For the past year, we have featured stories of Western North Carolina to remember the dire needs of our Appalachian neighbors, adopting the Chimney Rock connection. This month marks one year since the historic flood of Hurricane Helene, and due to the biblical increase of disasters all over, we have decided to end the series focusing on WNC only. Normal isn’t coming back; Jesus is! Our anniversary feature this month holds another namesake – Linville Creek in Vilas, NC, ten minutes west of Boone in Watauga County. Meet Gray Shipley, a business-minded, personable owner of the sesquicentennial Shipley beef farm – a livestock operation that shifted gears to specialty branding and agritourism to remain profitable as a family farm in recent years.
Gray relays the history of the 152-year-old farm, purchased by his great, great grandfather Nathan Shipley from his wife Sarah’s family in 1872. Though primarily cattle, their legacy included sheep and tobacco in years past. His grandad, Robert Gray Shipley, was a vocational ag teacher and FFA advisor who retired from teaching around age 70 and farming about 90. When R. G. turned 101 and his wife of 71 years had passed at age 96, he decided he was bored with retirement and wanted to get back into the cattle business. R. G.’s mind was sharp until the day he passed at age 103, and he even transcribed stories that were later compiled in a book titled, “Here by the Owl” by a family member, Evan Peter Smith. Gray proudly recalls, “he always had something that was driving him to do, improve on, learn, and keep pushing forward.”
The day the storm hit, September 27, 2024, at an altitude of 2,900 feet, the Shipleys experienced eight mud slides, fences destroyed, pastures washed away and filled with boulders, rocks, and silt, wind damage to a barn, and a tornado that ripped the roof off a rental property. “We have remnants of hurricanes that flow through on occasion and we just kind of anticipate a rainy day, that’s all we were expecting and prepared for.” Their four-inch creek rose to six or eight feet deep that flooded their farm store and office. For small businesses that survived, the secondary, hidden costs through loss of income caused the bigger, sustaining impact. Asheville restaurants and those around Boone lost volume of leaf peepers in the tourist season. In his booming, baritone voice, Gray Shipley urges that “Come back!” is the general message of WNC to regain any sense of normalcy.
In the aftermath, something special transpired. Gray recounts, “Where we sit here in this little valley, there are only three roads that go in and out, and all of them were blocked for a few days. And of course, the power was out, we had no cell phone signal; we had no communication with the outside world. It kind of felt like we were back in the 1800s! We were completely cut off, we were just left to ourselves. We met more neighbors in the area here in ten days than we met in ten years.” A neighbor to the Shipleys who installs septic tanks used his little backhoe to fix a bridge, smooth out a driveway where a neighbor couldn’t get out, and took trees off the road and powerlines. Meetings were held on the porch of a real estate agent where connections were made to meet needs, such as restoring power for an oxygen tank by piecing equipment together from several neighbors.
The Shipleys moved their flooded office desk into the yard, erected a tent, and became a little outpost for their community. People dropped off water, snacks, diapers, flashlights, batteries, generators, etc. Although Wi-Fi was restored to their farm ahead of others, Gray explains that the 1800s vibe continued. “Once one of the roads got opened up, it kind of felt like that – you’d meet somebody, ‘oh, you’ve been to town, what’s it like?’ I haven’t been to town yet; I don’t know what’s going on there. Someone who’d been to town was somebody you wanted to meet and talk to and learn about their experience.” He soon figured out that he was able to relay information with a radio and limited cell reception on top of a hill, sending and receiving texts, an occasional phone call, and relaying to his sister in Charlotte what she could bring and what roads were open if she was able to come. It took about a week and a half for the outside world to arrive, but the support was tremendous from locals, volunteers from Hickory and beyond, just showing up with skid steers, heavy equipment, and diesel fuel. Gratefully and commendingly, Gray shares, “Samaritan’s Purse, right here in Boone, had volunteers for months all up and down the valley here, as well as Baptist Men on Mission and Perkinsville Church”.
Appalachian State University carried the Shipley farm through the unusually cold, dreary winter by purchasing ground beef and sausage. Gray feels that WNC was featured in the news cycle for about two weeks, the election took over, and that the last thing people heard was the governor’s message not to come. He stresses, “While there are some areas that still need time to rebuild, in Boone, Blowing Rock, Watauga County, and throughout most of WNC, the biggest thing we need is to get back to normal – tourism traffic to make this work.” The Shipley farm sells online, offering subscription boxes, and is currently offering free shipping on orders over $150. On site, they host tours, Valley View at Linville Creek farm stays, and other activities. In the footsteps of the tenacious R. G. Shipley, Gray and company have pressed on through difficulties to maintain the heritage of a family mountain farm. Check them out at https://shipleyfarmsbeef.com/.
