UHNGCC Re-Opens July 4
Community Cook-Out, 6:30 p.m.
Monarch Butterfly Release on the Chestnut Hills Greens Thursday, July 1, at 10 a.m.
President's Note
I am excited to announce we will be having a scaled down 4th of July event at the Community Center -please join us on the 4th for a cookout and chance to socialize with your neighbors. We will be announcing additional events in the coming weeks and are planning to hold our annual Gertonfest event at the end of summer.
Thanks to all who have continued to support our efforts by dropping off donations for the Hickory Nut Gorge outreach center. We deliver donations left at the Post Office twice a month to ensure families in our larger community have the support they need.
We have continued our work with the Adopt-a-Highway program to ensure we are collecting litter along Highway 74-A, and we have placed American Flags along the main thoroughfare for Memorial Day and the summer Holidays. We added new Flags, poles and brackets so we had a larger flag presence this year and will be retiring some of the older Flags after this season. If you wish to support this effort you can send a check made out to the UHNGCC and specify you would like the funds to go to purchasing new Flags for the 2022 season. The address to send any donations is UHNGCC PO Box 222, Gerton NC 28735 – the Flags cost approximately $26.00 each and we are using new poles which “spin” and do not have the Flags wrap around the poles – these are $20.00 and then the new brackets are roughly $8.00 each. We have found a local distributor for the items and are glad to be supporting a small local business.
We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events and enjoying all that Gerton has to offer!
All the Best!
Stan Mobley
UHNGCC President
Dave MacDonald helps Stan Mobley hang the American flags in time for our summer celebrations.
Grand Openings and Activities at Studio 74-A and Bearwallow Provisions on Saturday, July 3
Calendar of Events
UHNGCC Provides Ongoing Help for Hickory Nut Gorge Outreach
Litter Sweep - June 2021
Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Highway Litter Pickup
On Friday, June 4, the Gerton community gathered at 9:30 a.m. to clean up the litter dropped along 74-A, Gerton Highway. The pickup began 30 minutes earlier than usual in hopes we would beat the heat of the day. We had a turnout of 14 eager volunteers picking up the assortment of litter and recyclables with a total of 9 bags of litter and 9 bags of recyclables. Gerton was very fortunate that there was much less litter this quarter along the highway. That can hopefully indicate that people are becoming more conscious and not tossing litter out their car windows.
Our next Highway Litter Pickup will be Friday, August 6 at 9:30 a.m. We will meet again, at the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center, 4734 Gerton Highway.
Have a great summer!
Mike Hamlin
THE COMMUNITY CLUB BUILDING
A bit of its history
The saga of the community club building began with the west end of the building (currently the library) as small living quarters for seasonal restaurant operators who ran a restaurant occupying the older section of our present facility. This would be in the 1920s – 1930s. The living quarters opened onto a covered rock patio and then into the restaurant space which housed dining area, kitchen, storage, and restrooms. I'm told there was a standing joke at the time that the operators frequently left town owing lots of bills. Consequently, there was a frequent turn over of managers.
Advancing into the 1930s the Asbury family operated the Copper Kettle Tea Room in the same space. After the Great Depression of 1929 changed their lives forever, the Asbury family spent the next fifty years living in their place on Chestnut Hills.
In the 1940s and 1950s, a dance pavilion located on the east end of the building featured square dances with live bands on Saturday nights. One amusing recollection of that era involves a local constable and his helper who arrived to break up a fight in the dance hall. The constable told his assistant, “You wait outside and count them as I throw them out.” Sure enough the door slams open and someone flies out. The helper yells “One.” “NO, NO!!” hollers the constable, “Don't count me!”
After the restaurant and dance hall fell into disuse, a group of ladies in the Gerton area established a Homemakers Club, and cooked many fundraising dinners in the dining area to purchase the property. Club members I can remember include Hattie Oates, Beatrice Meyer, Modeen Bradley, and Margie Owenby. Margie, as the last surviving member, was around to help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club's founding .
In the late 1960s following formation of the UHNG Community Club, the old dance hall was demolished and the current larger meeting room was built by Roy Owenby and his crew.
After the Gerton Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1974, the building was again enlarged to house a two-bay firehouse. When the department moved to a larger building above the Gerton Post Office, the space was reconstructed to house Nita's Store. The October 1986 Echo of the Gorge described Nita's grand opening celebration “...with many neighbors in attendance and prayers of dedication and a ribbon cutting.”
Presently, Sheila Padgett's Studio 74A serves the community and travelers with antiques, crafts, coffee, and treats from the same retail space.
My thanks to Jim Earnhardt, Nita Owenby, and Don Freeman for their help with this report.
Memories of Chestnut Hills; Turning 100 in 2022
The Field Family Cabin
In 1948 my family visited Chimney Rock. My mom wanted some relief from the heat of Florida’s summer. Although we stayed there and swam in the Broad River, Mother was disgusted with the dumping of sewage into the river. We found Chestnut Hills and my family’s love affair with Gerton began.
My parents purchased a cabin at the top of the hill in 1948, and it is still in my family all these years later – although it truly does not look like it did originally. The inside of the old part of the cabin is original but much was added on through the years.
So many of my childhood and adulthood memories are intrinsically linked with Chestnut Hills to the point that in my heart I consider Gerton my home although I’m a native Floridian.
These are some of my fondest random memories:
Playing hide and seek at the Company House with all the kids on the hill; it seemed like there were a million of us!
Watching butterflies in the lower lot of the English house.
Running up and down the gravel Chestnut Hill Road.
The exquisite Olympic size swimming pool (very cold especially as I got older) plus the baby pool outside. The pool became a destination place for families to enjoy picnics and fun.
Meeting people by working the concession stand in the pavilion or ticket booth.
The wonderful people who lived on the hill – the Asburys, Gilbertsons, Earnhardts, Englishes, and, of course, Bertha Douglas with her "Nawlins" hospitality.
The sock shop, the candy store run by the blind couple, Nita’s grocery, Chet and Mary Lee’s gas station, the “old” post office.
There aren’t many of us “old timers” left, but it is great fun to reminisce.
This is a painting of the cabin in the 1940s. The original house is full of mysterious architectural features from originally having no stairway going downstairs to having a dining room, which consisted of a picnic table. We ate in shifts!
From Shirley Boone:
Historically, Chestnut Hills has provided the perfect meadow for Gerton’s activities. I remember my children, and later, grandchildren’s delight in finding their first Easter egg in Upper Hickory Nut Gorge’s annual Easter egg hunt, their joy when playing catch with their beloved golden retriever, Allie, and their swagger when they climbed their favorite chestnut tree. These Chestnuts had been earlier planted throughout the meadow by the Earnhardts. These grew from tiny trees to shapely, broad trunked trees with low lying branches--a perfect tree for a child’s first climb.
While the meadow provided one form of pleasure, a gurgling crooked creek that split the meadow in half gave them the thrill of discovery. This mountain-fed stream had a mind of its own--no boundaries, especially after rainstorms. Children’s imaginations unleashed. Giggles danced in the air as our children schlepped through creek silt with knee high boots, filled pails to an overflow of clear mountain water, formed mud cakes fit for a five-star restaurant, and overturned stones to discover what squiggling, scary creatures lay beneath.
We often hiked to Bearwallow Mountain, Wild Cat Rock or trails in Florence Preserve (frequently with a backpack filled with picnic makings). On these many hikes, I observed our children grow to keenly observe all that surrounded them; our seven year-old granddaughter learned to read a trail map, our son, to identify wildflowers. As we burned the trails to thrilling heights, we soaked in green, green beauty at every turn. At the top we were reminded of nature’s splendor.
We dream of independence for our growing children. Repeatedly, while walking from our home to Nita’s grocery, our seven-year old grandson, Sam, with hiking stick in hand, cultivated a sense of independence. When he arrived at Nita’s Grocery, he was always warmly greeted by Nita and Margie who allowed him to help himself to his pleasures. Exchange of money was another invaluable experience. Exiting the door, you always heard Margie, say, “You come back, you hear!” Her words hugging him tight made him feel so BIG. These may seem like little things to some, but to a growing boy, these were just more steps to feel comfortable in becoming independent.
To grow up in Gerton’s nature cocoon--our children’s/grandchildren’s lifetime gift--cost little or nothing. They have grown into adults building their college education and careers upon all that nature taught them. When our grandson received his Eagle Scout award, one of his touching remarks, published in the local paper, “I have grown to love nature by always being a part of the outdoors.” Through many, many years, Gerton has continued to provide this over and over to so many!
From Jim Earnhardt:
Even though our family lived and I worked in Winston-Salem for 37+ years, I always felt like I really “lived” in Gerton, where we moved the year following my retirement in 2006. Our friends couldn’t comprehend our move at the time.
My father and Mr. Nee English (both of Thomasville, NC) were fortunate enough to be able to purchase a defunct mountain property in 1945 called Chestnut Hills in Gerton, NC. The community had its first heyday in the early 1920s but died during the Great Depression and WWII. The pond had to be dredged and the dam rebuilt in 1945-46. There were no insurance concerns at the time so we were able to swim in the pond. The swimming pool was rebuilt at the sight of the original pool and was opened to the public in 1949 (admission was 50 cents/adults and 25 cents/children). The water was very cold. Most of us took our turns mowing the commons (we only mowed grass from late May through Labor Day when the pool closed for the season). There was only one full-time resident family (the Asburys) living on the hill for almost 50 years – now the home of Kim Jones and Michael Alburl. The homes were all uninsulated summer vacation cottages. The Earnhardt family owned the “Pile of Logs” (now the Hathaway home) from 1945 to the mid 1980’s. My wife and I purchased our present home by the pond in the early 1970s.
I spent each summer from 1945 (my brother, Gene, had polio that year) through my college years where each of us took our turns lifeguarding at the pool, mowing the commons and picking up trash around picnic tables scattered over the grounds. The commons had also been the site of a nine hole “pitch and putt” golf course during the early years (1920s-1940s).
Prior to age 16, there was more time for hiking, building model planes and tree houses, fishing, etc. Each summer was more like a camp when I was younger, but with no organized activities. It forced one to be creative. I learned how to drive a car in the mountains by practicing how to use the clutch starting and stopping on Chestnut Hills Rd. You learn fast!
Once we became lifeguards at the pool at age 16 we had our one day a week off to hike, play golf, or whatever. Most of us when working at the pool would hope for rain and especially lightning so we could temporarily close it. Almost every able-bodied teenager in the Gerton area over time became a lifeguard or worked at the pool in some capacity. The original lifeguards with the reopening of the pool in 1949 and the first few years came out to Gerton from Asheville by bus which would stop daily at the present Community Center (25 cents one way). Few families at the time had more than one car or truck, if any. After a 30+ year run the pool closed in 1981 primarily because of a marked increase in the cost of insurance, supplies and the need for repairs. David Earnhardt, my nephew, was our last lifeguard.
Only in the past 20-30 years have people begun to gradually move here full-time. Owners have slowly transformed most of the homes to live in year-round.
There have been five generations of families living here (two with the original Chestnut Hills and three since the 1945 rebirth). For all its ups and downs over the now 100 years, it continues to have a magical draw.
Little Library
Cleaned and Re-Painted; Repaired and New Book Selection
Gerton's Little Library, the first one in the Hickory Nut Gorge, has been given a thorough post-pandemic cleaning. The door has been repaired; the whole has been re-painted. Thanks to the work of Jim Earnhardt, and Stan Mobley who assisted Jim in replacing the library to its original post. All of the books in the Little Library have been replaced. These are "clean" books! Help yourself. At present we do not have books for children, but they will be forthcoming.
Neighborhood News
Art Show in Michigan
“It’s Only Natural!”
Travis Waldron, Botanical Textile Designer
Poundings, not paintings…
Long time Gerton resident, Travis Waldron is a botanical textile designer who captures the beauty, vibrancy and magic found in nature through a process known as leaf and flower pounding. This pounding process involves gently hammering leaves and flowers onto a canvas of cotton fabric, which has been treated through a method known as mordanting. The pigments of the plant material are absorbed into the fibers of the cotton. Travis employs a technical pen to outline and enhance her botanical subjects and often quilts the background to further accentuate details, using a 1954 Singer sewing machine. No paint or dye is ever used in the development of her work. The color you see is entirely derived from plant material. Travis recently installed a large exhibition of her work at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, a nature arboretum in Michigan, titled “It’s Only Natural.”
ECHO of the Gorge is published bi-monthly by the UHNGCC. News and photos may be sent to Margaret Whitt at margaret.whitt@du.edu. Photos for this issue provided by Margaret Whitt, Mike Hamlin, Stan Mobley, Travis Waldron, Shirley Boone, Jim Earnhardt, Toni Barkett, Gloria Anders
Officers of UHNGCC for 2021: President - Stan Mobley; Vice-President - Jim Earnhardt; Secretary - Karen Owensby; Treasurer - Sylvia Sane; Board Members - Jean Bradley, Chuck Mallory, Margaret Whitt
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