EVERYBODY WANTS COMMUNITY

Kathy Hendricks lives in the Paw Paw community of Madison County and is the owner of Country Places Reality in Marshall. She was part of the first influx of new people that migrated to Madison in the 1970s. In this conversation Kathy reflects on what brought her to Madison County and some of the changes she sees happening.

Kathy Hendricks: I grew up in Brevard, a small town just south of here, where everybody knew my family and knew who I was. It was like growing up with a thousand parents. I grew up with a big sense of community and small town values and that plays a big part in how I feel today. I grew up with the Pisgah National Forest as my backyard. Everybody in Brevard was attached to the National Forest and I can remember riding up in the Forest with my grandparents. We always took picnics up in the Forest or on the East Fork River. My dad would fly-fish all day long and we’d have a designated place where we were all going to meet. Mama had the fire hot and the pan ready when he got there. And there was always trout to eat. We’d stay until way past dark. Sometimes they’d wake me up off the blanket and we’d go home.

One of the things my parents did, whenever I would misbehave, their main threat in the world was, “if you don’t behave we’re going to take you to bloody Madison County and just let you out somewhere.” So, it’s kind of funny that I just couldn’t wait to get over here where all the bad people lived.

My best friend and I always had the dream of having a farm, raising a garden. We were attracted to these rustic houses with boxwoods in front. That was a common bond that has held us together forever. So when she, kind of by accident, answered an ad and rented in the Big Pine and Little Pine parts of Madison County, I loved it. She loved it. When I came in here, this place was fifty years behind the times. The main things that resonated with me were the fields, the barns, and the farmers; farmers tilling land with horses and mules. I came in time to know Collie Payne and Berry the steer on Big Pine. I was right in time for all of that and it spoke deeply to me about the lifestyle I wanted to live.

The two farms that I’ve bought here on Doe Branch and High Schoal Branch have furthered my ideas of home. In Madison I’ve been surrounded by a group of people who have made the same choices as I did for choosing to move here. We are in the same area for the same reasons. As people began to meet each other in the middle to late 1970s and later, a food co-op grew out of the need for better quality and cheaper food. There was community quilting. People had similar lifestyles, similar problems, and similar experiences. The gardening. Working with animals. People had a similar purpose. A very strong community and strong bonds grew out of it.

Madison County was definitely a Mecca for the back-to-the-land people, and still is. There were already people living the lifestyle that these back-to-the-landers embraced and they had the skills down pat. That was a big pull. There are stories of all the local people and the hippies they adopted. We sometimes replaced their children who were leaving and going off to make a living. And we were interested in carrying on the skills that they had. We had a genuine interest and respect for the skills that they had that maybe their sons and daughters didn’t need any more in the direction they were headed. There was a whole group of people who, at the right time, came into a county that had been physically isolated for a long time. It was a perfect fit in that way.

We all came from that shining Sixties-Seventies era where we felt unified as a certain group. I think that shaped my feelings of what is safe, of what is home to me. Home means physical safety, as well as, spiritual and mental well being. I want my home/land to support me. Things like gravity-flow spring water. Good garden spots to grow food. Sturdy shelter. For me, home is a place of refuge in a comfortable community.

I’ve seen big changes just since I got here, as I’m sure a lot of other people have. The local people have seen major changes too. There’s new people coming from completely different backgrounds that are not part of the back-to-the-land lifestyle, who do not value land stewardship. I’ve had to make my peace with what’s happening and it has been a struggle. I came from Brevard, where I saw that accelerated, unchecked growth destroy the town. The town lost its identity. It lost its local people. Anytime you flood strangers into a place that can happen. I had a fear of that happening to Madison County.

I’ve always hoped for and have been rewarded with people who come into my real estate office who, for the most part, are exactly the people I want to live around. I’ve thought, “Let me attract the people I want to work with.” And that’s happened. Everybody in their soul wants community. Everybody wants that safe place. I think that’s a universal feeling. So, the people that have been coming into our area feel that, and even now, a lot of them are coming in here for that.
But some people have no sense of what the mountains are about. They love the views. They love the mountains. They love the quaint towns and the quaint people. And they will love us to death if we allow it. They will literally love this place into what they just left. I try to educate people about what the mountains can accept; about land stewardship values; making sure we don’t overbuild; about keeping it pleasant for everybody. We don’t need to love it to death. I have a positive feeling that Madison County is going to step up and get some regulations in place that will help us navigate this rampant growth that we’ve got going.

I’ve made myself be more inclusive. True diversity doesn’t mean being surrounded by people that you’re totally comfortable with. Diversity has more definitions than that and the time is coming when Madison County will have to open up. We will never be able to shut it down. We might as well embrace it. If you’re fearful or scared or hateful of the new people coming in, you’re going to draw in those very people that you don’t want in here. And after all, the craftspeople and artists and farmers need people who have money and can afford to buy their products. A lot of men are in the building trade business and new people mean more building and jobs.

I’ve got my home. I’ve got my farm. If I get homesick it’s because I hate to leave it. I moved up here for a certain lifestyle and yet I find myself working and I leave my place every day. I know other people’s property better than I know my own. The only quarrel I have is coming off that mountain every day. Coming down to the Bypass to my real estate office is totally different than how I live. My husband and I still don’t have electricity. We’re still using oil lamps. No TV. When I come into work it’s a totally different world. I just look forward to a time when I don’t have to come off the mountain any more. Madison County will always be home to me even as it changes before my eyes.