With Grace and Grit: Six months after Helene struck, Lansing is reinventing itself, again

A few decades ago, the High Country town of Lansing was a struggling former train stop. But this century, it has seen a revival, thanks to new residents and businesses. 

Then, Helene washed away much of the progress. Six months after the storm, Lansing is again looking to make a comeback.

Most mountain folks knew the storm heading for them that Friday morning in late September would be bad. But they didn’t think it would be as consequential as Helene turned out to be. 

“I’ve never seen it up that far and I hope to never see it again. I’m really anymore afraid to go to bed when the creek’s getting up," says Stikes Hollow resident Mae Medley.

“There was a refrigerator about 15 feet up in a tree," says quilter Laurie Wichryk Wilson.

“I lived through Hurricane Hugo, and this was 10 times worse," says Mark Nettles of the Lansing Volunteer Fire Department.

“We had no communication, no internet, no anything. That is the worst feeling in the world not being able to find out how everybody is," says artist Chris Bettini.

“Within a matter of 30 minutes the water inside my store was 5 feet," says business owner Shelby Tramel.

Standing in her business, Old Orchard General Store, days after the storm, Tramel fretted over how long it would take to reopen.

“We essentially are having to take this place down to the studs," she said in October. "It could take six plus months to get this store back open.”

As it turns out, Tramel was able to reopen in less than five months. 

Mayor Mack Powers says he’s glad the general store is back. For others on Lansing’s one-sided main street overlooking Big Horse Creek, recovery is still down the road. Some are never coming back, Powers says.

"We talk about moving from disaster to recovery and and I know that's supposed to be kind of a natural process," he says. "But for a lot of people, this is still disaster. They don't have their homes, they don't have their personal property, and they're struggling to try to get back on their feet."

Powers was born and raised in Lansing, back when it was a little depot town with a train running from the Watauga County line to Southwest Virginia. It was part of the Virginia Creeper line, a route that followed what had been a Native American footpath.

It’s cold and windy as he recalls the neighborly days when the train came through here.

“I had a story of one lady, said she would hop the train, go to town and do her shopping, or go to the doctor," he says. "And the train would wait on her to get done and come back and ride back to Lansing.”

The train service ended in 1977, and Powers says the town went into decline for more than two decades.

But in the early years of this century, things started to turn around. Powers says it started when Ashe County got high-speed internet access. That brought in a new kind of resident — early adopter remote workers looking to get away to the mountains.

"People found out they could get internet service here that was as good or better than what they had in the cities," he says. "And they could live here and work from here anywhere in the world."

Over time, businesses moved in to serve them. As Lansing reinvents itself — again — Powers says it will take more than just rebuilding. It will also take healing.

Businesses that were able to stay open in Helene’s wake shifted gears to serving the volunteers and residents in need.

Like the Liar’s Bench, a sandwich shop owned by Steven Howell. He and volunteers set up a grill and handed out free food, no questions asked. He then opened up a vacant space on the property to artists, and called it The Liar’s Loft. 

“We’re calling it a gallery for hope and healing," he says. "So it’s also a space where people from the community can come, and bring them together and hopefully help them move past this flood.”

Some of the work on display is by artist Chris Bettini. Originally from Greensboro, she and her husband moved to Lansing seeking a quieter life in the mountains.

When Helene struck, her bowls, made from rope cords, were caught up in the deluge. Some were recovered, but the floodwaters had turned the bright pastel bowls a dingy brown. At first, Bettini was unsure about putting her work back on display. But ultimately, she decided they now tell a story worth sharing.

"I just thought, what better way to show that than to show these survived? And it reminded me that these people will survive," she says. "They are strong."

Mayor Powers says the ruin caused by the flood has forced many to change their mindsets.

"People in this area are used to giving, they're much more used to giving than receiving. And that's that's been a difficult thing for a lot of us. It's harder to receive the grace than it is to give it. And if people are helping you that much, how can you not keep trying and keep going?

Despite the flash flooding and immense damage, Ashe County was spared from the high number of fatalities experienced in some other counties. Out of more than 100 deaths from Helene in N.C., one was from Ashe County: 72-year-old Shirley “Maureen” Mains of Creston.

Part two of "With Grace and Grit: A mountain community responds to Helene" airs on Wednesday, March 27, during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.