Hope Beyond Helene’s Havoc
Twisted railroad tracks and debris-filled streets are no match for the spirit of Old Fort. Photographer Stacy Reece captures the community's determination to overcome Hurricane Helene.
The wrath of Hurricane Helene and the flooding it brought to Western North Carolina have changed much of what we saw on our first visit to the town of Old Fort in 2023.
Throughout the town and across surrounding McDowell County, North Carolina, signs of devastation remain even five months later: toppled trees, debris-strewn streets, destroyed homes, upended bridges, and railroad tracks twisted like pretzels.
These photographs will show you the aftermath of the storm in the town of Old Fort, along miles of the railroad that runs beside Mill Creek into town, and up Buck Creek, which runs down the steep slopes of Woods Mountain north of Marion, McDowell’s county seat.
Yet, amid the destruction, signs of hope emerge. Camp Grier, a local institution, stands resolute, having weathered the storm with surprising fortitude. Finally, we turn our lens to the sites of Grier Village and the Catawba Vale Innovation Market, two long-planned projects meant to revitalize Old Fort’s economy. If these plans bear fruit, this town, which almost dried up in the wake of ruinous manufacturing losses, will prosper. Instead of relying on distant corporations for jobs, its people will work with assets that can’t be taken away: mountains and national forestland that will attract thousands seeking solace in the great outdoors, either astride a mountain bike or in a pair of hiking books.
This collection's images of recovery and resolve show the power of a people who come together in the face of adversity. There is nothing we cannot overcome when we have each other’s backs.
Listen to the Salvation South Deluxe podcast episode that accompanies these photographs
From 2023: Our First Visit to Old Fort
The Flooding of Mill Creek
Old U.S. Highway 70 runs eastward from Barnard Mountain and dead-ends at Main Street, on the western side of downtown Old Fort. A Norfolk Southern rail line parallels the highway. So does Mill Creek, flowing between the highway and the train tracks.
In the flooding, a second Mill Creek appeared on the other side of the tracks. The combined torrents destroyed railbeds that had been there for more than a century and twisted the tracks.
When the twin torrents reached the edge of downtown, they wiped out Spruce Street, leaving debris in their wake...
...and destroyed an entire apartment building.
When Mill Creek joined the Catawba River, it rose over its banks, leaving a foot of mud in downtown Old Fort and destroying homes like this one on Catawba Avenue.
Buck Creek Roars Down Woods Mountain
Ten miles east of Old Fort, north of the town of Marion, Buck Creek roared over its banks and wiped out almost everything in its path.
This one-minute video shows the damage along a stretch of Buck Creek.
The G5 Trail Network Takes a Hit
Seven miles of Old Fort's planned forty-two-mile network of trails, designed to connect the town to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah National Forest, had been completed when we first visited the town in 2023. But a large parking area for mountain bikers, and a trail, will be inaccessible until a temporary bridge is in place over Curtis Creek. It's scheduled to open by Memorial Day this year.
The floodwaters in Curtis Creek hit the bridge to the parking area with force that it lifted the steel-and-concrete structure off the Forest Service road and flipped it upside down. The bridge still lies in the creekbed. Plans call for the wreckage to be removed and a temporary bridge to be constructed by early summer.
At Camp Grier, a House Is Cut in Half, but the Dam Holds
At the height of the rainfall from Helene in Old Fort, a day when more than six inches of water fell, the root ball of a tree behind the director's home on Old Highway 70 gave way. The tree split the house in two while executive director Jason McDougald was inside the house. Five months later, repairs on the house continue.
Later the same day, McDougald was able to hike up the mountain to the Camp to see if the dam on Jarrett Creek, which creates Lake Refuge, where campers swim in paddle in the summertime, had held. It had, and he found the camp almost completely intact, which allowed him and his staff to create a refuge. For the next two months, displaced Old Fort residents came to Camp Grier for hot meals, hot showers, and a place to do their laundry.
But Old Fort’s Revival Continues
Two major projects, years in the planning and designed to cement the transformation of Old Fort’s economy to dependence on outdoor recreation, are still running full speed ahead.
The Catawba Vale Innovation Market
The Catawba Vale Innovation Market will transform a sixty-thousand-square-foot former furniture warehouse (above) in downtown Old Fort into a home for start-up manufacturing operations. A furniture manufacturer is already slated to start making its products there. It will also house the McDowell Chamber of Commerce, a digital film studio, and an event and hospitality center. Plus a retail food operation on the ground level. Renovations will begin in early 2026, and sometime in 2027, it should look like the architect's rendering below.
Grier Village
If the Innovation Market is designed to incubate the small businesses needed to serve an outdoor recreation economy, then Grier Village is meant to be its central destination. It will welcome and house and feed (and even brew beer for) everyone who shows up with a mountain bike, trail-running shoes, or a pair of hiking boots.
On eight hundred acres adjacent to the existing summer camp, Grier Village will include affordable housing for the local workforce. The town lacks a hotel, so the plans include short-term rental cabins for tourists.
Construction is underway every day on Copper Ridge, the part of Grier Village where those rental cabins will sit atop the ridge, over striking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Below the photo of one of the cabin sites are two renderings of what the Copper Ridge Cabins will look like. Rentals are now slated to begin in early 2026.
Cranes and dozers are also busy on the site of the Grier Village “base camp,” Welcome Center, and Education Center. Architectural renderings are below the construction-site photo.
About the author
Stacy Reece is the co-founder and chief stuff officer of Salvation South. Earlier in her career, she directed the Georgia Center of Innovation for Life Science, where she pioneered the use of social media in economic development. She was also the Director of Partnership Development for Georgia Bio. After leaving the economic development world, she taught herself to screen print and launched the home goods company, Down South House & Home. In 2021, she co-founded Salvation South with her husband, Chuck Reece. Down South House & Home relaunched Stacy's podcast series, At the Welcome Table, in 2024.
- Stacy Reecehttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/stacy_shuker/
- Stacy Reecehttps://www.salvationsouth.com/author/stacy_shuker/
