#1 ENTIRE HOUSE OVER $500,000 URBAN BUILDING GROUP
#2 RESIDENTIAL KITCHEN OVER $150,000 CASE DESIGN / REMODELING OF CHARLOTTE
Basement $100-$250 Tri-Square
#4 RESIDENTIAL INTERIOR $250,000 - $500,000 DIFABION REMODELING
#3 BATHROOM OVER $75,000 ANDREW ROBY GENERAL CONTRACTOR
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE 2020 NARI CotY AWARD WINNERS
Exterior Under $100 Paul Kowalski
The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) Charlotte Chapter announced the winners of the 2020 CotY (Contractor of the Year) Awards at this year’s virtual event, held on November 19th. An independent panel of judges from across the country reviewed submissions to select the winners in 15 categories including whole house, historical renovation, kitchens, baths, additions, and more. Award winning projects are listed below and are featured on the NARI of Greater Charlotte chapter’s website at www.naricharlotte.com/2020-CotY-Awards.
1.
Residential Bath $50,001-$75,000 Simonini Homes
2. Residential Bath over $75,000 Andrew Roby General Contractor with Barefoot & Company, Harkey Tile & Stone, Roby Services, Ferguson Enterprises 3. Residential Kitchen $100,001-$150,000 Hopedale Builders 4. Residential Kitchen over $150,000 CASE Design/Remodeling of Charlotte with Intelligent Design Engineering, Ferguson Enterprises 5. Residential Kitchen $60,001-$100,000 DiFabion Remodeling with Harkey Tile & Stone, Ferguson Enterprises 6. Entire House over $500,000 Urban Building Group 7. Entire House under $500,000 DiFabion Remodeling with Intelligent Design Engineering, Ferguson Enterprises
8. Residential Addition under $250,000 Tri-Square Builders 9. Residential Interior $100,000-$250,000 Tri-Square Builders with Harkey Tile & Stone 10. Basement $100,000 to $250,000 Tri-Square Builders 11. Commercial Interior Andrew Roby General Contractor with Harkey Tile & Stone 12. Residential Exterior under $100,000 Paul Kowalski Builders 13. Residential Interior Element under $30,000 DiFabion Remodeling 14. Residential Interior $250,001-$500,000 DiFabion Remodeling with Intelligent Design Engineering 15. Residential Interior under $100,000 DiFabion Remodeling
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FROM THE EDITOR
T
CATHY MARTIN EDITOR
editor@southparkmagazine.com
o say 2020 has been a turbulent year is an understatement. So, when I read Vanessa Infanzon’s interview with Sherry Arlena Waters (Page 144), it resonated. Waters, who has degrees in communications and theology, opened the Pauline Tea-Bar Apothecary in west Charlotte as a space “for our community to come and experience something that was restorative, calming, peaceful.” And what’s more restorative than a cup of tea? Contributor Page Leggett found a bit of calm while visiting The Horse Shoe Farm for a travel feature (where she coincidentally bumped into writer Ken Garfield — SouthPark minds think alike). Jordan Turchin, the farm’s millennial owner/manager, moved from California with his Inspirational messages from wife and kids to run the Hendersonville retreat, a the meditation nook atop a silo former cattle farm with an alternative spirit and at The Horse Shoe Farm in an emphasis on wellness that Page likens to an Hendersonville. East Coast Sedona (Page 134). Page sent me a few pictures she took on her phone while visiting a meditation nook on the property (she wasn’t kidding about the Sedona vibe). There, notes scribbled by previous visitors impart messages of hope and inspiration: “Enjoy the now.” “What you seek is seeking you.” “Breathe darling, this is just a chapter. It’s not your whole story.” A soothing reminder in an unpredictable year. The holidays this year will bring comfort to many and a sadness to others who won’t be able to participate in the usual traditions or spend time with loved ones. We hope this issue, and every issue, offers you a little escape from the chaos so pervasive throughout 2020. And on those days when life gets you down, try to remember that piece of advice from those words scrawled in Sharpie: This is only a chapter. Cheers to 2021, and brighter days ahead. Correction: A feature story in the print version of our November issue about pastry chef Ashley Anna Tuttle incorrectly identified the nonprofit organization affiliated with Community Matters Cafe. The café is associated with Charlotte Rescue Mission. We regret the error. SP
Glamorous? Bet you didn’t picture combat boots, concrete floors or a cavernous warehouse studio when flipping through the pages of this month’s style feature. A behind-the-scenes photo of two of our hardworking contributors, photographer Olly Yung and model Brooke Everson. 10
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Surround yourself with all the joy and sparkle of the season!
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MEG WILKINSON 704-906-5747
MARGARET WOOD 704-904-6022
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C H A R LO T T E C H A R L E S TO N World Class Living
The Mark of Distinction in World Class Home Building™ Charlotte (704) 889.1600 Charleston (843) 801.1600 www.kingswoodhomes.com
December
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DEPARTMENTS 23 | Blvd. Holiday day trips; Red Salt’s bold and bright flavors; gift picks from local stores; planting a winter garden.
51 | Simple life Becoming my father — and luckily, his father, too.
55 | Bookshelf This month's notable new releases.
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61 | The road home Dinner delivery, with a village on the side.
65 | Southpark stories Chuck Edwards and Alfred, Lord Tennyson: We’re not done yet.
67 | Omnivorous reader The return of Ron Rash’s classic character.
70 | Christmas stories Somewhat, but mostly, true.
139 | Swirl Parties, fundraisers and events in the Queen City.
144 | Snapshot Sherry Arlena Waters invites calm at the Pauline Tea-Bar Apothecary.
ABOUT THE COVER Photograph from our holiday style feature by Olly Yung, with styling by Whitley Adkins. Additional credits on page 81.
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additions renovations signature homes
Charlotte and Boone
andrewroby.com 704.334.5477
making it home since 1950 A T O
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YEARS Y DING I L CE EN
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2 5 O – 2 O
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80 FEATURES 80 | All that glitters photographs by Olly Yung | styling by Whitley Adkins
Add sparkle to the holidays with jewelry and accessories from Charlotte retailers.
88 | Paced perfect by Blake Miller| photographs by Dustin Peck
A SouthPark design project evolves over time and reflects the homeowner’s love of color.
98 | Rustic modern by Cathy Martin | photographs by Erica Mark
Interior designer Wendy Fennell updates a Beverly Woods kitchen and dining room.
102 | Art in service by Wiley Cash | photographs by Mallory Cash Rosalia Torres-Weiner’s flowers blossom.
106 | Cultivating Charlotte by Rick Thames | photographs by Peter Taylor Former Charlotte Observer publisher Rolfe Neill reflects on a distinguished career. 128 | Adventure and amore by Vanessa Infanzon
Exploring Spartanburg’s rich history with a stay at Clevedale Historic Inn and Gardens.
131 | Low-key luxury by Blake Miller An early 20th-century home in Asheville provides a tranquil escape. 134 | Let the land restore you by Page Leggett
Hendersonville’s Horse Shoe Farm could be the Sedona of North Carolina. 16
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1230 West Morehead St., Suite 308 Charlotte, NC 28208 704-523-6987 southparkmagazine.com _______________ Ben Kinney Publisher publisher@southparkmagazine.com Cathy Martin Editor editor@southparkmagazine.com Andie Rose Art Director Lauren M. Coffey Graphic Designer Alyssa Rocherolle Graphic Designer Whitley Adkins Style Editor Contributing Editors David Mildenberg, Taylor Wanbaugh Contributing Writers Wiley Cash, Jim Dodson, Ken Garfield, Vanessa Infanzon, Caroline Langerman, Amanda Lea, Page Leggett, D.G. Martin, Blake Miller, Jay Sifford, Michael J. Solender, Rick Thames, Daniel Wallace Contributing Photographers Mallory Cash, Daniel Coston, Justin Driscoll, Erica Mark, Dustin Peck, Peter Taylor, Olly Yung Amanda Lea Proofreader _______________ ADVERTISING Jane Rodewald Account Executive 704-621-9198 jane@southparkmagazine.com Scott Leonard Audience Development Specialist/ Account Executive 704-996-6426 scott@southparkmagazine.com Brad Beard Graphic Designer Letters to the editorial staff: editor@southparkmagazine.com Instagram: southparkmagazine Facebook: facebook.com/southparkmagazine Twitter: twitter.com/SouthParkMag
Owners Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels Jr., Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff Published by Old North State Magazines LLC. ŠCopyright 2020. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Volume 24, Issue 12
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The Ultimate Holiday
Getaway B o ok O nli ne
C all us Dire c t
S tay | Dine | Ski Chetola Resort | 185 Chetola Lake Drive | Blowing Rock, NC chetola.com | 800.243.8652
blvd. People. Places. Things.
HANDMADE HOLIDAYS
It’s often said that good things come in small packages — in this case, the package itself is a treasure that could be the start of a new tradition. Kate Stewart started Atlanta-based Bauble Stockings in 2018, inspired by a keepsake needlepoint stocking that hung on her family’s Christmas tree: Each year, the stocking held a special gift, or “bauble,” for her mother. Today, the stockings are sold in 115 stores in 25 states, including The Buttercup, Paper Twist and 2 Twenty 2 Interiors at Blacklion in Charlotte and Crossings on Main in Fort Mill, S.C. The stockings are hand-stitched by single mothers in Haiti working to support their families. The 6-inch designs are perfect for holding small but significant gifts, from jewelry to concert tickets to handwritten letters or clues. There are 45 distinct styles, from nutcrackers to snow globes to holly leaves, including several designed by Southern women artists. Selections vary by store. SP
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bea c h
Warm and cozy WARMING UP YOUR
WINTER WEEKENDS
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inter weather in Charlotte is all over the place — 75 degrees one day, freezing the next. For those chillier days, nothing hits the spot like a warm cup of cocoa. Mixologist Bob Peters adds a pinch of salt to his hot chocolate, which can be spiked with bourbon (his preferred ingredient) or your liquor of choice. “If you’re not a bourbon fan, tequila works really well. Mezcal is exceptional,” Peters says. This Boozy
2020 has been enlightening, we know. Ring in 2021 with a special One-night Package stay, including sparkling wine and sweet treat awaiting you in your room, and dinner for two on Dec. 31 with a Pig Pickin’ and Low Country Boil on our spacious beachside lawn. And of course, Breakfast in Bed on New Year’s Day.
blockade-runner.com 877-703-1095
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at Grinning Mule in Plaza Midwood is carefully topped with a housemade marshmallow, then bruleed for a toasty campfire flavor. SP
PHOTOGRAPHS B Y JUSTIN DRISCOLL
New Year’s Eve Package
Hot Chocolate
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Roam for the holidays DAY TRIP OR OVERNIGHTER, SETTING OUT FOR THESE DRIVING-DISTANCE SEASONAL ATTRACTIONS IS SURE TO AWAKEN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT. BY MICHAEL J. SOLENDER
W
hile temperatures cool heading into winter, seasonal fun is heating up across the region. Here are a few close-by winter attractions to tempt road-trippers. Note: Given the unusual circumstances facing venues and event organizers during this time, please check in advance to confirm details and hours of operation before heading out.
ASHEVILLE Arts haven, culinary adventureland and bohemian village, this mountain town about two hours west of Charlotte sparkles during the winter months. America’s largest home celebrates “An 1895 Christmas” this year, taking inspiration from the estate’s archives with a focus on a traditional and classic Christmas. Both daytime and evening candlelight tours of Biltmore House treat guests with extensive holiday décor, including 55 hand-decorated Christmas trees in the home and a 35-foot Fraser fir in the banquet hall. Be awed by 25,000 ornaments, 100,000 holiday lights, 6,000 feet of garland and 1,200 traditional poinsettias. From Biltmore House to the winery and Antler Hill Village, guests can linger and shop on the estate to experience it all. Through Jan. 10. biltmore.com
Winter Lights at the North Carolina Arboretum
Take a dreamy ride through the arboretum’s enchanted forest and experience thousands of holiday lights safely from your own vehicle. Navigate a 1-mile stretch of the arboretum’s 434-acre campus to view the unique displays. Through Jan 10. ncarboretum.org/winter-lights
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESEY OF THE BILTMORE COMPANY
Biltmore Estate
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T HE G IF T OF PE ACE OF M IN D Peace of mind is built into living at The Barclay. Here you will enjoy luxurious amenities, delectable dining options, a variety of wellness and life-enrichment programs and a multitude of services that allow you to focus on living your best life. Additionally, our continuing care retirement community assures that your current, as well as any future needs, can be met to exceed your expectations. To learn more about SouthPark’s only rental retirement community, call today to schedule a visit.
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Ice on Main in Greenville, S.C. GREENVILLE, S.C. About two hours from Charlotte, Greenville welcomes visitors with warm Southern charm, an easy to navigate downtown and a surprisingly sophisticated culinary scene.
BANNER ELK/BLOWING ROCK Snow sports, fly-fishing and hiking attract outdoor enthusiasts to these western North Carolina communities. The holiday season is a perfect time to visit.
Ice on Main
SugarFest at Sugar Mountain Resort
White Christmas: The Exhibition at Upcountry History Museum
A Small Town Christmas
Greenville is only the second U.S. city to host this exhibit showcasing original White Christmas film costumes created by legendary designer Edith Head. Props, sheet music, personal memorabilia, replica backdrops and more invite visitors to experience firsthand the musical genius of Irving Berlin and the making of this beloved holiday film. Through Jan. 30. upcountryhistory.org The Very Merry Local Christmas Market at Travelers Rest
Be reminded of the timeless rhythm of the season and an era when Christmas was crafted and curated by the hands of friends and neighbors. Market stalls include bakers, blacksmiths, quilters, potters, jewelers, printmakers and food artisans. Santa appears between 2 – 4 p.m. Dec. 12, 12:304:30. visitgreenvillesc.com
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This annual weekend of mountain fun includes a ski clinic with Olympic Super G medalist Andrew Weibrecht, fireworks, consumer demos and after-ski parties with live music, skating, tubing, a hot chocolate and whipped cream bar, and a homemade Soup Safari. Dec. 11-13. skisugar.com/sugarfest
A weekend of holiday fun in downtown Banner Elk includes breakfast with Santa, a candy-cane hunt, storytelling, ornament making, cookie decorating, a parade of lights, train rides through luminaries in the park and a tree-lighting ceremony. Dec. 4-6. bannerelk.com Festival of Lights at Chetola Resort
Drive through the Blowing Rock resort’s annual holiday extravaganza featuring nearly 30,000 lights. New this year: a nativity scene and musical displays. Park the car and take a stroll around the lake at this 78-acre resort adjacent to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. Through Jan. 31. chetola.com
PHOTOGRAPHS BY KRIS DECKER, BUSH PHOTO
Greenville’s own mini Rockefeller Center welcomes skaters of all ages with enhanced Covid protocols including limited capacity and timed entries — all the more room to twirl about. Through Jan. 31. greenvillesc.gov
Bon Appétit
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|blvd. HENDERSONVILLE This nearby mountain jewel is a top wintertime Carolina getaway in the cradle of the Blue Ridge. Downtown Hendersonville is home to several stops on the Heritage Trail, an assemblage of 13 historically significant sites defining the region’s origins. On the way home, stop by one of the many choose-andcut tree farms dotting western N.C. and bring home a fresh Fraser fir, wreaths and garlands. Olde Fashioned Hendersonville Christmas
Enjoy entertainment and merchants’ open houses while wandering the historic downtown district, where shop owners compete for the best holiday display. Dec. 4.
Main Street Holiday Hayrides
Take the family on a tractor-drawn wagon ride through festively decorated Main Street. Passengers board at the Hendersonville Visitor Center. Dec. 11-12. Historic Johnson Farm Christmas Tours
WINSTON-SALEM Holiday time in Winston-Salem holds great charm as the large Moravian community here celebrates traditions with old-fashioned treats, handcrafted wares and festive décor. Salem Pathways at Old Salem Museum & Gardens
Though Covid restrictions have limited Old Salem’s access, visitors can take a self-guided tour of the attraction and follow the journey of nine different people who lived and worked there over two centuries. Walk or drive to experience traditional holiday décor and a guided narrative available through a smart-device app. Launching early December. oldsalem.org
Festival of Lights at Tanglewood Park
Four miles of lights are illuminated at one of the largest holiday displays in the Southeast. Drive along in your own vehicles, or groups of four or fewer can experience the light show from a traditional white carriage drawn by a Percheron horse. Tractorpulled hayrides (for individual family groups only) are also available. Through Jan. 1. forsyth.cc/Parks/Tanglewood
Holidays at Reynolda
Highlights at the historic Reynolda Estate include an antique glass ornament display, wreath-decorating workshops and an after-hours experience with live organ performances. Through Dec. 31. reynoldahouse.org SP 30
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEREK DILUZIO, OLD SALEM MUSEUM & GARDENS
Experience an 1880-built farmhouse decorated for the holidays and learn about this former boarding house and tourist retreat that’s now on the National Register of Historic Places. Enjoy hot chocolate, make a Christmas craft and peruse holiday items for sale in the Interpretive Center and in the Heritage Weavers & Fiber Artists’ Gift Shop. Dec. 1-22. visithendersonvillnc.com
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Making a list LOCAL PICKS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS
Bruce Julian continues to expand his line of artisan foods and snacks with a beer-infused take on classic peanut brittle. Bruce Julian’s Craft Beer Brittle is available in four flavors: bacon bourbon barrel stout, India pale ale, chocolate peanut butter porter and coffee stout. Purchase a variety four-pack ($24.95) or individual cans ($5.95) online at brucejulianheritagefoods.com, at Bruce Julian Clothier at 2913 Selwyn Ave. and at various retailers, including local Total Wine stores.
When in doubt, chocolate: This gift tower from Twenty Degrees Chocolates ($96) features 38 hand-made bonbons,
stacked and tied with a double satin ribbon. Purchase at Twenty Degrees’ boutique at the Design Center of the Carolinas, at Petit Philippe on Selwyn Ave. or at 20degreeschocolates.com The Confetti Hearts, a children’s book by Evelyn Henson, creator of one of Charlotte’s most recognizable murals, tells the story of how small acts of kindness can add up to something beautiful ($19 paperback, $29 hardcover). Buy online at evelynhenson.com (allow three weeks for shipping) or at Dilworth Artisan Station at 118 E. Kingston Ave.
A membership to the Sweet Spot Cookie Club ($45-$55 per month)
includes all the ingredients for seasonally themed cookie-decorating classes, shipped directly to you. Videos and instructions are posted online, and no experience is necessary. Choose from one-, three- or six-month options. sweetspotstudioclt.com/cookieclub
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Sip hot or cold beverages in style with these double-walled, insulated tumblers from Laura Park Design. Available in two sizes: 20 oz. ($32) or 12 oz. wine ($26). Various patterns available. Shop at 1033 Providence Road or online at lauraparkdesigns.com
Merry Christmas F R O M O U R FA M I LY T O Y O U R S
LET US HELP YOU STAY A LITTLE WARMER THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!
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|blvd.
Give the gift of a custom clothing experience. For a one-of-a-kind gift for her, Empower for Hope custom African print skirts ($160-$240) come in five different styles — from mini to midi to maxi — and dozens of bold-print fabrics. The skirts are made by local refugees and immigrants, and all proceeds help provide vocational training and medical care in rural Burundi. Purchase gift cards on the website at empowerforhope.org.
For him, a custom shirt ($150) or suit/sportcoat ($995) experience at Ole Mason Jar begins by relaxing with a bourbon at OMJ’s flagship store in South End. During your personal consultation, you’ll choose from thousands of fabric options — with custom color threading and monograms available — and get measured for a perfect fit. olemasonjar.com SP
Being said about
“
Justsed relea
Hugh McColl has never stopped learning, listening, caring, investing, and sharing his remarkable resources and knowledge with people from all walks in life.” – Paul Leonard, former CEO of Habitat for Humanity
“
Building a great bank has been upgraded to building a better community. (McColl) still has the energy and courage to believe he has much to offer in making the world a better place. What a legacy!” – Harvey Gantt, Charlotte civic leader and former mayor
“
Nothing motivates Hugh McColl more than leading collaborations of strong voices to spark innovative solutions for the challenges of our time.” – Michael Marsicano, president and CEO of the Foundation For The Carolinas
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Hugh McColl’s Chapter Two The twenty years Hugh McColl’s spent since stepping down as Bank of America CEO is a primer for anyone who believes irrelevancy is a part of retirement. This is the story of how McColl, at 85, remains essential in a city that bears his imprint, from building Uptown to investing social capital in all corners of the community.
A new book by Howard E. Covington Jr. NEW FROM
On sale in Southern Pines at The Country Bookshop. And other fine local bookstores.
Available online at howardcovingtonbooks.com
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Bold and bright FIRST LOOK: RED SALT BY DAVID BURKE BY CATHY MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTIN DRISCOLL
C
Avenue Café in New York City. If you had the fortune to dine at the Americana-themed upper East Side institution during its heyday in the 1990s, chances are you remember Opera in the Park, the restaurant’s whimsical signature dessert with a miniature chocolate park bench and lamppost on the plate. “That park bench was on the cover of many a culinary magazine,” says Jeffrey Russell, executive chef at Red Salt, which opened on the ground level at uptown’s Le Méridien hotel in September in the space previously occupied by Evoke. Bold flavors and bright, playful presentations mark the plates at Red Salt. Refreshingly, you won’t find too many ingredients on the menu that you have to Google before ordering: lobster dumplings in a miso tomato broth; tuna tartare tacos with a chipotle aioli; ginger salmon with Japanese mushrooms, bok choy, carrots and sesame snap peas. But the familiarity of the ingredients belies the complexity of the preparations, according to Russell. “[Chef Burke’s] recipes are complex … There are many ingredients that lie deep in the flavors,” Russell says. He cites a Moroccan glaze that’s part of a lamb meatball dish at Cloud Bar, Red Salt’s sibling that opened this summer on the hotel rooftop. “There’s probably 17 spices in that recipe — star anise, some Indian spices, it’s all cooked down for six hours.” While a majority of menu items are iterations of dishes from Burke’s other restaurants, the recipes are modified and PHOTOGRAPH OF DAVID BURKE COURTESY RED SALT
hef David Burke likes to have fun with food. By now, you might have seen photos on social media of his “clothesline bacon” appetizer — thick-cut, peppery, maple-glazed strips dangling deliciously from mini clothespins, served with a pair of scissors for trimming each salty-andsweet bite. The dish is a mainstay on menus at the award-winning chef’s 18 restaurants, including two new Charlotte spots, Cloud Bar and Red Salt by David Burke. Or perhaps you’ve seen Burke’s classic chocolate-cheesecake lollipops, topped with a voluminous cloud of bubble-gum cotton candy. The lollipops originated during Burke’s tenure at Park
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2669 Idlewood Circle
1400 Sterling Road
Charlotte, NC 28209
Charlotte, NC 28209
Charlotte, NC 28209
Offered at $1,889,000
Offered at $1,725,000
Myers Park Lauren Campbell 704-579-8333
Offered at $1,200,000
Myers Park Amy Peterson 704-533-2090
Myers Park Gay Dillashaw 704-564-9393
2211 Sutton Springs Road
3310 Indian Meadows Lane
4045 City Homes Place
Charlotte,NC 28226
Charlotte, NC 28210
Charlotte, NC, 28209
Offered at $1,180,000
Offered at $965,000
Pellyn Grove Lauren Campbell 704-579-8333
Offered at $899,000
Heydon Hall Amy Peterson 704-533-2090
Southpark City Homes Suzanne Cowden 704-301-1012
1729 Cavendish Court
1530 Queens Road #PH #2
114 Lansdowne Road
Charlotte NC 28211
Charlotte, NC 28207
Charlotte NC 28270
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Offered at $875,000
Usher Estates Carrie Hatfield 704-618-3624
Offered at $875,000
The Carlton Lauren Campbell 704-579-8333
Offered at $680,000
Lansdowne Glenda Gravatt 704-421-2302
ALLEN TATE SOUTHPARK
2817 Manor Road
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adapted for each location. One such dish is the crackling pork shank, named Best Dish in America by USA Today in 1996. The pork is brined for three days, poached in pork and duck fat, crisped in a pan, and finished in a hot oven, yielding a tender, falling-off-the-bone texture. Though the preparation hasn’t changed much over the years, the dish is now complemented by Chef Burke’s take on vegetable fried rice. Russell joined Red Salt in June after working for a Raleigh catering business. He’s spent much of his career in hotels, including Northview Hotel Group, which owned luxury properties including the Sanderling Inn in Duck and Jekyll Island Club on the coast of Georgia. Burke made a name for himself in culinary circles in the early 1990s while at The River Café in Brooklyn. He’s been a recurring guest on Bravo’s hit TV cooking competition Top Chef. Now, he stays busy with his 16 restaurants (and counting), mostly in New York and his home state of New Jersey, with additional locations in Washington, D.C., and Breckenridge, Colo. Russell brings a Southern influence to the menu, where you’ll also find steaks prepared using Burke’s patented dry-aging process — pink Himalayan salt renders the beef flavorful and tender. On the lighter side, expect appetizers like the chilled shrimp and broccoli guacamole with carrots and crispy quinoa. The Red Salt Chicken with spinach, mushrooms
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and Carolina gold rice is accompanied by a sweet and tangy whole-grain mustard apricot jus. The sides here are more than an afterthought, notably the Brussels sprouts served with a bacon-onion jam and “hipster” hushpuppies, taken up a notch with shishito peppers, parmesan and chili honey butter. On the dessert menu, along with those famous cheesecake lollipops you’ll find another Burke classic, the tin can of cake: a warm chocolate red-velvet cake served with caramel ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and Heath bar crunch. The butterscotch and banana pudding topped with crisp meringues has a silky, smooth texture and isn’t too heavy after a big meal. The restaurant itself has been given a new look. Entering through the bar, a wall lined with salt bricks emits a soft pink glow. In the dining room, louvered partitions divide the space while keeping the room light and open. A 60-seat patio is set to open in the spring. In keeping with the whimsical designs on the plates, a series of illustrations featuring an enchanted deck of playing cards by British artist Tony Meeuwissen adorns the walls. The artwork is inspired by traditional rhymes and fairy tales. “It’s fun here. It’s not stuffy at all — it’s not pretentious,” Russell says. SP Red Salt is open for dinner only Tuesday-Saturday.
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|blvd. in the garden
‘Black Scallop’ ajuga with blue spruce
A magical season
DRAMATIC FOLIAGE, GROUND COVERS AND CONIFERS ADD PUNCH TO THE WINTER LANDSCAPE. BY JAY SIFFORD
‘Everillo’ carex 40
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A
s a child, I found winter to be harsh and melancholy. As a gardener, I began to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of each season and found ways to celebrate that. As a landscape designer, I’m on a mission to help others find joy and intrigue through their gardens, no matter the season. I view gardens individualistically, each having a complex personality as it flirts and interacts with nature in its own way. Thoughtfully designed gardens can create and influence emotions within us. They are more than decorations for a yard or house. They are, or should be, nurturing platforms for us to interact with nature and to live out the best versions of ourselves. Spring is exuberant, summer is lazy, autumn is exhilarating and winter — well, winter is rather calming, anticipatory and full of opportunity for inner reflection. The winter garden should be anything but boring. Charlotte is full of dark green boxwoods, laurels and azaleas, all of which I find rather pedestrian and full of missed opportunities. Winter can be as full of color as spring. Consider dramatic foliage to stave off the winter doldrums. Ground covers like ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga, perennials like ‘Obsidian’ heuchera, and grass relatives such as the chartreuse ‘Everillo’ carex all add drama to the winter garden. In fact, in shade to part-shade, ‘Everillo’ can be used as an exciting replacement for the overused and mundane liriope, or monkey grass. Hollies exhibit seasonal berries, provide shelter for wildlife and make for effective screening, but they are quite overused in the region. Consider blue-needled conifers such as blue spruce, Arizona cypress and blue Atlas cedar, or the chartreuse ‘Skylands’ Oriental spruce to add punch to the year-round garden. With a bit of research, you can add flowers to the winter mix. Most of us are familiar with camellias, a Southern staple. Sasanqua camellias bloom in fall through early winter, while camellia japonicas bloom late winter through spring. Edgeworthia, or Chinese paper bush, blooms on bare stems in February and March and has a gardenia-like
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|blvd. in the garden fragrance. Hellebores, or lenten roses, along with mahonias, begin to bloom in late winter. Even the spring-blooming ‘Firewitch’ dianthus can sport blooms during a mild winter. Bulbs such as galanthus (snowdrops) and crocus begin to bloom in late winter. Winter is the season that most exposes the “bones” or structure of your garden. A garden without strong underlying structure is like a human without a spine and is nothing more than a collection of perennials and annuals that largely melt when winter arrives. Creating serpentine hedges or spines of evergreen shrubs through large garden beds draws the eye and defines smaller planting pockets in those areas. Conifers are a top choice for garden structure. Structural drama can also be created with plants like Japanese maples, witch hazels or contorted filberts. Several Japanese maples exhibit strong winter stem color: Look for ‘Sango Kaku’, the coral bark maple, or its orange relative ‘Bihou.’ Twig dogwoods like ‘Arctic Fire,’ ‘Arctic Sun’ and ‘Bud’s Yellow’ put on a season-long show with bright red, orange or yellow stems. Finally, consider taller ornamental grasses such as panicums (switch grass), pennisetum (fountain grass) or calamagrostis (feather reed grass). Even though they turn golden brown to tan after feeling the autumnal frosts, they provide texture, structure and kinetic movement as they dance in the wind. They also provide shelter and food for birds and beneficial insects throughout the winter months. With a bit of research mixed with several trips to good local nurseries, you can create a magical garden that elicits joy, intrigue and drama through the winter months. Happy gardening! SP Compiled by Whitley Adkins. Jay Sifford is a landscape designer based in Charlotte who specializes in contemporary, Asian and transitional gardens. His work has been featured in Southern Living, Country Gardens and Fine Gardening, as well as Houzz and several books. siffordgardendesign.com Coral Bark maple
winter blooming hellebore 42
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Panicum(switch grass)
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December
HAPPENINGS U.S. National Whitewater Center Ice Skating & Lights Walking Trail Walk along the half-mile illuminated trail and experience a series of immersive light
crystals. Or, lace up your skates and glide along the 17,000 square-foot rink. An onice Airstream trailer serves hot and cold beverages. The details: Through February. “Lights” is available 6-10 p.m. daily. The walking trail access is free (with parking fee). Ice skating is included with the purchase of an activity or all access pass; for hours check the activity schedule at usnwc.org.
Carowinds Taste of the Season: An Outdoor Holiday Experience
installations by artist Meredith Connelly. The multisensory works are inspired by natural features such as webs, vines and 44
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The beloved amusement park reopened for the first time this year with a “sleigh-full” holiday experience. This outdoor event features sweet and savory treats, festive activities, seasonal shows, Christmas shopping and more. Be sure to check out the Reindeer Treat Trail, where Santa’s reindeer share favorite treats at nine stations in Christmas Carousel Park.
The details: Select dates through Dec. 20. Reservations are required; prices vary; carowinds.com
Holidays at the Garden at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden Soak up some holiday cheer with dazzling light displays, festive fountains, “blossoming” cherry trees and magical topiaries at this Belmont tradition. Roast marshmallows by the fire, sip a warm beverage or
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|blvd. grab a bite from one of the food trucks. The details: Evenings through Jan. 3; adult tickets are $14.95; other price options are available. Advance tickets are recommended; dsbg.org
The details: Evenings Dec. 1-26; ChristmasTownUSA.org
Afternoons on the Grounds at Charlotte Museum of History Explore the 8-acre property that is home to Charlotte’s oldest homesite. The self-guided outdoor experience includes a digital guidebook that recounts the stories of the people who lived and worked at the 1774 Alexander Rock House, plus videos and resources to dig deeper into Charlotte’s past. Bring a picnic and don’t miss the ringing of the American Freedom Bell at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The details: Dec. 5, noon-5 p.m.; cost is $10 per vehicle; charlottemuseum.org
Featuring works by four contemporary artists (Gisela Colon, Spencer Finch, Jennifer Steinkamp and Summer Wheat), this exhibition aims to challenge viewers to consider how they perceive the environment and the things within it and how the environment is constantly changing and shifting from both physical and mental perspectives. The details: Through Feb. 28; mintmuseum.org
Christmas Town USA
Charlotte Christmas Village
This annual holiday tradition has been drawing visitors for more than 60 years. Each year, the quaint town of McAdenville transforms into a magical winter wonderland with festive light displays and cozy Christmas decor. Though a bit scaled back this year, Christmas Town USA still promises wonder, joy and cheer with this spirited seasonal celebration.
Get a taste of a traditional Europeanstyle Christmas market at the fifth annual Charlotte Christmas Village, in a new location this year at Truist Field in uptown. Shop for gifts and enjoy traditional German fare, plus some “spirited” holiday treats. Be sure to try Glühwein, a warm, spiced wine served in Germany and Austria during the holidays. The details: Through Dec. 23; tickets are $7-$10; cltchristmasvillage.com
In Vivid Color at Mint Museum Uptown
This invitational group exhibition features paintings, sculptures and works on paper by 16 artists and includes works on loan from Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art, Hampton III Gallery and Hodges Taylor Gallery. The details: Through Jan. 2; jeraldmelberg.com
Skyline Drive-In at Camp North End On Thursdays during December, pile the family in the car and enjoy a drive-in movie. Titles include Frozen (Dec. 3), Little Women (Dec. 10) and Elf (Dec. 17). 46
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Fourth Ward Holiday Sip & Stroll In lieu of the popular annual home tour, Friends of Fourth Ward will celebrate the season with a festive evening stroll and porch crawl. Enjoy seasonal music, carriage rides and food and drink tastings from local restaurants. The details: Evenings Dec. 3-5; tickets are $20 and capacity is limited; fofw.org
Jackie Gendel and Adrianne Rubenstein exhibition at SOCO Gallery Peruse new work by artists Jackie Gendel and Adrianne Rubenstein. The exhibition is in conjunction with Tif Sigfrids, a contemporary art gallery in Athens, Ga., and includes works on canvas and on paper. The details: through Dec. 31; socogallery.com
HOME exhibition at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art This group exhibit explores the meanings and feelings of home and place in society and features works by David J. Butler, Crista Cammaroto and J. Stacy Utley. The details: through Feb. 13; eldergalleryclt.com SP — compiled by Amanda Lea
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANDON SCOTT, ROMARE BEARDEN IMAGE COURSEY JERALD MELBERG GALLERY
Southern Artists exhibition at Jerald Melberg Gallery
The details: Tickets are $30 per car — reservations are required. Takeout from CNE’s food and drink vendors is available; camp.nc/events
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|simple life
Becoming my father AND, LUCKILY, HIS FATHER, TOO BY JIM DODSON
A
dear friend I hadn’t seen in far too long and I were having lunch outdoors, safely distanced. She sipped her lemony mineral water and noted her relief that a grueling year was finally drawing to a close. “If ever a year could make you feel old,” she said with a thoughtful sigh, “this was it.” I agreed, sipping my sweet tea, pointing out that I am living proof of this sudden aging phenomenon. “How’s that?” I replied that I was — quite literally — turning into my father and grandfather before my very eyes. This was either scary or wonderful. The jury was still out on the matter. She laughed. “I think you were probably just born old. Besides, you’re more of an old soul than a grumpy old man.” This was nice of her to say. I hoped she’s right. In fact, I hoped this sudden aging awareness might not be the result of the year’s tumultuous events — a worldwide pandemic, collapsed economy, record hurricanes and wildfire, to say nothing of a presidential election that ground us all to a pulp — and was merely a case of finally growing old enough to appreciate the way our lives unfold and how we are shaped by the people who came before us. For the record, two years ago I officially joined the great Baby Boom horde marching resolutely toward their Medicare and Social Security benefits. Between us and my morning glass of Metamucil, however, I really don’t feel much older than I did, say, 20 or 30 years ago, when I built my own post-and-beam house on a coastal hill in Maine and spent my children’s college funds creating a large faux English garden in the northern woods. In my 30s and 40s I could work hard all day in the garden — digging holes, planting shrubs, mowing the lawn, rebuilding old stone walls — and simply require a good soak in our huge Portuguese bathtub and a couple of cold Sam Adams beers to put my aging body right.
As my 50s dawned, shortly before we moved home to Carolina 15 years ago, I even tagged along with renowned Raleigh plantsman Tony Avent and a trio of veteran plant hunters half my age to the Great Karoo desert and some of the most remote places of South Africa in search of exotic plants. We were gone five weeks in the bush, much of that time out of touch with folks back home, politely dodging black mambas and angry Cape baboons. I came home filthy and exhausted, bloodied and gouged, punctured and sprained in places I didn’t even know I had. In short, it was glorious — the most fun I’ve ever had researching a book — and it only took me a case of beer and a full week of soaking in the bath to fully recover. Four years ago, as senior citizen status officially loomed, my wife and I decided to downsize and move from the Sandhills to my hometown in the Piedmont, prompting a friendly debate over whether we should move to the old neighborhood where I grew up or the 10 rural acres I had my eye on outside the city. “I know exactly what you have in mind,” said my younger wife. “You want 10 acres so you can build another post-and-beam house and create an even bigger faux English garden. Problem is, 65 is not the new 25. I know you well. You’ll rarely come in the house and work yourself to death. I’ll come home some afternoon and find you face down in the Virginia creeper.” I laughed off such a silly notion, pointing out it would either be English bluebells or maybe the winter Daphne. She was not amused. We moved to my old neighborhood a short time later. Truthfully, I think about my old woodland garden in Maine and that wild African adventure sometimes when I’m working in the modest suburban garden where I now serve as head gardener and general dogsbody, a simple quarter-acre that I’ve completely re-landscaped with or without the FedEx guy in mind. southparkmagazine.com | 51
|simple life As a sign of how time may finally be catching up with my botanically abused body, however, it now takes three cold beers, a longer soak in the tub, two Advil and a short nap to get me up and moving without complaint. I suspect my days of sweet tea consumption are also dwindling in favor of mineral water with lemon. In the meantime, the evidence mounts that I am becoming my father and grandfather before my own eyes. Maybe that’s not, as I’ve already said, a bad thing, after all. My father’s father, from whom I got my middle name, was a lovely old gentleman of few words who could make anything with his hands, a gifted carpenter and electrician who worked on crews raising the first electrical towers across the South during the Great Depression and later helped wire the state’s first “skyscraper,” the Jefferson Standard Building in downtown Greensboro. Walter Dodson wore flannel shirts with large pockets and smoked cheap
King Edward cigars. He gave me my first toolbox one Christmas and showed me how to cut a straight line with a handsaw that I still own. In the evenings, he loved to sit outside and watch the birds and changeable skies, sometimes humming hymns as he calmly smoked his stogie. Walter’s wife, my spunky Baptist grandmother Taylor, knew the Gospels cold, but I don’t think Walter ever darkened the doorway of a church. Nature was his temple. His son, my old man, Brax Dodson, was an adman with a poet’s heart. He loved poetry, American history, good bourbon, golf with chums and everything about Christmas, not necessarily in that order. He sometimes smoked a beautiful briar pipe he brought home from the war and moderated a men’s Sunday school class for more than two decades. A man of great faith, he’d experienced terrible tragedy during his service in Europe but never spoke of it. Instead, he lived his life as if every
A TrAdiTion of Knowledge And TrusT GAY DILLASHAW 704-564-9393 6700 Fairview Road, Charlotte, NC 28210
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gay.dillashaw@allentate.com
day was a gift, always focusing on the positive, the most upbeat character I ever knew. My nickname for him, in fact, was “Opti the Mystic,” owing to his unwavering goodwill and embarrassing habit of quoting long-dead sages and Roman philosophers when you least expected it, especially to my teenage dates. I never appreciated what a gift he gave me until I turned 30. Lord, how I miss that man. Regardless of where you come down on the nature v. nurture debate, one doesn’t need a deep dive into Ancestry. com to understand that each of us owns pieces of the people who came before us. If we are lucky, the best parts of them live on in us. Having reached an age where there are more years in the rearview than the road ahead, I take some comfort in suddenly noticing how much I really am like Opti and Walter, good men who lived through hard times — and even tragedy — but never lost their common touch or appreciation for life’s simple pleasures. Like Walter, I dig flannel shirts with large pockets, church hymns, quiet afternoons in my garden and sitting beneath the evening trees watching birds feed and skies change. I miss going to early church on Sunday mornings. But nature is my temple, too. For the time being, that will suffice. Like Opti, I have a thing for poetry, American history, good bourbon and golf with chums, even quotes by longdead sages and Roman philosophers that never failed to embarrass my children when they were teenagers. Just like my old man, I love everything about Christmas. Some gray afternoon this month, I’ll fire up one of his favorite briar pipes just for fun, a little ritual that makes me feel closer to my missing father, my kindly ghost of Christmas Past. There’s one more important way I connect with Walter and Opti, who were anything but grumpy old men. Both had wise and spirited wives who shaped their thinking and made them better people. I have a wife like that, too. Maybe there’s hope for me yet. SP
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|bookshelf
December books NOTABLE NEW RELEASES.
COMPILED BY SALLY BREWSTER
Eddie’s Boy: A Butcher’s Boy Novel, by Thomas Perry Perry’s wonderful fourth Butcher’s Boy novel opens with retired hit man Michael Shaeffer driving a car with the bodies of three inept assassins he killed earlier that night as they broke into the Yorkshire manor house he shares with his wife, Meg. Michael intends to find out who ordered the hit on him, and after saying goodbye to Meg he travels to Australia for safety. But when gunmen ambush him there, Michael realizes, after eliminating them with ruthless efficiency, that a trip to the U.S. will be necessary to pinpoint the origin of the attacks. In the U.S., he seeks out Department of Justice employee Elizabeth Waring, who once used him as an informant, and suggests a trade for information about his hunters. It soon becomes clear that the likely instigator is a Mafia don Michael helped send to prison years earlier by framing him for a murder. An immensely clever cat-andmouse game that Shaeffer engineers involving the DOJ and various mob factions ensues. Perry delivers a master class in the art of propulsive tension. Perestroika in Paris, by Jane Smiley From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres comes a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals and a young boy whose lives intersect in Paris. Paras is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she pushes open the door of her stall and, after traveling through the night, arrives by chance in Paris. Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without attracting the attention of suspicious Parisians. Paras and Frida keep company with two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated raven. But then Paras meets a human boy, Etienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the secluded, ivy-walled house where the boy and
his nearly 100-year-old great grandmother live quietly and unto themselves. As the cold weather and Christmas near, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom among humans and animals alike. But how long can a runaway horse live undiscovered in Paris? And how long can a boy keep her hidden and all his own? Jane Smiley’s beguiling new novel is an adventure that celebrates curiosity and ingenuity and an enchanting tale guaranteed to please. Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder, by T.A. Willberg Late one night in April 1958, a filing assistant at Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries receives a letter of warning detailing a name, a time and a place. She goes to investigate but finds no one there. At the stroke of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see, her death the only sign she wasn’t alone. It becomes chillingly clear that the person responsible must also work for Miss Brickett’s, making everyone a suspect. Marion Lane, a first-year inquirer-in-training, finds herself drawn ever deeper into the investigation. When her friend and colleague is framed for the crime, to clear his name she must sort through the hidden alliances at Miss Brickett’s and secrets dating back to WWII. Masterful, clever and deliciously suspenseful, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is a southparkmagazine.com | 55
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fresh take on the Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery with an exciting new heroine detective.
They Just Seem A Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz remade Rock and Roll, by Doug Brod Brod, a veteran entertainment journalist, tells the whole strange story of how ’70s rock conquered the world, from Detroit Rock City to the Budokan. He offers an eye- and ear-opening look at a crucial moment in music history, when rock became fun again and a gig became a show. This is the story of friends and frenemies who rose, fell and soared once more, often sharing stages, studios, producers, engineers, managers, agents, roadies and fans — and who are still collaborating more than 40 years later. They Just Seem a Little Weird seamlessly interweaves the narratives of KISS, Cheap Trick and Aerosmith with that of the lesserknown Starz. This is also the story of how these distinctly American groups laid the foundation for two seemingly opposed rock genres: the hair metal of Poison, Skid Row and Mötley Crüe and the grunge of Nirvana, Alice in Chains and the Melvins. Deeply researched and featuring more than 130 new interviews, this book is nothing less than a secret history of classic rock. SP Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, located at 4139 Park Road.
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FOR DAZZLING AND INSPIRING FINDS FOR THE SEASON, SHOP THE MINT MUSEUM STORE From festive decor to locally-sourced gifts for all ages and styles, there’s something for everyone on your list.
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All aboard
DINNER DELIVERY, WITH A VILLAGE ON THE SIDE BY CAROLINE LANGERMAN
’T
was the week before Christmas and a creature was stirring, jabbing its elbows through my maternity jeans. I was new to Charlotte and nine months pregnant. My little girl’s due date was right after New Year’s, leaving my husband, son and me homebound and anxious as December ticked away. “That’s an awfully hard birthday,” my mom had said more than once. She knew from experience: Her birthday was January 1, a day for hangovers and regrets, when the shops close and restaurants rest; when weather persists and viruses attack. It’s always the first week of January when ministers everywhere smile weakly and sniff into their microphones before the passing of the peace, “Feel free to nod or smile at your neighbor this morning.” I was less worried about sad parties than about finding my village in the South. Since we’d moved from New York City earlier that year, I had spent my days alone with my 18-monthold and his trains: pushing Thomas and Percy along puzzle-piece tracks, saying “choo-choo” as I refilled his sippy cup. One night, near the glow of our Christmas tree, we curled up side-by-side on the sofa to read The Polar Express for the first time. He helped me turn the pages as the little boy walked alone into the snow toward a magical ride. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, or the pinch of not believing in magic anymore, but my throat grew tight at the end of the story, when the boy’s sister can’t hear Santa’s bell. I squeezed my son against the part of myself where I used to have ribs. I knew I needed a community; but asking for it — from strangers? — seemed impossible. In search of villagers, I weaseled my way into a book club I overheard some cute moms talking about at the neighborhood playground. “I love to read,” I said tentatively, my desperation as visible as my son’s full diaper. He was a new walker, falling into the mulch and righting himself every few steps. His physical wobbling seemed to mirror my mom-friend-making — I will do this. I knew it was shameless, the way I accepted their invitation, but this was a last-ditch, last trimester kind of panic. At the first book club, I was greeted with big smiles and small hot dogs. Lots of the women were pregnant, and there was plenty of Spindrift to fill the wine glasses. The conver-
sation was a mashup of literature and lactation consultants, characters and baby carriers, a marketplace of paperbacks and preschools. At the end of the evening, one of the women said, “We’ve got to set up your Meal Train!” “The Meal Train?” I asked. “Oh, trust me, you want this!” she exclaimed. “We’ll each sign up to bring you dinner one of the nights after your baby comes.” I did want it. But I had just met these people. Could I really let them cook for me? See me in my penguin pajama pants? Bring their perfect Tupperwares into my imperfect home that was still in boxes? I was not new to Southern hospitality. In my grandparents’ small town in North Carolina, I had squirted vinegar onto pulled-pork sandwiches on Christmas Eve and breathed the pepper of my uncles’ bloody marys on Christmas morning. I knew cheese straws and Sun Drop as closely as my y’all-saying cousins. The den where my grandad sat chirped with TV golf and crackled with unshelled peanuts. I thought I’d seen a pretty good slice of Southern color. But I had never seen generosity like the force of 20 women putting on a Meal Train. They weren’t all Southern — like me, many of them had migrated from bigger cities: Chicago, Washington, Atlanta. But what they had in common was a desire to bond, a need not to be blissfully anonymous; and my baby’s awfully hard birthday — which took place on the only snow of the year — became the switch that illuminated a string of light. My husband sent the email of the baby’s arrival, and from my hospital bed I watched the names of new friends populate time slots on the Meal Train app. Next to each name was a little description of what they would bring — casseroles, soups, desserts. The birthday was January 5, the twelfth day of Christmas, but the gifts were just getting started. The first week home, the baby was crying, but there was chicken tetrazzini — and the bag was not empty! A bottle of Chardonnay. A pint of mint ice cream. A handwritten note. The baby was spitting up 19 times a day, but there were tacos. The fixings were tucked neatly into individual containers and presented with a pink-ribbon package: a 9-month onesie southparkmagazine.com | 61
|the road home with a crab on it. The yard was muddy with melted snow; the baby and I were colorless as milk. “A good beach outfit,” the giver said, and we both cracked up like old friends. The baby was not sleeping, but there was barbecue with fluffy white Hawaiian rolls and baked beans. The saint who pulled the items out of her cooler looked adoringly at my new daughter and said, “My baby was cross-eyed, too.” If I hadn’t felt close to her before, I did now. After she left, I shoved a forkful of barbecue into my mouth and texted my husband, “We need a cooler.” My husband got the flu and became my third child, but there was homemade chicken-and-rice soup. I set a warm bowl of it by his bedside and took his temperature. “We should have more babies,” he slurred against the thermometer. My desire for privacy was losing to the desire for connection. It wasn’t so bad for people to see me at my worst — we skipped the chitchat and went straight to sleep deprivation, incision care, marital woes. The meals often came with sides like magnetic baby suits and monogrammed burp cloths. The girls — that’s how they looked in their ponytails and skinny jeans — twirled their car keys and called over their shoulders, “Don’t you dare write a note.” I had never known a village was something I could bring into being with belief. It was like I was stepping outside in the snow, and receiving an invitation. In New York there had been that serendipitous feeling of spontaneous kindness on every elevator and subway car. But
often it was fleeting, leaving me lifted but without leftovers, grateful but without an address to send the thank-you note. That first year, I missed the city, but never less than when my neighbor walked her solar-eclipse sunglasses to my yard so I could peer at the black sun during the babies’ nap. Or when my husband and I saw the stars from our dark-enough sky, because the Queen City had the common sense to tuck herself in and sleep. And especially when, finally, I had the chance to return favors: showing up with Starbucks or leaving fresh peaches on a front step. The years passed, and I became a mother of three. My group of friends grew, changed, deepened. Our hands were full, but our feet were young, and while our kids chased each other, we did our own chase above their heads, tagging each other with humor and goodwill. Christmas is coming to Charlotte again. A forest of fir trees appears at the farmers market. Magnolia wreaths hug every door. The kids come home from preschool with hand-print turkeys and footprint angels. My 5-year-old son asks to read The Polar Express, and we bring it down from the attic, preparing for those old warm feelings. But now, there’s another holiday story that leaves a lump of nostalgia in my throat: the story of the Meal Train picking me up after that awfully hard birthday. I can still feel the chill of walking alone in the dark, and just beyond it, the warmth of my new village. SP
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|southpark stories
We’re not done yet
CHUCK EDWARDS AND ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON GET IT RIGHT. BY KEN GARFIELD
Y
ou’d think that sitting at Chuck Edwards’ kitchen table talking about growing old would fill a heart with dread. It filled mine with hope, that the time we have left can be rich with meaning. As Edwards shares in his new book, the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson got it right: “Tho’ much is taken, much abides…” Chuck, 73, a Charlotte native, was a cardiovascular surgeon until a hand tremor forced him to find a new career in medicine. After going back to school for training, he founded Memory & Movement Charlotte in 2013. The nonprofit medical practice is devoted to caring for those with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other forms of dementia. This is personal for him: He lost both parents to Alzheimer’s. Day in and day out, as he tended to the elderly, he heard a broader call — to rekindle the passion in aging hearts and souls. Life’s exhilarating journey doesn’t have to end in an easy chair, channel -surfing, wondering if this is all there is. As he writes in Much Abides: A Survival Guide for Aging Lives, the light doesn’t have to grow dark at twilight: “A new reality is just ahead. The voice that is linked to dreams and talent can be heard again, if you listen for it.” At age 67, I am the perfect audience for this book, which made editing it so rewarding. When Chuck writes about dealing with hearing loss and sleep apnea, I can relate. When he writes about the importance of social interaction, I think about the obituary I wrote for a gentleman before he needed it. I asked him what he loved to do in life. “This!” he said, referring to sitting around over a cup of coffee talking about the things that truly matter. When Chuck advises us to quit worrying about technology, I want to shout, “Yes!” I suspect
readers of a certain age will shout along with me. But the beauty of Much Abides goes deeper, and its message resonates even with those still running the rat race. We get only so many years on this good Earth. Don’t waste a moment. Is an old wound keeping you and a loved one apart? Reconcile. Has past regret — a road not taken, a decision that didn’t work out — filled you with anger or anxiety? Forgive yourself. Did you play the trumpet way back when? Drag it down from the attic and wail again. Are you loathe to ask for help, whether it’s balancing the checkbook or navigating a flight of stairs? Feel the love in taking someone’s hand. There is even wisdom for a pandemic: Use all five senses to find peace in the quiet of a quarantine, even if it’s as pure and simple as holding another’s hand. There is magic all around us, at any age. But first we must choose to find it. The poet Tennyson has given us our mission in life: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” SP
“The voice that is linked to dreams and talent can be heard again, if you listen for it.”
Much Abides: A Survival Guide for Aging Lives is available from Memory & Movement Charlotte at mmclt.org, (704) 577-3186 or email@mmclt.org. Sales support the nonprofit medical practice. It’s also available at Park Road Books and Traditions, both at Park Road Shopping Center, and on amazon.com. Freelance writer/editor Ken Garfield is a frequent contributor to SouthPark magazine. He also helps charitable causes tell their stories and writes obituaries. Reach him at garfieldken3129@ gmail.com. southparkmagazine.com | 65
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|omnivorous reader
Mountain redux THE RETURN OF RON RASH’S CLASSIC CHARACTER
W
BY D.G. MARTIN
hat is it about Waynesville, the small mountain city west of Asheville? Two of our state’s most admired novelists set their best books in the mountains near Waynesville: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and Serena by Ron Rash. Both books are gems with memorable characters and descriptive language that flows like poetry. Both deal with cruel and brutal destruction of life and land: Cold Mountain by war, Serena by the clear-cutting of ancient mountain forests. Having written about Frazier recently, it is time to give attention to the work of Rash. His latest book, In the Valley, gives us nine new short stories and a novella that revives the main story in the classic Serena. From its beginning, North Carolina has been the scene of environmental destruction that accompanied the creation of great wealth and employment opportunities. The importance of tars and pitch to our economy gave us our Tar Heel nickname and destroyed vast forests of longleaf pine. In the early part of the last century, our mountain regions opened their treasured forests to massive clear-cut operations that destroyed some of the state’s most beautiful and important natural landscapes. Serena was set in the time of the Great Depression in the immense forests near Waynesville. The leading characters were the owners of a Boston lumber company that was systematically cutting all the trees on the thousands of acres that it owned. The background of systematic forest destruction was a perfect backdrop for Rash’s epic story of love, hate, ambition, ruthlessness and revenge. His novel opens at the railroad station in Waynesville. Pemberton, the leading partner in the lumber company, returns from Boston with his new bride, Serena. Her striking appearance and arrogance immediately awe Pemberton’s partners and most of the employees, who have come to meet the couple at the station. Also at the station are a rumpled mountain man and his pregnant teenage daughter, Rachel, whose unborn child was fathered by Pemberton. The mountain man accosts Pemberton with a Bowie knife. In the ensuing fight, Pemberton sinks his own knife into the chest of the mountain man, who drops his knife and dies. Serena, showing the dominating character that will carry the novel to its end, picks up the Bowie knife, hands it to the dead man’s daughter and says, “By all rights it belongs to my
husband. It’s a fine knife, and you can get a good price for it if you demand one. And I would,” she added. “Sell it, I mean. That money will help when the child is born. It’s all you’ll ever get from my husband and me.” Serena was ambitious and dramatically attractive, riding a white horse and displaying her well-trained eagle. She and her husband were determined to get rich by clear-cutting thousands of acres of North Carolina mountain forestlands, destroying a rich, stable and precious environment. Rash made Serena a symbol of corporate greed and anti-environmentalism. Serena was also driven by personal passions. She was determined to eliminate her husband’s illegitimate son and the child’s mother, Rachel. This assignment went to Galloway, a one-armed employee utterly devoted to Serena. Galloway’s efforts, chronicled in the book’s dramatic last pages, were nevertheless a failure. The boy and mother were safe, and Serena was off to exploit the forests of Brazil. Some critics compare the tale to Shakespeare’s Macbeth — the ambition of Serena and Pemberton to dominate, own, and exploit, leading to the same sort of triumphs and ultimate “bloody handed” tragedy. Maybe it’s a stretch to compare Rash with Shakespeare, but his vivid writing takes the reader by the hand and makes him a participant in the action, not just an observer. I found myself jumping aside to escape a falling tree that killed a lumberman. I panicked with a character who lost her way in the pitch dark of a mountain night. I died with one of the book’s characters as rattlesnake poison crept up our legs. Serena established Rash as one of America’s leading authors. New York Times book reviewer Janet Maslin named Serena one of her “10 Favorite Books” of 2008. A novella that is part of Rash’s new book, In the Valley, brings Serena back from Brazil to North Carolina to take charge of a logging project. Galloway also returns to take on Serena’s murderous assignments, including the search for Rachel and her son. Readers will again be impressed and horrified at Serena’s determined and brutal efforts that destroy more of the environment and decimate the logging crews. Rash’s writing is firmly connected to his concerns about threats to the preservation of the environment. In an interview with Mountain Times Publications' executive editor Tom Mayer, Rash explained, “I’m seeing now this peril for the southparkmagazine.com | 67
|omnivorous reader national parks. There’s a lot of push to change what is considered wilderness that can be mined or timbered. My hope is that this [story] would remind us how hard won these national parks were and what they were fighting against.” The new book is a bonus for fans of Rash’s short fiction. There are nine finely tuned short stories. All deal with mountain people like those he knows from growing up in or near the mountains, or from his long years teaching at Western Carolina University. These are folks that Rash clearly cares for and worries about. But the time settings vary, giving readers a look at mountain life over hundreds of years. The opening story, “Neighbors,” is set during the Civil War in the mountain community of Shelton Laurel. A Confederate foraging and raiding party targets the farm of a young widow and her two children. The Confederates assume she is a Union sympathizer and prepare to burn her house and barn. Rash captures the meanness and ugliness of war and punctuates his point with an ending that surprises the reader and darkens the tale. “When All the Stars Fall” deals with a poignant breakup of a father and son’s construction business because their value systems are different and incompatible. In “Sad Man in the Sky,” a helicopter pilot who sells 30-minute rides takes on a troubled but inspiring passenger. In “L'Homme Blesse,” a mountain college art professor
explores the connection between the artwork of a Normandy invasion veteran and the images on the walls of ancient caves in France. “The Baptism” is the story of a country minister responding to a worthless wife abuser who wants to be baptized. The story has an unexpected and satisfying ending. A young female probationary park ranger in “Flight” encounters a bully who blatantly fishes without a license and breaks all the park’s rules. A struggling late-night storekeeper in “Last Bridge Burned” helps a troubled woman who stumbles into his store. Years later he reaps an interesting reward when he connects with the same woman, who has been transformed. In “Ransom,” a wealthy college student survives a lengthy kidnapping only to face more challenges resulting from the warm relationship she developed with her kidnapper. Set 60 years after the Battle of Chickamauga, “The Belt” tells how a belt and its buckle that saved a Confederate soldier’s life during that battle has now saved the life of his great-grandson. Rash’s fans will appreciate this short volume of some of his best writing. For those unfamiliar with his work, In the Valley would be a great beginning place. SP D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch Sundays at 3:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.
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Christmas
stories, somewhat but mostly not true BY DANIEL WALLACE ILLUSTRATION BY IPPY PATTERSON
T
he oldest family Christmas story I know is about my great grandmother, Nona. This is the century before last. Nona was a widow. As far as anyone could tell, Nona had always been a widow — some said she was born one. The truth is that her husband, my great grandfather, perished much too young in the salt mines of northern Alabama, leaving her alone with a brand-new baby, my grandfather, Ewing. As everyone who knows anything knows, Alabama was once home to the largest salt deposits in North America, something having to do with the shallow Cambrian seas that once covered the entirety of the state. But the mines were deep and dangerous, and only the bravest of men ventured into them. After the salt-mine tragedy, Nona was penniless but proud, foraging for food in the forest to feed herself and her wee child. They moved into a straw hut abutting the tail end of the Appalachian mountain range. It was all they could afford. All Nona had was an old milk cow named Deuce, and Deuce was about a day away from becoming their last supper when Nona had an idea. Ever
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resourceful and with a will of pig iron, she became a milk lady. In the beginning she only had enough milk to service a few homes, delivering it in old tin cups. But after making her first few sales she upgraded, got a cart, some bottles, and before the sun was up she loaded the cart full of as many bottles as she could, pulled by the source of it all, Deuce. With her profits she purchased another cow, and another, and soon she became the most popular milk lady in town; but then again, she was also the only one. Even though she was making enough to feed herself and young Ewing, she was still too poor for a tree, and their hut — one tiny room, shoebox-small — was too teeny for even a shrub. But as she was reported to say right from the start, “We do what we can with what we might have.” She said it in the way that people who come from nothing say that sort of thing, all matter of fact, followed by a brief shrug of the shoulders. So this is what happened on Christmas morning: Nona took Ewing off into the forest, pulled on a cart by the ever-loyal Deuce. And there they sat beneath the tallest, most majestic pine in the forest, an ancient giant of the Pinus
clan, a tree so big it’s visible from space, they say. And there she would make a prayer, share some milk and give her son his present. As has been told to the subsequent generations of immeasurably spoiled and ungrateful children, Ewing was thrilled with his interesting pine cone or a rock in the shape of a shoe. But here is what was remarkable about that Christmas, and every Christmas they shared: They never spent it alone. One by one, all the animals of the forest would creep up, join them there, slinking out of the forest-dark like shy friends. Deer, raccoons, wild hogs, bluebirds, hawks, turkeys, forest mice, coyotes, snakes, skunks, sometimes even a cougar or bobcat. Nona particularly loved a black bear she called Susie. They’d all keep their animal distance, but close enough for Ewing to see the warm steam of their collective breath. So the Christmas present really wasn’t a pine cone at all, nor a rock, it was the presentation and a celebration of the awesome myriad of life. She was actually giving Ewing the whole world. I met Nona when I was three days old and she was 101. A week later she died in her sleep, and Deuce followed soon thereafter. In honor of her passing, no one in town drank milk for a month.
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nd now to her son, Ewing, my grandfather. Ewing was nicknamed “Dumbo” as a child, due to his largerthan-life ears. He was actually quite brilliant and used his ears to good effect: not only could he wear large hats; he could also hear everything. He could hear an owl sigh. He married my grandmother, Lucille, when he was but 18 years old, after he fell in love listening to her hum. Like his mother, Ewing was an inventive and resourceful entrepreneur. Would it surprise you to know that Ewing was the man who invented the boiled peanut stand? This is almost a true fact and let no one tell you different: the very first ever. He built it out of pallets and tree branches, using rusty nails pulled from old barns, and set it up on the side of the busiest road out of Cullman, a meager dirt road that disappeared after a hard rain and had to be repaved with more dirt next time the sun came out. His peanut stand was the most modern thing around at the time and people went no matter if they liked peanuts or not. Peanuts grew wild in Cullman. An underground forest of them in Ewing’s backyard became an underground goldmine. The first stand was a great success — boiled peanuts from a roadside stand! What a concept! And that success led to a second, a few miles down the road. He hired his
cousins and cousins of cousins, friends of his cousins and their sons and daughters, and soon the stands were everywhere, from Alabama down through Mississippi, sweeping into Louisiana and Florida, up through Georgia and finally into the Carolinas. Very few people know that most boiled peanut stands back then were franchises, but that’s what they were in the beginning. A little part of every peanut sold found its way back to my grandfather’s pocket, and though he never became a rich man he was able to move his bride Lucille out of the thatched hut and into a proper house in town. Christmas was a magical time in my grandparents’ home. My father got all kinds of presents: peanuts, tiny cars made of peanut shells, and best of all, peanuts painstakingly carved by Lucille, intricate portraits of Washington and Lincoln, or detailed landscapes of the French countryside, all from her imagining what it might be like. Find one today and it’s worth more than a Fabergé egg. Alas, most of them were eaten. Lucille and Ewing saved and saved and eventu-
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ally built an actual restaurant serving a great variety of foods. It was the only restaurant for 50 miles in any direction. Some people had never seen a restaurant before; many weren’t even familiar with the concept. Ewing and Lucille had to teach them to use a menu and then how to order their food from the lady in the pale blue frock. The good citizens of Cullman and beyond caught on quick. People take restaurants for granted, but they shouldn’t. Restaurants are everywhere now, sure. But it wasn’t always like that. You may have my grandparents to thank for that. Maybe not.
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ith boiled peanut money, my grandparents bought a house big enough for a tree and money at the end of the year to buy something for my dad, Eron, their only child. One Christmas morning, my father got a pocket watch. On another, he got a knife. The next, a bulky jacket, and then a pair of shoes — three sizes too big, for growing into. On his 16th Christmas, they gave him a suitcase, on his 17th, a compass. He saw where this was going. Year after year, he had gotten one single thing until he got all the things he needed to make a life of his own, and when he was 18 years old he set off for the wider world. On his first Christmas morning alone my father woke before the sun came up, fell into the Mississippi River and floated 200 miles down stream to the Gulf of Mexico on a raft hastily assembled from twigs and mud grass, and was finally rescued by one of the bravest and most intrepid sailors ever to roam the Gulf of Mexico in an old shrimp trawler: Joan Pedigo, the woman who would become my mother. They fell in love in about three-quarters of a second. Family followed almost as quickly: me and three sisters, dogs and cats and a snake and a bird. Still: struggling. Lots of mouths to feed. It was my mother who had the idea for the salted peanut, which brought the two biggest industries in town — salt and peanuts — together for the first time. How no one had thought of it before her was a mystery. Thanks to the salted peanut for a period of years we were a family of not insignificant wealth. Later, a bigger company, the one that made complimentary peanuts — really nice people, for the most part — would put us out of business. But until then, every Christmas we traveled to a different country in the world. We’d plan our trips out beginning on January 1, studying the language, the mode of dress, learning their customs and histories: Mongolia, Argentina, Gabon — you name it. One cold Christmas we spent with Eskimos in Greenland. Atelihai means hello, but that’s all the Inuit I remember. Because of my parents and Christmas, our family has been almost everywhere there is to go. Name a place.
Yep. Been there. Name another. Been there too.
k
Christmas! Christmas seems made for tall tales: look at the big red one that persists to this day. These days our own Christmases aren’t quite as big as the ones that preceded it — no bears, I am sorry to say — but they are just as beautiful: North Carolina, where we have lived for the last 40 years or so, makes sure of that. Until this year, for decades running my family has produced postcard-worthy Christmases: the tree, the lights, the boxes wrapped in shiny paper, all of us gathered together next to the hearth beneath what felt like a dome of warmth and love. But Christmas is not the same this time around. The pandemic has put a chink in our plans. Our clan is distant and scattered, and we do so many things in the world: we’re lawyers, doctors, construction workers, stage designers, Navy men and women, judges, paralegals, writers, scientists, artists, animal trainers. Every one of us knows a little bit about something, and together — could you bring us all together — we’d know practically everything. My second
cousin is training snow-white pigeons to fly back and forth between our many homes, carrying Christmas greetings; another is perfecting the hologram, so even if we’re not together we will look like we are. But then I think back to Nona, and those misty mornings she spent beneath that towering pine, with mountain lions and turtles, et al; of my father, floating down the Mississippi clinging to a twig and a blade of grass. Which is just to say that yes, Christmas will be different this year, but it’s different almost every year, in one way or another. It’s what Nona said: We do what we can with what we might have: to hope and work for better times while making these times the best they can possibly be. That may be the story of our Christmas this year, but it may also be the story of all our lives. SP Daniel Wallace is author of six novels, including Big Fish (1998) and, most recently, Extraordinary Adventures (2017). His fourth novel, Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, won the Sir Walter Raleigh Prize for best fiction published in North Carolina in 2009, and in 2019 he won the Harper Lee Award, an award given to a living, nationally recognized Alabama writer who has made a significant lifelong contribution to Alabama letters. He lives in Chapel Hill where he directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of North Carolina.
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glitters
ADD A LITTLE SPARKLE TO THE HOLIDAYS WITH JEWELRY AND ACCESSORIES FROM SOME OF CHARLOTTE’S FINEST RETAILERS — PERFECT FOR GIFT-GIVING, OR TO TREAT YOURSELF.
Opposite page: crystal bud vase/candle holder, $78.50, and silk magnolia blossom, $19.50, both John Dabbs Ltd.; Tiny Gods 18-karat and diamond “fan” ring, $7,500, tinygods.com; David Yurman large pearl cluster ring with diamonds, $2,200, Fink’s Jewelers; Primaura Jewelry and Accessories Megan hair barrettes, set of two, $85, and Roxy clutch in gold, $125, both primaura.us
This page: Kristin Hayes Jewelry The Be ring in 14-karat gold, $1,200, and The Kind ring in 14-karat gold, $1,200, both kristinhayesjewelry.com; Primaura Jewelry and Accessories Florence floral ring, $65, Primaura.us; 1956 18-karat gold Rolex Day-Date watch from the private collection of Kenneth Pham Luxe gold embosser, $120, Haute Papier gold scissors, $220, assorted papers and ribbons, all Paper Twist; Celedore Fine Wallpaper, celedorewallpaper.com
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Left: Kristin Hayes Jewelry The XO ring, $1,200, The Love ring, $1,200, and The You ring, $1,200, all 14-karat gold, kristinhayesjewelry.com; Aisha Baker Dreampedia ring, $5,300, and All You Need ring, $3,600, both Tiny Gods, tinygods.com; David Yurman Starburst ring with diamonds, $1,750, Fink’s Jewelers Right: Marie Oliver Wiley metallic wrap dress, $338, Charlotte’s; Primaura Jewelry and Accessories Marisol earrings, $105, primaura.us; 14-karat yellow gold multigemstone ring, $2,990, Malak Jewelers; Harwell Godfrey Rosa pave knife edge rainbow ring, $2,650, and Aisha Baker Victory Dance ring, $4,900, both Tiny Gods, tinygods. com; Kristin Hayes Jewelry 14-karat gold horseshoe ring with pave diamonds, $1,000, and gemstone ring, $750, both kristinhayesjewelry.com William Yeoward Ada tall coupe, $95, Childs Studio gilded glass serving tray, $155, both Elizabeth Bruns
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Left: Temple St. Clair Isola blue moonstone and 18-karat yellow gold ring, $6,500, and Picchiotti 18-karat yellow gold and diamond expandable bracelet, $23,000, both Elizabeth Bruns; Primaura Jewelry and Accessories Diana cuff, $185, Primaura.us Right: Kristin Hayes Jewelry large statement rock ring with quartz and brass band, $150, kristinhayesjewelry.com; Kara Ross 18-karat yellow gold and diamond ring $8,500, Elizabeth Bruns; Love Thy Rival panther bangle bracelet, $2,950, and gold flex bead bracelet, $1,600, both lovethyrival.com; Harwell Godfrey knife edge rainbow sapphire bracelet, $3,550, Aisha Baker Little Promises bracelet, $4,400, and Tiny Gods 18-karat domed tubogas bracelet, $9,800, all tinygods.com Music Oracles tarot cards, $18, and agate specimen bookends, $24, CLTCH; 18-karat yellow gold turquoise and pearl ring, $1,195, Malak Jewelers; Harwell Godfrey “mini” moon pendant, $3,800, tinygods.com; Love Thy Rival “Mod” link necklace, $1,250, lovethyrival.com
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Him: Jack Victor peak tuxedo, $1,050; Eton tuxedo shirt, $280; Carrot & Gibbs tie and cummerbund set, $275; all Paul Simon, paulsimonco.com
lapel
Her: David Yurman starburst ring with diamonds, $1,750, and David Yurman large pearl cluster ring with diamonds, $2,200, both Fink’s Jewelers; Kristin Hayes Jewelry 14-karat gold diamond initial ring with pave diamonds, $2,500; Sorellina Pavona crescent earrings, $7,500, tinygods.com
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Handcrafted 22-karat gold filigree Indian necklace, $4,365, and earrings, $1,660, both Malak Jewelers; plaid tuxedo suit jacket, stylist’s own; handiced holiday sugar cookies, starting at $5, Suarez Bakery
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Left: 14-karat yellow gold multi-gemstone ring, $2,990, Malak Jewelers; Harwell Godfrey Rosa pave knife edge rainbow ring, $2,650, and Aisha Baker Victory Dance ring, $4,900, both tinygods.com; Kristin Hayes Jewelry 14-karat gold horseshoe ring with pave diamonds, $1,000, kristinhayesjewelry.com Right: Kristin Hayes Jewelry The XO ring, $1,200, The Love ring, $1,200, and The You ring, all in 14-karat gold, kristinhayesjewelry. com; Aisha Baker Dreampedia ring, $5,300, and Aisha Baker All You Need ring, $3,600, both tinygods.com; David Yurman starburst ring with diamonds, $1,750, Fink’s Jewelers William Yeoward Crystal Athena champagne jug, $1,225, William Yeoward Crystal Ada tall coupe, $95, Childs Studio gilded glass serving tray, $155, all Elizabeth Bruns; Celedore Fine Wallpaper, celedorewallpaper.com
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The living room, accented with a grasscloth wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries, functions as living space, office and overflow dining room. Opposite page: The foyer is accented with a vintage Karabagh rug from ABC Home and a dramatic metal-leaf chandelier from Tomlinson Furniture. 88
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Paced perfect A SOUTHPARK DESIGN PROJECT EVOLVES OVER TIME, BRINGING COLOR TO A ONCE-NEUTRAL SPACE. BY BLAKE MILLER • PHOTOGRAPHS BY DUSTIN PECK
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A custom dining table by Berry & Clark Design Associates is paired with dining chairs and a display cabinet by Hickory Chair and a blue Madeline Weinrib rug.
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ennifer Nance was exhausted. As a partner in a global management-consulting firm, the then-40-year-old was traveling multiple times a week, barely spending more than a day or two at home. So planning the interior design of her new SouthPark-area home was one of the last things on her priority list. “Everything I had was a hodgepodge,” Nance says of her existing furnishings. “Everything looked decent and well put together in the apartment and townhome I lived in before this home. But once we got it into this house, everything was off. The scale didn’t look right. Nothing really worked well together.” Eventually, Nance grew tired of the mishmash of furnishings and decided to enlist the help of a design professional. On a recommendation from a friend, Nance reached out to Lynne Clark and her daughter, Liza, of Clark & Clark Interiors. “We instantly clicked,” Nance says. “[Lynne and I] are both from Hickory, and I just immediately felt at ease with Lynne. I knew she would go at my pace.” That pace, as it turned out, was slow and steady and would extend over 12 years as Clark walked Nance through multiple interior-design updates as well as a major renovation on the entire upstairs of the home. “There was some pulling along during the process, with me telling Jennifer she truly deserved this respite from all of her work travels,” Clark says. “We’d tell her, you’re doing a great job with your career. You deserve a space to come home to where you can relax and ultimately feel comfortable. So the project just evolved over time. Each time we’d finish a room, Jennifer would say, this is great, what else can we do.” 90
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A back entry with two large drop-zones was added to open up the house and expand the screened porch, blending indoor and outdoor living. The flip-top console table can be pulled away from the sliding-door wall for additional dining space, while Pindler “Elephant Walk� fabric curtains add a playful touch. 92
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The home, which was originally a builder spec house, featured a beige-on-beige color palette and dated builder-grade light fixtures and finishes. “It was as neutral as you could get,” Clark says. But Nance loves color, so she ultimately wanted something more than beiges, browns and creams in her home. Clark began with the living and dining rooms, where she used fabrics, rugs and accessories to inject color amid neutral gray wallcoverings by Phillip Jeffries. “The use of blue in the dining room really inspired Jennifer’s love of color,” says Clark of the Madeline Weinrib rug from ABC Home and host chairs from Hickory Chair. “They added so much life to the room.” The living room doubles as overflow dining when Nance hosts large gatherings and also serves as a home office. Elsewhere, Clark continued to infuse color such as in the master and guest bedrooms, where bold, bright throw pillows energize each space.
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It wasn’t until about eight years into the project that Clark embarked on renovating the upstairs of the home, which had small bedrooms and an unimpressive owner’s suite. The renovation resulted in a larger, more luxurious bedroom and bathroom and a larger laundry room. Then Clark layered the new spaces with her classic aesthetic that aligned with the timeless, livable design Nance was looking for. “The house really functions so much better now,” Nance says. While the project has taken more than a decade to complete, Nance says she’s thrilled that it’s spanned so many years. “I love working with Lynne so much that I don’t want it to end,” she laughs. “The process was awesome. It was so fluid, and I trust her implicitly. Lynne isn’t just a designer to me — she’s become a close friend.” SP
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A sari silk rug was cut into custom runners for the upstairs hallway and master bath. The chandelier and sconces from Currey & Co. and John-Richard mirrors add elegance to the space.
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Rustic modern
INTERIOR DESIGNER WENDY FENNELL OF BOHEMIAN BUNGALOW DESIGN CREATES A CONTEMPORARY, ORGANIC AESTHETIC IN A BEVERLY WOODS KITCHEN. BY CATHY MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERICA MARK
W
hen Wendy Fennell takes on a new client, she doesn’t always start with a blank slate. The interior designer likes mixing vintage or existing furnishings with new items to create an eclectic look. “I try to use what people have,” says Fennell, who started working in interior design a decade ago after a career in fashion merchandising. “I wanted to work for myself but still be creative and interact with people,” she says. In addition to designing homes for her clients, Fennell is a textile trade specialist with Chicago-based Mitchell Black. She also has a licensing deal with the design studio for her nature-inspired wallpaper collection. “Global with a modern edge” is how Fennell describes her style. In this Beverly Woods kitchen and dining room redesign, the wood cabinets were in good shape but in need of fresh paint and new hardware, which Fennell sourced on Etsy. Old countertops were replaced with marble, but for the island Fennell brought in a dark-stained live-edge wood slab to give the space an organic feel. The roman shade in an aqua and teal geometric design adds a modern, midcentury vibe, along with brass cutout pendants by Jonathan Adler. The pendants coordinate with the starburst chandelier and gold wall sconces in the dining area without being too matchy-matchy, Fennell says. “They just have to be able to talk to each other a little bit.” Burlap drapes accented with a decorative tape provide shade in the sunny dining room, where an oversized mirror that belonged to the homeowners’ mother is displayed between the sconces. The existing dining chairs were reupholstered in a cotton-linen rust-print fabric that coordinates with the blues and teals in the space. The grasscloth wallcovering in an ombre pattern brings the design together for a look that’s not too formal but still elegant for entertaining. “We wanted it sort of ‘casual fancy,’” Fennell says. “That’s how we described it.” SP
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When using wallpaper, interior designer Wendy Fennell usually picks one wall in a room to accent. In this dining room, the ombre stripe grasscloth wallcovering is a design by United Kingdom-based Anthology at Style Library.
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|the creators
Art in service
ROSALIA TORRES-WEINER’S FLOWERS BLOSSOM. BY WILEY CASH • PHOTOGRAPHS BY MALLORY CASH
P
eople begin arriving at 2 p.m. sharp on a Saturday afternoon at the Compare Foods supermarket on N. Sharon Amity Road in east Charlotte: elderly men and women, families with small children, single mothers with babies on their hips — each of them carrying a distinctly different painting of bold, colorful flowers on 8x10 canvases. A few people appear uncertain, others seem excited to discover the source of the mystery that has brought them together. A message on the back of each painting has instructed them to arrive at this location on this day and at this time. Over the past several days, the paintings — a hundred of them, in fact — have been found scattered around the Queen City on park benches, at bus stops and inside laundromats, places that one does not expect to find works of art, especially art of this caliber. The artist, Charlotte’s Rosalia Torres-Weiner, is waiting for them, sitting on a folding chair outside her boldly painted art truck. The truck is a repurposed delivery vehicle that, before the pandemic, Torres-Weiner used to deliver art supplies and arts education to Charlotte’s underserved Latinx communities. Today, those communities are coming to her. Some people arrive speaking Spanish, others English, but Torres-Weiner, who was born and raised in Mexico City, moves effortlessly between the two languages, greeting everyone with a warm smile that cannot be denied, even by the mask she wears due to the continued rise in coronavirus cases in North Carolina, where Charlotte’s Latinx population has been particularly affected. Over the summer, WBTV reported that Hispanic people make up about 10% of North Carolina’s population, but they comprised roughly 46% of the state’s coronavirus cases. According to Atrium Health, 25% of Hispanics who were tested were positive for Covid-19, while testing for other groups returned positive rates at only 9.5%. Torres-Weiner, a self-described “artivist” whose work is fueled by service to her community, felt called to respond to the devastating effects of the Covid crisis. “All my work comes from the community, and while I obeyed 102
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the orders to stay home, I realized that I needed to do something,” she says. She soon found herself asking: “What can I do to produce art and help the Latino community?” This question led to an idea, and the idea eventually grew into action. Torres-Weiner’s husband, Ben Weiner, who works in technology, has grown accustomed to his wife coming up with these kinds of ideas, ideas that put her art to work in service of the community. He lovingly refers to these moments of inspiration, which he envisions as tiny black beans that grow into something larger, as frijolitos, and he has dubbed his wife’s visionary projects as “Frijolito Inc.” As usual — and as her husband probably predicted — Torres-Weiner’s ideas on how to confront Covid grew. One day, while bouncing ideas off a friend who is also part of Charlotte’s Latinx community, Torres-Weiner decided that she would find a way to distribute sanitization supplies to underserved communities. Her friend told her that was a great idea, but what people really needed was food. Mothers and fathers were dying of Covid, leaving behind spouses and children who needed support. Yes, they needed supplies to protect their bodies, but they also needed food, especially children who were going to bed hungry, their physical pain compounded by the emotional pain of losing a parent to the coronavirus. Pain and beauty: Torres-Weiner was motivated by one and desperate to spread the other. She recalled a quote from the impressionist painter Claude Monet, “I must have flowers, always, and always.” She knew how to spread beauty, and she decided to paint a hundred 8x10 canvases with bold, colorful flowers. But she knew she needed help finding a way to
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address the pain people were feeling. Frijolito Inc. sprang into action. Although she has made a living as a professional artist, Torres-Weiner went to college for business administration. “My sister became a lawyer, my other sister became a doctor, so when I told my mother I wanted to be an artist, there was not a choice,” she says. But sometimes mothers know best, and Torres-Weiner admits that her business background has provided the tools she needed to find funding and partnerships for her art projects. For her latest, she reached out to Google Fiber. With their support, Torres-Weiner was able to ensure that for each canvas she painted, its new owner would have access to a gift bag containing hand sanitizer, masks, soap, and other items. Also, each bag would contain a $50 gift card to Compare Foods supermarket. As is often the case when Torres-Weiner executes a plan, her husband is on-site today. Each time someone arrives with their newfound art in hand, Torres-Weiner checks the number on the back of the painting and calls it out to her husband, who is inside the art truck, where the gifts bags are waiting. Out of the 100 paintings Torres-Weiner distributed across Charlotte, 89 find their way back to their creator, and although the new owners get to keep the paintings, many of them cannot believe their good fortune. Surely there is a catch, some of them ask. Others try to return their paintings, certain that such beautiful art cannot have been passed on to them for free. If you ask Torres-Weiner why she feels compelled to use her art to support her community, she will respond by telling you
that this is a community that has always supported her, from the moment she and her husband arrived in Charlotte from Los Angeles in the mid-1990s. “I remember when we moved here,” she says, “and we saw a church on almost every corner of the city, and we saw everyone playing baseball and taking their kids to activities, and my husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘This is our city. This place is going to embrace us.’ And it did. We’ve been here 26 years.” But others in the city were not as convinced as TorresWeiner that Charlotte was the place for her and her art. “When I started painting my colorful art, someone said, ‘You need to move to Santa Fe or San Francisco.’ I’m glad I didn’t listen.” Another time, while she was working on a mural in Washington, D.C., she told someone that she was ready to return home. They asked if she was heading back to Mexico. “No,” she said. “I’m going back to Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s my home.” But home changes, and artists adapt, and Torres-Weiner has adapted, easily blending her Mexican cultural heritage into her work as a Mexican-American artivist living in Charlotte. By way of example, she references cuisine and how foodways can merge cultures and bring people together. A few years ago, while standing in line at a walk-up Mexican restaurant that had long been a secret kept within the Latinx community, Torres-Weiner noticed the diversity of people waiting with her, and she struck up a conversation with a Black man who was standing behind her. He saw the paint on her clothes, and he asked if she was a painter. She said she was. As a matter of fact, she had painted the nearby mural of the Lady of Guadalupe on Central Avenue. The man told her the neighborhood had once housed primarily Black families,
and before that white Charlotteans had made it their home. Now, the neighborhood was home primarily to members of the Latinx community, and Torres-Weiner explained that she was painting the mural to welcome them to Charlotte. While they waited for their lunch, Torres-Weiner and the man continued to talk about old landmarks, how communities change, how they maintain their hospitality, how they can welcome anyone who is looking for a home. Torres-Weiner’s career has taken her all over the world, and her work has been featured in major museum collections and ended up on the cover of a United States history textbook. But no matter where she goes or where her work is showcased, Charlotte remains home. “Last year, I was selected to represent North Carolina as a Mexican artist when an event was organized in Mexico City that invited one artist from each state in America to represent the arts,” she says. “And when they chose me as North Carolina’s artist, I was so proud.” The day’s event has ended. The confused and curious people who arrived with a gorgeous painting in one hand are leaving with a bag full of groceries and Covid supplies in the other. No one is more pleased than Torres-Weiner. It is obvious that her day of service has regenerated her, guaranteeing that she will soon find another way to put her art into action to serve her community. What else can an artivist do but create and serve? “It’s my food, it’s my air,” she says. “It is my Christmas.” SP Wiley Cash and his wife, Mallory, live in Wilmington. His latest novel, The Last Ballad, is available wherever books are sold. southparkmagazine.com | 105
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Cultivating
Charlotte In the ’80s and ’90s, Rolfe Neill
was part of “The Group,” an unofficial cadre of local business leaders that held tremendous sway. The former Charlotte
Observer publisher reflects on his distinguished career, the newspaper’s waning influence and his current passion: restoring Charlotte’s tree canopy. BY RICK THAMES • PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER TAYLOR
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t seems that people who ponder Charlotte’s future never tire of asking, “Will we ever see another Hugh McColl?” But to hear the retired Bank of America CEO tell it, those people should also be asking, “Will we ever see another Rolfe Neill?” Hugh McColl Jr., 85, is the best known among a handful of civic leaders who lifted Charlotte from its status as a generic Southern town to that of a thriving cosmopolitan city in the 1980s and 1990s. Joining him in that remake over a span of two decades was a string of CEOs and a procession of mayors. No one, however, matched what Rolfe Neill brought to that exclusive executive circle: a widely respected newspaper. As publisher of The Charlotte Observer, Neill led an institution with unparalleled reach in the city. Three out of every four adults read its pages on any given day. Fans, in fact, were fond of saying it wasn’t news until it appeared in the Observer. It was Charlotte’s good fortune, McColl says, that Neill was no less intent than he was on propelling the city forward. McColl had the financial muscle. But Neill had the ideas and insights that came with managing a newspaper that covered the greater Charlotte area, end-to-end. “Rolfe knew more about everything than I did,” McColl said in a recent interview. “I would be focused on one thing. And he would know about 40 things. And he would know a lot more about what other people thought about something than I did.” Now 88, Neill still keeps up with all things Charlotte. He retains the sharp wit, lean physique and full head of silver hair that distinguished him in crowded uptown gatherings. But these days Neill is more likely to be found digging in the dirt alongside some excited scouts or elementary-school students. His cause is TreesCharlotte, a nonprofit that aims to replenish the city’s enviable tree canopy. With the help of volunteers, the group has planted or given away more than 35,000 trees since 2012. It also has raised $8 million toward a $15 million endowment intended to keep Charlotte deep in trees for generations to come. “Charlotte’s brand is the tree,” Neill told me in an interview near his home amid the towering willow oaks of Eastover and Myers Park. “That’s what everybody talks about. There’s so many trees! [Visitors] fly in and see them. And, of course, the colors in the fall are spectacular.” Neill and his first wife, Rosemary Boney, raised three daughters and two sons. They divorced in the 1980s and, he says, remain good friends. He later wed Ann Marshall, who had two sons from a previous marriage. They were married for 28 years before Ann passed away in 2016. In all, Neill counts seven children, nine grandchildren and
two great-grandchildren. As he counts, it’s clear that he keeps track of them all. It delights Neill to think that trees planted now will shade them and others long after he’s gone. He wishes he could be as confident about the future of the newspaper he once led. The Charlotte Observer’s parent company, McClatchy, filed for bankruptcy in February. In September, McClatchy was purchased by its biggest debtholder, Chatham Asset Management. The hedge fund now owns the Observer and McClatchy’s 29 other newspapers. It also owns American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, and is majority owner of Canada’s largest news chain, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. Today’s Observer is a shadow of what it was when Neill ran it. Less than 10 years after he retired in 1997, audiences and advertisers began migrating to the web. And while newspapers did, too, legions of new online competitors cut sharply into their revenues. During Neill’s era, the Observer newsroom swelled to 260 journalists. Today’s digital economy supports a news staff one-fourth that size. Still, the newspaper’s journalists continue to break major stories and call attention to important community issues. Neill hopes that tradition continues. “I think the Observer should always exist as an information medium,” Neill says. “The platform is clearly shifting from a printed page to digital . ... But I think the hunger for information will drive entrepreneurs to get it to you somehow.”
“We were not afraid to be caught loving our community,” as Neill explains it now. “On the other hand, we were never intimidated about addressing the community on sensitive topics that we felt needed talking about or taking a stand on.”
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or 134 years, the Observer has prodded, cajoled and at times even shoved the city in directions that it perceived to be progress. At no time was the newspaper more effective at doing this than it was during the 22 years Neill led it. When he was named publisher in 1975, Charlotte had big ambitions. Neill nurtured a newspaper with big expectations to match. Although he was born in Mount Airy and grew up in Columbus, Ga., Neill’s career to that point had taken him to Miami, New York and Philadelphia. He easily sized up what Charlotte had going for it, as well as what was missing. Readers got his take on both in his popular Sunday columns, which appeared on a page adjacent to the editorial page. There, he could be both blunt and brilliant. “We were not afraid to be caught loving our community,” as Neill explains it now. “On the other hand, we were never intimidated about addressing the community on sensitive topics that we felt needed talking about or taking a stand on. “I think that’s one of the reasons the press is in trouble
These days, Rolfe Neill, pictured here at Wing Haven, spends time helping TreesCharlotte, a nonprofit working to replenish the city’s tree canopy. today, and has been for many years. It’s afraid to be caught loving its community. It thinks, somehow, that’s a weakness. There’s a difference between being a booster and being someone who shows affection and understanding, and says, ‘Hey, we’re part of the community, too. We want to work and live in, and produce for, that community.’” That view worried some in his newsroom at times, but it endeared Neill to McColl and other civic leaders who eventually came to be called simply “The Group.” It included First Union (now Wells Fargo) CEO Ed Crutchfield, Duke Power (now Duke Energy) CEO Bill Lee, and former mayors John Belk and Harvey Gantt. They saw in Neill someone who shared their aspirations for Charlotte. So they confided in him, and they listened closely when he told them what he thought of their ideas. At the same time, they accepted Neill’s terms, which he also dictated to the various community boards that wanted him as a member. “I would say, ‘Y’all need to understand that I will work hard as I can for you,’” Neill says. “‘But if there is a conflict, the paper will come first. And I can’t keep anything out of the paper because I’m on your board.’” He did, however, respect timelines for major announcements. “I certainly did hold secrets in my head about knowing things in advance,” Neill says, such as when the leaders of Charlotte Nature Museum set out to open Discovery Place in uptown in the early ’80s. Even then, Observer reporters typically were first in local media to know. Sometimes they found out on their own. Other times, their highly competitive publisher dropped a vague note about where they should look. “Rolfe never took off his reporter’s hat,” McColl says. “He was always curious. Always asking questions. But he had a civic hat in which he and I and Bill Lee could sit down and
talk about things calmly. The truth of the matter is, we were only trying to do something good for the city. We were never trying to do something good for our companies. … The four of us really were trying to support things that we thought were good for our city and would lift it.” Those CEOs, however, did get out of bed every day thinking about their companies. McColl was building one of the nation’s biggest banks. Lee was elevating Duke to be a global leader in peace-time nuclear power. Belk was modernizing his growing chain of department stores. Neill, on the other hand, got out of bed each day and pored over the Observer, cover to cover. His reporting instincts told him what to expect next from news developments. That made him uniquely positioned to alert other civic-minded CEOs to an opportunity or threat. And together, they took on truly transformational projects: A revitalized Fourth Ward, Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Charlotte Convention Center, Discovery Place, the Charlotte Ballet, a revived Charlotte Symphony, the Transportation Center and more. “I jokingly say we saved the symphony six times,” McColl says. “Rolfe was always in those meetings and having good suggestions. … He was an integral part of everything like that.”
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eill related so well to Charlotte’s corporate giants, in fact, that it is surprising he once couldn’t imagine himself covering business as a journalist. That changed after he took his first job at The Charlotte Observer in 1957. At that point, he had graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, served two years in the Army and spent a year finding out that small-town life at a weekly newspaper in the North Carolina mountains was too slow for him. The Observer hired southparkmagazine.com | 109
him to open a bureau in Gastonia. One year later, he was offered a promotion and relocation to the newspaper’s downtown office. The title: “business editor.” It was a one-person department, so he was also the business writer. Neill went home and told his first wife, Rosemary. “She said, ‘Business editor? You hate business,’” Neill recalls. “I said, ‘Well, I thought maybe I could learn something about it because I sure don’t know anything about it.’” He started reading The Wall Street Journal, which is still his favorite national newspaper. He wrote briefs about new businesses, covered textile-club luncheons and profiled people he met. Business news, he discovered, was a good fit. He connected well with people in business. “Businesspeople have always been very good to me on the beats I was covering,” Neill says. “They were just helpful, accommodating.” That fit did not go unnoticed by higher-ups. When the Observer’s parent company, Knight Newspapers, purchased The Coral Gables Times in 1961, Neill was invited to manage it. There, he began to learn how to run a business. The Times was a 5,000-circulation newspaper operating in the shadow of a giant Knight paper, The Miami Herald. The Times was losing money. Its tiny staff also produced a weekly “shopper” called The Guide. It was page after page of store ads and personal classifieds — nothing journalistic about it. It went to 50,000 households in the Miami area for free. “I thought, ‘Well, we’ll close The Guide and save some money,” Neill says. But he first spent a week going door-todoor, asking people if they had ever heard of it. “‘Oh, I love that!’ That’s what I heard at nearly every door I knocked on,” Neill says, kicking his voice up an octave for dramatic effect. Readers raved about the personal ads they could buy to sell an unused baby carriage or lawn mower. The ads were much cheaper than those in the more sophisticated Herald. Lesson learned. Ads were content, too. The Guide would stay. And under Neill, both it and the Times ultimately became profitable. Next came stints at the Miami Beach Daily Sun, The New York Daily News and the Philadelphia Daily News. As executive editor of the Philadelphia paper, Neill hired David Lawrence to be his managing editor. “Rolfe was stunningly competitive,” says Lawrence, who would later become Neill’s executive editor in Charlotte. “He worked hard to get to know the community.” Under Neill’s leadership, the Daily News’ circulation grew from 150,000 to 250,000. Both of its bigger competitors lost readers. So it was not surprising when Knight Newspapers returned with a new proposal. Was Neill willing to move to Charlotte to become publisher of the Observer?
It would be an experiment. To this point, Knight Newspapers had not had publishers. The business side of a newspaper was handled by a general manager. But Knight had recently merged with Ridder Publications to form Knight Ridder, and Ridder newspapers had publishers. “I thought, ‘What the hell does a publisher do?” Neill says. “And my memories of Charlotte were from the ’50s, when I worked there as the business editor.” That Charlotte couldn’t have been more different from Philadelphia or New York. People in Charlotte were more buttoned-down. Social life centered on church and country clubs. There was no liquor by the drink — anybody who wanted a cocktail with dinner needed to bring it in a brown bag. Neill doesn’t drink. “My drink of choice is industrial-strength Coca-Cola,” he says. But he enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere of large cities. “I thought, ‘I’m not sure I want to go back there,’” Neill says. But the town had changed during the 15 years he’d been away. Two Charlotte-based banks — North Carolina National Bank (later to become Bank of America) and First Union (later Wachovia, then Wells Fargo) — were on the rise. Duke Power (later Duke Energy) had just brought online its first nuclear power plant. Mayor Belk had some big ideas for Charlotte’s future. The Observer also had a lot more going on. Its crowded headquarters at 600 S. Tryon St. had been demolished and, in its place stood a spacious, 350,000-square-foot facility that covered an entire block. Many businesses had moved to suburban shopping centers, but Knight elected to stay put in support of a decaying downtown’s dream of revitalization. Neill sensed new energy, ambition. Yes, he could see himself becoming part of this Charlotte. “When I left Charlotte in 1961, everyone wanted to be like Atlanta,” Neill says. “I came back, and nobody wanted to be like Atlanta.” Charlotte was out to make a name for itself. And by coincidence, Neill was quickly handed a way to do the same.
“When I left Charlotte in 1961, everyone wanted to be like Atlanta,” Neill says. “I came back [in 1975], and nobody wanted to be like Atlanta.” Charlotte was out to make a name for itself.
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n executive of a major Observer advertiser, Ivey’s department stores, was named chairman of the 1977 United Way campaign. He, in turn, asked Neill to head up the major gifts division, soliciting contributions from large companies and wealthy individuals. Knight had left it to Neill to figure out exactly what a publisher should do. This felt right, he decided, so he threw himself into it. “I had never raised a nickel in my life,” Neill says. “I decided, well, instead of getting myself a team of 25 or 30 people to call on [donors], I would do it myself. And it was a very good
way to get to meet who was running Charlotte. Cliff Cameron, who headed First Union from 1966 to 1984, came up with the idea of a CEO “group” in 1983. Cameron had seen a similar idea in action in Pittsburgh, according to a 2009 Observer story. “I don’t remember the first project where I was invited to come and be part of this discussion,” Neill says, “but I went, and out of that emerged the so-called Group. [It] was four or five people who had the biggest companies. I gave them the same little sermonette about [how] my first loyalty had to be with the paper.” Some viewed this circle of executives with suspicion, and Neill says he understands why. “I think, properly, that people thought, ‘What is this? Why is this secret? Who are they? What do they represent?’ And, of course, we were all white men. … That was an issue for [many] and should have been for us. Except, if you were going to operate on the basis of CEOs, there weren’t any women CEOs. And minorities? No minorities,” aside from Gantt. Neill says he remained loyal to the paper even as he led industry and government leaders to the Observer newsroom to talk out issues with the editor or the editorial board. Some journalists, however, had concerns. “I don’t know that they ever got over it,” Neill says. “They were extremely, and properly, cautious that there might be some red lines being crossed. But there certainly weren’t.” Fannie Flono was among local news editors who sometimes fretted at seeing Neill sitting on a reporter’s desk. He hung out with powerful people in the community. What if he alerted them to stories not yet published? What if he pressured a journalist to pursue a story? “That was going through a lot of people’s minds at the time,” says Flono, who was politics editor for many of those years. “But you know, I really can’t think of a time when he actually did that. ... He would kind of chat up people and, in the course of a chat, convey the notion of a story idea. But if you didn’t want to do it, you really could challenge him. Or, at least I could.” What Flono appreciated most about Neill was his willingness to back up his newsroom. As the first Black woman at the Observer to be politics editor, she sometimes had her credentials openly challenged by white male politicians in Raleigh and elsewhere. “Rolfe would always back me up when there was a complaint. He told them: ‘She’s the woman in charge, and that’s just the way it is. It has nothing to do with me. And I trust her implicitly.’” The journalist in Neill drew him to the newsroom. But
he had little need to worry about its work. When Lawrence moved to the Detroit Free Press in 1978, Neill hired another strong editor, Rich Oppel, a Florida native and former editor of the Tallahassee Democrat. Under Oppel, the Observer dramatically expanded its coverage of outlying counties, launching tabloids that came with the main newspaper in Gaston, Union, Catawba, Iredell and Cabarrus counties and in York County, S.C. Newsrooms in Gaston and York expanded to more than 25 people. It had been 32 years since Neill opened the first Gastonia bureau. In the first month of the Gaston Observer, he regularly dropped by unannounced. At times, he took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie and edited stories alongside startled local news editors.
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n Charlotte, the main newsroom still glowed from winning the highest honor in journalism. Months before, the Observer had been awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service. That award honored a lengthy investigation that ultimately toppled the popular and corrupt PTL television ministry of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. That same year, cartoonist Doug Marlette won a Pulitzer for work that appeared in both the Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. These were the second and third Pulitzers to come during the Neill-Oppel era. The first, awarded in 1981, also took on a powerful local institution — the textile industry. Journalists documented how more than 100,000 area workers were being exposed to invisible cotton dust that led to a deadly disease, byssinosis, or brown lung. The PTL coverage extended more than a decade. The Bakkers and their staff used their national daily broadcasts to launch boycotts of the Observer, attack its journalists and pressure its parent company, Knight Ridder. PTL clearly was a fraud, Neill says. Still, he cautioned editors not to overplay minor developments in the story or ignore positive aspects of the ministry. “I kept saying, ‘I think y’all are on to a great thing here. But let’s be careful about how we do this. We have plenty of time.” Ten days after Bakker resigned in disgrace in March 1987, Neill summed it up in a column. Mostly, he condemned: PTL stole millions of dollars from contributors and paid hush money to a young woman, Jessica Hahn, to keep quiet about a sexual encounter with Bakker. But Neill also signaled respect for the dignity of the fallen ministry’s dazed followers. “Let us concede that under Jim Bakker, PTL built a Christian theme park that delights and satisfies millions,” he
“The truth of the matter is, we were only trying to do something good for the city,” McColl says. “We were never trying to do something good for our companies. … The four of us really were trying to support things that we thought were good for our city and would lift it.”
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In 2005, community members installed “The Writer’s Desk,” a sculpture on the plaza at ImaginOn that celebrate’s Neill’s career. wrote. “The Bakker ministry has brought sunshine to some dark spots, be it the loneliness of a pregnant teenager or the bitterness of a man behind bars. ... The issue isn’t whether Bakker does good — he does — but whether it’s morally permissible to occasionally flimflam folks in the name of higher purpose. My King James version says no.” That same year, Neill moved on to a different set of contributors: patrons of the arts. He urged Charlotte voters to approve a $15 million bond issue toward the construction of the city’s first performing-arts center. He joined a city manager’s task force for the effort and promised that the Observer would contribute to a separate effort to raise private funds. “There is no debate about whether we need a new facility,” Neill wrote in a column. “Ovens Auditorium was never a decent concert hall and is now aged out as a building as well.” Voters approved the bonds by a 2-1 margin. In 1992, the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center opened 112
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with three state-of-the-art theaters at a total cost of $43.6 million. One year earlier, however, a crisis threatened that happy ending. The Charlotte Symphony, a centerpiece in plans for the Blumenthal, was in danger of dissolving. Musicians and management were deadlocked in salary negotiations, and its board was out of money. In a sternly worded column, Neill urged the Arts & Science Council to appoint a study group to help rescue the symphony, as well as other promising but fragile arts groups. Neill also dressed down the symphony’s musicians, management and board. “We’re but a year distant from the opening of the N.C. Blumenthal Center for the Performing Arts, whose chief renters are all symphony-connected,” Neill wrote. “We put at risk symphony-dependent arts groups such as Opera Carolina, the Oratorio Singers and the N.C. Dance Theatre
(now the Charlotte Ballet).” One month later, Neill was named to head a “save the symphony” task force. He recruited Crutchfield, Lee, McColl and former Mayor Gantt to be members. Their work helped break the deadlock and keep the symphony playing. It also inspired the Arts & Science Council to launch still another fundraising campaign. This campaign would seek to raise $25 million toward an endowment to support nonprofit arts groups. To head that, the council enlisted someone who had never led a major arts fundraising effort: Hugh McColl. McColl raised $26.8 million, a figure that elevated him as a leading fundraiser for Charlotte’s arts world. “It was the largest endowment [campaign] any arts group had in the United States at that time,” McColl says. In years to come, he would give or help raise well over $100 million to arts causes, as well as restore a burned-out church on North Tryon to be the McColl Center for Art + Innovation. Five months before he retired in 1997, Neill thanked McColl in a column for sparking the revival of 11 blocks just north of Trade and Tryon. “Nobody is on record as daring to dream as big as North Tryon Street has become,” Neill wrote. “The Blumenthal, Discovery Place, Spirit Square, Museum of the New South and the main branch of the public library. Now that’s a cultural district of distinction.” What most readers didn’t know was how much Neill had contributed to all that. “Rolfe and I used to walk together,” McColl says. “We would walk through the neighborhoods. So when we were thinking about things, we actually knew what we were talking about. We had been on the ground and looked at things as they really were. “He challenged everything. And so you couldn’t get away with self-aggrandizement for the corporation or whatever. He never took off that hat — being publisher of the paper.”
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wo worlds, yet Neill seamlessly stepped in and out of both. In 2005, some community members wanted a way to celebrate his career. They raised money to erect a sculpture. “The Writer’s Desk” is strewn playfully in multiple pieces across the plaza of ImaginOn in uptown Charlotte. Children often can be seen running in and around the giant hand stamps, typewriter keys, sharpened pencils and tower of books topped by a quill that swivels in the breeze. There, etched in Italian marble, are several passages taken from scores of Neill’s columns. “We did not inherit the land from our ancestors,” reads one line. “We borrowed it from our children.” Former Charlotte City Council member Cyndee Patterson
helped plan the sculpture. “[We wanted] an art piece that honored him but that was not a typical sculpture,” says Patterson, now president of Charlotte’s Lee Institute. “We wanted a way to represent his words.” Each of the hand stamps bears a message: SEE THE TRUTH, SPEAK THE TRUTH, HEAR THE TRUTH. That sums up Neill, says Foundation for the Carolinas CEO Michael Marsicano, who came to Charlotte in 1989 to become executive director of the Arts & Science Council. “He’s just frank and candid, and he tells it the way he sees it,” says Marsicano, who also helped with the sculpture. “It’s not that he’s not gracious in the way he tells you how he sees it. He is.” Now, Marsicano and the foundation often tackle projects and topics that once might have involved a Rolfe Neill or Hugh McColl — a regional system of greenways, restoration of the historic Carolina Theatre and an economic-mobility task force, for example. Should Charlotte expect another circle of CEOs to step in at some point? Marsicano doesn’t think so. The city is more diverse now and can’t be expected to adhere to a single agenda. The region is much bigger now, and the CEOs of many of those homegrown companies have either sold or gone global. And there are many, many civic tables. “So, what we now have is the challenge of connecting all the different tables,” Marsicano says. “And that is harder and messier. And things take longer to get done.” Neill agrees, and he praises the foundation for its work in doing that. “It’s an entirely different landscape,” Neill says. “It’s a more time-consuming job to knit all that together.” It’s also harder to read all about it. As the Observer’s coverage of local news has shrunk, no other media outlet has come close to matching the reach it once had. McColl says he and the Observer didn’t alway see eye to eye, but he believes the city benefited when everyone could read from the same page. “What we’ve lost is two things,” McColl says. “We’ve lost the truth. And we’ve lost a [shared] understanding of the issues and facts. We have people who never read The Charlotte Observer. Who have no concept of fact. Democracy is under tremendous attack. And arguably the paper doesn’t have the influence it once had. Doesn’t even come close.” Will we see another era when readers can rely on one news source to monitor everything from zoning meetings and art exhibits to last Sunday’s sermon? Neill longs for the day. “The era of the Observer was the era of a large, well-funded news organization that could cover a lot of things for the whole community and get it done,” Neill says. “Somebody, I hope, is going to come up with the printed newspaper in a different form, but that reflects its completeness and its ability to inform and unite a community.” SP Rick Thames joined The Charlotte Observer as a newsroom editor in 1989 when Rolfe Neill was publisher. Thames became executive editor of The Wichita Eagle in 1997. He returned to the Observer as executive editor in 2004 and retired in 2017. He now teaches journalism in the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte. southparkmagazine.com | 113
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Give your holiday shopping list some inspiration at Charlotte’s luxury retail icon, Phillips Place. Browse our hand-picked selection of exclusive retail set against a backdrop of festive holiday lights and décor. Our upscale shops and restaurants will provide the highest quality shopping and dining experience in SouthPark. There is something for everyone at Phillips Place.
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6800 PHILLIPS PL CT | 704.714.7600 | PHILLIPSPLACECHARLOTTE.COM SHOPPING: Allen Edmonds | Brooks Brothers | Coplon’s | Eileen Fisher | Granville | J.McLaughlin | John Michael Kitchens | NIC+ZOE Old Dog | Orvis | Paper Source | RH Charlotte | Taylor Richards & Conger | Taylor Richards & Conger Women | Windsor Jewelers DINING: P.F. Chang’s | RH Rooftop Restaurant Charlotte | Southern Pecan Gulf Coast Kitchen | The Palm AMENITIES: Hampton Inn & Suites | KB Cleaners | Modern Salon & Spa | Regal Cinemas 126 | SOUTHPARK
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The scent of herbs, spices and Argentinian tradition waves you in, tempting you to try a little something new. At Mico Restaurant, we will gently guide you away from your usual, with globally inspired flavors and seasonal twists that take you on a culinary tour. At this Uptown favorite, taste the blended cultures of Buenos Aires, the arid sweetness of Mendoza and the palatable beauty of Cordoba. Just one bite and your journey begins at Charlotte’s best new restaurant.
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For more information, call 980.999.5550 or visit grandbohemiancharlotte.com
EXPLORE SPARTANBURG’S RICH HISTORY AND REVITALIZED DOWNTOWN WITH A STAY AT CLEVEDALE HISTORIC INN AND GARDENS. BY VANESSA INFANZON
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partanburg, S.C., is a former mill town steeped in history, with fine dining and plenty of outdoor activities. A closer look proves the city about 75 miles southwest of Charlotte is also an unexpected romantic getaway. Spartanburg, founded in 1787, is named for the Spartan Regiment, one of the militias formed in western South Carolina during the American Revolution. It’s known as the “Hub City” because at one time, seven railroads led to and from the area. City planners have taken advantage of 128
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the history and location to restore factories and renew parks and trails. The revitalization has attracted homegrown restaurants and businesses to the downtown and surrounding areas.
SOUTHERN COMFORTS Clevedale Historic Inn and Gardens, a 4-acre estate on the west side of town, offers three luxury rooms in a 1913 home. The house, built as a wedding gift to Conrad and
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ONESPARTANBURG, INC., CHRIS ROGERS, J.W. BOOM, PONTHEOLLA MACK ABERNATHY
Adventure and amore
Louise Bomar Cleveland, was once on a 448acre farm. Paul and Pontheolla Mack Abernathy, married 32 years, bought the inn in 2012. They renovated the home and opened 18 months later. Guest rooms and the living and dining rooms are decorated with restored antiques and period artwork. The Ohana Suite and The Wren offer access to a rooftop patio overlooking gardens with meandering brick pathways. One garden path leads to the MackRail Cabin Car, a restored caboose with a queen bed, two bunk beds, a sitting area and a small bathroom that provides a fourth lodging option. A private deck and fire pit facing the gardens adds to the charm of sleeping in a bright red 1947 Southern Railway Caboose. The inspiration for adding a caboose to the property came from a story told to Pontheolla by 98-year-old Elisabeth Cleveland Welch, Conrad Cleveland’s daughter. The night Welch was born, a train passing through town broke down. Cleveland walked to the train and invited passengers into the house for tea. The Abernathys continue this tradition of hospitality by treating guests to a gourmet breakfast each morning. Dishes might include French toast brioche topped with sautéed Granny Smith apples and maple roasted pecans, or crab cakes Benedict: a Charleston crab cake and poached egg served on an everything bagel with peppers, onions, sautéed spinach and aioli. Throughout the year, Clevedale offers wine and dinner pairings, wine tastings, and music programs featuring bands or soloists. For Valentine’s Day, a guest chef prepares a fourcourse dinner with a wine pairing. In February, Brevard-based jazz chanteuse Rockell Scott will perform at this special event. Clevedale has received national attention, including recent inclusion on Forbes list of 7 Black-Owned Hotels Across the U.S. to Visit on Your Next Road Trip. Paul is a retired Episcopal priest and a contributor to Preaching Black Lives (Matter), a collection of reflections about social justice. Pontheolla worked for an NPR affiliate in
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Columbia, S.C., and then a Washington, D.C.based media organization before following her lifelong dream to own a bed-and-breakfast.
For couples with a need for speed, the BMW Performance Driving School is just the ticket for adrenaline junkies. A professional driver leads participants through three experiences in various BMW models on a private off-road course and racetrack. The adventure ends with a hot lap: A trip around the track at top speed. Though not for the weak-kneed, BMW staff members make it a fun opportunity to try something different. If you prefer a slower pace, Spartanburg’s parks and preserves offer plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, kayak and canoe. Two options are Glendale Shoals Preserve & Waterfalls and Croft State Park. Rent a bicycle from Spartanburg BCycle and explore the 2.1-mile Mary Black Rail Trail, or follow the Spartanburg Revolutionary War Trail to learn about battles in and around the city. A visit to the Battle of Musgrove Mill State Historic Site provides insight into this significant fight won by the Patriot militia in the American Revolution. Guided tours are available. Travel through time on the British Camp Trail and the Battlefield Trail, with views of the Enoree River and Horseshoe Falls.
DELECTABLE DINING Spartanburg features restaurants and shops in a walkable downtown. Morgan Square is the center of the city’s business district, hosting special events and home to restaurants such as Delaney’s Irish Pub and The Crepe Factory. The Kennedy’s small plates and handcrafted cocktails are served in an art deco-inspired setting. Heirloom’s brisket, buttermilk chicken or pork tenderloin will fuel tomorrow’s adventures. The farm-to-table restaurant, housed in the former Spartan Mills, is inspired by the city’s textile-mill history. Make a stop at AC Hotel’s Level 10 Rooftop Restaurant or Bar 1884 for drinks. Just 2 miles away, the revitalized Drayton Mills adds more options for coffee, meals and drinks: Dray Bar & Grill, Holliday Brewing and Mozza Roasters, to name a few. SP GETTING THERE: Spartanburg is a straight shot from Charlotte: A 90-minute drive on Interstate 85 South. Check out visitspartanburg. com to learn more about the city. 130
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY ONESPARTANBURG, INC., BMW PERFORMANCE DRIVING SCHOOL
OFF-ROAD ADVENTURES
Low-key luxury AN EARLY 20TH-CENTURY HOME IN ASHEVILLE PROVIDES A TRANQUIL ESCAPE FROM THE BUSY-NESS OF LIFE. BY BLAKE MILLER
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s the iron gates open slowly, the gravel gently crunches under the weight of the car tires. Around the back of the stately, red-brick building with glowing gas lanterns sits a pile of perfectly stacked cords of firewood and an inviting Kelly green lawn bordering an English garden. The crisp, cool air of western North Carolina’s most famous mountain town smells of the freshly built fire roaring in the oversized outdoor fireplace. The Bunn House is quiet and welcoming, a respite from everyday life. The circa-1905 inn is located in up-and-coming north
Asheville and is the one-time home to brick manufacturer and contractor Albert Bunn and his family. The manse is the antithesis to Asheville’s most popular, bustling accommodations, the Biltmore Estate and nearby Omni Grove Park Inn. With just six rooms and no on-site dining or concierge, the boutique inn sets itself apart with its simplicity and attention to detail — not to mention its location within walking distance of downtown yet removed from the hustle and bustle. The home was purchased in 2013 by a couple who spent two years restoring the property. Much of the century-old southparkmagazine.com | 131
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PHOTOGRAPHS OF JETTIE RAY’S OYSTER HOUSE BY MARK WARNER
home was left intact, including notable architectural details such as exposed brick walls and original hardwood flooring. The inn’s interiors are a delicate balance between old and new, with traditional details from the early 20th century complemented by modern finishes and styling. The result: a historic inn that provides the luxurious feel of a modern-day hotel without the overcrowded feel of a multiroom resort. It’s all about the details at the Bunn House. Heated bathroom floors and the sweet scent of L’Occitane bath products in the steam shower are a gentle reminder that being on property means it’s time to relax and unwind. The allwhite, premium Frette linens pop against the home’s exposed brick walls, while contemporary lighting and furnishings balance the traditional lines of the space. Each room has a terrace or balcony overlooking the 1.3-acre property — one of the area’s largest privately owned greenspaces — with its perfectly manicured boxwoods, gravel walkways and wrought-iron fencing. No two rooms are alike, each offering a modern warmth that only a smaller, boutique inn such as this could create. Though there’s no on-site restaurant, nearby Metro Wines delivers to Bunn House guests for a $5 fee. A spiral staircase leads to a rooftop terrace, where guests can enjoy 360-degree views of the city. The hotel provides heavy, wool blankets and cushions to make pre-dinner cocktails on the terrace cozy. Down below, delicate twinkle lights illuminate the yard, where a small fountain and wooden tables invite guests to gather, relax and enjoy the crackling fire. Asheville is full of great restaurants, and one of the newest is Jettie Rae’s Oyster House. Chef owner and restaurateur Eric Scheffer, who also owns Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, is behind the seafood concept that opened in July. Jettie Rae’s, a short walk of just a couple of blocks from the Bunn House, lives up to its tagline of “good food, done well.” Fresh seafood sourced from the Carolina coast is overnighted six days a week, ensuring every clam, oyster, fish and octopus is at its freshest when served. A tray of oysters is a must order: Choose a variety and indulge in the brininess of each one while enjoying a glass of chardonnay or local craft beer. SP Learn more at bunnhouse.com.
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Let the land restore you HENDERSONVILLE’S HORSE SHOE FARM, FILLED WITH HEALING ENERGY, COULD BE THE SEDONA OF NORTH CAROLINA. BY PAGE LEGGETT
WOO-WOO ENERGY The Farm looks like a slice of Norman Rockwell’s Americana, but the owner/manager sounds, at times, like a New Age mystic. It’s yin and yang, as Turchin points out. “There’s a kind of woo-woo, alternative healing thing here,” he says. “This place is about wellness. When I first walked onto this property, it’s what I felt. When I saw the stable, I thought, this is a spa.” The former stable is now indeed a spa, and it’s unlike any I’ve ever seen. Refined rusticity is one way to describe it. But there are touches of whimsy and grandeur, too, in this space where stalls serve as treatment rooms.
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KAVEH SARDARI
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here’s a knock at the door of The Loft, the second-floor aerie I’ve rented on Hendersonville’s Horse Shoe Farm. “I heard you asked about bottled water,” says a masked and ponytailed Jordan Turchin, the principal manager of the boutique retreat. “We’re on a well, and that water is fantastic. And, I’m a millennial who doesn’t like waste, so we don’t keep bottled water on the farm.” Nevertheless, they aim to please. When the property manager mentioned I had asked about bottled water, Turchin brought over a few cans of Perrier. It was a lovely touch. The idyllic farm is full of them. The 85-acre property, which opened in October 2018, is owned by the Turchin family, whose business interests include everything from real-estate development to alternative energies. The new owners have transformed the former cattle farm into a rustic-meets-quirky riverside retreat.
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This isn’t the place for a makeup tutorial or brow shaping. Instead, you’ll find cranial tuning, acupuncture, breath work. With all the crystals, dreamcatchers and woo-woo talk, it reminded me of a verdant Sedona, Ariz. The Stable Spa, built on one of five vortexes on the property, Turchin says, offers treatments like “vibration healing sessions.” I had one of those while also indulging in a foot soak as I looked out onto green pastures below and mountains beyond. Wendy Morrison, the spa’s wellness manager, told me I might see horses, chickens or goats go by as I enjoyed the fresh air and bucolic scene. “Two goats got out yesterday and made their way into the spa,” she says, laughing. “But what are you gonna do? This is a farm.” I’m not surprised they moseyed in. One feels unencumbered here at this place its owner describes as “super-casual, eccentric and bohemian.” You’re free here. Come as you are; do as you please. The farm has seven homes, including the one-bedroom loft I rented, and can accommodate a maximum of 55 people at once. Besides the resident horses, some guests bring and board their own. Right outside the spa is a riding ring. The Turchins learned about the property along the French Broad River when their Sotheby’s Realty office got the listing right after the real-estate bust of 2008. “It just sat on the market,” Turchin says. “No one was even looking. We fell in love with the magic of it.” The family began to see its potential as a retreat center with a spiritual bent. Turchin and his wife, Rachel, moved from California to run the operation. You’re likely to meet them and their two young sons during your stay.
BE STILL AND CHILL You will not be overprogrammed, overscheduled or overstimulated while you’re here. “We’re very hands-off,” Turchin says. “We don’t push anything we offer. It’s about your comfort and your desire.” Still, 90% of guests book at least one spa appointment, he says. There are plenty of places on the property to slow down and enjoy the moment. You can walk the labyrinth, which Turchin built himself, or climb the narrow, winding staircase in the silo and meditate at the top of the tower. Previous guests have scribbled words of wisdom on the walls: “Breathe, darling. This is just a chapter. It’s not your whole story” was a good reminder during a pandemic that everything is temporary. 136
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For families, there’s a pond for fishing, a “swimming hole,” farm animals to meet, walking and biking trails, and a playhouse. Central to life on The Farm is the farmhouse. It’s open all day and offers pingpong, corn hole, board games and puzzles, mountain bikes, and a craft corner with paints and easels. There’s a turntable and vinyl record albums and a widescreen TV to watch DVDs. Nothing is precious here: The farmhouse décor looks like someone raided the attic of a wealthy, eccentric aunt and brought over her old sofas and chairs, coffee-table books, paintings, framed photos and tchotchkes.
MEAL TIME AT THE FARM While every house (except The Loft) has its own kitchen, there’s also a communal kitchen overlooking the Farmhouse. Picnic tables are set out under twinkling lights, and a nightly campfire provides guests a chance to use the s’mores kits placed in the kitchens. The staff can arrange a private chef, provide catering services or be your personal shopper. Whole Foods and other grocery stores deliver to the Farm. Order in advance and have your groceries brought straight to your cottage. Turchin says the family is considering adding an on-site restaurant. Meanwhile, downtown Hendersonville has no shortage of great food, and plenty of sidewalk dining. I took my meals off campus at the sublime Postero; the lively tapas joint, Never Blue; and at the fried chicken-and-doughnut mecca, HenDough. The Farm is a place to unwind. It’s expansive enough to allow for social distancing (and then some) and friendly enough that you’re liable to strike up conversations with other guests, perhaps even join them for dinner under the stars. All you need to do here is relax and lose — or find — yourself. “We watch people transform,” Turchin says. “It’s the most unexpected gift. This is what people need now — space, and to be nurtured.” SP Down on the farm. The Horse Shoe Farm is about 12 minutes from downtown Hendersonville, about two hours west of Charlotte. Rates range from $250 per night for a one-bedroom loft to $2,000 a night for the five-bedroom Magnolia Manor. Planning a family reunion? Rent the whole farm for groups up to 55. Learn more at thehorseshoefarm.com.
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4
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|swirl A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
11th annual Allegro Golf Invitational benefiting Allegro Foundation Sept. 28, Cedarwood Country Club
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Al and Donna de Molina
Jonathan Brackis, Andrew McPhail, Jordan Raniszeski and Angie Ostendarp
Jason Schugel, Kevin Farley, Russ Matthews and Chris Cooper
Al Wood, Donnell Woolford and William Wilson
Jeannie Voniak, Kim Sleeper, Laura Quillin and Molly Schugel
Lihong Yu and Michael Wang
Proceeds from this annual golf event benefit the Allegro Foundation, which provides instruction and other support for children with disabilities.
Tera Black, Christine Katziff, Kim Henderson and Donna de Molina
Chip Abernathy, Tom Fink, Robert Hereford and Louis Hereford
Jon Dyer, Jeremy Hurst, Kevin Lentz and Phil Miller
Matt and Holly Clapham, Emily Brandewie and Anna Garwood
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Happy Holidays From Your Friends at Charlotte
Three Things PBS Charlotte is Grateful for in 2020 Our amazing supporters and VIEWERS LIKE YOU who turn to us to Channel Your Curiosity. Charlotte community for trusting us to share your 2 The stories Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m on Carolina Impact.
3 The 556 future leaders we’ve equipped with our
American Graduate career pathways and leadership 3D project: Dreamers-Doers-Destiny.
Support your local PBS station by going to pbscharlotte.org 140
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Evening of Dignity benefiting Fashion & Compassion Oct. 7 and 15, 2020
Unable to hold a large gala this year, Fashion & Compassion held a series of small events to meet this year’s fundraising goals. The Charlotte-based nonprofit, which helps women use art as a means of empowerment, held small gatherings in homes and at its office for guests to purchase art and enjoy a quiet evening.
Beth Bell and Rachel Kang
Michele Dudley
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Katie Cline and Kaitlin Fitzgerald
Anita and Rhett Postal
Becca Thomas and Brett Ryan
Emma Lyons and Jen Grant
Linda and Tim Sittema
Cathy Grammer and Kalie Charles
Abery McIntosh and Beth Bell
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|swirl A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
Opera Carolina
Response Fund Benefit Concert Oct. 9, Whitehead Manor As a way to bring opera back to their patrons, Opera Carolina put together a special dinner and show in the courtyard of the Whitehead Manor. A portion of the proceeds benefited Opera Carolina’s coronavirus response fund.
James Meena, Johnnie Felder, Sequina DuBose, Jordan Bisch, Christina Pier, Jonathan Kaufman and Emily Jarrell Urbanek
Kim and Tom Lanphear
Joel and Julie Bernard
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Catherine, Allison and Mark Love
Pattie and George Fulford
Tomas Castrejon, J. P. and Bridget Contramaestre
Phil Balboni and Kimberly Mize
Barbara and Mark Holt
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Arlene Ferebee and James Meena
|swirl A monthly guide to Charlotte’s parties and galas
2020 Childress Klein Golf Classic benefiting UMAR Oct. 5, Providence Country Club
This year’s Childress Klein Golf Classic was a benefit for UMAR, a nonprofit that supports and empowers adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
Kyle Keller and Stephen Kerr
Kevin Reardon
Sally Wrenn, Marty Wickham and Susan Brown
Mitchell Adams and Allen Tate
Keith Gerry and Geoff Alexander
Charlotte Folk Society Octoberfest
Oct. 18, Anne Springs Close Greenway
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL COSTON
The Charlotte Folk Society celebrated its first gathering since February with a concert to celebrate Octoberfest. The music of Darin & Brooke Aldridge and Joe Newberry also served as a tribute to the late Wanda Hubicki, a Folk Society board member.
Brooke and Darin Aldridge
Joe Newberry
Kay and Jim Fuller
Nic Tutwiler
Nicole Fitzpatrick and Alex Ramirez
Scott Anderson and Elizabeth Teagarden
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SNAPSHOT
Tea and tranquility SHERRY ARLENA WATERS INVITES CALM AT THE PAULINE TEA-BAR APOTHECARY. BY VANESSA INFANZON
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What’s your ‘why’ behind the tea bar? I’ve always longed for a space for our community to come and experience something that was restorative, calming, peaceful. As that seed was planted, I started to figure out what would draw people to a space like this. I thought about tea. Herbal tea is savored. There’s an art to preparing it. When people drink it, they’re smelling it, they’re watching the scent come up. There’s so much about a calming cup of tea. I decided to become a quick study on herbal teas and learned a lot about teas and the medicinal support teas give you. What do you want this space to represent? We call the people that come in patrons because once they come, they return often. I am intentional about remembering names so that they feel welcomed. This is like a third space. Between home and work, they say this is their destination spot to come in Charlotte. Before Covid, it had become that for a lot of people who worked uptown. I’m missing a lot of my patrons right now, and I’m hoping they come back soon. You received a grant from the Charlotte Center City Small Business Innovation Fund. How did you use it? I asked for funding to add outside patio seating. I always dreamed about having a pergola, because when you walk out there, you see the skyline. Every first Friday of the month, I do a live-music, open mic, poetry night from 6-8 p.m. Latina soul vocalist Ana Lucia Divins and guitarist Carlos Crespo just finished a series here. SP The Pauline Tea-Bar Apothecary is open Tues.-Friday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday from 1-4 p.m. 2326 Arty Ave.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VANESSA INFANZON
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n spring 2019, Sherry Arlena Waters did a U-turn when she saw the “For Lease” sign on a small brick building in the Historic Camp Greene neighborhood in west Charlotte. Weeks later, in July of the same year, she signed a lease and opened The Pauline Tea-Bar Apothecary. Waters named the tea bar for her grandmothers, Lena Waters and Pauline Whitesides. Growing up, Waters remembers both grandmothers providing peaceful porches and living rooms for family and neighbors, an idea she embraces in her tea shop. “It’s where I remember finding community,” says Waters, 50. Visitors to Pauline’s choose a teacup from the wall near the counter and order from a selection of 15 teas — Indian Spice, Rooibos and Warming Crimson, to name a few — prepared in a French press. The tea is sourced from a national, eco-sourced fair-trade cooperative or Nebedaye Farms in Indian Trail. Loose leaf tea is also available for sale. The newly renovated space welcomes patrons with the aroma of essential oils and calming music. Local art curated by 9.18.9 Creative Studio is updated quarterly. An outdoor patio offers views of uptown’s skyline. Waters partners with local Black women business owners to offer a variety of organic, vegan and gluten-free pastries. She also sells handmade body scrubs, candles and lip balms. With a bachelor’s degree in communications from UNC Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in practical theology from Pfeiffer University, Waters owns a spiritual companionship and stewardship coaching business with her husband, Ben Bellury. Comments were edited for brevity and clarity.
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