Three last stops in North Carolina

1. While looking up things to see and do near Charlotte I found an oddity that we had already encountered in Arkansas and wanted to see again: a Gravity Hill.

In Richfield, NC is a gravity defying stretch of road with a supernatural twist. So the story goes that years and years ago a young mother was driving on the road late at night and her car broke down. While she tried to get the car working again a truck came by and killed her. Local rumor says that if you pull up to a certain spot in the road and put your car in neutral the car will be pushed up hill by her ghost. Some people have reported seeing ghostly hand prints on their cars.

Well it took us a while and one long dirt road but we found Richfield Rd and the starting point of the Gravity Hill. It has been well marked by graffiti. Sadly the graffiti was really rude and inappropriate with a lot of cursing and disgusting language which ruins a fun spot. I pulled up to the graffiti and placed the car in neutral a few times and watched as we rolled up hill. Luckily the road was empty and allowed us to experience the hill safely, see for yourself as we appear to roll up hill.

We also pulled out a level and did a few tests were we tried to block our view of the horizon further to see if we could force better perspective.


2. LAB AKA Lexington Avenue Brewery. On our trips home we stopped in Asheville for dinner each time. Our favorite find in Asheville was LAB The menu was reasonably priced, though some prices had just gone up. (I knew this because the printed menu did not match what I had seen online.) Still even with the increased price I felt it was a good value. The beer was excellent and so was the place and atmosphere.

The building dated to 1916 and had once been the T.S. Morrison building and I believe was a small pharmacy/convenience store. Back in 2009 two friends bought it and completed renovations on it. By speaking to the waiter we learned that a lot of the original wood that was removed in the reconstruction was actually used to make the tables and counters currently existing in the bar.

One of the main objectives of the bar, whether for food or beer, was to use fresh locally sourced ingredients, which is a common focus in a lot of the newer craft breweries and restaurants that have been opening up in the last decade. This focus may be described as farm to table or just like LAB mentioning a focus on quality of ingredients and creativity in product.  

We each tried a couple of beers and my favorite was the LTD: 

For dinner I resisted my general trend which is to order a burger, especially if that burger is named for the restaurant. I instead went with the fried green tomato sandwich and a side of macaroni and cheese. Let me tell you- if you are in Asheville get this sandwich it is amazing. 

And now the reason we had originally decided to go to LAB- dessert! I had checked out the menu online (again which is how I know the prices didn't match) anyway they had a dessert called Beer-amisu, layers of LAB beer cake and Italian cream. We knew we were going to try it. We ordered one to share. After the first bite we both realized that sharing that evenly and not just selfishly scooping it all up would be one of the hardest things either of us have ever done. 

3. Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, NC is located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During our second week in North Carolina one of our coworkers at corporate told us about this beautiful spot where you can go and see Elk. She showed us pictures that she had taken of her family and the majestic animals and we knew we had to try and see them. 

Sunday as we drove to North Carolina we took the slightly longer drive through the Smoky Mountains. At one viewing spot and as we drove one thing that immediately hit me was the reminders of the fire that had badly damaged the area in 2016.

The smaller picture shows new growth under barren trees, some of which have fallen in recent storms. The other picture shows the burned bark of barren trees. 

As we were driving Meghan saw these two trees, well stump and tree. They were certainly distinctive and worth a stop and walk around.

At one rest stop I was looking at the view and I turned to see Meghan moving and getting down on the ground to get an angle on something maybe a flower, butterfly, or just a better angle on the view she saw. So here is the photographer at work.

Then we saw a sign that told us we had arrived:

We pulled over at the rest stop and took a walk along the Oconaluftee river where I took this picture. I'm actually super proud of it and I might try entering it in the TN State Fair, camera phone category.

After the river walk we went back to the field and waited for awhile to see if the Elk would come out for an afternoon/early evening walk. Unfortunately we eventually saw some park rangers who told us they had just crossed most of the herd and that they were deep in the forest by now. Since we needed to get to the hotel and still had a lot of driving ahead of us we couldn't wait to see if they would return for a night stroll. So we left and finished the drive through the Smoky's determined to return this way on Friday night to try again. 

Because of poor weather when we left work on Friday we again got to the visitor center too late to see the Elk. So we decided to spend the night in the visitor center parking lot to try and see them in the morning. We had discussed the possibility that this would happen and I was looking forward to trying some dark sky viewing and photography. . . . 

We were in the Smoky Mountains. . . . 

They have that name for a reason . . . . 

We watched as patches of fog rose from the mountains and enveloped around us at various points. I did get a good glimpse at Jupiter and his moons but that was about it. What we did see was at first a few flashes of light and then the woods at the side of the road came alive with lightning bugs which were amazing. I also got a pretty cool time lapse video of the sun rising with fog coming in and out.

Now it was morning and it was our last chance to see the Elk that I had so desperately wanted to see. We watched the field looking for any sign of Elk. Then off to the left Meghan saw something large moving across the street. We walked past the field and down the road away from the Visitor Center to get a better look. It was several real big wild turkeys. We got as close as we dared, well Meg got closer we already have discovered I am not a fan of large wild birds.

Anyway as we walked back to the field Meg threw her arm out in front of me and pointed. On the far side of the field we saw something move.

There were three of them and we watched from a distance, multiple signs had warned of staying 50 yards away from them as they can be territorial and aggressive. They walked along the tree line and out of sight. I wanted to try and see an Elk in the river so we went back over to the river and began walking along it. At one point as we walked Meg saw movement out of the corner of her eye and then they were just there. I wouldn't think something this large could sneak up on you but we hadn't heard or seen them until we were basically eye to eye.

When I saw them close I didn't want to move. Not because of fear though. They were so beautiful and amazing to see. I didn't want to disturb them. Instead I stood still in awe at their movements as they reached to the trees and walked along the tree line. One stopped and looked at us as we watched and took pictures of him. I think he could tell that we were there to observe him and not as a threat but as witness to him and the beautiful nature we found ourselves surrounded by on all sides.   

I leave you with a short video of the Elk walking.

A Day in Charlotte, NC

Sunday we left home early so that we could sightsee in Charlotte, NC before finishing our trip at the hotel to start the work week. 

Our first stop in Charlotte was at an office park to see Metalmorphosis, a sculpted metal head designed and made by David Cerny. Throughout the day the many moving parts of the head rotate to form and reform the head. Apparently we lucked out with this because it began moving as walked over and a woman with two small children had been there for about 30 minutes waiting for it to start.

Next we stopped for a drink at the Unknown Brewing Co.

The atmosphere at the brewery was relaxed and welcoming. The weather was perfect so the large doors in front of the bar were open allowing people to easily walk from the outdoor seating area to the bar. The seating outside also included a doggie water bowl which is a nice touch for customers who may be out on a walk with a four legged friend. We ordered a flight and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit.

I wanted to spend some time walking around Charlotte but I was concerned about safely parking my car, after all it did have everything we needed for the week in it. I asked one of the bartenders if I would be able to leave my car in their lot and she said yes and not to worry about it. That was a relief and we walked a few short blocks further into Charlotte.

I had previously mapped out my walking tour of Charlotte so that I knew what made the most sense for time and miles. Now before I get into specifics let me give an overall on my opinion of Charlotte. It is a nice town! Pretty simple, I know. It had a lot of open and green space where we were. Now I realize it is split into quadrants and I think we may have only hit two of them so I didn't see the whole town. However it was very appealing and nice to walk. There are various sculptures and historical markers (as you will see) to keep someone busy for a day. The bike share program was a little strange. It is a program that has been proposed for Nashville and I had wondered if it would work. I like the bike share programs that have bike racks but there was one program that is basically like 'take and leave' anywhere. It was a bit of a mess. We saw bikes just sitting against buildings or in the middle of a sidewalk. While the convenience of taking it right to where you need rather than the closest parking space is nice I think the healthy people riding bikes can walk a bit to reach their destinations.

Anyway, I had spent a fair bit of time researching things to see and do. There was one thing that I had decided I could skip and that was the art installment lovingly(?) called Disco-Chicken. Well, my plan didn't matter in that regard because Disco-Chicken can't be missed and while walking down the street Meg basically pointed and said "what the hell is that?" and as soon as I saw it I knew.

It is supposed to be a 'Firebird' and has a cool sun image in the center but it definitely looks like a bell bottom wearing chicken ready to hit the dance floor in Saturday Night Fever.

Then Meghan noticed a monument standing on the sidewalk and we approached.

We walked around the other side to read the info and the citizens of Old Mecklenberg became our newest heroes. In all my studies and readings on the American revolution I don't remember hearing of Mecklinberg County or it's denizens but who doesn't love a good rebellion story. 

That brought us to a small park between Tyron and South College street that had several literary themed art displays.

The first one that I knew about was at the entrance and it was a statue of children climbing on a brick wall.

Inside the park the art displays continued from street signs pointing to towns that completed famous author's names to small word games and puzzles in the concrete pathway.

And this one of all the many Charlottes throughout the world.

It is hard to read because of the light but it is "I am Before you."

At the end of the park were two statuses of various famous books but the sun prevented me from getting a good picture of most the titles. The other side had Oedipus Rex among it's selections.

Speaking of Oedipus Rex if you haven't heard this little ditty from Tom Lehrer you should!

We turned left on to South College street and found an odd statues in a small patio.

 Meet Queen Charlotte, the namesake of the town, and her dog Presto.

We continued along South College sSreet until it became North College Street and we turned right on 7th to get to the ImaginOn Center and an art display featuring typewriter keys and a tall statue with a feather pen at the top, The Writer's Desk.

While we sat and relaxed one little girl started playing on the typewriter keys jumping from one to the other. Her Mother told her to call out a word that started with the letter she was jumping on. When she jumped on 'E' she called out 'Enything'.  She made me laugh as her Mom corrected her spelling, phonetics, and dialect causing confusion but she tried. A second little girl also started playing and within moments they were both in a game together.

On the tower are various quotes from Rolfe Neill, a writer and publisher for the Charlotte Observer.

These were my favorites of the quotes which were on each side and level of the statue.  

In order to get back to Unknown Brewing and the car we walked back on Tyron street and found this historical marker outside a restaurant:

I consider this an amazing find! I wouldn't have thought to look this up. Maybe somewhere I would have found this listed as a historical site. Think of all the days in history that people say: "I remember where I was when I heard the news." Now imagine Jefferson Davis on this day. The man who was his enemy had been assassinated. Most reports have Davis quoting Macbeth upon hearing the news. Others though have him regretting the assassination because he though Lincoln would have been better to have in office then Andrew Johnson.

Further down the way on Tyron street we found another historical marker:

It's like hitting the early American history trifecta of monuments: Native American trade path, Revolutionary War battle, and Civil War leader. It is also a reminder of how much history, good and bad, our relatively young country has experienced.

We also passed a shop we had seen a sign for earlier but hadn't reached the actual shop:  Ratcliffe's Flowers.

The sign is hung where the original shop was located. Apparently at some point the shop was moved 75 feet north which is why we had seen the sign but then turned down the park missing the building. The shop was opened by Louis Ratcliffe in 1917 and remained in business until 1989 when a restaurant took the spot. In 2000 a bank wanted to add more parking near their building and so, rather than tear down the Mediterranean Revival style building they moved it further down the bock. 

Here is a close up of the beautiful stained glass windows above and around the doorway.















Apparently the sign also has a bit of a story to it. Back in the 1960s the buildings on Tyron Street voted to remove neon signs from the properties to remove clutter and look less gaudy. Well Mr. Ratcliffe said "no" and kept his sign.

We returned to Unknown Brewing and happily saw our car was still there and safe. So we took a break from walking and ordered another flight with some really interesting colors!

After Unknown we went to our final location in  Charlotte, Elmwood/Pinewood Cemeteries. One of the places I like to explore in new cities are old cemeteries. I find old gravestones beautiful and try and find old dates or interesting writings and pictures on them.

I had a list of graves that I was hoping to find and the first one on my list should have been easy but it was actually the second to last I found.

John King's birthdate is unknown and but he died in 1889 after being crushed by an elephant named Chief. The gravestone was erected by the members of the John Robinson Circus.

One of the graves I wanted to find and knew would be easy was the grave of William W. Smith in Pinewood, an attached cemetery to the north of Elmwood.

William Smith was an architect and brick mason in Mecklenberg County. He lived from 1873-1924. I didn't get to see any of his building though I know of at least two, Grace AME Zion Church and the Mecklenberg Investment Company Building, in the area but I just didn't have time to find them. The patterns made with red, yellow, white, and gold bricks were his trademark and fittingly decorate his tomb.  The diamonds on the back and side here are actually on the MIC building facade.

While walking back to Elmwood I passed a gravestone that caught my attention. 

Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. L. A. Taylor was born in 1859 and died November 17th 1934. He served during the Spanish American War in the 3rd NC Infantry. 

I continued my walk back to Elmwood where Meghan was waiting in the car and we began to circle around the peaceful cemetery looking for more interesting graves. Two common styles were diagonal headstones and scroll headstones.

The last one is the Newcomb/Berryhill family. John Newcomb had come to Charlotte as an adult after spending most of his life in Brooklyn, NY. He was born January 30th, 1845. He died, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer, at 12:25pm July 25th 1892. Multiple family members are buried in the family plot though not everyone has their name on the main stone here. Also mentioned at the top of the stone is John's wife, Augusta "Gussie" Newcomb. Their daughter, also Gussie, married Earnest Berryhill so the other names are their relations. 

Another interesting pattern is that of the beautiful woodworkers stones. Where concrete and marble stones are chiseled to resemble the source material that had been their occupation. 

Henry Severs tomb resembles a log cabin, on the back was a seal that said Woodmen of the World

 

Another grave I had been looking for was the grave of the Forbis Triplets. 

The triplets were born September 28th, 1917. Quotes from the Charlotte Observer announcing the birth and celebrating the family spoke about the family consulting with others for names so the three girls would not be confused, their birth weight of 6lbs each, their father's coworkers trying to help find ways to tell them apart, and the fact that they now meant the Forbis family had eight children.  It was chilling reading the quotes considering that I already knew that Margaret Christine Forbis died at four months old,  Martha Renee Forbis died at nine months old, and Mary Madeline Forbis died just ten days after her sister. 

I wish I knew more about Rod M Greene. His tombstone had a scroll design on it and at the bottom of the scroll is a train. Rod was born July 11th 1883 and died at the young age of 27 on May 28th 1911. On his tombstone read the words:

Tis hard to break the tender chord

When love has bound the heart

Tis hard, so hard, to speak the words

We must forever part.

Another popular style is the weeping woman or angel like these two graves.

Another grave I had gone looking for was the grave of Little Willie

 Another common marker for children's graves was some kind of bird or animal on top. Like this grave marked for Polly.

For this next marker I don't know who C P T was but she was a direct descendent of someone connected to the American revolution in order to have this marker at her name.

In case you can't tell from all these pictures we spent hours at the cemetery. By the time we managed to find John King's grave it was almost sunset. So now we needed to find dinner and get to our hotel. The previous week we had been told to check out OMB, Old Mecklenberg Brewery, while we were in the area so we planned to have dinner there. 

I kind of wish we had gotten there earlier. There was a very inviting biergarten in the space between the brewhouse and the restaurant. Definitely seemed like a great place to meet up and have some drinks with friends. The food was really good. We got an appetizer of the pretzel with a Dusseldorff style mustard and the OMB Copper beer cheese. For dinner I got the OMB burger, I'm predictable like that. For a drink I had the Copper which is their Dusseldorf style Altbier it is an ale that has been lagered (an second aging process at cold, almost freezing, temperatures) for several weeks . 

The schedule had been somewhat tight but we had managed to see everything I had planned in the Charlotte area.