Blue Ridge Country May/June 2024 - 15

erating hotel in North Carolina) and the imposing,
Classical Revival Yancey County Courthouse (now the
Burnsville Town Hall).
What you might not expect to find in a town with
just 1,604 people is a bookstore like Plott Hound Books.
Owner Ronni Lundy-a two-time James Beard Award
( " the Oscar of the Food World " ) winner-has collected
a wide range of Appalachian literature, ranging
from Denise Giardina's " Storming Heaven " to David
Joy's " Those We Thought We Knew " and Jason Mott's
2021 National Book Fiction Award winner, " Hell of a
Book. " A fair number of the books are autographed.
Lundy shares information
about
bringing together what they call " the journey of the
arts, and the art of the journey. "
One of the mainstays of the TRAC arts scene is the
Penland School of Craft. Founded in 1929 by " Miss
Lucy " Morgan as a crafts-based economic development
project, Penland is one of the preeminent crafts
schools in the country. With a 420-acre campus and 57
buildings, Penland is a must-see. The Gallery, Visitors
Center, Coffee House and Supply Store are open to the
public-be sure to call ahead, as the hours shift according
to the season.
Also outside of Burnsville are dozens of mountain
the Carolina
Mountains Literary Festival, which every September
brings the best and brightest writers across Appalachia
to Burnsville. Readings, signings and workshops take
place over three days. A faraway
tiny town...with a big-name literary
festival. Take note.
Across the
street
from Plott
Hound Books sits a three-story
antique shop owned and staffed
by 88-year-old Ralph Hammond,
known as " the sweetheart of Burnsville. "
His is a mountain story that
needs to be heard, and remembered.
" My father came down from
Abingdon to work for Brown Brothers
Milling-they cut just about all
the lumber in these mountains. They
clear-cut
everything-tulip poplars,
chestnuts...everything.
Brown
Brothers left-so my father started farming. "
Hammond realized early on that farming wasn't going
to make him rich. At 16, he became an auctioneer,
then attended college for a year until the money ran
out. He joined the military and caught the tail end of
the GI Bill before it expired in 1956. He's been a teacher,
a coach, a collector, an auctioneer...and an agent
for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
" I broke up illegal distilleries-157 of them, " he
says proudly.
Just up the street
from Hammond's store is the
sprawling YummiYarns, where two women sit in rocking
chairs knitting like Madam DeFarge. Owner Wendy
Reid has been in Burnsville since 1997, and she knows
how to spin a story. " I was ready to move. So I hung a
U.S. map on the wall of my garage, and threw a dart. It
landed on Burnsville. It's a good place to hide out. "
Which may be one reason that artists flock to the
Burnsville area, supported since 1976 by the Toe River
Arts Council (TRAC). Twice a year, they oversee selfguided
art studio tours, with over 100 studios included,
LESLEY RIDDLE AND THE CARTER FAMILY
Born in 1905 in Burnsville, Lesley
Riddle took up the guitar and never
looked back. His collaboration with
A.P. Carter started in 1928, the two
traveling through the mountains
collecting songs. The Carter Family
recorded a number of songs either
written or transmitted by Riddle.
Riddle disappeared from the
music scene when he married and
moved in 1942 to Rochester, New
York-but was rediscovered by
Mike Seeger in the mid-1960s. He
recorded with Seeger for much of
the next 20 years.
Lesley Riddle died in 1979, but he
hasn't been forgotten. Burnsville's
Parkway Playhouse produced a
play about Riddle and his influence
on the Carter Family music. And
the town's Traditional Music Group
does an annual Riddlefest concert
and seminar in the Burnsville Town Center. This year's tribute
happens on Saturday, October 19.
-JV
MAY/JUNE 2024 15
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
Burnsville's New England-style
town square is overseen by War
of 1812 hero Captain Otway
Burns.
trails, ranging from easy, mile-long loops to longer,
steeper climbs. And waterfalls, the likes of which you've
only dreamed of. The Outdoor Recreation and Adventure
guidebook at the Chamber Visitor Center on West
Main Street (info@yanceychamber.
com) is a must-have for exploring
Yancey County.
Little Burnsville has one of the
Roaring Fork Creek Falls in the
Pisgah National Forest flows fast
with early spring rain.
Burnsville is a hub of the Toe
River Arts Council, " connecting
the artists, the arts and
communities. "
most engaging downtowns I've visited,
where stories flow like waterfalls
and astonishing art waits in nearly
every storefront and restaurant.
It's worth
remembering
that
sometimes, good things come in
small packages.
Blue Ridge Country May/June 2024

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