- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- November 2004
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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POS! OFFICE
tar heel people
Raising the Mast
Mending the best of old and new, John and Faye Cooper revived
Valle Crucis' Mast General Store and established the shop as an
institution, treasured by locals and visitors alike.
by John Bo ya noski
It» somewhat .amazing that John
Coeipcr. an insurance salesman from
Florida. and hi» wife, Faye, ever
bought a closed-down general vtore in
the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountain»
after jut* a handful of sisitv it» more
amazing that the Qxipcrs found the
original
Мам
C General Store in Valle
Сто»
in the first place. The tiny town,
which doesn't even have a traffic liglu.
nukes nearby Boone, with it» eclectic
shopping and abundant restaurant»,
seem like a metropolis. Ihc only road
into Valle Quo» is full of serpentine
curves, and it is so narrow that a sign
on the entrance from N.C Highway
194 warns trucks longer than 33 feet to
avoid the road entirely.
Once found, the original Mast
Ccner.il Store i» not much to look at
when seen from the road. The building
seems to slant in on itself. Ihere's an
old, battered Fsso sign and a gas pump
out front. Another sign proudly
proclaims tlut the store elates back to
1883. A gravel road leads to a parking
lot out back, where ancient Coca-Cola
and hardware advertisements lung
along the porch. There arc rusted nvct.il
bars on the windows.
But something about this rustic site
caught John Cooper's eye when he and
a friend were looking at North Carolina
property Kick in 1976.
“I was fascinated by this store,”
Cooper says. “It was like a trip hack in
time. My mother grew up in a small
town in West 4'irginu. I could inugme
that this was the type of store she would
have seen.”
Friends dragged Cooper from the
store that day. but when he returned
with Faye a few years later, the couple
found the property was for sale.
“I | u»t thought it was fascinating.”
Faye says. “When it looked like it was
for sale. I said -Go fork.*”
Coopers’ town
The Coopers are native Floridians
who met while studying at the
University of South Florida in the early
I960». In the ‘70s. they were living in
Winterpark, Florida. |ust outside
Orlando. Florida, when they decided to
buy live Mast property. John was a
Store owners John and Faye Cooper
welcome visitors to the Mast
Goneral Storo in Vallo Crucis.
Atavmbrr
ДВД
Our Stale 33
