- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- August 2002
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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tar heel towns
Rutherfordton
/
Ionic to tlic only private mint ever operated in the Southeast, this
Rutherford County town attracts a new generation of merchants
on a mission to revitalize the downtown historic district
with a careful blending of old and new.
by Susan I . Comi k
From the ice-cream parlor emerge
two sets of young, cone-clad
hands, homemade peach in one,
pistachio in the other. Across the street,
Mom gathers stick candy and flypaper
as the hardware store's wooden floors
creak beneath her. Next door to the
courthouse, law clerks and laborers
alike congregate at the local tavern
in search of spirited banter.
A visitor to downtown
Rutherfordton could easily be
transported from 2002 to 1902
but for a few minor details that
give away the century. For
instance, guests at the antebellum
Carrier houses arrive on four tires
rather than four hooves. Anil the
mail that emanates from the old
Federal Building — once the post
office — reaches its destination not
by wagon but by computer.
ГЪе
storefronts .thing cither side of
Main Street have faced each other for
100 years. And while the names and
faces have changed, the foundation
remains the same. Sure. Rutherfordton s
downtown historic district is quaint and
picturesque, but it's not the Victorian
towers or tin roofs that make this
friendly foothills community special —
it’s the people.
A taste of the good life
A missed turn landed Dan and l.ynn
liegeman in Rutherfordton for the
first time. They liked it so well that
they vowed to return on purpose. And
when the Carrier I louses Bed and
Breakfast was placed on the market,
18 Our Stale Align* 2002
they jumped at the opportunity to stay
for good. "We felt it was meant to
be,“ laughs l.ynn Hegcman, whose
favorite architectural feature is the
cozy front porch on the Carrier-
McBraycr House. “We always wanted
to have a big porch to sit on," says the
former l.ong Island resident.
Tinsmith/carpenter Harvey Carrier
arrived in Rutherfordton in IS22.
seeking a better climate for his
asthma. In 1835, he built a two-story
Federal
reek Revival-style home,
known today as the Carrier McBraycr
House. An adjacent, side-gabled
Queen Anne-stylc guesthouse
constructed by Carrier in 1879 —
later occupied by his son and then by
his daughter — is referred to as the
Carrier- Ward House. The North Main
Street properties, attached by a walk¬
way. are listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. “I love the
tower on the Ward house," says
I legeman. “It really serves no func¬
tional purpose except to hold a
Christmas tree. I don't know why the
room was built, but I sometimes let
my imagination wander."
Kevin Schilling's imagination
wanders among such concoctions as
Coconut Almond Joy, Black Cow, and
Cinnamon Bun — icecream flavors
he creates and sells from an 1897
storefront two blocks away. At Doc's
I lonu-madc Ice Cream, you get just
what the doctor ordered — Kevin's
wife Anna is a pediatrician. Tired of
Chicago’s fast pace, the Schillings put
out feelers in the Tar Heel State
Rutherfordton and seized the opportunity to
relocate to this town of 4.100. “It
was a very fast decision,” says Kevin
Schilling, noting that their new
lifestyle contrasts dramatically to
their old one. The one thing he
couldn’t give up, however, was
the homemade ice cream he'd
grown up with in a 1930s-era
Illinois parlor. So with praline dreams
and vanilla visions, the Schillings
scooped up the old Stanley’s
Department Store building and started
cranking out their own premium
product made with fresh fruit and
pure Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla
extract. Since the parlor's April open¬
ing. the Doc’s staff — attired in color¬
ful scrubs — has been inundated
with prescriptions.
The I legemans and the Schillings arc
representative of a new generation of
merchants on a mission to revitalize
downtown Rutherfordton with a care¬
ful blending of old and new. Underway
are a courthouse renovation, the con¬
struction of a regional children’s inter¬
active museum, and new developments