Kim Wilbanks

It’s just a tiny dot on a map not unlike thousands of other tiny dots on a map of the United States. This tiny dot happens to be in the far, northwest corner of North Carolina — about an hour south of the Virginia state line and thirty minutes east of the Tennessee state line. It’s a small corner of America but it is so important to me.

Welcome To The High Country

I was first introduced to the high country of North Carolina back in 1986. I was a newlywed when my younger brother graduated from high school and decided to attend college at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. 

I had visited Maggie Valley, North Carolina, a couple of hours south, a few times, including on my honeymoon, but I had never been to the high country. In college, I had heard of students going snow skiing at Beech Mountain (Ski Beech) but I didn’t know much else about the high country of North Carolina. 

That all changed when my brother started college. My parents bought a small condominium on Sugar Mountain, close to Boone and ASU his freshman year.  They wanted a place to stay when they came to visit him and being near some beautiful golf courses was a bonus. At the time, they were both avid golfers, my mother especially.

My parents made many trips to the condo on Sugar Mountain. They went with golfing buddies, my grandmother, and other friends. They let us use the condo with our friends and later, our children. I have pictures of my preschool children playing in the snow piled up in the parking lot. 

My brother graduated from Appalachian State University and decided to stay in the mountains. 

Who could blame him? It was beautiful there and a lot cooler than his hometown in Florida. He didn’t mind the cold winters, in fact, they were good for him because snow skiing was his passion.

After he had been married a couple of years, and had welcomed a baby boy, he and his wife bought a house with additional acreage on the backside of Beech Mountain. There was plenty of land for my parents to build a log cabin just up from their house and close to their new grandson. So, in 1995, our family began making years and years of memories in the log cabin on John Erwin Road. You can read about those memories here.

My mom and dad thoroughly enjoyed the mountain house. They spent a lot of time there with friends and family. They would spend time in the summer, playing golf and taking grandkids on adventures like hikes on the property or gem mining. My grandmother was a regular visitor as well. I distinctly remember hearing her rocking chair rocking back and forth when my family occupied the lower level of the cabin.

Autumn In The Mountains

I think Mom and Dad enjoyed autumn the most. 

My husband and I spent two weeks in the mountains with them in the fall before my son started kindergarten. It was one of the first times I got to witness the beautiful changing colors of the leaves; something we don’t see in Florida. Once my children were in school, we didn’t make it up to the mountains as much. There were a few years when we spent Thanksgiving with my brother in North Carolina but he eventually moved away and that no longer made sense. It wasn’t until our kids were in high school that my husband and I started meeting my parents at the mountain house for a long weekend in the fall. Once we had an empty nest, we started staying for longer periods of time. Now, October is one of our favorite times of the year (although this year is a bit more chilly than we like).

It is impossible to spend time up here and not think of my parents. Everywhere I look, there is a reminder of them. It is a bittersweet time since it is the first fall without both of them. 

Autumn for my parents meant:

• fires in the fireplace
• visiting the local winery with friends and family
• rounds of golf
• chili simmering on the stove
• homemade apple pie
• sitting at a crowded corner table at Oktoberfest enjoying brats and beer
• eating Brunswick Stew and drinking hot apple cider at the Valle Fair in Valle Crucis
• watching the woolly worms race at the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk
• enjoying the cooler weather and changing colors with friends and family

The last time my mom and dad enjoyed fall in the mountains was in October of 2019. It was such a fun time. They had friends up with them. My husband and I stayed nearby and both of our children and their spouses came for a weekend. Some good friends of ours along with my husband’s sister and brother-in-law were there part of the time. My mom’s sister and her family were at her house farther up the mountain at the same time. It was like a big, week-long house party. Thankfully, we didn’t know what was looming just around the corner.

Mountain Memories

I’ve been thinking about my mom and dad a lot the three weeks we’ve been up here. So much nostalgia. When we drive by the winery, I think about all the times they sat with friends enjoying a glass in the crisp mountain air. I think about them as I stir my pot of chili. My husband even bought me some Mutsu apples that my father preferred to cook with.

We went to Octoberfest at Sugar Mountain a couple of weeks ago and it just wasn’t the same. When I looked at the long corner table by the window, I didn’t see strangers, I saw my mom and dad with a table full of friends and family laughing and enjoying themselves. I saw my mom’s (and my) cousin/friend dancing to the Oompah band. This weekend at the Valle Fair I saw my mother getting my dad situated at a table under the big white tent and then going to fetch them bowls of Brunswick Stew. Of course, my dad was wearing his green hat.

I suppose I will always feel a sense of nostalgia when I am in this tiny corner of the world. I’m sure the memories will always be a little bittersweet. But, my husband and I are making new memories. We have our own place now for us and our children to enjoy with each other and with friends. We are enjoying our own traditions as well like going to trivia night at a local eatery on Tuesday nights and listening to Bluegrass Music at another local restaurant at lunch on Thursdays.  We have made friends up here, friends who we look forward to seeing each season.

As long as we are physically able and as long as the Lord allows, we will enjoy spending time in this very special, tiny little dot of a place on the map. I’m so thankful my parents introduced us to it. Their memory and a little bit of their spirit will always be here with us in the high country.

How about you? Do you have a special place you return to again and again? A place that is special to your family? I would love to hear about it.