8 minute read
Showing Appreciation
Grandfather Mountain Entrance Gate Photo by Hugh Morton
Half Moon Overlook Photo by Todd Bush
Showing Our Appreciation By Karen Rieley
Without the support of local businesses, many of which have been with us from the very beginning, CML would not be celebrating 25 years as an “absolutely priceless” publication. In our Spring issue, we featured three longtime supporters of CML, including Mast General Store, Fred’s Mercantile, and Stonewalls Restaurant.
The three CML-supporting businesses we recognize in our Summer issue also have deep roots in the High Country. Their influence extends beyond, but certainly benefits, tourism to improve the quality of life that has drawn people to the mountains since the earliest settlers, the Cherokee, came to the area.
Grandfather Mountain continues to educate and engage people in the High Country’s natural heritage, inspired by the early explorers who visited the mountain and those who made it popular as a tourist destination by the early 1900s.
The original Cherokee name for the mountain was “Tanawha,” meaning “a fabulous hawk or eagle.” It was named “Grandfather” by pioneers who recognized the face of an old man in one of the cliffs, which is best seen from the community of Foscoe, seven miles north of Linville and 10 miles south of Boone on NC 105.
Early explorers visited Grandfather Mountain, like French botanist Andre Michaux in 1794, Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1841 and John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, in 1898.
Tourism at Grandfather Mountain began as a horseback trail that wound its way up the slope of Grandfather to an overlook known today as Cliffside. In the early 1900s, the trail was widened to a one-lane road for cars and a wooden platform was constructed at the overlook.
In 1952, Hugh Morton became the sole owner of Grandfather Mountain. He immediately widened the road to two lanes and built the Mile High Swinging Bridge. The Animal Habitats officially started in 1973 after Mildred the bear decided to make Grandfather Mountain her home.
In 2008, the Morton family announced a plan to sell the undeveloped backcountry of Grandfather to the state of North Carolina for a state park. In 2009, the Morton family transferred ownership of the nature park to the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, the nonprofit that today continues to make the property accessible to the public, devoting all resources to preservation, conservation, education and recreation.
“For some who come to the mountain we provide a place to breathe fresh air and lose some stress for a day; for others we are the location of an inspiring field trip, the place to hear a well-known conservationist during our Grandfather Presents events, a place for kids to learn how they can protect the environment in their backyard or a place to see and learn about a cougar for the very first time,” said Landis Taylor, assistant vice president of marketing and communications for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation.
The opening of the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery—part of an all-new Conservation Campus—in early summer 2022 nearly doubles the size of the park’s former Nature Museum, with 10,000 square feet of education space, including state-of-theart museum exhibits, three classrooms, an ADA-accessible auditorium, enhanced food service facilities to allow for catering and serving educational groups, and expanded capacity for hosting conferences and community events.
Outside the center, guests will be able to enjoy an amphitheater with terraced seating and a pavilion, as well as a new botanical garden.
“We very much appreciate the spotlight that Carolina Mountain Life has given Grandfather Mountain to reach the local community and those who are passing through our area. The editorial staff has always been so collaborative and enthusiastic about the mountain. It’s made working with them for so long a no-brainer and a partnership we genuinely enjoy,” Taylor said.
Sugar Mountain Nursery has built on the region’s agricultural focus from the time early settlers farmed the land to include landscaping and Christmas trees, in addition to more than 100 varieties of plants. Molly and Wayne Holden grew their small, family-owned business in 1976 from the ground up with a passion for plants and a love of farming in the community in which they were born and raised.
Three daughters and their husbands have all been part of the business, and the family tradition continues on with several of their eight grandchildren also working in the business. Their five great-grandchildren show promise of a fourth generation to continue the tradition.
“My family owned three acres in Newland with a garden and livestock,” Wayne Holden said. “When I was eight, I began working on my uncle’s farm. My teen years were spent in Hickory working with my uncle, who was a custom farmer. I also worked with my father as a plant collector for the nursery trade. My mother was a master gardener and had a one-acre garden every year.”
“As a child of the fourth generation in Avery County, we always had a family garden,” said Molly. “My grandparents, Myrtle
Sorrento’s Italian Bistro
Wayne and Molly Holden of Sugar Mountain Nursery
and Arl Greene from Linville, NC, reared nine children, so of course farmed to keep the children fed. Arl Greene also was the superintendent of the Linville Golf Course for 50 years. Several of his sons and grandsons were involved in the construction and maintenance of other North Carolina golf courses.
“My other grandparents, Ira and Mollie Hartley, also from Linville, were selfsustained by farming,” Molly continued. “We are still working with family, children and grandchildren to improve our nursery, landscape and Christmas industry and to provide the best service to our customers.” Ira Hartley also worked in logging and shrubbery, and his partners and he collected native rhododendron and mountain laurel from the area to sell up the east coast.
Molly’s father, John Greene, her uncle, Julian Greene and partner Fred Taylor also sold native plants.
After Molly and Wayne married, they built a greenhouse in Hickory, where Wayne was studying landscape horticulture at what was then called Catawba Valley Technical Institute, and planted five acres with nursery stock. They sold the farm and moved back to the mountains after five years to start Sugar Mountain Nursery & Landscape in 1976. They’ve been at the Newland offices since 1981.
The business began with landscaping for private homes, large apartment complexes and malls, as well as other small- and largescale public facilities up and down the east coast. The nursery currently produces more than 100 varieties of plants ranging from shade trees to native shrubs. Large Christmas trees are a specialty, and the nursery provides trees and lighting for NFL teams, cities and private resort communities all over the United States.
“Babette and the CML staff have for 25 years been a friend and an advocate for the Avery County people, me included,” Molly said. “She is one of the most hardworking women of my acquaintance, and, believe me, I know quite a few.”
Nearly 40 years ago, Angelo Accetturo’s father, Antony Accetturo, moved from Florida to open Sorrento’s Italian Bistro with his cousin, Dominic Duluca, in downtown Banner Elk. They brought their own special flavor to “dining out” in Banner Elk with recipes that go back more than 100 years to Sicily.
Their cooking style is influenced by the Southern region of Italy near the ocean that includes many seafood dishes and the Northern region of Italy where the French influence prevails with lots of butters and creams—the best of all of Italy.
“Our family food tradition began three generations ago with my grandfather, who came to America from Italy,” Accetturo shared. “He was a butcher and Italian soldier who came to America after World War II for a better life and to start a family.”
Angelo’s father learned about Banner Elk from friends who vacationed in the area every summer. Angelo and his wife, Angela, and his sisters, Gerri and Maria, moved to Banner Elk in the ‘90s to join the family business.
Angelo has evolved the family’s food offerings into an eclectic group of restaurants and entertainment venues, all part of “The Village of Banner Elk,” with the help of his niece, Nicole Palazzo, as the head culinary chef of Village Hospitality Group, and his nephew, Anthony Palazzo, as head chef of Sorrento’s. While continuing the family recipes, Sorrento’s has added their own new, exciting dishes that are featured as nightly specials, such as Rigatoni Bolognese, Chicken Parmigiana and Eggplant Rollitini, in addition to a wide array of appetizers, creative salads, pizza, pasta, veal, chicken, seafood, and eggplant and an impressive list of wines, specialty cocktails and bottled beer.
In midsummer Sorrento’s plans to open Tikki Taco, a bar serving tacos and drinks, adjacent to Sorrento’s. And Chef’s Table at Sorrento’s continues to be a favorite for lovers of “farm-to-table” cuisine.
They’ve recently opened a new restaurant, Prime 21 Steakhouse, a private membership steakhouse also part of The Village of Banner Elk. The restaurant promises only the best ingredients for its menu along with specially created cocktails and a carefully curated wine list—“a luxurious, private dining experience in Western North Carolina’s High Country.” Prime 21 offers three club membership categories: Diamond, Platinum and Gold, with joining and annual fees appropriate for each level.
As one of CML’s 25-year advertisers, Sorrento’s values its partnership with the magazine.
“I first met Babette [Carolina Mountain Life publisher] when I was 19 years old and she was in the restaurant business. She was one of the first people my wife and I met in town,” said Accetturo. “I’ve watched her grow into a great media business. We’ve always had a lot of confidence in her journalism skills.”
