhill family opened the city’s municipal golf course.

Come 1918, Norman Austin was two weeks shy of his sixth birthday when a shrill whistle screeched out across Lenior and plumes of steam shot skyward and billowed up into the crisp November air, as furniture mills joined the tintinnabulation of church bells and sound of sirens.

A worker operates machinery in the upholstering division of Tomlinson Chair Manufacturing Company in High Point, N.C. DONATED

WWW.SMLIV.COM

43

~ Bring All Offers ~ W H I S P E R I N G W O O D S AT S A N C T UA RY C O V E • WAY N E S V I L L E N C

Executive retreat

on 3.79 acres overlooking the historic Waynesville Inn golf course, long-range mountain views and vistas of Hazelwood, Waynesville and Lake Junaluska. Craftsman/Prairie style with over 5,000 square feet of open living space with extensive stone, timber, stucco, porcelain tile and Brazilian mahogany hardwood floors. Four bedrooms all ensuite and one half bath. Whole house solar-assisted radiant floor heating system in addition to a 4-zoned HVAC system. Large, private Master Suite with sitting area, huge walk-in closet and spa-type bath with his/hers facilities. Commercial Sub-Zero/Wolf kitchen, custom cherry cabinets with wraparound granite surfaces. Beautiful landscaping, level yard with patios and party pavilion. Must see to believe — all within 10 minutes from downtown Waynesville’s shops, restaurants and vibrant arts scene.

Beautiful Contemporary 5BR/3.5BA in 4600+ sqft on 1.03 acres, move-in condition. Rushing creek, lush landscaping and rock walls plus masonry water feature welcome you home to the Smoky Mountains!

Interior includes marble gas fireplace, vaulted ceilings, hardwood and ceramic tile floors. Lower level with interior/exterior entrances with a large Family Room, 2nd Kitchen and two bonus rooms for office, exercise, or hobbies. Would make a great Mother/Daughter or In-Law suite.

OFFERED AT $80K LESS THAN APPRAISED TAX VALUE! MLS#527176 • $479,900

MLS#522654 • $2,799,900

Development/Building Lots Come and settle down in the mountains of western North Carolina, home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Biltmore House and many other national treasures! Four beautiful and distinct seasons with outdoor activities for everyone including golf, tennis, hiking, biking, swimming, shopping and more! Abundant opportunities to enjoy the arts, theater, fine dining and semi-pro and collegiate sporting activities. Build your dream home in either of these exclusive Waynesville, NC private and gated communities; Smoky Mountain Sanctuary or Crestview Pointe. Both of these communities have year-round access, common area facilities, paved roads, spectacular views and are situated above 3000-4000 foot elevations. Several lots are priced to SELL below the 2011 Haywood County appraised tax value.

Crestview Pointe MLS#534044 ...............Lot 1...................1.47 Acres ................$69,900 ...................$8,300 below tax value!

Smoky Mountain Sanctuary MLS#522641 ...............Lot 4A ................2.25 Acres ................$84,900 ...................$29,300 below tax value!

MLS#522644 ...............Lot 4B ................3.02 Acres ................$99,900 ...................$22,800 below tax value!

MLS#522517 ...............Lot 52.................1.52 Acres ................$59,900 ...................$41,800 below tax value!

MLS#522634 ...............Lot 13.................3.84 Acres ................$180,000 MLS#522629 ...............Lot 15.................3.82 Acres ................$180,000 MLS#522477 ...............Lot 24B ..............3.86 Acres ................$189,900 MLS#529118 ...............Lot 54.................2.02 Acres ................$125,000 76-47

PREFERRED PROPERTIES ——————————————

44

George Escaravage BROKER/REALTOR

828.400.0901 gke333@gmail.com

Michael Monson BROKER/REALTOR

828.246.8900 michaeljohnmonson@gmail.com

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

62 Church St. Waynesville, NC

“Every furniture factory in Caldwell

County, I reckon, blew their horn one hour and never even stopped. We didn’t know what had happened.”

— Norman Austin, describing the day World War I ended

Norman Austin, 100, of Lenoir, N.C., worked in furniture plants throughout his life. He got his first job with Kent Coffey Furniture when he was 15 or 16 years old, earning 15 cents an hour. ANNA OAKES PHOTO

I remember that on Sunday mornings my dad and I would go to the post office before we went to Sunday school. We would open all the envelopes addressed to his business looking for checks. He needed those checks desperately to cover bills and expenses the next week, especially payroll.”

“It never got any better until after President Roosevelt got in,” Austin said, of the 32nd president who ushered in the New Deal and then in 1941, following the attack at Pearl Harbor, led the nation into war. “It took World War II actually to get it really going, booming again.”

The state’s furniture mill whistles blew again in 1945 when Germany surrendered and months later as Japan followed suit. As soldiers returned to take jobs in the factories, they found themselves for the first time working alongside women who had joined the labor ranks to keep production going through the war years.

After World War II, manufacturers struggled to keep up with the greatest demand for furniture the country had ever experienced.

Home building had increased threefold: “There were millions of new families who suddenly wanted homes,” wrote Allen Irvine

in a history of Drexel Furniture. “This meant more furniture. But what kind? The day of servants was passing. The combined livingdining room was in demand. The younger generation was interested in modern design, encompassing clean lines, function and utility, and light, cheerful finishes.”

Broyhill Furniture’s workforce increased tenfold after World War II, from 750 to 7,500.

By the early ‘50s, the company had more than 10,000 accounts across the country, and its army of salesmen grew from 28 in 1948 to

American Treasury was one of Drexel’s traditional offerings.

DONATED PHOTO

more than 300, according to figures from Paul Broyhill in his 2010 memoir.

Jobs weren’t difficult to come by then.

Austin had three offers when he returned home from a WWII shipyard. “You could quit Kent Coffey’s and go down to any Broyhill plant and get a job—the same day,” said Danny Wyke, Austin’s son-in-law and a mill worker for much of his life, mostly at Broyhill.

Crossing intersections on the main highways in Caldwell County required great patience most mornings after the post-war

Driven by a thriving furniture industry, downtown Lenoir used to be a boom town.

COURTESY OF CALDWELL HERITAGE MUSEUM

To celebrate its prominence in the international furniture industry, High Point is home to the “World’s Largest Chest of Drawers.” DONATED

46

Southern Desk, founded in Hickory in 1908 and later acquired by Morganton-based Drexel, manufactured the pews of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. DONATED

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

boom, except Sundays. Traffic was bumper to bumper as thousands and thousands of workers traveled daily to their jobs in the furniture factories, and they came from all over, from Wilkes County, from Boone, and even from Johnson City, Tenn. Some enterprising folks made a living shuttling workers to and from the job. “They’d (own) big ol’ cars and load it up, start at four o’clock over there and come to work,” Wyke said.

One man from Watauga County who Wyke knew hauled eight to twelve people a day to the mills.

“If it wasn’t for the boys in Wilkesboro, and Boone and Blowing Rock and Tennessee, the furniture factories wouldn’t run, ‘cause that was half the employees,” Wyke said.

Most employees put in 45 to 50 hours a week, though some would work as many as 60; “A lot of times, we’d go home and eat supper, come back at 4:30, and work ‘til nine o’clock, four nights a week,” Wyke said. “In 1962 they started giving us breaks.”

By 1963, Morganton-based Drexel’s sales exceeded $61 million, the company had a payroll of more than 5,000, and Drexel ranked as the ninth largest employer in the state.

“The company is believed to be the third largest manufacturer of household furnishings and other wooden products in the nation,” Irvine wrote.

Furniture bosses boasted about treating employees like family with such benefits as retirement pensions, profit-sharing plans, bonuses, and holiday parties and dinners.

Every Fourth of July, Broyhill hosted a huge barbecue for employees’ families at the local fairgrounds, with food, carnival rides, and fancy door prizes.

When Broyhill created a division of middle- to high-end furniture in the early ‘60s, it partnered with daytime game show “The Price is Right.” Bob Barker and Rod Roddy gave away countless bedroom and dining room suites over the years. The company unveiled a sprawling and expansive showroom and corporate headquarters on U.S. Highway 321 in Lenoir in 1966; a headline on the Charlotte Observer business page read, “Furniture Industry Now Has Its Own ‘Parthenon.’”

North Carolina’s furniture gentry traveled the world; they owned private planes, yachts, swimming pools, Cadillac limousines, and Rolls-Royces; they glad-handed with presidents, senators, and celebrities.

The Germans started making a product called particleboard in the mid-‘70s; stateside furniture companies again followed suit. “If you go in any department store today…it’s

pressurized pasteboard,” Wyke said. “Now, it’s alright, ‘til it gets wet.”

North Carolina’s furniture industry weathered the 1970s recession and energy crisis and continued to grow at a rapid rate.

“For a number of years, we even had our own construction crew,” noted Paul Broyhill. “We had the ability, literally, to tear down a plant a little at a time and keep production going. We could not afford to let production stop, so we built roofs over tops of roofs, floors over tops of floors, moved machinery from one side to the other side, and somehow were able to keep the factories running and producing.”

To help boost morale, Broyhill published in-house magazines for its workers, recognizing employee achievements, explaining benefit plans, and sharing information about industry innovations. The October 1978 edition of People Today at Broyhill featured a letter to employees from astronaut Frank Borman, a question and answer with racecar driver Richard Petty, a kudos to the Occasional No. 1 plant for being the first to break $1 million in a week and photographs from the recent Independence Day festivities. “Consumption was the order of the day,” read the report, noting that the

“Our decision to sell may have been a little premature, but it turned out to be much better than selling too late, especially in light of the devastating consequences of overseas imports in subsequent years,” Paul surmised. Others would follow. American Drew and Kincaid were acquired by La-Z-Boy. In addition to Broyhill, St. Louis-based Furniture Brands now owns the Thomasville, Drexel, Hickory Chair, and Henredon brands. “Over the years,” said Paul, “the large outside companies gradually took over the furniture manufacturing industry, and the original families mostly have disappeared.” Bernhardt is the exception. The company remains among the oldest family-owned businesses in America, handed down through four generations. Furniture manufacturing and affiliated industries—including trucking, machine shops, and others in the supply chain—came to comprise about half of Caldwell County’s employment base. In 2000, the jobless rate was below 2 percent.

That’s when things changed.

“Whenever Clinton signed this fair trade agreement, then they opened the doors,” Wyke said. “First thing you know, Singer’s went, Broyhill’s went, Henredon. Everything

“We had the ability, literally, to tear down a plant a little at a time and keep production going. We could not afford to let production stop, so we built roofs over tops of roofs, floors over tops of floors, moved machinery from one side to the other side, and somehow were able to keep the factories running and producing.”

— Paul Broyhill

event dispensed 6,500 hamburgers, 3,700 hot dogs, 2,900 candy apples, seven hundred snowballs and 9,580 soft drinks. “Everyone went away a winner,” the article said. “In a brief speech, Paul Broyhill, chairman of the board, praised the employees and further added, ‘You’re the best I’ve seen, anywhere in the world.’”

Under Paul’s leadership, the family company’s annual sales grew from $15 million to more than $300 million in 1980, when he made the decision to sell to Interco, now known as Furniture Brands International. The state industry would go on to peak in the 1980s, employing 90,000 North Carolinians and producing approximately one-half of the furniture sold in the United States. Broyhill reached $700 million in annual sales.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

that they’re making is coming across the water.” The first wave of job losses and plant closures began in the early 2000s, and the process sped up around 2005, explained Paul Teague, marketing and business development coordinator for the Caldwell County Economic Development Commission. The Wall Street Journal reported that wooden furniture factories in the U.S. lost roughly 30,000 jobs between 2000 and 2002. “Fueled by cheap labor and newer factories, China is cranking out higher-quality and morecompetitive goods,” the article said. “As many as 30 Chinese workers can be hired for the cost of one cabinetmaker in North Carolina.”

The state’s furniture jobs declined 28 percent between 2001 and 2006, and the 2008-09 recession brought yet another wave of layoffs.

47

Your beach to mountain home connection serving Southwest Florida and Western North Carolina.

Call Fred with your real estate questions…

20 years of experience. No obligation.

Fred Alter fred.alter@sothebysrealty.com ph. 828-564-1260

Highlands | Cashiers | Waynesville | Naples

Now booking the wedding of your dreams

T H E G A T E WAY C L U B Home of Anthony

Wayne’s restaurant.

T H E G A T E WAY C L U B Weddings | Award-Winning Cuisine | Receptions | Reunions 37 CHURCH ST. | WAYNESVILLE, NC | 828.456.6789

www.TheGatewayClub.com 76-36

48

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Two summers ago, a “For Sale” sign was hammered into the immense front lawn of the Broyhill headquarters building, the oncemagnificent Parthenon.

FORGING NEW IDENTITY IN A GLOBAL MARKET As it happened in so many other cities across America, businesses left the downtown districts of Lenoir, Morganton and other furniture towns in the late twentieth century for the areas’ suburbs and highway corridors.

Downtown revitalization movements have begun in recent years, and efforts are ongoing.

“At one time it was a booming town,” Danny said about the Lenoir of his youth. “When I was a kid, ten years old, on Saturday morning, you couldn’t walk down through town without bumping into people. I mean it was just like ants crawling going in and out of stores.”

“Things have changed,” lamented Norman. “The bank used to stay open on Saturday ‘til one o’clock, and people would gather ‘round and just chow-chow, trade knives, and chew tobacco, and stay out there all day long. And now, I’m afraid to go through town unless I had a gun,” he laughed, only half serious.

Reliance on a single industry that for so many years represented strength and power ultimately left the local economy reeling and rendered vulnerable. “I think it was bad for especially this area in here, for that’s all they

“You never really know until the music stops, and no one really knew when that was going to be.”

— Paul Teague, Caldwell County Economic Development Commission

had to depend on,” Norman concluded. “I know it hurt Caldwell County. On Saturday nobody hardly goes to town; you don’t ever see nobody.” Paul Teague acknowledged this, too. “It’s more painful when a lot of things are tied into a particular industry,” he said. “But this industry had weathered all kinds of storms—the Great Depression, World War II. You never really know until the music stops, and no one really knew when that was going to be.”

But local leaders have taken efforts to right the ship—to diversify the area’s portfolio of industry and jobs. Google’s opening of a data center in Lenoir in 2008 was widely publicized, followed in April of this year with an announcement the internet behemoth will invest an additional $600 million to expand the site. Economic development officials have also targeted pharmaceutical companies with some success, and this spring Exela Pharma Sciences announced plans to purchase the former Broyhill headquarters building. “It’s great to see that building that so many people

recall so fondly being put back into service, kind of signifying the diversification that we’ve been looking for,” said Teague. “One of the things the furniture certainly gave us was a fantastic infrastructure…(and) a power grid second to none.”

And as for the region’s storied age of furniture, no one’s writing an obituary just yet.

“If you look in the past year, there’s probably not another company that hired more people than Bernhardt,” Teague noted.

“Broyhill is still a very large employer in this county. Furniture still remains a very viable part of our economy; it’s just not going to be that overall dominant, dominant role.” While case goods (non-upholstered wooden furniture) are largely gone, area businesses have seen growth on the upholstery end, and in niche and boutique markets. Another company, Idaho-based wood moldings maker Woodgrain Millwork, is rehabbing an old factory facility in Lenoir with plans to open in the next year.

“Are you going to fully replace the 5,000, 6,000, 8,000 furniture jobs that left? Not on that scale,” Teague said, “but there are some areas where people can find some success.”

Although many are no longer actively involved in the business, the state’s furniture families have left an indelible mark on the region, with legacies cemented by innumerable gifts to arts, education, recreation, and medical facilities and programs.

“It’s certainly a part of our heritage,” said Teague. “Furniture is always going to be a part of this county’s DNA.”

Today the streets and sidewalks of downtown Lenoir, N.C., are not nearly as busy, but revitalization efforts are ongoing.

COURTESY OF CALDWELL HERITAGE MUSEUM

WWW.SMLIV.COM

49

50

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

WWW.SMLIV.COM

51

B

ecause Knoxville may get in the news these days via the college-sports pages, it sometimes surprises folks that it is, at its core, an industrial city.

Economically driven by its extractive industries, especially marble and iron—a century ago, Knoxville was known as the Marble City— Knoxville diversified to manufacture railroad equipment, textiles and furniture. Even today, Knoxville factories produce medical equipment, automobile parts, even signs for the New York subway system. But to the regional consumer, Knoxville’s most famous products are those that can be found on grocery shelves.

One is century-old Bush Brothers, the national canned-bean purveyor, which originated in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Smokies; moving their headquarters 40 miles west to suburban Knoxville is a fairly recent development.

However, a couple of other grocery items are more Knoxville-bred, from ideas germinated right downtown, generations ago.

Think of the essential Smoky Mountain breakfast and it might include some scratch White Lily Flour biscuits, made from the simple recipe on the bag, which has never been improved upon—and a strong cup of JFG coffee. They’ve both been around as long as anybody can remember, and both evolved along the narrow, sooty streets of Knoxville’s central business district.

White Lily’s origins go all the way back to the Reconstruction era.

Knoxville seemed “finished” by the Civil War, by some accounts. Badly abused by the war, both by shelling and by quartering thousands of soldiers from both sides, the city showed obvious scars for years. Some of its most charismatic leaders left town for good.

Knoxville’s apparent postwar neutrality was mainly pragmatic in nature, and may have started as a tense balance of political and regional affiliations. Still, the city welcomed strangers, as if assuming they might be friendlier and harder-working than the locals. The city was uncommonly open to new industry.

Within a couple of decades after the war, Knoxville had a reputation as one of the industrial centers of the South.

The classic Reconstruction-era story is of industrial opportunists, maligned as “carpetbaggers,” coming from up north to make some money hereabouts. There were certainly a lot Northerners who came to Knoxville in those years. But sometimes it flowed in the opposite direction.

Born and raised in rural Elbert County, Ga., near the South Carolina state line, J. Allen Smith had lived and worked in Atlanta before

52

coming to Knoxville in 1873, a young man ambitious to start his own business. Hilly East Tennessee grew some wheat in those days.

Everybody likes bread, and for the rapidly growing population, there was a demand.

borhood of both million-dollar wholesale houses and cheap saloons, dozens of them, which also catered to the demand for cocaine, prostitutes, billiards, and gambling. It was maybe the grimiest, most dangerous neighborhood in East Ten-

J.F.G. Coffee Company was a major part of Knoxville’s industrial history.

THOMPSON PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, MCCLUNG HISTORICAL COLLECTION

Smith guessed he might have some success with a grain wholesale business here, and guessed right. He first just bought and sold grain on a wholesale basis. In 1881, Smith fixed up a small mill and started doing some milling of that grain, to make flour.

He must have has a knack. In 1886, still in his 30s, he built a five-story factory in a rapidly developing northeastern corner of downtown, a former swamp that was becoming known as Irish Town, due to the population of workingclass immigrants in the vicinity. It was a neighSMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

nessee, and must have seemed an unlikely place to manufacture something that would become famous for its unadulterated purity.

That neighborhood did have some advantages. Smith’s bold plant was less than a mile down the street from an industrial barge wharf on the Tennessee River, where riverboat traffic flowed to Chattanooga, Huntsville, sometimes as far as Memphis and New Orleans. More importantly, Smith’s plant was immediately adjacent to the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia railway, which already connected At-

76-50

Sequoyah Birthplace Museum Highway 360 • Vonore, TN • 423-884-6246 Located in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennesseeon the shores of beautiful Tellico Lake, 37 miles south of downtown Knoxville.

Open Year-Round Mon-Sat 9-5 • Sun Noon-5 Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day August 4th — Sequoyah Rememberance day September 7 & 8 — Fall Festival

Storytelling Capital of the World • Tennessee’s Oldest Town

1779

Music on the Square FRIDAYS AT 7 P.M.

Farmer’s Market

SATURDAYS AT 8 A.M.

David Holt Storytelling Concert JUNE 9 AT 2 P.M.

Jonesborough Theatre presents 1940s USO Show JUNE 27 - JULY 7

Hoffman Quilt Challenge JULY 1 - 28

43rd Annual Jonesborough Days Festival JULY 5 - 7

Bluegrass Series Concert JULY 13 AT 7 P.M.

Quiltfest

JULY 25 - 27TH

866.401.4223 www.historicjonesborough.com

lanta, Mobile, and Memphis with the population centers of the Northeast (The ETV&G would soon become part of Southern Railway).

Knoxville likes to think of itself as remote, but it was not then.

Smith equipped his factory with state-of-theart milling equipment. To install it, he enlisted by another talented newcomer, a young Englishman named William J. Savage. The 25-yearold machine-shop whiz, an inventor of sorts, had tarried in several Northern cities before coming to Knoxville. Savage was so pleased with his work for Smith that he stayed in town and started his own rolling-mill manufacturing business, later branching into the marble-mill machinery business, prominent in Knoxville for more than half a century. In Knoxville’s industrial history, no figure is more associated with heavy steel equipment than William J. Savage—but he came here to J. Allen Smith to help make something light and fluffy.

Smith was famously concerned with quality control. In his factory they manufactured not just flour, but the elm-stave barrels they packed it in.

With apparent pride in his new home, Smith called the industrial palace Knoxville City Mills. White Lily was just one of several flours Smith produced at the mill—he in fact created dozens of different varieties, many of them with colorful names: Jasco, Mayflower, Orange Blossom, Alpine Snow, Standard Fancy. One, advertised as a “special baker’s cake flour,” had a name chosen to convince the skeptical: it was called Evidence.

Somewhere along the way, J. Allen Smith created a new flour that was uncommonly light and pure. A new flour needed a new name, and by one story, he named it for his wife, Lillie.

There’s another story; an early partner of Smith’s was one Jasper Lily.

Regardless of its nomenclature, White Lily became Smith’s most popular and famous product and, arguably, Knoxville’s. A conspicuous feature downtown, the White Lily factory was one of the first things Southern Railway passengers saw of Knoxville.

In 1903 Smith built a 175-foot smokestack for the generator that powered his mills. It was in operation for only 35 years before the company

The J. Allen Smith & Company building at the corner of East Depot Avenue and North Central Street in Knoxville.

THOMPSON PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, MCCLUNG HISTORICAL COLLECTION

54

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

went all-electric, but it was a monument that made Smith’s mill easy to find. During the heyday of passenger train travel, the White Lily smokestack was perhaps the tallest structure in Knoxville. On the ride from Mobile to Richmond, it was a memorable landmark.

The J. Allen Smith Co. was a major success, and its owner became a major local philanthropist. He was a big backer of the major Appalachian Exposition of 1910, the Knoxville Welfare Association, the University of Tennessee’s agricultural experiment station, and, during its greatest need during World War I, the Red Cross. He and his wife Lillie moved into a big hacienda-style house by the new golf course on the west side of town, with a commanding view of a turn in the Tennessee River.

Smith was in his mid-70s when he died in 1925, before he ever got to taste another local product soon to be starting up just across the tracks and around the corner.

East Tennessee grows even less coffee than it does wheat, but it’s always been a popular beverage.

From 1882, James Franklin Goodson had a

76-16

successful grocery wholesaling business in Morristown, about 40 miles east of Knoxville. He was known to take special care with his coffee, especially after a New York supplier disappointed him. He died in 1913, and by 1921 his son, Floyd Goodson, began roasting his own green coffee, and was looking into starting a business that concentrates mainly on that product. It was the middle of national Prohibition, and the demand for coffee had never been higher.

Goodson moved to Knoxville in 1926 and started a factory in East Tennessee’s most interesting industrial neighborhood, near the same freight yard that had hosted J. Allen Smith’s company, and started a coffee factory to roast and grind imported beans from select suppliers in Latin America. In memory of his father, he named it JFG, his father’s monogram.

Importing coffee by the ton from Colombia, Venezuela, and especially Brazil, JFG began processing and marketing its own brands for a large regional market, selling coffee in eight states, roughly those within a 300-mile radius of Knoxville. In 1936, JFG moved into a large old hat factory on West Jackson, almost in the shadow of the White Lily smokestack. By then, they were known for their slogan: “The Best Part of the Meal.”

Goodson earned a reputation as “the Coffee King.” For decades, downtown sometimes looked awful, a sooty wreck that earned it one famous writer’s distinction of “ugliest city in America,” but locals didn’t mind it much, because it smelled like good coffee.

For 70 years, White Lily Flour and JFG Coffee were being manufactured within shouting distance of each other. There JFG eventually earned some national status, becoming Delta Airlines’ favored in-flight brand. The company also started manufacturing some other foods, like peanut butter and mayonnaise.

Knoxville had lots of factories, some of them much larger, in plant size and employment, than White Lily and JFG: textile mills, marble mills, big machine shops like the Fulton plant, which employed thousands making precision equipment. But most of the big ones were tucked away from the daily hubbub of the city, often forming their own neighborhoods.

It says something about the nature of the quality-food industry that these two thrived downtown, in the daily gaze of thousands of downtown commuters, and thousands of tourists coming and going from the train station. The factories themselves had advertising value. Perhaps the typical passenger

on the Birmingham Special, or the typical UT student, or the typical attendee to downtown Knoxville’s famous live-radio country music shows, did not ever have the opportunity to purchase anything from Brookside Mills, or the Fulton Bellows plant, the Knoxville Iron Company.

Knoxville’s heavy-industry giants weren’t familiar brands that people saw on store shelves. But all these random visitors might well buy a sack of flour, or a sack of coffee, and maybe very soon.

When much of traveling America funneled through Knoxville on the Southern Railway, a big factory near the station with big signs painted on brick—and, in JFG’s case, a distinctive aroma—may have been better than a TV commercial.

Under Smith’s successors, first his son Powell Smith, who ran the company for almost 20 years until his death in 1944, White Lily Flour expanded its reputation and its franchise, becoming, for a time, especially popular in Cuba.

Meanwhile, Goodson retired from JFG in 1957 and turned over executive duties at JFG to his ambitious son, Floyd Goodson Jr., who reminded everyone of his popular dad. But when Floyd Jr. was on a marketing trip to West Tennessee, he died in a plane crash. The elderly Floyd Sr. took over the company again, and though he sold it to Reily Foods of New Orleans, he retained a role as chairman of the board, and coffee tester, until well into the 1970s.

About the same time Goodson sold JFG, the Smith family sold White Lily to the first of a series of national concerns to own it.

As employers, both JFG and White Lily were significant, but never dominant. There were Knoxville knitting mills and heavy-industry factories that employed five times as many as either White Lily and JFG put together. But as familiar symbols of quality, they were unparalleled. Knoxville got some terrible press in the middle of the 20th century, but it could still claim it made the best biscuit flour in the world. White Lily was specified in some biscuit and cake recipes, even outside the Southeast, where Smith’s invention was hard to find. Some gourmet catalogues, like Dean & Deluca, carried it.

In 1992, New York magazine heralded the fact that White Lily was finally available in stores in the Big Apple: “Any Southerner who knows his pie crust knows that White Lily is the only flour worth stocking.”

At the beginning of the 21st century, the two giants were still close neighbors, operating out of the same buildings their longWWW.SMLIV.COM

Get Real!

Cocke County, Tennessee

For your next “Real” Smoky Mountain adventure, give us a holler! yallvisitthesmokies.com 423.625.9675

55

gone founders had established. The millers at White Lily could smell the aroma of JFG’s coffee, as could most of downtown. Occasionally they encountered each other, and boasted of their relative national fame.

White Lily eventually landed in the hands of food giant Smucker’s, who in 2008 closed down the plant, favoring an Ohio mill reportedly closer to their modern wheat sources. It was controversial, as some food experts claimed the new White Lily flour wasn’t quite up to the standards of the old Knoxville product. The New York Times cited Atlanta cookbook author Shirley Corriher attesting that “There’s an incredible difference” between White Lily and other all-purpose flours. “It’s much, much finer, much whiter, and much silkier.” Some claim it’s never been quite the same since the Knoxville plant closed.

By then, some White Lily Flour was already

being manufactured in the Ohio facility, and other cooks praise its post-Knoxville product.

Meanwhile, needing to expand JFG’s operations, Reily considered moving the Knoxville factory from its hometown, but in 2005, they built a multi-million-dollar facility, still in central Knoxville, but just about three miles to the west. JFG Coffee is still ground in Knoxville, and may be for many years to come.

When White Lily and JFG left downtown Knoxville, they left a couple of interesting old buildings. Almost immediately, imaginative developer David Dewhirst converted Floyd Goodson’s old JFG factory into an apartment building. It’s been fully occupied for a few years, and there’s still a waiting list to get in.

Big advertising signs are sometimes considered eyesores, to such a degree that the city of Knoxville has banned new billboards. But for decades, the JFG sign on the south side of the Tennessee River, just opposite downtown, became a landmark. Knoxville-born poet Nikki Giovanni once referred to it in a nostalgic prose piece called “Coffee Signs.”

JFG had become such an icon in Knoxville and some other cities, including Charlotte, that lo-

cals made an effort to save the old signs, with their motto, “The Best Part of the Meal.” In Knoxville, a $15,000 grant from Reily Foods kicked off a fundraising campaign that refurbished the sign and established it permanently near its original perch at the south end of the Gay Street Bridge. The city demonstrated its regard for JFG’s legacy by changing a sign ordinance to allow the re-erection of a sign that would have been illegal by modern policy.

Meanwhile, just as White Lily was leaving its 130-year-old factory by the train tracks, its legacy was molting into a new form. Knoxville’s International Biscuit Festival, inspired by the White Lily legacy but not actually launched until 2010, two years after the company left, was a surprise springtime success right out of the oven, attended by thousands and recommended in national magazines like Parade, which cited it as one of America’s most notable food festivals.

And developer David Dewhirst, who successfully converted the JFG building into apartments, is at work on converting the oldest part of the J. Allen Smith’s original White Lily factory into 48 new apartments.

Things change, inevitably. Knoxville’s industrial legacy of manufacturing beloved products for Southern kitchens survives in new forms.

The restored J.F.G. sign was affixed on a hillside overlooking Knoxville and illuminated on Sept. 2, 2012 as part of the city’s 25th Annual Boomsday Celebration. PHIL SAVAGE PHOTO

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

56

Country Retreat Gabriels Horn JEWELRY

4 BR, 3 full BA, 2,650 sq. ft. home on 6.7 acres of private and attractive bluff lot.

Relax & enjoy the beauty of nature all around you. Marvel at the sunset views just over the ridge. Private beautiful koi pond, pool, & surrounded by great woods all overlooking the 770 acres of wildlife preserve adjoining lot. $329,900

76-05

A jewelry and art gallery in the Great Smoky Mountain arts and crafts community of Gatlinburg.

SEE MORE AT:

CUMBERLAND MOUNTAIN REALTY Renee McCoy — 931.839.2246

GabrielsHornJewelry.com 865.430.5610

76-3

youtube.com/watch?v=nQuuw2cQYhI

170 Glades Rd. Ste. 13 | Gatlinburg TN

2013 JJUNE JU U 15 10am- 4pm p FREE EVENT with food, entertainment, children’s activities, local vendors. Fun for all ages. Artists, wellness screenings, face painting, dancing, dance exhibitions, free food samples, jewelry, local entertainment. So much more!

JUNE 28,, 29 AND 30TH A weekend of all the big sounds of music; Swing, Concert Bands, Jazz Orchestras, Flute Choirs, Dixieland and more. Weekend Pass $25

Theatre Festival2013 AUGUST 2, 3 & 4 TH

Shows also by Theatre Guild of Morristown & Clayton Center for the Arts.

Individual show tickets $15 or multiple show passes will be available.

3RD ANNUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 75-9

With “God of Carnage” by Theatre Knoxville Downtown, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” by The WordPlayers, “Fiddler on the Roof” by Foothills Community Players, “Always, Patsy Cline” by Athens Community Theatre.

For complete and updated information check www.claytonartscenter.com often.

Clayton Center for the Arts Box Office: 865-981-8590 | 502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway | Maryville, TN 37804

WWW.SMLIV.COM

57

Digging deep into Western North Carolina’s mining history B Y PA U L C L A R K

58

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

The word “mining” in Western North Carolina may conjure up roadside gem sluices in the mountains. But the region’s mining industry is richer than that, for the most ordinary of minerals.

Nearly all the quartz that goes into making silicon wafers world over comes from mines in Spruce Pine, making the small Mitchell County town of 2,000 people the heart of the multibillion-dollar computer industry.

The rocks that make up the Appalachian Mountains also make up many of the bridges, roads and highways that crisscross the state. Granite is so important to North Carolina that it has been named the state rock.

Because of the region’s mountains (some of the oldest in the world), North Carolina is the nation’s leading producer of mica, that glass-like material most kids collected and peeled apart in every county in Western North Carolina, is used in roofing felt, shingles, paint, plastics, and wallboard.

The National Mining Association estimates mining to be a billion dollar industry in North Carolina. In 2010 (its last available figures), more than 260 companies were mining in the state, employing about 38,000 people and paying them an average annual salary of $52,871.

“Mining provides the most jobs and the biggest money for Mitchell, Avery and Yancey counties,” said Mitchell County mining historian Robert. S. “Bo” Smith. “For those three counties, it’s the biggest industry here.”

To appreciate the mountains’ rich mineral history, one must become acquainted with North Carolina’s three geological zones— the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain.

The Blue Ridge zone, about 200 miles long and 15 to 55 miles wide, comprises about 10 percent of the state. Made up of rocks about one billion years old, “this complex mixture of igneous, sedimentary and

metamorphic rock has been repeatedly squeezed, fractured, faulted and folded,” according to the N.C. Geological Survey.

The rock substrata far beneath WNC’s rich soil has never stopped shifting, as people who have felt its (so far) mild earth tremors will attest.

Within the Blue Ridge zone is the Blue Ridge Belt, the geological name for the rock underlying most of the mountainous area of Western North Carolina. Within the Blue Ridge Belt is the Spruce Pine Mining District, a broad swath of land in Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties along the North Toe River near the N.C.-Virginia line, which boasts some of the richest deposits of gems and minerals in the world.

DIGGING MICA In 1839, North Carolina carried out the nation’s first geological and mineralogical survey. By then, mining in North Carolina was already hundreds of years old.

“Ancients,” as the state’s earliest residents were called, were pulling mica out of the Spruce Pine area 2,000 years ago, using it as money and to decorate graves, Alex Glover of the Feldspar Corp., wrote on Mitchell County’s website. Around 1744, Cherokee Indians mining mica, emeralds, aquamarine, and quartz also excavated the related minerals feldspar and kaolin and

Detail from a painting by Jerry Newton depicting Native American mica mining in Western North Carolina.

COURTESY OF BO SMITH

Facing page: The Hootowl Mine in Mitchell County was a significant supplier of mica in the 1930s.

COURTESY OF MIKE STREETER • MCROCKS.COM

WWW.SMLIV.COM

59

STONE QUARRIES AND BEYOND • QUARRIESANDBEYOND.ORG

COURTESY THE MUSEUM OF NORTH CAROLINA MINERALS

Deer Park, a feldspar and mica mining operation located in Mitchell County, was extensively photographed in the 1920s. This photo (top) is one of the documentary photographs appearing in the Deer Park Mine scrapbook at the Museum of North Carolina Minerals. A mine in Bakersfield, N.C., (above) is depicted in this illustration from the December 1880 issue of Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly.

The astounding volume of mica in the Spruce Pine Mining District far exceeded its known uses, so researchers got busy finding things to do with it.

60

SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

used ox-drawn carts to pull them to the coast, where the English bought it for ceramic wares, Glover wrote.

Scotch-Irish settlers who moved into Mitchell County from the eastern part of the state found a cash crop. “Because they were farmers and almost all of their property had mica on it, they would plant their crops and then go mine mica,” Smith said.

“They didn’t have many cash crops, but mica was one of them.”

Non-Indian prospectors first started mining mica in the Spruce Pine Mining District in the 1850s. The astounding volume of mica there far exceeded its known uses, so researchers got busy finding things to do with it. During Reconstruction, the Union general Benjamin F. Butler—despised inside and outside of the Confederacy—enlisted an agent to buy the rights to mica mines in Western North Carolina. A mica boom begun in the mountains in 1878 helped supply materials for an insulator in Thomas Edison’s electric motor. By the 1890s, the nation’s mica mining activity centered around Spruce Pine, earning it the nickname “The Mineral City.”

Cakes of mica were made into windows for furnaces and woodstoves. Because of its super-high kindling point, manufacturers used mica as insulation in toasters and installed it in vacuum tubes. When World War II broke out and factories were cut off from their European mica supplies, the mines in Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery counties began working overtime to supply the nation with all it needed.

The Spruce Pine Mining District had more than 700 mica and feldspar mines, according to the N.C. Geological Survey. There may be two or three times as many prospective pits in the district, the survey contends. The mica mines (of which there were also

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

4HE CURTAIN RISES ON ANOTHER DAY

IN HISTORIC ABINGDON. (/7 7),, 9/5 30%.$ )4 #ATCH A PERFORMANCE AT

BARTER THEATRE 0EDAL ALONG THE SCENIC

VIRGINIA CREEPER TRAIL 3AMPLE THE CUISINE INCLUDING

LOCAL BEER AND WINE

Á XXX BCJOHEPO DPN WWW.SMLIV.COM

61

COURTESY THE MUSEUM OF NORTH CAROLINA MINERALS

some further west in Macon County) went full bore until solidstate electronics were developed in the 1960s, causing many to close. There are few industrial uses for sheet mica anymore, but North Carolina—primarily Western North Carolina—produces about 60 percent of scrap mica (found in granite rock) used in products such as cosmetics, paint, and plastics.

DIGGING SILVER One of the most famous mines in WNC is the Sink Hole Mine seven miles southwest of Bakersville in Mitchell County.

Its history goes back centuries, historians estimate. Believed to have been mined by Indians before white settlers arrived, its excavations measured up to 80 feet across and extended across a ridge for a third of a mile, John Preston Arthur wrote in “Western North Carolina: A History from 1730 to 1913.”

Inside the depressions were old stone digging tools that Indian miners were thought to have used, as well as some metal tools. Trees growing in the rock waste in the 1800s were found to be 300 years old, dating excavations to about the time that Spanish explorers were traveling through the mountains in search of gold and silver.

“Silver seems to dominate in the Carolinian dream of mineral wealth, when it is, of all such dreams, the one least likely to be realized,” C. Hanford Henderson wrote in an article published in “Popular Science Monthly” in September 1892.

Could Spanish soldiers hoping to enrich their monarchy have searched the Sink Hole Mine? There is only speculation. In 1867, Thomas Clingman, a former U.S. senator and a brigadier general in the Confederate army, reopened the mine after hearing Indian stories about white men on mules coming from the South long, long ago to dig at the site and carry away “white metal,” he wrote in his “Speeches and Writings.”

Clingman did some digging in the mine himself and showed some of what he found to miners from the western part of the country. Nodding with approval, they said the quality of the ore would bring the then-impressive price of $300 a ton. Clingman

62

Kyanite from the Celo Kyanite Mine in Yancey County was used in spark plugs and other refractory ceramics. COURTESY OF MIKE STREETER • MCROCKS.COM

dug a shaft and two tunnels at the mine but was able to produce only about $3 worth of silver.

“As has often happened, he failed to grasp the prize almost within his reach,” Frederic W. Simonds, a University of Texas geologist wrote in “Science” magazine in 1896. “Ill health and a want of capital caused him to abandon the enterprise, and strangers, profiting by his preliminary work, reaped a substantial reward.”

That reward was mica. Mica that Clingman and his workers discarded attracted the attention of a horse driver, who took a block of it to Knoxville. People there who knew its value moved to Mitchell County and started mining. Mica, used in stoves and lamps, was bringing $8 to $11 a pound at the time. “The rewards were considerable,” Henderson wrote in Popular Science Monthly.

The Sink Hole Mine closed in the 1960s. Remains still exist, off N.C. 226 on Mine Creek Road northwest of Ledger.

DIGGING GOLD Web forums suggest there is gold to be found in the creeks and rivers in Transylvania, Henderson, Buncombe, McDowell, and Burke counties, but no one in North Carolina has disclosed

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

a significant find in more than 100 years.

North Carolina’s golden past got its start along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, near Charlotte. In 1799, Conrad Reed was walking along the creek when something shiny caught his eye—a 17-pound gold nugget.

Unaware of its value, his father John Reed used it as a doorstop and sold it in 1802 to a Fayetteville jeweler for $3.50— one tenth of one percent of its value, state historians estimate.

The next year John Reed and a couple of partners—fellow farmers—started digging for gold in the Little Meadow Creek, but it was a slave named Peter who a few months later discovered the next significant find—a gleaming, malleable nugget of gold that weighed a hefty 28 pounds. The nation’s first gold

Reviewed on TripAdvisor

Two suites with private baths, one block to Va. Creeper trailhead.

Eco-friendly • Smoke-free

134 Park St. • Abingdon, Virginia parkstreetguesthouse.com • 276.628.8433 VRBO.com/405087 Homeaway.com/3023217

By 1832, there were more people looking for gold in North Carolina than were employed in any other industry, other than farming, and the state was the nation’s leading gold producer. rush was on. During the next 20 years, Reed and his partners panned about $100,000 worth of gold out of Little Meadow Creek—a fortune at the time.

Farmers in the Piedmont started looking for gold in their own creeks, with some success. In 1825, a German immigrant in the Charlotte area discovered surface gold not far from the Reed farm and followed nuggets to the deep vein that produced them. A dozen vein-mining companies sprang up in the area, attracting miners from Europe and South America. There were so many people looking for gold in North Carolina during the 1820s that the state legislature appointed a UNC geologist to survey and locate the state’s gold-producing areas.

Chief among them was McDowell County, which would become the center of the North Carolina gold rush. The southern part of the county produced rich finds along Muddy Creek and the Second Broad River within Vein and Huntsville WWW.SMLIV.COM

63

Learn more The Museum of North Carolina Minerals features interactive displays about the minerals and gems found in the region as well as the historical importance of the mining industry to the local economy.

The museum is located at Gillespie Gap, an important stop for Revolutionary War fighters on their way to the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Each September the Learn about the Museum hosts an NC Gem & encampment of re-enactors Mineral Festival who assume the role of the Overmountain Men, primarily Scots-Irish settlers from Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina who came “over the mountains” and ultimately defeated the left wing of Cornwallis’ army at Kings Mountain, South Carolina. Many historians mark this victory as the turning point in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week at milepost 331 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near the junction of N.C. Highway 226. Admission is free. For more information, call 828.765.2761.

Mountain, giving rise to boomtowns like Brindletown and Brackettown. Yet to be discovered is the fate of a trove of gold that early settler James Logan found and buried before Indians killed him.

In the middle part of the state, along the narrow geological band called the Carolina Slate Belt, some two-dozen gold mines had opened, typically named for their owners— Dunn, Capps, Alexander, Ward, Fentress, and Howie. By 1832, there were more people looking for gold in North Carolina than were employed in any other industry, other than farming, and the state was the nation’s leading gold producer.

North Carolina’s state library has a fascinating sepia-toned 1845 map on which are these carefully penned words: “This map is a fair representation of that part of the gold region which has been surveyed in the county of Haywood (County)…” On it, in beautifully scripted penmanship, are names of owners and their holdings, few of which likely panned out, including Hawkins (640 acres), William Shelton (300 acres), and Nathan Coward (640 acres).

Gold was not the big producer for

Western North Carolina that it was for the central part of the state. But because of the Piedmont, North Carolina during the early 1800s provided the only native gold for the U.S. Mint, according to the North Carolina History Project. However, getting that gold to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia was expensive and dangerous.

In the 1830s, German immigrant and jeweler Christopher Bechtler began buying thousands of acres of land beside rivers and streams in Rutherford County’s goldproducing regions. Like Levi Strauss who made his money in the California gold rush not by panning for gold but for making durable denim for gold rushers to wear, Bechtler made a fortune not from the gold he found but from the gold he pressed.

The Bechtler mint made gold coins that were often purer and of better quality than the gold coins produced by the U.S. Mint, government inspectors concluded. Bechtler and his sons pressed more than $2 million in gold coins in the decade after they opened the business.

Known for their integrity and honesty in dealing with miners’ gold, the Bechtlers

Celebrating 30 Years North Carolina’s International Festival

July 17-28, 2013 Presenting Sponsor

With Dancers and Musicians from:

Sponsors

Thailand, Mexico, Paraguay, Japan, Slovakia, Canada, Martinique and France. Featuring special performances from Appalachian and Cherokee cultures.*

SMOKY MOUNTAIN INN

Tickets & Information: 877.FolkUSA | www.folkmootusa.org Paid for in part by the HCTDA, www.VisitNCSmokies.com *subject to change

64

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

Feldspar Corporation operates the largest feldspar and quartz mine in Mitchell County. COURTESY OF BO SMITH

earned a fortune until 1835, when Congress approved construction of a mint in Charlotte. The state’s gold supplies already were dwindling when gold was discovered in California in 1849.

Though hobbyists still pan for gold (and gems) in private creeks and at roadside stands in the mountains, gold is pretty much over in North Carolina, though in 2011, high gold prices prompted companies to buy mineral rights near Raleigh and at old gold mines near Asheboro.

Today the state is pressing license plates commemorating its mining heritage and declaring the Tar Heel State as “first in gold.” The plate features a picture of a prospector panning for gold in a stream. It costs $20 or $50 for personalized one.

DIGGING QUARTZ The mining of many other minerals provide a good living for other North Carolinians. Marble along the Murphy marble belt and the Brevard fault zone is mined in Swain and Henderson counties. Gem mining has produced rubies, sapphires and garnets in Macon County and emeralds and aquamarine in Mitchell County. Clay is a big industry in Avery County.

But perhaps the most valuable of all, at least as far as people’s everyday lives are concerned, is the quartz that comes out of Spruce Pine. The Spruce Pine Mining District produces 90 percent of all the mined and processed quartz that the electronics industry uses, according to the Mountain Resources Commission, which advises the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the use of mountain assets.

The importance of quartz in Mitchell County cannot be overstated, but Shirley Hise, executive director of the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce, will give it a try.

“The world could not function without Spruce Pine because we have the purest supply of quartz in the world,” she said. “If you’re sitting in Spain or Italy or Brazil or Turkey and you have a computer at your desk, you have Spruce Pine. If you have a cellphone, a laptop, an iPad, you have Spruce Pine. We say we

are the most important mining district not just in Western North Carolina, not just in North Carolina, but in the United States and in the world.”

“It just happens that when the rock (quartz) was formed, Mother Nature gave it the properties that the industry needs,” said Robert Mensah-Biney, director N.C. State University Minerals Research Laboratory in Asheville. “Quartz is a silicon dioxide, and when the rock forms, it comes with impurities. It just happens that the impurities—things like iron, potassium and aluminum—in WNC are not as abundant as they are in other areas of the world. The quartz from North Carolina is pure. That certainly helps the economy in this part of the state.”

— Shirley Hise, executive Quartz mined in the director of the Mitchell County Spruce Pine area is used in Chamber of Commerce the production of nearly every desktop and laptop computer made today, as well as a host of other electronic devices like watches and mp3 players that depend upon silicon chips.

People who have solar panels on their roofs are also likely supporting local miners—quartz is used in the production of photovoltaic cells. Unimin Corp., which mines in the Spruce Pine area, supplies world manufacturers with much of the quartz they need to make glass, ceramics and lights, according to the Mountain Resources Commission.

Spruce Pine’s unusually large and unusually pure quartz crystals are so valuable to the computer industry that its quartz mines are protected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Which points out one of the region’s biggest economic ironies—the Blue Ridge Mountains, among the oldest mountains in the world, are invaluable to the world’s most modern industries.

“If you have a

cellphone, a laptop, an iPad, you have Spruce Pine.”

WWW.SMLIV.COM

65

66

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 2

Across 4 6 8

10 11 12 14 17

20 21 23 27 28 31 35 36 37 38

Type of wood or a furniture friendly town To unearth Alien in film Spruce ___ Mining District, a vast source of mica in the mid 19th century Famous coffee brand created in Knoxville One of Knoxville’s former extractive industries Energy source, natural ___ Knoxville used to be known as “the ____ city” Comedian and banjo player who created the “Love has Come for You” album with Edie Brickell, first name Roman 51 Seasoned rice Best-selling ale from the Highland Brewery Busy place, ___ of industry Diligent and hard-working This mountain town (see photo) Popular bar order ____ the riveter, WW II hardworking women’s image Tellurium symbol Requests

Down 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Bitter, tangy flavor givers ___-do attitude Right __ ! __ Guyot Neither’s partner Breakfast favorite Financial backer or heavenly messenger 9 Mountain suffix 10 Set 11 Believer suffix 13 “Beer City U.S.A.” from NC 15 He was the original maker of White Lily Flour in Knoxville, J. ____ Smith

ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN

By Myles Mellor • ilovecrosswords.com

1

c ro s swo rd :

Answers can be found on page 71.

16 Start of a Beatles song title, “____ Days a Week” 18 Giant QB, first name 19 Choose 22 Banjo relative 24 Atmosphere 25 Famous lion 26 Businesses: Abbr.

28 Retirement account, for short

WWW.SMLIV.COM

29 Consumers 30 Trees used by J.M. Bernhardt in his furniture business in Lenoir, white ____ 31 Conflict 32 Definitely 33 Brewer’s container 34 Suffix with project

67

d i re cto r y :

SELECT LODGING MOUNTAIN HIGH LODGE

CABINS AT SEVEN FOXES

Mountain High Lodge in Highlands, N.C., offers a variety of accommodations, featuring fireplaces, balconies & complimentary breakfast. Pet rooms available. Visit our website for special deals.

Highlands, N.C. 877.553.4821 • mountainhighlodge.com

Five beautifully appointed cabins nestled in the Land of Waterfalls in Lake Toxaway, NC. Guests rated 5 stars on TripAdvisor. Open year ‘round; pet friendly.

Lake Toxaway, N.C. 828.877.6333 • sevenfoxes.com

THE SWAG COUNTRY INN Chosen by readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine as the #2 Best Small Hotel in the Unites States, the secluded hideaway itself consists of 250 private acres. The main lodge and cabins, consisting of 15 rooms, are built of 17th and 18th century hand hewn logs and local field stone. Join us for our 30th season to experience just how remote, rustic, refined and remarkable it can be at 5,000 feet. 3 gourmet meals are served daily, with turn down service each evening.

Waynesville, N.C. 800.789.7672 • theswag.com

This resort has been welcoming visitors to the mountains with southern hospitality since the 1920s. Traditional resort amenities include historic and mountain view lodging, 27 holes of championship golf, restaurant and tavern, plus outdoor event space and pro shop. The location provides convenience to shopping, skiing, fishing, hiking and more.

176 Country Club Dr. • Waynesville, NC 800.627.6250 • thewaynesvilleinn.com

THE LODGE & LOFT AT SHOJI

This historic inn, set just off Main Street in downtown Blowing Rock, is only steps from shopping, restaurants and event activities. Eighteen unique rooms, including suites with fullyequipped kitchens. All rooms are non-smoking. Rooms feature private baths, cable TV, air conditioning, phone services, microwave ovens, refrigerators and WiFi. Take away the unnecessary stress and time spent planning your vacation by taking advantage of a variety of packages offered throughout the year.

Downtown Blowing Rock, N.C. 828.295.7987 • hemlockinn.net

Unique & private accommodations for 2 to 6 people. 10 minutes from downtown Asheville, N.C., and 2,500 feet above stress level.

Asheville, N.C. 828.299.0999 • shojiretreats.com

SMOKETREE LODGE Smoketree’s cozy atmosphere and prime location allows its visitors the choice of enjoying the peace and solitude of the Blue Ridge Mountains or the opportunity of partaking in the many activities available in the High Country!

11914 NC Hwy. 105 S. • Banner Elk, NC 800.422.1880 • smoketree-lodge.com

OAK HILL ON LOVE LANE BED AND BREAKFAST Awarded Best in the South by BedandBreakfast.com, Oak Hill on Love Lane features “The service and amenities of a fine hotel in the quiet comfort of a B&B.” Each luxuriously appointed room in this historic 19th century home is equipped with hypo-allergenic bedding, fine linens, fireplaces, flat screen TVs, private en-suite baths and wireless internet access. Enjoy 24-hour access to the Butler Pantry, daily maid service, nightly turn-down service and a full 3-course gourmet breakfast. Within walking distance of historic downtown Waynesville.

244 Love Ln. • Waynesville, NC 888.608.7037 • oakhillonlovelane.com

68

THE WAYNESVILLE INN GOLF RESORT & SPA

HEMLOCK INN

NANTAHALA VILLAGE Nantahala Village offers a variety of lodging, restaurants, and activities within minutes of Bryson City, the Nantahala Gorge, Fontana Lake and other area attractions.

828-488-9000 • nantahalavillage.com

BOYD MOUNTAIN LOG CABINS AND CHRISTMAS TREE FARM Featured in 2011 Southern Living Best Weekend Getaways .

Enjoy a peaceful country setting in charming authentic log cabins, 1—4 bedrooms, located on 130 beautiful acres. Full kitchens, wood burning fireplaces, Wifi, & A/C. The cabins overlook the Smoky Mountains, our Fraser Fir Christmas tree farm, 3 stocked fishing ponds ,flower and vegetable gardens.

Hiking trails to the top of Boyd Mountain, volleyball, basketball and badminton, swimming hole in the creek, sledding in the winter. Open every season.

Waynesville, N.C. 828-926-1575 • boydmountain.com

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

10% Off!

Overlooking the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains.

112 Guest Rooms, 2 Restaurants, Spa, and 27 holes of Championship Golf.

Perfect for Vacations, Meetings, and Weddings.

Stay in Style and SAVE! Choose from well-appointed rooms, suites or cottages, and enjoy complimentary breakfast, afternoon snack reception and central locations.

800-821-4908 www.thevillageinnsofblowingrock.com

Mention this ad & get

10% OFF Weekday Stay

800.627.6250 | TheWaynesvilleInn.com

176 COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE | WAYNESVILLE, N.C.

76-26

76-52

76-32

Cabins AT Seven Foxes

# Discover the magic of Blowing Rock, NC in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains # Walk to downtown shopping and dining # Easy driving to many area attractions # 18 uniquely designed and decorated rooms

Magical Mountain Experience!

Beautiful Private Wooded Setting Open Year-Round • Pet-Friendly 5 Cabins Available

Lake Toxaway, NC 828.877.6333 134 MORRIS ST. BLOWING ROCK, NC 828.295.7987

#

www.HemlockInn.net

WWW.SEVENFOXES.COM WWW.SMLIV.COM

11914 Hwy. 105 S. Banner Elk NC 28604

828-963-6505 Smoketree-Lodge.com Managed by Vacation Resorts International 69

ca le n d a r :

UPCOMING EVENTS ASHLEY T. EVANS PHOTO

June Asheville Beer Week Celebrate Asheville’s renewed dominance as Beer City USA at the inaugural Asheville Beer Week, taking place May 25 through June 1, culminating in the Beer City Festival on June 2. The week will include seminars, tastings, dinners, music and other special events around the city from more than 40 breweries that are slated to appear at Beer City Festival. ashevillebeerweek.com or beercityfestival.com. May 25-June 1, Asheville, N.C.

July

Timbersports Get in touch with your inner lumberjack at the nation’s premier lumberjack competition, the Stihl Timbersports US Pro and Collegiate Championship.

Only the nation’s top competitors have advanced, and they’ll exhibit their chopping, sawing and axing moves in the kind of action you’d usually only see in logging camps or on ESPN. ESPNU itself, along with the Outdoor Channel and TUFF TV will have crews onsite to film, and competitions will run live each day from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at The Lumberjack Feud.

865.428.8688 or stihltimbersports.us. June 7-9, The Lumberjack Feud, Pigeon Forge, Tn.

Wine, Blues and Barbecue Festival Nolichucky Vineyard will host their 3rd annual Wine, Blues and Barbecue Festival, where you can take in some summer music and a glass of wine and, of course, some delicious barbecue along the banks of the Nolichucky River. Live music will include Gene and Danny Lee’s Loudpack, Eliza Rodriguez and Big John and The Nationals. Tickets are $15 in advance and $25 at the gate, and the barbecue is included in the price. 423.586.8889 or nolichuckyvineyard.com.

June 8, Nolichucky Vineyards, Russellville, Tn.

Appalachian Lifestyle Celebration Waynesville will host a full-day celebration of mountain heritage, music, dance, craft, and Appalachian life skills at their Appalachian Lifestyle Celebration. The event will feature craft demonstrations such as basketry, wood carving and quilting, along with storytelling, traditional mountain music, clogging and old-time food vendors.

828.456.3517 or downtownwaynesville.com. June 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., downtown Waynesville, N.C.

Rathkeltair, the Southern Highlands’ own Cutthroat Shamrock, plus Marcille Wallis & Friends, Stirling Bridge, My Three Kilts, the Montreat Scottish Pipes & Drums and the Moynihan School of Irish Dance.

You’ll also find authentic Celtic and regional foods, Celtic vendors, Highland athletic demonstrations, a Border Collie demonstration, dance demonstrations and more. 828.280.3355 or celticheritageproductions.com. June 14-15, Asheville Outdoor Center, Asheville, N.C.

Lake Junaluska’s Centennial Lake Junaluska celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and birthday festivities will be spread out over the whole week. There will be special musical

Great American Backyard Campout This summer is your chance to sleep under the stars at majestic Chimney Rock during the Great American Backyard Campout. After a taste of rock climbing, you’ll take a night hike with the park’s resident naturalist, before crowding around the campfire, cooking a few s’mores and tucking into your tent for the night. The event is part of a nationwide initiative by the National Wildlife Federation to get kids and families camping together. Space is limited to 40.

800.277.9611 or chimneyrockpark.com. June 22-23, Chimney Rock State Park, Chimney Rock, N.C.

Maggie Valley Bike Fest Come ride the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hear smoking hot bands playing for one cool price! Make plans to come for a jam-packed weekend of biker games, food, fun, and great riding. $5 admission daily ($10 weekend pass) Gates open Friday & Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Sunday, gates open from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. All motorcyclists welcome. Beer onsite sales. 828.736.2217 or maggievalleybikefest.com. June 7-9, Maggie Valley, N.C.

WNC Highlands Celtic Festival

guests, reunions, family Olympics, fireworks displays, a parade, a time capsule and quite a bit more to honor the historic bastion of Methodism.

828.452.2881 or lakejunaluska.com. June 30 – July 7, Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, Lake Junaluska, N.C.

If you’re looking for Celtic music, the WNC Highlands Celtic Festival brings the region’s best and acts from around the world together in one weekend. The event features Celtic music & dance by Albannach,

Rafters and Crafters Festival Celebrate traditional mountain crafts and enjoy lively regional musicians, dancers and storytellers at Dillsboro’s Rafters and Crafters Festival. In addition to Dillsboro’s shops and studios, Front Street will be lined with tents featuring a variety of art and fine crafts including basketry, pottery, weaving, quilting, woodworking, jewelry, stained glass, painting, photography and more, as well as a ton of tasty food from the area’s restaurants and local street vendors. 828.586.1439 or dillsboronc.info. June 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Dillsboro, N.C.

Cherokee Pow Wow Tradition and competition come together in the Cherokee Pow Wow, a three-day event full of authentic Indian dancing, drumming and tribal regalia. There are thousands in prizes for the top competitors in traditional, fancy shawl, grass, two step and jingle dances, as well as drum competitions. 828.554.6471 or cherokee-nc.com.

June 14-16, Acquoni Expo Center, Cherokee, N.C.

70

FESTIVAL OF NATIVE PEOPLES Indigenous tribes from across the Americas will gather for the annual Festival of Native Peoples in Cherokee. It will be a weekend-long showcase of native dance, song and art, designed to honor the collective history, customs and wisdom of some of the oldest documented Native American tribes.

828.554.6471 or howawahn@nccherokee.com. July 12-13, Cherokee Fair Grounds, Cherokee, N.C.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

MUSEUM OF APPALACHIA PHOTO

PATRICK PARTON PHOTO

FOLKMOOT USA

Fourth of July is celebrated around the nation, from family barbecues to city-wide parties. But here’s a couple festivities a little more off the beaten path if you’re looking to herald independence a bit differently this year: y Gatlinburg, Tn. takes pride in having the nation’s first July 4 parade – every year. The floats kick off at the stroke of midnight, beating out the rest of the country for first festivities. y The Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tenn., will ring in the nation’s freedom with an anvil shoot, an old pioneer tradition that is exactly what it sounds like. The anvil will get shot throughout the day, and in between, you can hear Appalachian music, wander the museum’s grounds, or watch a few demonstrations. museumofappalachia.org.

The Franklin Folk Festival allows visitors to experience what mountain life was like in bygone eras. Woodcarving, moonshining, basket making, weaving and spinning, and many other traditional Appalachian arts will be demonstrated, along with Civil War re-enactors and plenty of local fare to satiate your appetite. Activities get underway at 9:00 a.m. and conclude with a mountain music jam in downtown Franklin. 800.932.5294 or franklinfolkfestival.com. July 20, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., downtown Franklin, N.C.

WNC Barbecue Festival The WNC Barbecue Festival returns to Maggie Valley this summer in a two-day event featuring mouthwatering barbecue, live entertainment including

bluegrass music and clogging, live chainsaw demonstrations, and crafters from across the Southeast. A barbecue cook-off will be held on Friday evening, where you get to be the judge.

800.624.4431 or maggievalley.org.

July 26-27, Maggie Valley Festival Grounds, Maggie Valley, N.C.

August

START AN OFFBEAT JULY FOURTH TRADITION

Franklin Folk Festival

Folkmoot USA, The State International Festival of North Carolina, is a twoweek celebration of the world's cultural heritage through folk music and dance. Held each summer across Western North Carolina, Folkmoot features performances, a parade and workshops by up to 300 performers from about nine countries. Groups invited to perform in the 2013 Special Anniversary Festival include: France (Stilt-Walkers), Martinique, Thailand, Japan, Slovakia, Mexico, Canada (Scottish Highland Dance) and Paraguay. July 17-28. folkmootusa.org or 877.365.5872.

Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby It’s the kids’ turn to try their hand at the tackle box at the Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby. The fun starts at 6 a.m. on Saturday, with lots of prizes and free bait and tackle for the little anglers.

Admission is free, but children must be registered and there will be a five-trout limit per child.

828.497.1826 or cherokeetroutderby.com. August 2-3, Oconaluftee Island Park, Cherokee, N.C.

attracts both established laugh makers and up-andcomers alike. general@laughyourashevilleoff.com or laughyourashevilleoff.com. August 13-17, downtown Asheville, N.C.

GarlicFest GarlicFest is the 5th annual celebration of the Garlic harvest in north Georgia. There will be visiting chefs, creative food, cooking demos, tastings, live music, and of course, lots of garlic. 706.348.6068 or loganberryheritagefarm.com. August 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Logan Berry Heritage Farm, Cleveland, Ga.

September Oktoberfest What better spot for Oktoberfest than a German village, recreated in the heart of north Georgia?

The 43rd Annual Oktoberfest is coming to Helen, spread out over two weekends and continuing for an entire month. Enjoy a selection of German music, food, drinks and dances such as waltzes, polkas and even the chicken dance. The celebration will run from September 12-15, then September 19-22, and reopening daily beginning September 26 and continuing through October 27.

706.878.1908 or helenga.org. Sept. 12-15 and 19-22, Helen Festhalle, Helen, Ga.

Virginia Highlands Festival

The Virginia Highlands Festival rings in its 65th year this summer, with dining, music, shopping, cultural displays and more, spread out over four square miles of festival locations. Free trolleys and shuttle buses will help you make the most of the varied festival exhibits that stretch across nine full days. 276.623.5266 or vahighlandsfestival.org. August 9-11, Abingdon, Va.

Crossword answers Puzzle is on page 67.

Blue Ridge Breakaway Take your passion for cycling to a new level during the Blue Ridge Breakaway. The ride features four routes throughout Haywood County with one traveling 32 miles on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.

828.456.3021, kgould@haywood-nc.com or blueridgebreakaway.com. August 17, Waynesville, N.C.

Laugh Your Asheville Off In the mood for a good laugh? The 6th Annual Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival will provide an entire weekend of them. The festival prides itself on its non-competitive nature, and

WWW.SMLIV.COM

71

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Industrious, if not ingenious

BY CHRIS COX

M

y father was not what you would call a captain of industry, but he had an entrepreneurial spirit that not only made him a true American but a good father as well. His various ventures into industry may not have resulted in fortune, fame, or thousands of jobs for the citizens of our town, but they did manage to keep me and my younger sister employed in those fumbling years between the ages of 18 and 23. Some people develop the blueprint of their future seamlessly while others blow it to kingdom come, dropping out of college and moving into shabby apartments with faulty furnaces, leaky faucets, broken windows, and roaches the size of Norwich Terriers. It is in these dubious circumstances that one figures out his life—or not—patching together whatever rickety contraption gets him from one week to the next, from one hangover to the next.

“Is there enough change in the ashtray and floorboard of the car to fund a six-pack of the package store’s cheapest beer?”

That’s a question more focused, more urgent, and yet more manageable than, “What am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?”

This way of life can go on for a while. It is not ideal, but it must be subsidized somehow, someway. Thus, a little nation of lost souls turns its lonely eyes to industry to get by. Some work at Hardees. Some mow lawns. Some clean houses. Some sell drugs.

I didn’t want to do any of that, which is why I remain grateful to this day that my father had taken a fancy to industry, even though his “real job” was as a long haul truck driver. When I was in high school, he opened a six-lane bowling alley where I worked on the weekends and in the summers. I whiled away the idle hours of late morning and early afternoon learning how to pick up a spare on the 6-7-10 split and playing endless games of Space Invaders and Pac Man in the game room.

Just as I was graduating from high school, Dad had decided to turn the bowling alley into a honkytonk that he enigmatically called “Charades,” an ambitious but short-lived enterprise.

During my freshman year of college, he bought a pizza restaurant, which stayed in the family for more than a decade, overlapping with several other business interests. While the restaurant was a source of income—and food—for various family members in the years we owned it, I was able to avoid working in it because, by the time I dropped out of college, the home video craze was just about to begin and my dad had hatched another idea—a video rental business.

In the beginning, the only people who could afford to indulge in home video were the affluent. The typical VCR sold for five hundred bucks or so, and new releases usually sold for about eighty or ninety dollars apiece. My father saw right away that

72

there was money to be made by making home video accessible to the middle class. He thought that if we could get a deal buying both movies and machines in bulk, we could turn around and rent machines and movies to people for ten bucks per night and twenty-five per weekend for a machine and four or five movies.

He also found places in Greensboro and Elkin where we could buy used VCRs and used movies, which eased the burden of the initial investment and increased our profit margin. And he made friends with a guy who had trained to fix VCRs. Best of all, his new video store provided excellent jobs for me and my sister at a time when we could have easily been working in jobs that required us to wear paper hats or scrub toilets.

As the oldest, I quickly appointed myself as the manager. That was fine with my sister, as long as she made the same amount of money and did not have to wear a paper hat or scrub a toilet. It was a pretty great gig, especially for me, since I loved movies and got first dibs on all the new releases. Plus, I got to play the role of Roger Ebert, giving thumbs up or thumbs down along with my reliably stimulating reviews on any movie in the store, whether our customers asked for it or not.

“I see that you’re looking at ‘Stripes,’” I might observe to someone reading the back of the movie box.

“I think you’ll find that MANDY NEWHAM Bill Murray gives the ILLUSTRATION performance of a lifetime, a comic tour de force. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this movie will change your life. It’ll do your laundry and walk your dog.”

In our downtime, I was able to watch movies in the store or read paperbacks. Eventually, I read enough of them to realize that I wanted to go back to college and major in English. My dad thought I should be an orthodontist or an air traffic controller, or maybe go into business for myself, but he also understood that I was not cut out to be a captain of industry.

He may not have been either, but I will always be inspired by his sense of adventure, his willingness to try anything to make things a little better for his family and the people in our town.

After all, he gave them bowling, dancing, pizza, and movies.

What else does one need?

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 3

Come see what the fuss is all about....

Check out our great Stay and Play Vacation Packages, visit atrock layhouse.org historichendersonville.org

Carl Sandburg Home

DuPont Sta te Recreatio nal Forest laces to So Many P

Bike!

Order our FREE! Travel Planner

historichendersonville.org

800.828.4244

Th e Pinnacle Ach ievem ent.

The Virginian, an acclaimed 538-acre private country club community in the rolling hills of Southwestern Virginia, is about to unveil its newest neighborhood. Named Grandview, it consists of 30 carefully contoured homesites overlooking the 9th and 18th holes of the Tom Fazio championship golf course.

The name is apt because each homesite provides spectacular view corridors of meadows, forests, fairways and the faraway Appalachian Mountains. This mature, successful community, named as one of the ďŹ nest and best planned in America, is already home to more than 100 families residing in charming estate homes.

Talented architects and planners have been working on Grandview for several years, assuring its homes will be the pinnacle achievements in this distinguished community.

Outside the gates of The Virginian are the historic towns of Abingdon and Bristol, the scenic Appalachian Trail and an unhurried, uncrowded and unparalleled living environment. We invite your inquiry.

A private golf club community of 250 homesites on 538 acres of some of the most breathtaking highlands in North America.

Homesites from $70,000, resale homes from $500,000. Void where prohibited by law, including New York and New Jersey.

thevirginian.com 22512 Clubhouse Ridge Bristol, Virginia 24202 276.645.7050