Community July 4 Gathering
All Gerton Residents Invited
President's Note
A Report on the New Face of UHNGCClub
An Ode to the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center
by Sarah Gayle
We’ve lost our center. A building, but much more. For decades, you hosted the business and activities of our community.
From the 1950s, you were the site of sewing circles for the home extension ladies, square dances, a restaurant, and the fire station.
Later you were home to Nita’s store, with Mama Margie inviting residents to come sit and drink coffee. Floridians excited to be back in their mountain homes, lonely or recently widowed folks, and tourists were all welcomed.
You hosted the official activities of our club. Bake sales, holiday celebrations including summer plays, Thanksgiving meals, Christmas carols with finger foods, Easter egg hunts, July 4th picnics with fireworks, book clubs, poetry readings, roadside litter collection days, reunions, after-funeral meals for grieving families, as well as exercise and yoga classes.
Until the terrible hurricane and flooding led to your end.
Tables and chairs used for community club dinners, memorial plaques on your windows, exterior signs noting our awards as a community of distinction and Firewise certification, along with our Calico Cats were removed weeks ago.
As though holding vigil for a dying family member, a small group sat across the road in the rain, watching the excavators shred your shell.
Decades of Gerton folks and visitors have entered your doors and loved you for the activities you made possible. You’ve been the heart of our community.
We send you off in sorrow, but also in gratitude. For the happy times and memories you’ve embodied.
Farewell, Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center, we honor your spirit.
A Report on the Demolition of the Historic and Beloved Community Center
(Ed. Note: This column is a reprint from the Asheville Citizens Times' op ed page on May 18, 2025, by Margaret Whitt)
Our 100-year-old building, and for the last 66 years the place where we hosted monthly community dinners, the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center in Gerton came down.
Lost to raging waters from Tropical Storm Helene, as she tore through the
gorge back in September’s end, the building was beyond repair. The community
center board met and agonized over what to do. And we met again … and again
wanting not to believe that we might not be able to reclaim the space that has
meant so much to so many for so many years. We did all the responsible things:
called in the professionals to assess the situation, contacted our insurance
agent, began applying for grants. Once we knew that the building must be
demolished, we also knew that we would have to rebuild, maybe not replace, but
definitely rebuild in perhaps a different space, a different kind of venue.
We began to empty the building—the tables and chairs had
already been relocated to a storage unit in Fairview—but the parts of the
building that held our history: the scrapbooks, the awards, the brass plaques that
acknowledged community members who gave to replace the windows and doors and
flooring fifteen years ago. We took them to a neighbor’s garage and brought the
tables and chairs there too.
Next we held an Open House on Saturday, March 8. In the
morning, neighbors were invited to come to the Center and take a look at what
was going to be trashed. Did anyone want a souvenir, a keepsake from time spent
there? Maybe a spatula from the kitchen, pitchers from the 1950s? We had tables
lined up in a safe part of the building for people to come and reminisce and
then leave with a reminder of days long gone. In the afternoon we held a
community meeting to brainstorm and talk about a way forward. Over the next
several weeks, others came to take the kitchen appliances, the gutters, the
windows and doors and flooring, and anything that might find a second life
somewhere else. All that was left was a shadow of the vibrant building that
held the literal and figurative heart of Gerton.
And we then thought of ways to demolish the building—by
fire? By wrecking ball? By tractors with skilled professionals at the various
throttles? We made inquiries and we applied for permits. But mostly, we waited.
Weeks seemed to creep by. Then finally word came that Bat Cave Disaster
Services would be here Wednesday, May 7. Neighbors spent hours the day before
sweeping and bagging the loose insulation so that it would not go in the water
behind the building. Worn out, they called professional help from Greenville to
come early the next morning to vacuum what was left of loose insulation. Just
before noon, the Bat Cave Disaster Services arrived and spent the next seven
hours, section by section, taking down the whole of the building, leaving the
stone chimney on the far end.
Perhaps a dozen of us sat across the street on the Chestnut
Hills Commons, where the old swimming pool used to offer summer hot-day relief
for over 40 years. (It was filled in over 40 years ago; you would have to know
where it used to be to see it in your mind’s eye.) We watched the building come
down – section by section. If you were to drive by today, you would only see a
gigantic pile of rubbish on the side of the road and perhaps wonder: when will
Helene ever be through reminding us of what happened seven months ago?
Soon trucks will come to take away the rubbish. We will in
its place plant a garden, perhaps using stones from the fireplace as markers
for trails. Somewhere nearby we will place a pavilion for fair-weather picnics
and gatherings. But for many of us, the shadow of what once was will loom large
– the good times with neighbors sharing meals, attending plays, playing bingo,
dressing for high teas, arranging yard sales, hosting silent auctions, buying
home-baked goods from one another—but mostly we will remember the good and sad
times we gathered to laugh and cry with one another. For here, in this
building, we were the best definition of community.
Our Historic Chimney
Although Hurricane Helene destroyed the Community Center building beyond repair, the chimney from the original structure remained standing. Bat Cave Disaster Relief, who volunteered to remove the damaged building, skillfully worked around the chimney so it could remain as a piece of community history. The storm surge from the flood did erode a corner of the foundation of the chimney. For safety and to protect the longevity of the chimney, the Board had the chimney structurally repaired and the face opened. We anticipate that as the newly cleared space is developed for community use, the chimney will serve as a focal point and an important reminder of our history and beauty.
Request Help with Cutting Grass on Former UHNGCC Site
The Community Center may not have a building to maintain this summer, but we do still have grounds that require upkeep. And with all of the rain we have been having, the grass is growing fast and thick! Currently, Board members are taking turns mowing and weed eating the remaining grassy areas near the chimney and where the bench and firepit are located. If anyone is interested in helping by taking a turn (about every two weeks), please email Marcia Ghidina (marcia.ghidina@gmail.com) for scheduling. We also welcome donations to help pay for gas and materials, which board members are currently paying.
For those who had experience with landslides...
Report from Our Gift to Outreach: Time to Purchase
School Supplies
- Backpacks
- Clorox wipes
- Composition books - college and wide rule
- Black expo/dry erase markers (fine tip)
- Colored markers
- Highlighters
- Erasers-block type
- Hand-held pencil sharpeners with top
- Crayons (24 pack)
- Pencil pouches
- Scissors (safety and non-safety)
- Earbuds or headphones
Gerton Fire and Rescue
4975 Gerton Highway, Gerton, NC 28735
828-290-6194, www.gertonfire.org
Welcome to our latest update from Gerton Fire and Rescue. We are still trying to recover from the damage sustained by our station from Hurricane Helene. We are still trying to get our septic system repaired. This has been a long and costly endeavor and we still have no resolution in sight. The damage to the station was extensive and we have made many repairs, but still have much work to complete. We have been able to maintain our state of readiness and ability to respond, despite these setbacks. We also are housing EMS 71 from Henderson County EMS at our station. This EMS unit is staffed 24 hours a day and is staffed with at least one paramedic and one EMT. We are thankful the commissioners saw fit to allow this to happen. If you get a chance to see them, please thank them.
While the storm created many challenges, we were blessed to receive a great deal of support from the community and outside agencies. We now have a 2003 Custom Engine to add to our firefighting capabilities. We purchased a firefighting Polaris at cost to help us get to those places where a truck may not fit. Kawasaki International donated four UTV for us to utilize. We have received some funding from different folks and we are so very appreciative.
Currently, we are waiting on the delivery of our new tanker. We were granted a grant to purchase this truck and make upgrades to other apparatus from the State. This tanker should be here in the next thirty days and we will get it in service as soon as possible. This tanker was ordered in March of 2024. Once it arrives, we will have more capabilities for our water capacity.
We were scheduled to have our 50th anniversary last October. The hurricane put that on hold. We do plan to have something once we get the station back in shape. We ask that you keep up with us on Facebook and our web page. We have a new and improved web page and hope to use it more for information.
I want to thank everyone for their support over the last year. This has been a challenging time and we know everyone is tired, but there will come a day when things will start to look a little more normal than now. As always, we are here to serve you and we ask you to call 911 if you need us.
Neighborhood News and Activities
