- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- October 2011
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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_^j Hidden Hills
The views of die Snowbird Mountains captivated Robert Rankin
some 30 years ago. I Ie couldn’t stay away and now calls diem home.
Written by JERI ROWE • Photography by EMILY CHAPLIN AND CHRIS COUNCIL
ROBERT RANKIN LIVES ATTHE TOP of a mountain
in southwestern North Carolina. Up four twisting curves,
at nearly 3,000 feet, he owns and operates Snowbird
.Mountain Lodge. Almost every morning, he's at the
front desk, the tall gut’ in the comfortable clothes.
I le starts conversations, gives directions, talks history,
and sa« often, "Mother Nature will take care of you."
Rankin has owned die Snowbird for 16 years, so he
knows every inch of his IOO acres. He looks out his
windows i»st beyond the rocking chairs, and (mints
out the 17 peaks of die Snowbird Mountains, named by
the Cherokee.
Then, he tells you to just go. I le has suggestions, but
really, you don’t need to go far. He tells you to hike the
places on the property, (daces with names like Sunrise
Point and Sunset Deck, where you discover all kinds of
things: a gong, a hammock, two praying angels made of
corrugated tin, and two pairs of tiny footprints frozen in
a sidewalk.
Or he tells you to walk past his screen door and a
I to Oc* State October 301 1