Tag: swimming

Beech Mountain’s 40th Anniversary: There’s no place like home

~ Karen J Rieley, M.A. ~ Leave a comment

Karen Rieley

Published in the Spring 2021 issue of Carolina Mountain Life – pp. 67-68

What do 40,000 yellow bricks, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, seven elephants, Jean-Claude Killy, Lance Armstrong, pole cats, bobcats and salamanders have in common? They are all part of the story of Beech Mountain, “the highest ski area in eastern America,” which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary throughout 2021.

Each month of 2021, residents and visitors will have opportunities to help Beech Mountain celebrate its 40th Anniversary. May is set aside as the official monthlong celebration, in recognition that The North Carolina General Assembly incorporated the Town of Beech Mountain in May 1981. Visitors and residents can submit comments, photos and other memorabilia to Beech Mountain’s digital time capsule via Instagram @beechmountainnc, by email to beechmountainvisitorcenter@gmail.com, or in person at the town’s birthday party, when the Time Capsule will be buried.

The Town Birthday Party will honor veterans and highlight new recreation programs that the town is offering. In celebration of Arbor Day, guests will be given 40 seedlings to help plant around Beech Mountain. Visit https://beechmtn.com/40th/ for details about all 40th Anniversary events and the town’s 40 Days of Family Fun.

May also highlights the opening of the town’s camping area at Shane Outpost Park, the town’s newest recreation facility. The park is located beside Buckeye Lake and within walking distance to Buckeye Recreation Center. It hosts 10 tent campsites, a natural play area, a low ropes course, bathroom/shower facilities, picnic tables and shelters, trail access and eventually an ADA-compliant amphitheater.

The Beech Mountain History Museum will open a Civil War Exhibit in May about the Battle on Beech, which was fought in 1864. It will also offer an audio exhibit featuring Ray Hicks, who was best known for telling of a group of stories known as the Jack Tales in which he wove fairy tale elements with realistic trappings of Southern Appalachian culture.

In August, the Hi-Lo Adventure Trail, which begins and ends on Beech Mountain, will open with a free High-Lo Merchant Expo at the Buckeye Recreation Center. Visit the Town of Beech Mountain Visitor Center to pick up Hi-Lo maps that highlight fun activities and stops along the trail, including hiking, fishing, water sports, out-of-the-way stops like the Dry Run Grocery Store in Butler, TN, and the old Neva Community Center’s farmers market, as well as better known stops like Doe Mountain, the Watauga Lake Winery and Mast General Store.

“The Hi-Lo Adventure Trail is designed to let people get to know what’s on the ‘Other Side of the Mountain’,” said Kate Gavenus, the town’s director of tourism and economic development.

Photos by Todd Bush

Dr. Thomas Brigham, a Birmingham, Ala., dentist and avid skier, in his search for a Southeast mountain that could support skiing, found Beech Mountain in the late 1960s. At more than 5,000 feet, Beech Mountain’s cold winter climate makes skiing possible from November through early April most years. He approached local businessmen Harry and Grover Robbins who were interested in building a golf course. They attracted 40 investors of $20,000 each to enable them to purchase more than seven square miles. They divided it into lots and subdivisions and formed the Carolina Caribbean Corporation (CCC).

The CCC created a ski resort, golf course, pool and tennis facilities. It built houses based on an alpine Bavarian village theme and laid out roads and water and sewer services.

Charlotte-based designer Jack Pentes, who had helped Grover Robbins design Tweetsie Railroad, designed the Land of Oz theme park. The Land of Oz’s Yellow Brick Road was made of 40,000 glazed bricks. Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, along with other stars, attended the Land of Oz opening day ceremony in 1970.

The Beech Mountain Property Owner’s Association (POA) was formed in 1970 to collect assessments for the maintenance of roads and recreation areas. That was also the year that well-known and much-beloved resident Fred Pfohl first started working at Beech Mountain’s ski resort. His next working gig was with the Land of Oz.

Jean-Claude Killy and other famous skiers put Beech Mountain’s ski slopes on the map in the 70s by competing in the North Carolina Ski Cup professional ski races. 

The POA took over ownership and operation of community services in 1974. Pfohl was the first elected and longtime mayor of Beech Mountain, spearheading countless town projects. His late wife, Margie, and he opened Fred’s General Mercantile in 1979, and the store has been open every day since.

After the town was incorporated in 1981, the POA reorganized as Beech Mountain Club to take over management of the golf course and recreational facilities. Today, the club’s recreation campus features an interactive family pool surrounded by a fitness center, pickleball and tennis courts, pavilion, playground, day camp and a wide range of social events, classes, group excursions, presentations, interest clubs and groups.

In September 1984, the Clyde Beatty Circus was coming to Beech Mountain. When the trucks could not haul the elephants up to mountain, they walked up. Phfol and other town leaders got a ride on them.

Ski Beech was purchased by the Costin family in 1986. Now known as Beech Mountain Resort, it offers snowmaking capabilities that cover 100 percent of the ski slopes, a one-of-a-kind bar at the top of the mountain called 5506’, and an onsite brewery. Non skiers can enjoy onsite tubing with over 700 feet of runs in the winter and mountain biking, disc golf, scenic lift rides and Mile High Yoga in the summer, making the resort a year-round destination.

Beech Mountain and its N.C. Highway 184, which gains 1,450 feet in altitude in three miles, has a long history in the biking world. The mountain has hosted four national bike championships, such as the Tour DuPont, which Lance Armstrong famously won in 1995 and finished first or second each year from 1993 to 1996.

Lees-McRae College’s mountain biking team, which uses the mountain to train, has the nation’s only collegiate Cycling Studies. The team has produced 10 Team National Championships and 59 Individual National Champions since 2001.

The Land of Oz is now family-owned as well. Although COVID-19 has restricted operation, normally the theme park runs “Journey with Dorothy Tours” on select days in June and July as part of Beech Mountain’s Family Fun Month. It also hosts “Autumn at Oz Festival,” one of the world’s largest Wizard of Oz festivals, on two consecutive weekends (Friday through Sunday) in early September. Private tours are available in June through early October.

At an elevation of 5,506 feet, the town draws tourists year-round, many seeking adventure on the winter ski slopes, as well as more seeking cool mountain air, lush trails and country club amenities in the summer.

“The town has 66 miles of street with about 2,500 homes and condos and 3,000 vacant lots ready to be someone’s next home for year-round living or as a second home that tourists may rent,” said Jim Brooks, owner of Beechwood Realty.

The Town of Beech Mountain today is home to at least 53 businesses employing more than 700 people. It is part of a thriving economic corridor created between Beech Mountain and the surrounding areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Town Manager Bob Pudney reports that Beech Mountain’s short-term rental business has grown quickly. “Our goal is to continue building a vibrant resort destination that offers year-round activities with controlled growth in keeping with the charm and history of the town.”

“It’s exciting to see so many new people buying property here on Beech Mountain,” said Pfohl. “I hope they are able to appreciate the wonderful atmosphere and peace of life that the town offers, just as my family and I have, even as we continue to grow and plan for Beech’s future.”

Beech Mountain’s 40th Anniversary: There’s no place like home

~ Karen J Rieley, M.A. ~ Leave a comment

Karen Rieley

Published in the Spring 2021 issue of Carolina Mountain Life – pp. 67-68

What do 40,000 yellow bricks, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, seven elephants, Jean-Claude Killy, Lance Armstrong, pole cats, bobcats and salamanders have in common? They are all part of the story of Beech Mountain, “the highest ski area in eastern America,” which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary throughout 2021.

Each month of 2021, residents and visitors will have opportunities to help Beech Mountain celebrate its 40th Anniversary. May is set aside as the official monthlong celebration, in recognition that The North Carolina General Assembly incorporated the Town of Beech Mountain in May 1981. Visitors and residents can submit comments, photos and other memorabilia to Beech Mountain’s digital time capsule via Instagram @beechmountainnc, by email to beechmountainvisitorcenter@gmail.com, or in person at the town’s birthday party, when the Time Capsule will be buried.

The Town Birthday Party will honor veterans and highlight new recreation programs that the town is offering. In celebration of Arbor Day, guests will be given 40 seedlings to help plant around Beech Mountain. Visit https://beechmtn.com/40th/ for details about all 40th Anniversary events and the town’s 40 Days of Family Fun.

May also highlights the opening of the town’s camping area at Shane Outpost Park, the town’s newest recreation facility. The park is located beside Buckeye Lake and within walking distance to Buckeye Recreation Center. It hosts 10 tent campsites, a natural play area, a low ropes course, bathroom/shower facilities, picnic tables and shelters, trail access and eventually an ADA-compliant amphitheater.

The Beech Mountain History Museum will open a Civil War Exhibit in May about the Battle on Beech, which was fought in 1864. It will also offer an audio exhibit featuring Ray Hicks, who was best known for telling of a group of stories known as the Jack Tales in which he wove fairy tale elements with realistic trappings of Southern Appalachian culture.

In August, the Hi-Lo Adventure Trail, which begins and ends on Beech Mountain, will open with a free High-Lo Merchant Expo at the Buckeye Recreation Center. Visit the Town of Beech Mountain Visitor Center to pick up Hi-Lo maps that highlight fun activities and stops along the trail, including hiking, fishing, water sports, out-of-the-way stops like the Dry Run Grocery Store in Butler, TN, and the old Neva Community Center’s farmers market, as well as better known stops like Doe Mountain, the Watauga Lake Winery and Mast General Store.

“The Hi-Lo Adventure Trail is designed to let people get to know what’s on the ‘Other Side of the Mountain’,” said Kate Gavenus, the town’s director of tourism and economic development.

Photos by Todd Bush

Dr. Thomas Brigham, a Birmingham, Ala., dentist and avid skier, in his search for a Southeast mountain that could support skiing, found Beech Mountain in the late 1960s. At more than 5,000 feet, Beech Mountain’s cold winter climate makes skiing possible from November through early April most years. He approached local businessmen Harry and Grover Robbins who were interested in building a golf course. They attracted 40 investors of $20,000 each to enable them to purchase more than seven square miles. They divided it into lots and subdivisions and formed the Carolina Caribbean Corporation (CCC).

The CCC created a ski resort, golf course, pool and tennis facilities. It built houses based on an alpine Bavarian village theme and laid out roads and water and sewer services.

Charlotte-based designer Jack Pentes, who had helped Grover Robbins design Tweetsie Railroad, designed the Land of Oz theme park. The Land of Oz’s Yellow Brick Road was made of 40,000 glazed bricks. Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, along with other stars, attended the Land of Oz opening day ceremony in 1970.

The Beech Mountain Property Owner’s Association (POA) was formed in 1970 to collect assessments for the maintenance of roads and recreation areas. That was also the year that well-known and much-beloved resident Fred Pfohl first started working at Beech Mountain’s ski resort. His next working gig was with the Land of Oz.

Jean-Claude Killy and other famous skiers put Beech Mountain’s ski slopes on the map in the 70s by competing in the North Carolina Ski Cup professional ski races. 

The POA took over ownership and operation of community services in 1974. Pfohl was the first elected and longtime mayor of Beech Mountain, spearheading countless town projects. His late wife, Margie, and he opened Fred’s General Mercantile in 1979, and the store has been open every day since.

After the town was incorporated in 1981, the POA reorganized as Beech Mountain Club to take over management of the golf course and recreational facilities. Today, the club’s recreation campus features an interactive family pool surrounded by a fitness center, pickleball and tennis courts, pavilion, playground, day camp and a wide range of social events, classes, group excursions, presentations, interest clubs and groups.

In September 1984, the Clyde Beatty Circus was coming to Beech Mountain. When the trucks could not haul the elephants up to mountain, they walked up. Phfol and other town leaders got a ride on them.

Ski Beech was purchased by the Costin family in 1986. Now known as Beech Mountain Resort, it offers snowmaking capabilities that cover 100 percent of the ski slopes, a one-of-a-kind bar at the top of the mountain called 5506’, and an onsite brewery. Non skiers can enjoy onsite tubing with over 700 feet of runs in the winter and mountain biking, disc golf, scenic lift rides and Mile High Yoga in the summer, making the resort a year-round destination.

Beech Mountain and its N.C. Highway 184, which gains 1,450 feet in altitude in three miles, has a long history in the biking world. The mountain has hosted four national bike championships, such as the Tour DuPont, which Lance Armstrong famously won in 1995 and finished first or second each year from 1993 to 1996.

Lees-McRae College’s mountain biking team, which uses the mountain to train, has the nation’s only collegiate Cycling Studies. The team has produced 10 Team National Championships and 59 Individual National Champions since 2001.

The Land of Oz is now family-owned as well. Although COVID-19 has restricted operation, normally the theme park runs “Journey with Dorothy Tours” on select days in June and July as part of Beech Mountain’s Family Fun Month. It also hosts “Autumn at Oz Festival,” one of the world’s largest Wizard of Oz festivals, on two consecutive weekends (Friday through Sunday) in early September. Private tours are available in June through early October.

At an elevation of 5,506 feet, the town draws tourists year-round, many seeking adventure on the winter ski slopes, as well as more seeking cool mountain air, lush trails and country club amenities in the summer.

“The town has 66 miles of street with about 2,500 homes and condos and 3,000 vacant lots ready to be someone’s next home for year-round living or as a second home that tourists may rent,” said Jim Brooks, owner of Beechwood Realty.

The Town of Beech Mountain today is home to at least 53 businesses employing more than 700 people. It is part of a thriving economic corridor created between Beech Mountain and the surrounding areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Town Manager Bob Pudney reports that Beech Mountain’s short-term rental business has grown quickly. “Our goal is to continue building a vibrant resort destination that offers year-round activities with controlled growth in keeping with the charm and history of the town.”

“It’s exciting to see so many new people buying property here on Beech Mountain,” said Pfohl. “I hope they are able to appreciate the wonderful atmosphere and peace of life that the town offers, just as my family and I have, even as we continue to grow and plan for Beech’s future.”

Big Heart, New Hope

~ Karen J Rieley, M.A. ~ Leave a comment
KAREN RIELEY
Published in the Summer 2019 issue of Carolina Mountain Life – p. 107

When twin brothers Mark and Will Adkins, 51, first saw High Valley, 160 acres in the mountains of North Carolina on the New River in 2006, they thought it would be a perfect place to build, develop or sell. After all, as owners of Waterfront Group, which they established in 1994 and which has become one of the Southeast’s most successful land development and second-home marketing companies, they know a good business deal when they see one, such as their purchase of The Lodges at Eagles Nest and development of its second phase.

But the Adkinses also believe that land is more than just real estate. “It’s where you lay down roots and build your dreams,” Mark Adkins said. “Our mission is to turn your dreams into realities.”

That mission and the brothers’ strong commitment to helping others led them to put High Valley to special use as a place for families with children who have life-threatening diseases, rather than develop or sell it. They renovated the hunting lodge built in the early 1950s on the property into a place where these special families could come for a week of much-needed relaxation. The Adkinses committed to provide the lodge and food for the week at no cost to the families, so that more could participate.

They began work immediately, with the help of many volunteers, funding the costs themselves. Camp New Hope opened to its first family in just 14 weeks. During the short season of the first year, the lodge provided nine families with a week’s vacation.

Renovations continued in 2007 including glassing in the 30-foot long front porch, adding a 20’x50’ stone patio and grill, picnic areas and a waterwheel with a swing. Camp New Hope is now hosting an average of 42 families each year. Families are able to enjoy canoes, kayaks, tubes, volleyball, baseball, soccer, fishing and a “swimming hole.” A play set caters to the smaller children.

The Adkins brothers want to meet the growing need for no-charge facilities like Camp New Hope. They are actively searching to find another special piece of property that can one day become the second Camp New Hope.

Their mission is to provide campers with a life-changing moment and renewed hope for the future, knowing miracles happen every day. The children who come to the camp have a range of diseases, such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Trisomy 18, mitochondrial disorders and Batten disease which is always fatal. Randy Brown, camp director, remembers one child in particular, Gabriel, who had liver cancer.

“When he arrived at camp, he looked very sick, didn’t smile and was withdrawn for the first couple days,” Brown said. “We tried to interact with him, but weren’t successful until we told him he was going to be visited by Santa Claus.”

Sam “Santa” Simmons, a retired dentist from Sparta, N.C., comes to the camp every week. After he retired, Simmons decided to go to school to become a professional Santa. He loves to tell the campers the story about the best gift of all given at Christmas, Jesus Christ. And the children love him.

“When I told Gabriel that Santa was coming, his face lit up,” Brown said. “He said, ‘Here, he’s coming here?’ I told him, ‘Yes, just to see you.’”

The next day, when Santa arrived, Gabriel went running out to him as fast as he could given he used a crutch. “Santa asked Gabriel what his biggest wish would be if Santa could grant it,” Brown said. “Gabriel told him that it would be a hug from Santa.”

Gabriel ended up having such a great experience that he made “Miss Randy” promise him that he could come back next year. But in December Gabriel’s father emailed the camp to let them know that Gabriel had died.

“Gabriel’s parents said that all he ever talked about was coming back to camp and seeing Santa,” Brown said. “I still cry when I think that I wasn’t able to fulfill my promise to him.”

Brown admits the work is hard, but she finds it very rewarding. “We are so heartened when we see campers enjoying themselves, like turning a caterpillar into a butterfly,” she said. “It keeps your life in perspective. Your back and legs may hurt and you may be tired, but then you remind yourself that’s not that big a deal compared to what the kids put up with every day.”

Mary Sue Street, broker-in-charge for Eagles Nest Real Estate Office, is mother to the Adkins brothers. She shared a special story about a time when Will took one little girl staying at the camp up in his helicopter. “After the ride, her parents told Will that it was the first time she had smiled or laughed in years,” Street said.

“Just look at the smiles on the children’s faces and you will know why this camp is so important to my brother and me,” Will Adkins said.

“Camp New Hope has become an important part of the West Jefferson community, which is next door to the camp,” Street said. “Many of its citizens volunteer regularly to help the campers and their families.

“Eagles Nest occasionally does fundraisers to benefit Camp New Hope as well,” Street said. Proceeds from this year’s Open House & Builder Showcase, May 4-5, which Eagles Nest hosted were donated to Camp New Hope, Spirit Ride, Feeding Avery Families Inc. and Hospitality House.

The lodge was renovated last year to sleep up to 18 people for big family vacations. “Right now, we’re tweaking what we have, buying some new equipment and improving the roads,” Brown said.

Camp New Hope depends on donations and volunteers. Visit http://campnewhopenc.com/ to learn more.