Mountain Folk in North Carolina.
Anna and I went to the mountains of western North Carolina for a couple days Sunday. Some of the leaves had turned and some of the panaramic scenes of mountains and valleys were breath taking.
However, Highlands, NC, was a let down. The mountains are still there, but some city planners of that little town took all the quaintness out of it by making certain regulations to keep it quaint, such as no franchised fast food eateries. All the shops in town are little quaint shops such as bookstores, antique shops, gift shops, but most of all real estate offices. There are not enough eateries, but few enough that that they can demand high prices for little. We each had a simple turkey sandwich with a Diet Coke which cost over 20 bucks. The town is designed to cater to the elite. Why? Because the rich are more likely to spend higher prices for things.
It is kind of sad to remember how Highlands, NC, used to be in my youth. Then, there were plenty of poor mountain folk to balence things out with shacks by the road and junky yards - probably some much like the characters that were in "Deliverance". The closest you will see of dueling banjos in this town would probably be dueling grand pianos at a recital. I would think at one time the local little stores would sell plenty of chewing tobacco, snuff, and white socks.... but no more.
Now, they are expensive gated communities, with some houses on the ridge listing as high as 2 million bucks and plenty of goft clubs and country clubs.
If you see a pretty white church in the wildwood I doubt if it is an active church - more likely it is an ex-church converted to a gift shop, flower shop, or an expensive restaurant. I think they decided not to push the church thing until they figure out how to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle.
We left the quaint money grabbing town of Highlands and drove through the mountains to Brevard, NC., which in my opinion had more authentic people in it. Why? They had fast-food franchise. The fast-food franchises have to have people to work there at a lower pay scale and they attract people that rather save money. I think this represents the more salt-of-the-earth kind of people, rather than the pretentious people of Highlands. Also, Brevard is the home of Brevard Music School - which makes it a college town, which help keeps costs low - to cater to the student population and their low budgets. They do have the quaint antique and gift shops on the Main Street downtown, like any other smaller town.
Brevard is in Transyvania County, which claims to have over 250 water falls, which they say there are more waterfalls than most states have. They also have a white squirrel community. The white squirrel are not albinos, or they would have pink eyes, but they are just white. Some have gray foreheads and some have gray strips down their backs, which looks like a small inverted skunk. Also, just about 4 miles away is the Pisgah National Forest which has waterfalls and around every bend a breath taking view.
However, Highlands, NC, was a let down. The mountains are still there, but some city planners of that little town took all the quaintness out of it by making certain regulations to keep it quaint, such as no franchised fast food eateries. All the shops in town are little quaint shops such as bookstores, antique shops, gift shops, but most of all real estate offices. There are not enough eateries, but few enough that that they can demand high prices for little. We each had a simple turkey sandwich with a Diet Coke which cost over 20 bucks. The town is designed to cater to the elite. Why? Because the rich are more likely to spend higher prices for things.
It is kind of sad to remember how Highlands, NC, used to be in my youth. Then, there were plenty of poor mountain folk to balence things out with shacks by the road and junky yards - probably some much like the characters that were in "Deliverance". The closest you will see of dueling banjos in this town would probably be dueling grand pianos at a recital. I would think at one time the local little stores would sell plenty of chewing tobacco, snuff, and white socks.... but no more.
Now, they are expensive gated communities, with some houses on the ridge listing as high as 2 million bucks and plenty of goft clubs and country clubs.
If you see a pretty white church in the wildwood I doubt if it is an active church - more likely it is an ex-church converted to a gift shop, flower shop, or an expensive restaurant. I think they decided not to push the church thing until they figure out how to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle.
We left the quaint money grabbing town of Highlands and drove through the mountains to Brevard, NC., which in my opinion had more authentic people in it. Why? They had fast-food franchise. The fast-food franchises have to have people to work there at a lower pay scale and they attract people that rather save money. I think this represents the more salt-of-the-earth kind of people, rather than the pretentious people of Highlands. Also, Brevard is the home of Brevard Music School - which makes it a college town, which help keeps costs low - to cater to the student population and their low budgets. They do have the quaint antique and gift shops on the Main Street downtown, like any other smaller town.
Brevard is in Transyvania County, which claims to have over 250 water falls, which they say there are more waterfalls than most states have. They also have a white squirrel community. The white squirrel are not albinos, or they would have pink eyes, but they are just white. Some have gray foreheads and some have gray strips down their backs, which looks like a small inverted skunk. Also, just about 4 miles away is the Pisgah National Forest which has waterfalls and around every bend a breath taking view.
posted by Eddie at 5:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home