Hill Country Living
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
I would like to publicly thank Vanderbilt University for offering everyone in the Southeast a small reprieve from this stressful week of sad southern news. What a joy to watch nerds win! Vandy’s storming-of-the-field was the funniest field-storming ever. They were sort of timid at first as if they didn’t quite know how to storm a field for lack of experience in such matters. The subsequent two-mile goalpost walk to the river was a delight to watch on social media. We all collectively relished in it. Now all the Bama fans know how it feels to be an Ole Miss Rebel.
My big brother (a rabid Georgia fan) said to my dad (a rabid Bama fan,) “I don’t know what’s worse…getting beat by Vandy or getting beat by the team that got beat by Vandy.” It’s a good thought experiment.
All three of my brothers live in North Carolina. My two older brothers spent years and years living and working in the western North Carolina mountains. One brother was a ski instructor on Sugar Mountain and owned a fly-fishing shop in Foscoe near Grandfather Mountain. My other brother was a chef in Banner Elk and Boone. His daughter is named “Avery” for Avery County where Banner Elk is located. I’ve visited them there many times.
The community leaders of Banner Elk have just told everyone there to try and find somewhere else to live for the “foreseeable future” because the town is “incapacitated” — entirely unlivable. I imagine that my brother’s old little mountain-side cabin right in downtown Banner Elk is gone.
Fortunately, my brothers moved away from the western mountain’s years before this hurricane so no one in my family is in danger. But I know it’s rough on them and their families to see this happen to their old friends, old homes, old stores, old restaurants and beloved towns where they spent much of their lives.
I was in Sartain’s the other day buying staples for my staple gun when a couple of local people came in to buy generators and other supplies. They were loading it all in the back of their truck and getting ready to head to the mountains. Small town know-how and access to vehicles/machinery really make a difference in situations like these. As awful as the whole thing is, it’s heartening to see people donate money and, if they can, their time and supplies.
On a local note, y’all don’t forget that the 16th Annual Water Valley Art Craw is coming up on Saturday, October 19th! It will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in downtown Water Valley and will feature 14 locations and dozens of local artists, myself included. I’m pretty sure my work will be hanging at the Main Street office. At least I hope so because it’s next door to my studio and I’m counting on that easy set up!
There is an afterparty this year at the lovely Courthouse Commons starting at 9 p.m. featuring a band with the entertaining name of “All Tore Up.”
See y’all there!
