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North Carolina, Sept./October 2024: Hurricane Helene Hits
With our camper van (named Morgan) packed to the gills, we headed to North Carolina just after Labor Day 2024 for a two-month-long stay. It being hurricane season, we figured we might encounter some lively weather down there, but we never imagined that we'd be in the region when a 1000-year storm hit. We had been following weather forecasts for the Appalachians for days when CAT-4 Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida on September 26, each report more worrisome than the last. They were calling for possibly "catastrophic" rain and perhaps 80-MPH wind in WNC by Friday, and though evacuation orders were sparse we decided to decamp to central Tennessee to ride out the storm.
What befell those in the path of the hurricane--from Florida through Georgia and then up the spine of the Appalachians into western North Carolina, northeast Tennessee, and southwest Virginia--shattered many lives and reshaped the very geography of the land. We had evacuated to a farm near Nashville, and soon stories of the devastation on the other side of the Smokeys began to emerge: up to 30 inches of rain in some upland places; massive flooding of the rivers and streams that course through the narrow valleys; landslides tearing houses from foundations and closing interstates; upheavals of local roads and bridges leaving many stranded; destruction of thousands of homes and businesses; and, most tragically, the loss of many lives. We heeded the word of emergency teams there: please stay away.
It has taken us a while to write about our time in WNC last fall, especially as this past winter bore down on residents who had lost everything. But come January 2025 there was renewed hope that the clean-up and rebuilding would pick up, and when we passed through the Asheville area in March of this year we were relieved to see that the stricken towns are slowly recovering from their losses. Here then is an account of our trip to North Carolina in late 2024, a narrative that falls into two parts--before and after the storm, with a follow-up trek through some of the affected areas in Spring 2025.
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First stop on our trip south: Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD. At dawn on September 17, 1862, 87,000 Union soldiers under General McClellan and 45,000 Confederate troops under General Lee faced off here in what would become the deadliest one-day battle in American history. The final bleak showdown at Burnside Bridge forced the Confederates over Antietam Creek, thwarting Lee's march into Federal territory. Estimated combined Union and Confederate casualties: 22,717.
Our Harvest Host campsite in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia: Stone Bridge Equestrian Center
Once owned by Thomas Jefferson but now a state park, Virginia's 200-foot tall limestone Natural Bridge has been attracting tourists for centuries.
With our campsite at the KOA on the Nolichucky River in eastern Tennessee, we explored the nearby historic town center of Jonesborough, TN
Through our Harvest Hosts program, we boondocked high in the hills at Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard, Marshall, NC: That's proprietor Chuck giving us a tour of his prized muscadine vines
The little mountain town that tries: County seat of sparsely-populated Madison County, Marshall (northwest of Asheville) has struggled to attract business while retaining its Western North Carolina soul
Scenes from Henderson County, NC: County Courthouse, Hendersonville (L); orchard country (C); Justus Orchard (R)
Jump Off Rock, Laurel Park, Hendersonville, NC: "On a clear day, you can see forever...."
We became "prospectors"at the Elijah Mountain Gem Mine in Hendersonville, NC
Nellie Bee Farm, Fletcher, NC: Camping at this farm included a chance to meet the barnyard residents followed by a tour of the "fungi yard" where shitake mushroom are cultivated.
Curtis Creek Ranch Horse Rescue, Candler, NC: We camped beside the pasture
Loralei Inn of Twin Oaks Farms, Canton, NC: Harvest Hosts program gave us the opportunity to camp on this 100-acre estate (a venue for weddings and events). Special treat: Enjoying dinner in the property's antebellum-style mansion.
Making our way into the high country of WNC: Waynesville's historic downtown; Lake Junaluska Retreat Center (connected to United Methodist Church) and their campground
Great Smoky Mountains National Park and our KOA campground in Cherokee, NC: The plan was to start from the south and then approach this great iconic park from various directions
Great Smoky Mountains NP: Sluice at Mingus Mill and elk at Oconoluftee Visitor Center. Reintroduced by the park service in 2001-02, the elk herd here now numbers around 200.
September 24, 2023, Great Smoky Mountains NP: With Hurricane Helene gaining strength in the gulf, we took advantage of clear weather to drive up to Clingman's Dome (elevation 5,630 feet). Soon we were driving through mountain clouds.
Trail to Clingman's Dome: An emergency truck passed us and then parked just below the observation tower. Two National Park officers put on backpacks and tactical gear. Their mission: to find a hiker who had gone missing on the nearby Appalachian Trail.
Observation deck, Clingman's Dome: Visibility from the space-age styled deck was, oh, maybe 100 feet. Storm a' comin'!
Wed., 9/25: Loaded with provisions, we were going to ride out the storm at a campground near the Little Tennessee River in Franklin, TN. But the road down into that holler was already flooding from advance bands of rain. Time to bail!!!
Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 11:10 p.m., Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm (140-mph winds) in a remote area of Florida's Big Bend and moved swiftly through Georgia toward the southern Appalachians, reaching Western North Carolina the next day.
We found safe harbor during and just after Hurricane Helene at these great Harvest Hosts campsites in Tennessee: Cross Creeks Farm in Shelbyville (left and center), and The Farm on Federal in Ocoee (right).
Friday, Sept. 27, 2024: Safe in our camper van Morgan on the farm in Shelbyville, we spent the day scouring the internet for information on the storm. Maps laced with red to indicate street closures told the story of Hurricane Helene's destructive path. The roads leading into the campground that we had just evacuated back in Franklin, NC were now under water.
Asheville, NC: The French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers that meet just outside the Biltmore Estate had risen to historic levels. The city was an island now, nearly every roadway impassable. Interstate 26 to the north was closed, and a massive landslide on I-40 near the NC-TN border had occurred.
The tiny town of Marshall, NC, where we had stayed in early September, was overwhelmed by the raging French Broad River. When the waters receded, the town was buried in mud.
Before and After: View from our campsite at the KOA on the Nolichuky River in Jonesboro, TN where we had stayed on September 8 while en route to NC, and the same campground after Hurricane Helene hit. This family-owned business is "closed until further notice."
We hovered in southeast Tennessee, hoping that we'd soon resume our travels through North Carolina's mountains, but reports of widespread devastation there held us back. The Blue Ridge Parkway and the road through Great Smoky Mountains NP were closed.
Pictured here are sites from eastern Tennessee: the Ocoee River gorge and the Community Amish/Mennonite farm market in Delano.
Over a week after the hurricane we were still on hold, now relocated to Blue Ridge in northwest Georgia, but we finally resolved it was time to head back to our home base in Connecticut.
Stops on our way back to the Northeast: Harvest Hosts campsite at Harkness Edwards Vineyards, Winchester, KY; walking tour of Ohiopyle, PA; and camping out on the property of Rohrbach's Farm Market, Catawissa, PA, another Harvest Host location.
Fast-forward to March 2025, when our travels brought us back, briefly, to the Asheville area of North Carolina. We could see that through an invigorated government response, together with the unfailing efforts of countless volunteer and non-profit organizations, the region was recovering. Interstate 40, the main truck route through NC, had just reopened, saving the need for long detours. The rivers and streams were now clear of debris, and massive piles of wreckage lined the bulldozer-tracked brownfields where homes and business once stood. Notably, volunteers from Amish communities in Pennsylvania have built houses here for those who lost everything, and the ministry-based Samaritan Purse has maintained a continuous workforce to help the state's affected residents in every way imaginable. Still, signs of Hurricane Helene are everywhere, especially in hard-hit places like the town of Swannanoa.
The Swannanoa River (L), back in its banks after destroying large tracts of its namesake town.
KOA Campground Asheville-East in Swannanoa, which had a prized location on the banks of the Swannanoa River, is in ruins.
Look around and you will notice many RVs and trailers, like these units in Swannanoa, where some of those who lost their homes in Hurricane Helene now working towards better times.
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