Karen Rieley
Published in the Autumn 2019 issue of Carolina Mountain Life – pp. 98-99
Eat, shop, explore—opportunities to indulge abound here for residents and tourists in the High Country. While touring around, be sure to stop in the town of Crossnore to experience a special coffee shop and café, second-hand store, weaving room, fine arts gallery and fresco by a world-famous artist. Crossnore is in Avery County, about halfway between Linville Falls and the town of Linville on US-221.
The town developed around a boarding school established by Dr. Mary Martin Sloop, who, with her husband, Dr. Eustace Sloop, came to Crossnore in 1911 and began providing healthcare. In 1923, she set up two looms to teach native mountain weaving to women and girls living in the area to support themselves. The Weaving Room at Crossnore School & Children’s Home now employs women and students working on 30 looms and in a finishing room.
Crossnore School & Children’s Home is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization providing residential foster care for children in crisis from North Carolina. With 90 children living on the 86-acre Avery Campus in Crossnore, 40 living on the 212-acre Winston-Salem Campus at the edge of downtown Winston-Salem, and a satellite office in the historic district of downtown Hendersonville, Crossnore is a sanctuary of hope and healing for children.
Since its opening, Crossnore School & Children’s Home has operated a second-hand store and fine arts gallery, in addition to the Weaving Room. In 2006, Crossnore School & Children’s Home acquired Miracle Grounds Coffee Shop and Café. The businesses are all located in Crossnore and are self-supporting with net revenue going to help fund the nonprofit’s mission.
Shop from an array of treasures in the Blair Fraley Sales Store, select from beautiful hand-woven goods made on looms by Crossnore weavers and purchase works of art by regional painters, sculptors and fine craft persons in the Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery. A beautiful fresco awaits your viewing in the E.H. Sloop Chapel. When you need a respite from all that shopping and cultural enrichment, stop in the Miracle Grounds Coffee Shop & Café to enjoy specially selected coffees from all over the world, specialty drinks, teas and breakfast and lunch specials.
The Weaving Room is a working museum for Appalachian history. The weavers are always willing to explain their craft and answer questions. Whenever you decide to visit, you are likely to find Ellie Hjemmet and Shirley Gragg at their looms. The women of the Weaving Room are paid by the completed piece and by the hour for some other tasks.
Hjemmet was the manager of the Weaving Room for 12 years, 1986-1998. Now she works part-time four hours a day weaving.
“Weaving not only helps me make some money, but it also eases my mind and makes me feel good,” Hjemmet said. She also teaches in the week-long classes that are offered to the community and plays music at Crossnore events.
Gragg, who has been weaving for 42 years, said, “It’s a lot of fun. You can sit here and meditate. I come here about four days a week for seven to seven and a half hours a day. I’ve made hundreds of pieces over the years and thousands of passes through the loom a day.”
In the Weaving Room store, you can shop for woven goods including wearables, tartans, kitchen and table linens, home décor, baby apparel and more. For those who find the actual act of weaving intriguing, classes are offered to the public three times per year on the Avery Campus. At the end of the session you will have completed handwoven placemats and a table runner. You can come back later to volunteer as a weaver and donate the goods you make.
Crossnore Fine Arts Gallery, open year-round, specifically supports the school’s Stepping Stones program that transitions students from foster care to successful independent living. Gallery shows are held throughout the summer. Local and regional professional artists donate a portion or all of the sales price for Stepping Stones.
The Blair Fraley Sales Store is the largest resale shop in the High Country and offers treasures to locals and visitors alike. Generous friends donate quality new and used goods. The store is immaculate and well-organized with products that are displayed well.
What began as a weekly sale to provide clothing for the children at Dr. Mary Martin Sloop’s school is now an ongoing second-hand store that is a busy emporium and important source of income for the nonprofit. The store is named after Blair Fraley, the young daughter of John Fraley, a former trustee for the nonprofit, and wife Guyann; Blair died in a bicycle accident.
Miracle Grounds is the nonprofit’s newest business. It is open Monday through Saturday, from 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. The coffees are selected from all over the world and roasted in nearby Boone, N.C. Many varieties grow on organic farms and are purchased in fair-trade business agreements.
Children ages 14 and up who are part of Crossnore School & Children’s Home may work in the nonprofit’s businesses. During the school day their work is part of a class. They are paid for work done outside of class and in the summer. They go through an application process and interview before being hired.
“We try to teach them all the skills they will need when they go into the real world,” said Sherry Nixon, who is the Blair Fraley Sales Store manager. “We can help the students overcome behaviors that might keep them from being successful. That’s part of loving them, just like we do with our own children.”
The children receive more than job training from the experience. Working with staff gives them the opportunity to interact with someone other than their cottage parents, case manager and teachers and helps them build positive relationships with adults.
The E.H. Sloop Chapel, open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at no charge, houses world-famous fresco artist Benjamin F. Long IV’s powerful rendering of Mark 10:14, “Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not; for such is the kingdom of God.” The art fills the back wall of the sanctuary and is part of the Benjamin F. Long IV Fresco Trail that includes nine frescoes at six locations in the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area (https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/destinations/blue-ridge-frescoes/).
Crossnore School & Children’s Home provides love and assistance 24 hours a day on its Avery and Winston-Salem campuses to children in foster care. The children live under the close supervision of two cottage parents, who model a healthy, family relationship in a homelike setting. It is licensed to serve children from the ages of one to 21. The nonprofit also provides clinical services to children and families at all three of its locations. Its community-based services include single-family foster care and therapeutic foster care across western North Carolina.
The Youth in Transition program is designed to support youth who have experienced foster care during their critical transition into young adulthood. It offers financial literacy and peer counseling services, as well as education, housing, transportation, and career support for young adults up to the age of 26.
Visit www.crossnore.org to learn more about the nonprofit’s mission, the businesses that support its work and ways you can be a part.
Karen J. Rieley 