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d e p a r t m e n t :
MOUNTAIN CUISINE A place to eat where water and railroad meet
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n what can be fondly described as in the middle of nowhere, The Riverside Restaurant at Brownwood is an outpost of bluegrass and fried fish along the shore of the New River. The closest things around this little treasure in Todd, N.C., are cows and canoes, which should draw rather than deter diners. The restaurant was once the R.T. Greer and Company Root and Herb Warehouse, which was the nation’s largest dealer of crude botanicals in 1928, according to the National Register of Historic Places. The Blue Ridge Mountains were known for their abundance of natural resources, including roots and herbs. Small-scale gatherers typically sold to small general stores. Warehouses dedicated to the industry were rare and tended to be in larger towns with established trading centers—hence the location of Greer’s warehouse in Todd was unusual. The warehouse was a branch of the company, which was headquartered in Marion, Va., and connected via the VirginiaCarolina rail line. The Riverside is on Railroad Grade Road. At the warehouse, herbs were separated and stored until there was sufficient quantity to bale. Herbs were thrown from the second floor down through a square hole and into the baling apparatus. Bales were then loaded on to the train for shipment. When the rail line from West Jefferson, N.C. to Todd closed in 1933, the warehouse shifted to truck transportation, which lasted until the warehouse closed in 1945. Head to The Riverside for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The menu ranges from chicken biscuits to a chef’s salad with homemade dressing, from a hand-packed third of a pound burger to grilled salmon filet. The fried fish is hard to pass up though, particularly served alongside fresh lemonade and sweet potato fries. Saturday and Sunday bring a breakfast buffet, with a lunch buffet on Sunday
‘A GATHERING IN’ OF TRADITIONAL FARE The last weekend of September brings Mountain Heritage Day in Cullowhee, N.C., and each year home preserved canned, baked and dried goods are part of “A Gathering In,” the festival’s celebration of traditional foods. Canned goods, honey, and heritage foods are entered just a few days prior to the festival, while baked goods arrive the day before for judging. Winners are announced at the festival, which is held on the Western Carolina University campus. Ribbons are awarded in youth and adult divisions for each category, and an overall grand champion is named. For more information about the festival—a combination old-fashioned mountain fair and showcase for
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eat at:
The Riverside Restaurant 7181 Railroad Grade Road • Todd, N.C. 336.877.4847
SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO
too. Don’t plan on eating too late—The Riverside stops serving dinner at 8 p.m. Check the schedule for live music or storytelling, though there’s entertainment enough to be had checking out the historic photos upstairs, letting the kids play a game of tag in the wide open fields, or strolling down to the bank of the New River. There’s even Wi-Fi.
Southern Appalachian music, arts, dance and song held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 29—and “A Gathering In,” visit wcu.edu or call 828.227.7129.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY’S BREWING BOOMTOWN Asheville has grown from a town with a taste for mountain moonshine to an international destination for beer lovers, renowned as Beer City, USA, in less than twenty years. Eleven established breweries operate within the city limits and another five call Western North Carolina home. At least six more are in the planning stages, including beer giant Sierra Nevada Brewing, which recently chose the area as a locale for its new East Coast brewery. Learn about the history of ales and lagers in Asheville starting with a
SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 4
murderous downtown rampage by a drunken desperado at the turn of the 20th century. Anne Fitten Glenn’s book Asheville Beer, An Intoxicating History of Mountain Brewing is due out this fall. It includes the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald writing at The Grove Park Inn while downing up to thirty beers a day. It includes one brewery pouring thousands of gallons of “not right” beer into the city’s sewers, a burgeoning brewery on the wrong side of the tracks (literally), one that fought a small town’s laws to open, and more. Glenn has been writing about beer and the beer business since 2005. Her work appears at CraftBeer.com, the national Brewers Association’s on-line magazine. Glenn also developed and teaches Beer Education classes to servers and to the beer-loving public.