Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2019 - 17

OUR BLUE RIDGE TOWNS

ABOVE LEFT: Ranger Jane
Browning in her newly opened
Spruce Street toy store.
ABOVE RIGHT: David
Downs and Erica Smith
outside Downs' Three Castle
Antiques.
LEFT: Mountain Magic
owner Janice Mann sells
everything from hot sauce to
CBD oil.

and-coming artists and bringing in established ones. It's a laid-back venue where
you can sit a few feet from the stage and
listen to the likes of the Avett Brothers for
a small cover charge.
At the other end of Front Street,
29-year-old Thomas native Erica Smith
runs Ella's, her home décor, wedding and
event planning shop. With a degree in interior design from West Virginia University and a graduate certificate in Cultural
Resources Management, Smith came
home to Thomas with AmeriCorps.
"Everything I care about is here,"
she says. "I decided I was going to build
something that mattered to me. We're

cycling back to small mom-and-pop businesses on Front Street-that's how I hope
it'll continue."
"It wasn't until we got these young
people-the artists and musicians-that
Thomas got back on its feet," Mayor
Quattro says. "We've got 30 businesses
on Front Street alone."
On Spruce Street, one level up the hill
from Front, two newly opened shops reveal an increasing diversity to the Thomas art scene. Ranger Jane's is the place to
go for toys and games for all ages. Coowner Jane Browning comes to work in
her campground attendant uniform and
hat and clearly enjoys her job.

... you can sit a few feet from
the stage and listen to the likes
of the Avett Brothers for a small
cover charge.

Next door, Janice Mann sits in her
shop, Mountain Magic, where you can
buy her grandmother's hot sauce, gourmet chocolate, t-shirts, books and CBD
oil. She welcomes each visitor with a
question: "Where you from?"
And while neither woman is a
Thomas native (though Mann spent
summers in Thomas with her grandparents), both bring up Thomas-as-home
in conversation.
"I wanted to watch the fog burn off
the mountain," Mann says. "There's a
calling to come home."
Can a town built by coal, coke and the
railroad survive on the arts? Will the flow
of young entrepreneurial artists coming
to Thomas continue-and will they stay?
David Downs, real estate agent, developer and owner of Three Castle Antiques,
thinks they will. Downs moved to Thomas in 1972 and has redone four buildings
on Front and Spruce streets. He's a realist:
"Chain businesses are coming-the emphasis needs to be on where they locate-
helter-skelter is not what we want to do."
Mayor Matt Quattro believes the arts
are Thomas's future. "We're surrounded
by government land-and we don't
have the infrastructure for development."
Steve Leyh of the Tucker County Development Authority sees other possibilities based on a "flexible business campus
with open space and connecting trails to
both Thomas and Davis. I see us attracting companies who would be a good fit
with the local culture [outdoor industries], food and beverage manufacturing
[both Thomas and nearby Davis have
craft breweries], and internet technology
firms."
Located near U.S. 48 and close to
Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley State
Parks and Dolly Sods Wilderness, Thomas has a head start on many other small
mountain towns. But even without these
benefits, Thomas has a lot going for it as
it moves forward: a well-conveyed civic
story; a strong downtown; a clear sense
of community; an identity as a tolerant
haven for artists; a forward-thinking, integrated approach to development.
There's a lot to like about Thomas: a
town where a diverse and storied past is
becoming art-present.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2019