Home Care In Black Mountain, NC

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Amanda Bell has a dream to “bring yummy drinks to the masses, both healthy and delicious.”

She said she is starting to accomplish this dream through her new mobile cafe?, The Coddiwompler. First opened in July of this year, Bell and The Coddiwompler found a permanent location in Black Mountain at 108 Black Mountain Ave. earlier in November. The Coddiwompler shares a space with Voodoo Roux, a Cajun food truck that opened last year.

Bell said the name for her business comes from a word that captures how she lives her life.

“To coddiwomple means to travel purposefully towards an unknown destination, and it’s a word that I found five years ago, and it really, truly describes how I live my life,” Bell said. “I absolutely love it. It’s whimsical. It really encompasses my attitude toward the way I live my life and the way I’m running my business. And it’s a fun word to say.”

While right now Bell is focusing on coffee and tea drinks, she said she eventually wants to move into herbalism as a wellness bar as well.

“I am excited to bring that ability to create different flavor profiles to the nonalcoholic realms,” Bell said.

Bell said she worked in the food and beverage industry since she was 18 and spent the last 15 years working as a bartender and bar manager.

She said the original plan for The Coddiwompler was to create a mobile bar that capitalized on her bartending skills, but life events and trouble getting a loan pivoted her plan.

“When I had my son, I just kind of wanted to get out of the bartending gig,” Bell said. “I kind of wanted my life to not revolve around alcohol anymore, so I switched my plan over.”

Bell said the “universe provided” a path forward for her business. She said she was unable to get a traditional loan and asked around to family friends. Bell said she was able to secure an interest-free loan from a family friend to start up her business.

“It was a lot of work for nothing,” Bell said. “Then a lot of the universe just kind of came back with everything I needed.”

Part of starting up The Coddiwompler was finding a cart to operate out of. Bell said she found a cart online that was located in Maine, so she and her mother drove to Maine and back to North Carolina over the span of Mother’s Day weekend. Bell said she spent the summer getting the cart operational before she quit her job and started working on The Coddiwompler full-time.

Looking to the future, Bell said she wants to focus on helping people. As she grows her business and hires employees, she said she wants to be an employee-owned business where all employees benefit as the company grows.

She said she also wants to grow into a nonprofit and have a brick-and-mortar store with the possibility of more carts. Bell said she would like to have a full apothecary at some point. She said she also wants to start sourcing ingredients locally and making sure they are ethically grown.

“It went from I didn’t know how I would be able to do this to really formulating a dream of the future being really, really cool,” Bell said.

Bell said she enjoys working for herself and hopes to be able to continue.

“I’ve worked my tail off for other people, and it’s scary and it’s really, really hard,” Bell said. “But knowing that I can steer the ship in the direction that I think is best is really fantastic.”

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The Black Mountain Town Council unanimously voted to appoint Ryan Stone to fill the seat left by Bill Christy’s resignation.

Stone, the former vice mayor, was appointed to the council and immediately sworn in at the regular session Town Council meeting Oct. 9.

The seat was left open after Christy resigned from the council Sept. 13, citing health concerns.

Stone told Black Mountain News Oct. 11 that he felt “terrible” about Christy resigning.

“Some friends of mine in the community asked if I would be interested in coming back for a short period of time to help with that, and some of the council folks reached out and asked me if I had interest,” Stone said. “When people ask you to help, I’ve always taken the position that you help them as best you can.”

Following Christy’s resignation, the town announced it was accepting letters of interest from any Black Mountain resident to submit. Town Manager Josh Harrold told Town Council at the Oct. 11 meeting that five letters of interest had been received, from Joseph Scotto, Rick Earley, Chas Fitzgerald, Stone and Carl Bartlett.

Stone left Town Council in December 2022 after serving nine years. He was first appointed to the role and elected twice. He finished his time on the council as vice mayor after deciding not to run for reelection.

He said he did not run for reelection because “it was time for somebody new to do it,” and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“As I told people in December, I didn’t have any inclination to come back at that particular time,” Stone said. “I wanted to recharge and rest and devote time towards them that I’d missed.”

Stone, who works for the Buncombe County’s clerk office, said because of the current circumstances regarding Christy’s resignation, he felt he could commit to the little over a year this appointment requires. Stone’s newly appointed seat will be up for election in November 2024, along with three other council seats. The council member who is elected to Stone’s seat will serve a two-year term and be up for the full term in the next election.

Stone said he has no intention for running for the seat next year unless something changes “drastically.”

He said his experience in the past on the council allows him to “bring a lot of institutional knowledge” to the role.

“I’ll bring somebody that’s prepared on the issue, somebody that understands the community having been a lifelong resident, someone that’s going to listen to the professional opinions of staff respectfully, but ask pointed questions and explain why I disagree or agree,” Stone said.

Stone said he believes he has shown the town of Black Mountain what to expect from him during his nine years on the council and that is exactly what residents can expect moving forward in the next year.

“What people saw over the last nine years is who I am for better or worse,” Stone said. “That’s who I am, and I’m not afraid of it. I don’t try to be anyone else, and I think that’s exactly what they should expect of me and that’s exactly what they’ll get from me, is somebody that is prepared but tries to make the best decision they can with the information presented. If I get it wrong, I’ll be the first to admit it and try not to make that mistake again.”

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A new vintage clothing store will open in Black Mountain early next year, with owners saying they want to focus on community.

Business partners Dana Esposito and Tyler Thomas will open Black Mountain Vintage Jan. 20 at 104 Church St.

Thomas said he has been collecting and selling vintage pieces for the last few years on his own.

“I was just collecting things that I liked and just got to the point where I couldn’t wear all of it and I was finding things that didn’t suit me,” Thomas said. “I wanted to get it out there to other people.”

Thomas said he is drawn to vintage clothing because of the unique nature of each item.

“I think that every piece is unique,” Thomas said. “You walk into a normal store, it’s 20 of the same item. You have to select through a certain amount of things in different sizes where this is all different sizes and each piece is unique. Some people are going to connect to something in there, and there’s something for everybody that nobody else will have.”

For her part, Esposito said she has been coordinating events and makers markets in town where she met Thomas. She said the two started talking about what it would look like if they would be able to open a vintage shop together.

“We sort of dreamt up the vision of what we wanted the space to look like,” Esposito said. “Literally two weeks later exactly that dream became available on the market.”

Now that they have secured a former law office space, Esposito and Thomas said they had been working on the concept for around a month.

Esposito said they want to focus on bringing a community element to the shop, in addition to vintage clothes.

“It’s going to be this space of multiple local small businesses with the backdrop of the clothes,” Esposito said.

In addition to clothes, the shop will also host work from local artisans, including printmakers, potters, jewelers, body care purveyors, herbalists and more.

Esposito also said the event work she is doing will continue, and she and Thomas will start hosting different events around town under the Black Mountain Vintage umbrella. She said these events will range from pop-up shops around town to larger shows at area colleges. Esposito said she and Thomas also hope to host speakers and DJs in the space.

Thomas said his goal with the store is to give Black Mountain residents a place to go to shop where they do not have to go too far for clothes, or compete against others for a special vintage piece.

“For them to not have to go out and search through the thrift stores and go against a bunch of other people,” Thomas said. “Just to have the curated styles here, ready for all different people.”

For Esposito, she said she wants to pair the clothing with creating a space for the community to come together.

“We want to provide the community with excellent quality items, unique pieces and an excellent, wonderful space to gather and build community,” Esposito said.

Black Mountain Vintage will host a grand opening Jan. 20 at its store at 104 Church St. While regular operating hours are still being finalized, the store will be closed on Tuesdays. For more information, visit the store on Instagram at @blackmtnvintage.

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Melinda Hester has been named new executive director of the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce. She will begin her new role Jan. 1, 2024.

Board member Judi Melton described the search for a new executive director as “broad and wide.” The search started after former executive director Sharon Tabor resigned in August. Montreat Mayor Tim Helms has been serving in the role in an interim capacity and will continue through the end of the year.

Melton said Hester can “hit the ground running” and is the right fit for the Chamber of Commerce.

“The chamber has been doing a lot of work over the past several months in shaping where we want to go in the future,” Melton said. “We feel like she’s the right person to help us get there.”

Hester said she believes she has something to offer Black Mountain, and the board saw that in her.

“The Black Mountain Board of Directors felt like that I had something to offer them, and I feel like I do, too,” Hester said. “I’m very, very excited about the prospect of bringing the experience that I have to your community and promoting the businesses there. By doing that, that improves the whole community.”

For five years in the early 2000s, Hester served as executive director of the Edisto Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina. According to a news release from the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce, Hester helped grow the Edisto Chamber of Commerce membership from 85 to 150 during her tenure.

Following her time at the Edisto Chamber of Commerce, she worked in Haiti for six years as a missionary, doing administrative work at a medical facility.

When she returned from Haiti, Hester served the Edisto Island Open Land Trust as the administrator and finance officer.

“Hester’s extensive 24 year tenure in the nonprofit sector is set to breathe new life into the chamber’s aspirations,” the news release said. “Her adeptness in fundraising, event coordination and fiscal management positions her background as a driving force, poised to strength and elevate the chamber even further, guiding it toward its full potential.”

Hester said she will implement and open-door policy and invites everyone, regardless of whether or not they are a chamber member, to come talk to her should they have a compliment, question or problem.

She said while she wants to run some of her bigger ideas for the chamber by the board first, one of her first main goals is going to be to grow membership. While growing membership, Hester said she wants to focus on what the chamber can do for its members.

Hester said she is looking forward to spending more time in the area, especially when it comes to the arts and theater. She has spent time in Western North Carolina before and said she enjoyed it. Hester said she will spend her Christmas holiday in Black Mountain.

“I’m just really looking forward to enmeshing myself completely in the community and learning,” Hester said. “The people have been so gracious and so receptive to me during the time that I’ve been up there.”

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Black Mountain Primary School was recently recognized in Raleigh for working to close achievement gaps, according to a news release from Buncombe County Schools.

The release said the school was recognized as one of a set of top 10 schools in North Carolina “for closing the achievement gap between student groups for two or more years.”

Black Mountain Primary School Principal Kelly Owen told Black Mountain News achievement gaps can occur in economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and other subgroups.

“Closing the achievement gap in any of the areas is an accomplishment worth celebrating,” Owen said. “Black Mountain Primary staff work tirelessly to support and grow each and every child regardless of which subgroup they fall in. Targeting each child’s individual needs academically as well as socially and emotionally and then designing instruction through the (Multi-Tier Systems of Support) framework.”

This framework allows for students who are having difficulty in school to be given strategies that can help them with what they are having trouble with.

The news release said this top 10 distinction is also part of the National Title I Distinguished School Program, an award that “recognized schools that hold students to high standards and demonstrate exemplary school effectiveness.”

Black Mountain Primary is also an A+ school of North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, A+ schools view “the arts as fundamental to teaching and learning in all subjects” and combines interdisciplinary teaching methods with arts instruction.

Owen said the recognition at the state level has been a community-wide effort.

“This recognition is due to each and every stakeholder and the commitment they have to our school,” Owen said. “As a community school in the tight-knit small town of Black Mountain, we are fortunate to have overwhelming community and parent support. Black Mountain Primary always strives to be a positive environment conductive to student learning.”

Owen said the recognition is for Black Mountain Primary School, but is an indication of the work that is being done across Buncombe County Schools.

In the news release, Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson said he is “proud” of the faculty and staff of Black Mountain Primary School for the work that has been put into receiving this recognition.

“This is a special honor for the Warponies and representative of the work happening across our school system,” Jackson said. “The teachers and staff of Black Mountain Primary are dedicated to student success. With the help of supportive families and community members, the school is demonstrating that achievement gaps can be narrowed and closed.”

Owen said it is essential for the school to close achievement gaps and provide “a caring, respectful and safe learning environment.”

“We are committed to enabling students to reach their highest potential by embracing each child’s unique learning style, building character and integrity and preparing active and positive contributors in our community by building collaborative problem solvers and critical thinkers,” Owen said. “As a caring and safe community, Black Mountain Primary builds meaningful memories with all students, parents and staff to prepare learners for success.”