The Echo is published bi-monthly throughout the year by the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Club. You can access the online BLOG at www.gertonecho.blogspot.com or pick up a paper copy at the Gerton Post Office. News is always welcome; pictures, too. Pease submit to Editor Margaret Whitt at mwhitt@du.edu or 625-0264. Roving ace reporter: Barbara Earnhardt. Photographers: Sylvia Sane, Shirley Boone.
Officers for 2015: Jim Sane, President; Lynn Morehead, Vice President; Sarah Gayle, Winter Secretary; Lana Roberts, Summer Secretary; Sylvia Sane, Treasurer; Board members: Jim Earnhardt, Jean Bradley, Patty Tanner, Claudia Freeman. Immediate Past President, Margaret Whitt.
The Kitchen Story Continues in Pictures
The new kitchen in the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center replaces many original aspects of the old kitchen. Community members started a rejuvenation of the complete building in the fall of 2010, prioritizing what needed to be done--for the environment, for the preservation of a building that is the one gathering place for the entire community. We began with a grant from the Janirve Foundation for $10,000. Along with this, people donated for "naming rights" for each window, and plaques were placed accordingly. For four years, we placed all our earnings from fundraisers in a savings account, We won Community of Distinction three times and Community of Promise one time, for a total of $7,000. This, too, went into the savings account.
Along the way, we have replaced all the windows, added insulation to floor and ceiling, re-furbished both bathrooms with new paint, flooring, sinks, and turned one into a handicapped accessible unit. We added space to the storage closet and re-built a rotting floor. We built storage closets for our supplies in the serving room to the kitchen. We re-built the light fixtures in the dining area, painted the ceiling and added lattice strips and chair molding. We replaced and expanded the doors, re-sanded the patio picnic tables and added umbrellas. We added a handicapped accessible ramp entering into the front doors.
We saved the kitchen for last. First, the two rooms had to be gutted, appliances were moved, the old cabinets emptied. New drywall was hung; new lighting was wired, new fans and fixtures purchased. The now empty space was painted, the flooring was installed, and finally the cabinets. As this issue of the ECHO goes to press, we lack only the floor molding and the counter tops, which will arrive mid-May. And a few details here and there.
This has truly been a community project and people have stepped up to help whenever they have been asked. The leadership, of course, was indispensable. At the end of what we have collectively done, we thank Jim Earnhardt and Jim Sane in particular for their endless hours of work on every detail of the kitchen.
Help comes for the drywalling of the newly studded walls in the kitchen. (Last sighting of the old kitchen flooring!)
On March 30 and 31, the new "wood" vinyl floor goes down in the kitchen and serving room.
An empty kitchen
Syble Freeman and Mac McAdams prepare pancakes for Sale on the Trail breakfast, April 18.
Our first meal in the almost completed kitchen!
Calendar of Events
May 3, Sunday - Bearwallow Beast-- 5K event sponsored by the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy. Parking at UHNGCC. Run up Bearwallow. Check website for more information: www.carolinamountain.org
May 10 - Mother's Day
May 16, Saturday - Spring Go Festival - 6 - 8 p.m.Ck details at www.hickorynutchamber.org Events Calendar
May 19, Tuesday - 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish Dinner. Program: Arnold "Skip" Sheldon of Carolina Mountain Club will talk about club history, community hikes, and trails they have built in the Gorge.
May 20, Wednesday - Beach Party Kickoff - ck. details at www.hickorynutchamber.org Events Calendar
May 25, Monday - Memorial Day
May 28, Thursday - 3 p.m. Gerton Teacup High Tea. Get tickets from Margaret Colwell, 625-2186. $16.
June 13, Lake Lure Dragon Boat Race, ck. details on Events Calendar www.hickorynutchamber.org
June 16, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish Dinner. Program: Henderson County Sheriff's Department.
July 4, Saturday - Burger and Hot Dog CookOut. Bring Side to share. Bingo til dark and then fireworks extravaganza.
SAVE THE DATE: July 24 and 25: Summer Play. Helen Brown's "Two Many Ghosts"
May 10 - Mother's Day
May 16, Saturday - Spring Go Festival - 6 - 8 p.m.Ck details at www.hickorynutchamber.org Events Calendar
May 19, Tuesday - 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish Dinner. Program: Arnold "Skip" Sheldon of Carolina Mountain Club will talk about club history, community hikes, and trails they have built in the Gorge.
May 20, Wednesday - Beach Party Kickoff - ck. details at www.hickorynutchamber.org Events Calendar
May 25, Monday - Memorial Day
May 28, Thursday - 3 p.m. Gerton Teacup High Tea. Get tickets from Margaret Colwell, 625-2186. $16.
June 13, Lake Lure Dragon Boat Race, ck. details on Events Calendar www.hickorynutchamber.org
June 16, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish Dinner. Program: Henderson County Sheriff's Department.
July 4, Saturday - Burger and Hot Dog CookOut. Bring Side to share. Bingo til dark and then fireworks extravaganza.
SAVE THE DATE: July 24 and 25: Summer Play. Helen Brown's "Two Many Ghosts"
President's Note -- From Jim Sane
First, the kitchen is almost
complete. Lowe’s should have the counter
tops installed in a few weeks. Special thanks to Stan Mobley and Dave MacDonald for helping out with getting the fridge and stoves moved back into the kitchen. Second, I
want to acknowledge the people that were instrumental in making the Sale on the
Trail event so successful.
- The Gerton community. Thanks for your support.
- Bake Sale Team: Jean Bradley and Patty Tanner
- Pancake Team: Syble Freeman, Donnie Freeman, Mary Kay McAdams, Mac McAdams, Joan Erskine, Lynn Morehead, and Dave Pope
- Yard Sale Team: Margaret Whitt, Sylvia Sane, Lynn Morehead, Virginia McGuffey, Jean Bradley, and Joan Erskine
· It always comes
together. And this year it was great.
Things to do in the Neighborhood
Dirty Dancing Festival will take place in Lake Lure August 14-15. Tickets go on sale April 11.
Esmeralda Inn has new hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 11-3; 5-9 p.m.
Through May 31, Sunday-Thursday, guests can get three nights for the price of two at the Esmeralda. See their website for further information: theesmeralda.com
Apple Valley Model RailRoad Club: Saturday 10-2 at the Old Southern Railway at Hendersonville.
check website: www.avmrc.com
A visit to the antique toy museum in Hendersonville may be of interest. Check website:
hendersonvilleantiquetoymuseum.com
The annual Sale on the Trail, 19 miles of yard sale through the Hickory Nut Gorge, was held on Saturday, April 18. We made over $1,700 on all three aspects of the sale: the breakfast, the sale, and the baked goods sale. This amount is the largest ever! All the money has gone into our savings account.
Sale on the Trail
The breakfast crew prepared for 60, and we served 70!
March and April Programs
Dave MacDonald spoke about how his metal-forging art and his professional life as a therapist dovetail in March, while in April Jane Lawson and John Myers provided an update on Laughing Waters Retreat, now a destination wedding center, and the Hickory Nut Forest development.
Lawson and Myers Win Award from
Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy
In April at its Annual Meeting, the Carolina Mountain Land
Conservancy awarded John Myers & Jane Lawson the prestigious Lela McBride
Stewardship Award in recognition of their significant contribution to
conservation of land in the Hickory Nut Gorge.
For nearly a decade, they have been working with CMLC to
protect scenic lands and create hiking trails in the upper gorge. In 2006, they
placed a conservation easement on 35 acres on Little Bearwallow Mountain. In
2011, they sold 31 acres for a new parking area for the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge
Trailhead at below market value. This became a new Henderson County Park
providing access into the Florence Nature Preserve. In 2013, they sold the 103-acre
Wildcat Rock tract, with its many cliffs and 200 foot waterfall, for half its market
value. This enabled the creation of a new trail corridor, which will climb from
the trailhead up to the conservation easement area on top of Bearwallow
Mountain.
Jan Beck's Backyard in Charlotte Has Long-Time Certification as a Wildlife Habitat
A ruby - throated hummingbird darts about sipping nectar from the coral honeysuckle that climbs a tree in Janice Beck’s backyard. Meanwhile a female bluebird clucks softly from a branch near her next box.
Having lived in Charlotte’s Sherwood Forest neighborhood for nearly 50 years, Mrs. Beck has enjoyed watching her wildlife habitat evolve from a mixture of native hardwoods, wildflowers and other family heirloom plants. A yellow rose winds around a front-yard tree and a half-dozen iris shoot skyward. “A lot of these plants came from my mother and aunts,” she says.
“It’s been an enjoyable project that has continued through the years,” she adds, “I think providing cover for wildlife has been the most important thing.”
Mrs. Beck bubbles as she tells about a time that a large magnolia in her back yard coughed up a family of barred owls. “The mother pushed the babies out, and they were hopping around in the grass, looking like little old ladies with woolly caps and jumping up in the bird bath,” she continues.
Back in 1988, Mrs. Beck sent away for an application to certify her backyard as an official wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation, but it was her son, Rick, who completed the paperwork for what is now a simple on-line process.
Beck explains that her late son found a welcome respite documenting the nature in the urban yard as he recovered from massive radiation he received to treat Hodgkin’s disease. “He would sit on the patio in the shade of a dogwood counting the birds that visited,” she tells.
Dogwoods bloom and hover over azaleas, perennials, and ferns in a large section of natural area in her front yard. The backyard hosts a large patio and small lawn area flanked by a quarter-acre of mixed oak, maple, and hickory, with a few sweetgum trees.
This past winter she enjoyed seeing eight deer that appeared just before a snow and ice storm. “I put out a bag of corn for them,” she says, adding that the deer have also come to nibble on her roses, but she doesn’t seem to mind sharing.
Besides regular seed feeders, Beck puts out mealworms for the bluebirds who visit her deck above the backyard. Misters on two bird baths provide additional spots to cool-off , and the moisture has also fostered a lush moss-filled lawn in front and a vibrant violet lawn in back.
Beck says that she once tried to till and replant the back lawn with turf grass, but it just didn’t flourish. “I learned to let it be what it’s going to be,” she says of her wildlife gardening. “You have to leave some of the weeds and junk for the animals. It can’t be ALL pretty- pretty.”
Still, Beck’s yard is gorgeous with spring blooms and provides a peaceful oasis in an urban neighborhood for humans and wildlife alike.
“This is my Church of One,” she explains. “Sometimes if I don’t feel like going to church, I can come out on my deck and just watch nature. What could be better than enjoying God’s handiwork?”
To date, Beck’s long-time backyard habitat is joined by more than 900 others in Charlotte, certified by the National Wildlife Federation, and qualifying the city to be recognized as a “Community Wildlife Habitat”.
Easter Egg Hunt
Beautiful spring weather appeared for our annual egg hunt on Saturday, April 4. We had 16 egg hunters and almost 40 all together at our refreshment time afterwards. The kids hunted for 227 eggs, which included 10 Prize Eggs, each containing a $1 coin, on the Chestnut Hills Commons. The group was divided by age-- 1-5 and 5-12-- and the eggs were hidden appropriately for the age group. Mattie Boone helped hide the eggs, along with grandmother Shirley Boone. At the end of the hunt, we had 222 eggs that had been found. The kids take the candy inside the eggs home, and we recycle the egg the following year--with new candy, of course. The remaining five will enjoy time in the great outside until a lawn mower vanishes them!
Refreshments were provided by Jean Bradley, Syble Freeman, Ruth Hudson, Helen Brown, and Mary Kay McAdams. A cake in the shape of an Easter bunny was baked by Billy Gaines. Best question about the bunny cake: "Is it a carrot cake?" was asked by Erin Schimmel, visiting from Spain with her mom and dad to see grandparents Sylvia and Jim Sane. Zane and Sadie Moore, Bonnie Moore's grandtwins, traveled the fartherest to come to the egg hunt.
Syble Freeman told the story of the Resurrection Egg, providing each of the kids an egg to take home with all the prompts inside so that they may re-tell the story to their friends and family.
Thanks to all the adults and the kids who keep coming and bringing treats to our egg hunt and make the event so special for all of us!
Counting eggs and taking home candy at the end of the hunt
In search of the well-hidden eggs.
History of One Egg Hunt Participant: THEN and NOW
THEN: Mattie Boone, granddaughter of Jerry and Shirley Boone, hunts for eggs in 2006 when she was 4.
NOW: At 13, she helps hide the eggs in 2015!
Memorial Day is a US federal holiday, which is celebrated every year on the final Monday of May. It is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.
Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day, a day which celebrates the service all U.S. military veterans.
Neighborhood News
J.D. Nappi launched his new business, Hot Dixie Dogs, on Sale of the Trail day. Opening day was a big success. Look for J.D. to become a regular on special days in the Gorge.
Long-Time Gerton Resident Passes Away
Aileen Sinclair, 93, born in Waco, N.C., died on March 10 in her home, and her funeral was held March 14 at Bearwallow Baptist Church, with sons William (Billy) and Jeffrey, and daughter Mackie Sinclair Price and her husband Dr. Bulo III, and all six grandchildren attending. Dr. Price, and the Revs. Bobby Dees and Donnie Freeman conducted the service.
If you saved copies of the ECHO from years ago,
likely every single one of the twelve issues from any given year would include
Aileen Sinclair's name. She was an
active member of the Gerton community for many years--in the Bearwallow Baptist
Church congregation along with her beloved husband "MacK," who served
as elder. Aileen was one of the founding
members of the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Club, and volunteered hundreds
of hours to the dinners, fund raisers, and the club's various projects.
A vivacious conversationalist with wide-ranging
opinions, she was fun to talk with, and even in her declining years, kept up
with neighborhood news. She loved to
reminisce about her earlier years as a nurse.
She often reported to the Echo editor the various accomplishments of her
family members, especially of her grandchildren Jessica and B.E. Price, Jeremy,
Connie, Josh and Sarah Sinclair. And she
kept in touch with a former polio patient of hers, Martha Mason, one she had nursed during
the summer polio epidemic of the late 1940s, when she and eventual Gerton
neighbor Virginia Owensby had first met and nursed in the hastily erected tents
to care for the epidemic-afflicted children in the mountain area near
Morganton. Mason went on
to graduate from Wake Forest University, and to become the longest surviving
polio victim dependent for life in an iron lung. Aileen was so proud and amazed
at how the young girl had fought to have a normal life. Over the intervening years, Aileen wrote and
visited in Mason's Shelby home, and owned a copy of her published biography, in which she
mentions the kindness and cheer of the nurses attending her in the polio wards.
Contributions in Aileen's memory can be made to the Bearwallow Baptist
Church or to the Bearwallow Cemetery, or Four Seasons Hospice of
Hendersonville.
Notes from our LITTLE LIBRARY:
3/29/15: We are passing by visiting from South Florida. We have never seen such hospitality. Thank you! God bless -- The Garcia Family
4/18/15: Best friends visiting the mountains from the Charlotte area. Saw this library on our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had to come back! --Lexi, Karen, and Kenneth
Out for a walk and decided to stop for a quick book break! Much love! Becca, John Solomon, and Sam
With the azaleas in full bloom, the little library and the welcoming benches are especially inviting this time of year.
