May - June 2022

Cars parked back at the Center. A Welcome Sight! UHNGCC officially re-opened on Tuesday, April 19. We hope you will put the third Tuesday of each month back on your calendar and join your neighbors for a covered dish. 

May Day

Welcome Spring!

Join us for a community May Day Celebration with fun games and strawberry shortcake.

Place: Chestnut Hill Pavilion
Date: May 1, Sunday
Time: 2-4 PM
We’ll have a May Pole, Duck Races, Jenga, and a Cornhole Tournament.
UHNGCC will be providing tea, coffee, and lemonade.

President's Note

Isn’t spring wonderful? It’s warm; birds, flowers, and baby animals are everywhere; we have more daylight and leaves are filling out the trees we cherish. In just a few days, it will be warm enough to plant annuals and vegetables.

Most importantly, summer friends and neighbors will soon be returning. Our first post-Covid event was held on Tuesday, April 19. It was a delightful evening catching up with friends and celebrating the wonderful place we call home. We will resume our monthly dinner with a program in May, so mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 17 at 6:30 pm. This meeting will include a brief presentation on our budget, anticipated expenditures, and overall financial health. Those comfortable with wearing masks are encouraged to do so.

UHNGCC is sponsoring a new event this year - May Day Celebration. The celebration begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 with games for children and adults. Love strawberry shortcake? Steve Jones will prepare for us this delicious rite of spring. Thanks to the May Day Planning Committee Ellen Boyle (chair), Gloria Anders, Katana Truluck, Jane Clark, and Amylee.

Appreciation is extended to Board Members and Community Members Jack Bancer and Mike Hamlin for spring cleaning our building and outdoor spaces. We look beautiful!

Do you enjoy theater? The Hickory Nut Creek Players are back and will be presenting a play on August 5 and 6. Watch for details. You do not want to miss Helen Brown’s production for the Gerton Little Theater.

Another favorite is GertonFest which will return on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Please contact Social Committee Chairs Margaret Whitt and Sylvia Sane if you would like to be involved in planning our upcoming events.

Hate trash? Join us for our quarterly litter sweep on Friday, June 3 at 9:30 a.m.

Much has been said of the Gerton community’s generous support for our local food bank – Hickory Nut Gorge Outreach. 5,000 pounds were collected during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021! We are returning to collecting donations at the monthly dinners. Emails will be sent to notify everyone of the needs of HNGO. If unable to attend the meeting, the Gerton Post Office will continue to serve as a donation site.

Our UHNGCC Board of Directors continue to monitor local Covid CDC data. It is our strongest desire to remain open, but the safety of our community remains top priority. If Covid rates begin to climb in our region, the Board reserves the right to cancel events until such time the disease rate decreases. We will follow CDC recommendations. Community members are reminded that the email address groundedingerton@gmail.com is a tool through which you may communicate directly with the Board. We would love to hear from you!

"Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud." - Maya Angelou

Karen Owensby
President – Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Club

groundedingerton@gmail.com

Scholarship Applications: Deadline is MAY 20. Questions?

 Ask: groundedingerton@gmail.com 

First Litter Sweep of 2022

We held our first litter sweep of the new year on Friday, March 4, starting at 9:30 at the community center. Nine neighbors showed up to get the job done, collecting nine FULL bags and four bags of items to be recycled. The job was completed by 10:45. Picking up others' trash is a good way to exercise and to keep the roadsides of Gerton clean. Those participating were Stephen Israel, Sylvia Sane, Mike Hamlin, Karen Gamble, Dawn Loftis, Sarah Gayle, Karen Owensby, Stan Mobley, and Charles Gamble. 

 Kneeling: Stephen Israel, Mike Hamlin, Sylvia Sane, Dawn Loftis, Karen Gamble; Standing: Sarah Gayle, Charles Gamble, Stan Mobley, and Karen Owensby

Mike Hamlin, chair of beautification committee, weeds the flower beds under the window and the sign. Already in early March, the daffodils were in bloom, always a clear sign of spring. 

Gentle Yoga Comes to Gerton

Place: UHNGCC, 2-3 p.m. Wednesdays

Instructor: Stephanie Tames

Cost is $12 per class (cash, check, venmo, paypal)

This class is perfect for anyone looking for gentle stretching while deepening their experience of yoga fundamentals. Alternate poses and accommodations made for people with physical limitations.

Don’t worry, anyone can do the poses no matter what shape your body is in! And if getting up and down off a mat is a little too much, Stephanie can guide you through the poses using a chair. Of course, anyone wanting to go deeper into a pose is welcome to do so.

If you have them, bring a mat, yoga belt, yoga blocks, and a light blanket to use as a prop (good for protecting your knees and as a cover when we relax).

About your teacher: Stephanie has been practicing yoga for more than 30 years, and received teacher training in 2010 in Savannah, GA. She has taught at Asheville YMCA, community centers, churches, public schools, and privately. .

Contact Ellen at purplepearluma@gmail.com for more information.

Spectrum is Coming to Gerton

A company that provides internet, TV, and telephone options is coming to Gerton. Information will be provided when a personal representative of the company will knock on your door. Specifics about time and those options are not fully known at this time. Presently, Spectrum is working with Duke Energy to get pole permits and with the DOT to get easement access. Sometime this summer is the proposed date.

Return to Monthly Gatherings at UHNGCC

At our first 50-50 Raffle, Lee Strickland won half of the collected pool: $152, but she returned the amount to the club! A generous gesture: thanks, Lee. 

Sheila Padgett and Russell Anders move through the food line of finger foods.

Sarah Gayle and Stan Mobley get some lemonade and a few words together.

Neighbors get acquainted and re-acquainted at our April 19 soft opening as we return to our monthly gatherings. 

Dirty Dancing Festival Returns

The Dirty Dancing Festival will return this year on Saturday, September 10. The location is Keeter Field and green spaces surrounded the Arcade. Tickets went on sale March 7 and a capacity crowd will be 2,500.  Dance lessons will be offered and the evening will conclude with a showing of the movie.

Consult hickorynutchamber.org to purchase tickets to the event --or the Dirty Dancing website. As soon as the website opened, the Chamber reported: "They began to move like hot cakes!"

Earnhardts Sell Chestnut Hills Preserve

 to Conserving Carolina

View from Wildcat Rock Overlook

A new nature preserve with old growth forest and exceptional wildlife habitat has been protected in the Hickory Nut Gorge. The 57.6-acre Chestnut Hills preserve in Gerton, NC, adjoins Conserving Carolina’s popular Wildcat Rock hiking trail and is visible from the dramatic rock overlook on that trail.

On Tuesday, Mar. 1, Conserving Carolina purchased the mountain property with plans to protect it forever with a conservation easement. Conserving Carolina intends to manage this land as a nature preserve in order to sustain its rich biodiversity and the beautiful scenery enjoyed by so many hikers. 

Land Protection Director Tom Fanslow says, “The tract is north facing and provides a cool, moist refuge for species adapting to climate change, and the soils support a richer diversity of plants. Because the forest hasn’t been cut in over a century we know this older growth forest is storing many tons of carbon, and as a nature preserve the forest will continue to soak up carbon dioxide for centuries to come.” 

Chestnut Hills is one of the rare tracts in Western North Carolina that was spared from industrial logging. And, for a century or more, virtually no tree cutting has occurred on the property. With its mature forests, rushing stream, boulders, and rock outcrops, the land offers rich and diverse habitat for many plants and animals. Among these are three kinds of rare salamanders, all in danger of extinction in North Carolina. With its connection to other protected forests, shaded slopes, and variety of habitat types, the preserve may serve as a refuge for species that are shifting their range in response to climate change.    

Forest in Chestnut Hills Preserve

State agencies have identified Chestnut Hills as a top priority for conservation. Nearly all of the preserve is part of a natural area ranked as “exceptional” by the NC Natural Heritage program. The property also scored 10 out of 10 in the Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat Assessment conducted by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.   

“I Feel Patriotic About the Land:” The Earnhardt Family Story

Conserving Carolina purchased the land from Dr. Jim Earnhardt and his sister-in-law Barbara Earnhardt. The purchase was made possible by generous contributions from Esten and Burt Walker, Fred and Alice Stanback, the Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation, and the N.C. Land and Water Fund.   

Chestnut Hills first came into the Earnhardt family in 1945 when Irwin Earnhardt (the father of Jim and Barbara’s late husband, Gene) purchased it, along with a business partner named N.C. English. There was a neighborhood of summer homes on the property, currently a community with 36 houses. The property also included the “upper acreage” that is now protected. Development of that tract was never seriously considered.  

Jim recalls that when his family first acquired the property, you could see the crowns of dead American chestnut trees standing above the other trees in the forest. Chestnut trees, for which this land is named, were killed by a blight in the early 20th Century—although efforts continue to breed a blight-resistant variety and bring back the once dominant tree in our Southern forests.   

The Earnhardts have planted experimental chestnut saplings in the Chestnut Hills neighborhood and on the nearby Florence Nature Preserve. Barbara says that her family was inspired by the example of Dr. Tom and Glenna Florence, who protected that preserve, where she has spent many hours hiking. 

Another reason the Earnhardts chose to conserve their forest was to protect the springs that provide a key water source for the Chestnut Hills neighborhood. By extension, they see this nature preserve contributing to clean water sources far downstream, in the rivers that flow through the Piedmont.  

Jim and Barbara and their families grew up hiking in these woods, discovering breathtaking wildflowers and occasionally a rattlesnake. Now retired, Jim and Barbara both live in the Chestnut Hills neighborhood. Their grown children appreciate the magnificence of the protected forest, Barbara says. 

She says, “I feel patriotic about the land and its care.”

She sees this conservation project as preserving the heritage of Native people, whose presence is recalled by the projectile points found there, especially near the spring. The land also carries the history of the great American chestnut trees, which once turned whole hillsides white with their blossoms. Now, the land’s history and its natural heritage will be carried forward for future generations, including hikers on the upper Hickory Nut Gorge trails.  

Protected Forest in Chestnut Hills Preserve

Conserving Carolina is a local land trust that has protected over 47,000 acres, primarily in Henderson, Polk, Transylvania, and Rutherford counties in N.C. and the Landrum, S.C. area. It has also helped to create over 35 miles of trails and five local greenways. The mission of Conserving Carolina is to protect, restore and inspire appreciation of the natural world. To become a member or volunteer, go to conservingcarolina.org.  

 Litter Sweep: Friday, June 3, at 9:30 a.m.

Meet at the UHNGCC

New Community Garden at Chestnut Hills Common Area

You might have seen two garden boxes in the greens at Chestnut Hills. The  community has begun creating their Community Garden.  A total of 4 boxes measuring 8 foot by 4 foot will be installed by May 5.  An asparagus bed was planted this past week with 12 crowns and 12 more to be planted soon.  A gravity water system is being formed that will provide water for the garden.  There is also a fire pit area being developed for neighbors to gather in the evening.  

The card board is put down to kill the grass instead of using chemicals.  That area is going to be for flowers. Below, Jim Earnhardt and Mike Reandreau observe the work-in-progress.

Eileen Ferrell at work from her golf cart as she negotiates the new garden boxes. 

Chestnut Hills Improvements for Our 100th Anniversary

            by Chuck Mallory, President, Chestnut Hills Homeowners Association

The 100th anniversary year of Chestnut Hills Homeowners Association brings some improvements to the commons. The community gardens planter boxes are going in, and any interested resident of Chestnut Hills can have the materials for a planter box at cost, and assembled free! Just email chestnuthills1922@gmail.com to learn more.

There will be a new fire pit area with seating near the creek in a previously-neglected area not far from the Pavilion. Brush was cleared and volunteers are working on getting it set up.

Chris Lacey has generously cleared, at his own expense and effort, a large amount of overgrown brush in the commons. The old butterfly garden next to the Pavilion will be planted anew, and there is much more open area near the creek along Chestnut Hill Loop Road. Chris also planted six new trees, most of them redbuds.

More improvements are coming, so stay tuned! 

Return of our Summer Play: "Cleaning Up"

A long-running tradition at UHNGCC is the summer weekend where Helen Brown and the Hickory Nut Players have performed for over 20 years.  Because of our community shutdown for the coronavirus, we have missed this summer gathering, a time of  laughter and fellowship. 

So save the date: Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6. "Cleaning Up" will be an encore performance. Written by Helen Brown, the play will star Bonnie Moore, Gloria Anders, RuthAnn Nappi, and Maria Belluccio.

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, Chuck Mallory, Karen Owensby, and Eileen Ferrell. 

Officers of UHNGCC for 2021: President - Karen Owensby; Vice-President - Jim Earnhardt; Secretary - Ellen Boyle; Treasurer - Sylvia Sane; Board Members - Jean Bradley, Chuck Mallory, Margaret Whitt, Sarah Gayle; Immediate Past President - Stan Mobley