Below are a collection of brief spotlights and special features on various Fairview Forest property owners — their hobbies, careers, and websites including interesting places they've been and exciting things they've done. Do you or someone you know on the Mountain have a story to share? Let us know. Special Feature Mountain Resident Made Military History in Iraq
The war in Iraq is officially over, but it's still never far from Stacie Litsenberger's mind. Before the Fairview Forest resident retired from the Army in 2010 as a major, she was deployed three times in combat zones. As commander of a medical detachment unit in Iraq, she made military history by being the first to use skilled therapy dogs to help troops battle stress.
Today Stacie is an occupational therapist (OT) at Mission Hospital, doing what she loves to do — making a difference in the lives of people who need help.
Special Feature Blacksmithing: Turning Metal Into Functioning Art
If you're walking anywhere near Dogwood Forest Road, you just might hear the distinctive ringing sound of a hammer beating metal. That's David Shultz, Fairview Forest's resident blacksmith.
As one of the craftsmen at the mountain's first annual craft fair a few weeks ago, David set up a forge outside the clubhouse, fired it up and showed off his skill turning metal into functional art.
Special Feature Critter Cam Catches Animals in Motion
Using remote cameras with motion sensors, residents Al Petteway and Amy White have captured stunning video of the wild animals that share this mountain with us humans.
In August the couple set up three cameras on private property at the top of the mountain by a stream, spring and den. The cameras — one of them takes stills — record images during the day and night whenever they sense movement.
Special Feature How One Homeowner Roughed It
While Building a House
As pioneers of Fairview Forest, Ray and Pat Reynolds know all about roughing it. They and their family lived primitively for seven months without running water and most modern conveniences while Ray was building their house.
The Reynolds purchased 3.35 acres at the end of Black Oak Forest Road even though they had to hike to the property because the road had been washed out and was overgrown. Looking back on those house-building days, Ray said he was proud of what he had built. "It was hard work, but very satisfying," he said.
Special Feature Celebrating 33 Years On the Mountain
In the summer of 1978, three couples who did not know each other relocated to the Mountain to enjoy an idyllic setting — a serene, somewhat solitary, and most definitely independent lifestyle in what is now Fairview Forest. Back then, the entrance was marked by a large carved arrowhead. Saplings, brilliantly colored wildflowers, and swaying unmowed grass lined the roads.
Special Feature It's Motorcycle Mania for this Breezy Rider
When it comes to motorcycling fun, nobody on the Mountain takes it more seriously than George Pittard.
His passion for riding goes far beyond the freedom of the open road. He rides escort at military funerals, assists injured motorcyclists, does outreach ministry in biker bars and teaches classes in motorcycle safety and awareness.
"I love riding and all that it has brought me," said George. "It's the most Zen thing anyone can do. It's the freedom of the wind in your face. It's an andrenaline rush. It's you and nature."
Special Feature Amy White's Cat Angels
For all her talent as an award-winning composer, recording artist and performer, Fairview Forest resident Amy White has forged a new creative endeavor — as a published author.
Through her love of photography and her love of cats, Amy has produced the stunningly visual and charmingly whimsical Cat Angels: The Secret Lives of Cats. The colorful hardcover gift book is an imaginative flight of fancy that fuses her musings on felines with digital photographic imagery of winged cats to create an enchanting alternate reality.
Special Feature Recollections of the Blizzard of March, 1993
Would The Big Storm Happen? It was Friday, March 12th, 1993, and we were finishing another week of work and wondering whether the major snow storm that had been forecast for the previous four days would actually materialize. We travelled straight home this time with no problem and watched as the snow ended at 5:30 pm with only about an inch having accumulated. Snow began again at 6 pm and continued at a moderate intensity through midnight with 5.8 inches on the ground by then. Then the snow became heavy and the temperatures plunged.
Special Feature Climbing the World's Tallest Mountain
Fairview Forest resident Jeffrey Wasserman set his sights on a lofty goal — climbing to the base camp of Mt. Everest. He reached his objective, which was nestled on a glacier at a breathtaking elevation of 17,600 feet. But it sure wasn't easy. He had to push himself to the limit while enduring bitter cold, lashing winds, oxygen-poor altitude and a severe lung infection.
Wasserman trained for six months for the trip. Carrying a 25-pound backpack, he hiked up and down the Mountain several times a week. Starting from his house, he walked to the end of Fairview Forest Drive, then down to the mailboxes, up to the top of the mountain and then back to his house — a six-mile hike.
The Green Space Committee built a 16-foot-long bridge over Trantham Creek during the summer of 2010 to make it easier for hikers and cyclists to cross the rocky stream. The mile-long green space trail, which starts at a cairn across from the intersection of Chestnut Forest Road and Fairview Forest Drive, traverses the stream at several points. Strategically placed rocks make crossing the creek fairly easy. However, there is one area, about 200 yards below Black Oak Forest Road, where it's much more difficult to get across.
Special Feature Bill Sanches: Off Flying Again, Soon
Bill Sanches has piloted everything from a single-engine trainer to a B-52 bomber, and eventually he'll be flying his own plane — one that he started building in the basement of his house on White Oak Forest Road.
"It's been fun and challenging," said Sanches who lives with his wife Joyce near Houston but spends several months a year in their second home on the Mountain. "I've spent at least two thousand hours working on the plane and will probably spend another thousand before I can test fly it."
When it's completed, he will have built a 24-foot-long, single-engine, four-seat aircraft made of metal and fiberglass composite with a 32-foot wingspan. "This is something I really want to accomplish."
Someone who enjoys his Bud Light has turned a spot on Fairview Forest's pristine green space into his own personal dumping ground.
For nearly three years, the Beer Bottle Bonehead has been tossing his empty 22-ounce bottles of Bud Light into the same area — beyond the telephone pole across from the intersection of Dogwood Forest Road and Fairview Forest Drive. The bottles are landing on the bank near the lower end of the green space trail that follows Trantham Creek.
Two washouts occurred in the community in 1977, one in April and another in November, near Maple Forest Road and the main road. Ditch lines were overwhelmed by rainfall, plugged with debris and as a result, there was extensive damage. There was no homeowners' association at the time and the few residents that lived above the washout points on the Mountain back then had no way in or out for days. This reminds us the necessity and benefits of having an excellent roads program with well-maintained roads, ditches, and culverts.
Photo at right was taken on White Oak Forest Road near the top of the Mountain and shows debris left from the November 1977 storm covering the roadway. It took residents days to clear the road and it was even longer before complete recovery from the storm took place.
Spotlight: Allan Zullo The Pen is Mightier Than the Bat
Allan Zullo became a writer because, well, he couldn't think of anything else to do. Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, he dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player. In his youth, he was a slick fielder, but he couldn't hit the curveball, fastball or any other pitch for that matter. So he turned in his cleats and jersey and decided that if he couldn't play the game he loved, he would write about it and all the other sports he enjoyed but couldn't play well. Pounding away on an old Royal standard typewriter, Allan was the sports editor of his high school newspaper and freelanced for the sports department of Rockford's two daily papers.
Allan graduated with a journalism degree from Northern Illinois University where he worked on the school's daily paper. Hooked on journalism, he was a reporter for the Rockford Register-Republic covering everything from murders and fires to trials and politics. And then came the scandalous years.
Wanting to write for a national audience, Allan moved to Florida where he joined the staff of America's most infamous and successful weekly tabloid at the time — The National Enquirer. After eight fun and challenging years in the tabloid world, Allan returned to traditional journalism.
To date, Allan has written nearly 100 nonfiction books on a broad range of subjects for general audiences and younger readers. Perhaps best known for his offbeat books on everything from cats to golf, Allan has also tackled serious topics such as survival, firefighting and the Holocaust. Allan has produced numerous books and dozens of annual boxed daily-page calendars on such subjects as sports, golf, fishing, moms, dads, grandparents, animals, and business. He also has teamed up with his wife, Kathryn, to write about one of his favorite passions — grandparenting.
Spotlight: Jim McPhail Woods from Around the World
Jim McPhail worked as a graphics designer for more than 30 years in Chicago and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1994, Jim and his wife, Pat, moved to the Carolina Mountains to pursue his life-long desire to work as a professional craft artist. In the early 1990s,
Jim experimented with a variation on the wood-art style often called segmented or laminated turning. He decide to expand on the concept as he moved from hobbyist to professional. He dubbed the technique "layered bowls".
Over the ensuing years, Jim has developed many variations on his layered bowl concept. He has shown his work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as many galleries throughout the Southern Appalachian range.
In November 2005, Fairview Forest property owners and residents Rick Johnston and Sam Fair left Asheville on a flight to Santiago, Chile. The next day they took a charter flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, the world's southernmost city. There they boarded a small expedition vessel for an evening departure south, three days in the very rough and infamous Drake Passage, then cruised the Antarctic Peninsula Islands and the mainland continent of Antarctica.
Spotlight: Al Petteway & Amy White The Duo, Together They Make Music
Award-winning, critically acclaimed, passionate and playful, Al and Amy are an acoustic music duo that draws inspiration from musical traditions across the globe and distills these myriad styles into a rich and unique voice — a timeless recipe for healing, heartfelt music. During an Al and Amy performance, the audience is treated to a variety of acoustic stringed instruments and percussion with a dash of pristine vocals. They capture the hearts of audiences with colorful stories of wildlife in their own back yard in Fairview Forest and the people and places along the way that have influenced their music. Al and Amy invite their listeners to celebrate beauty and joy in all aspects of life.
Al and Amy first began performing and recording together as a duo in early 1995. Since then, they have performed at some of the finest venues in the U.S. Their sound is an exciting blend of original, traditional, contemporary Celtic- and Appalachian-influenced music. They offer a repertoire that includes extensive instrumental work as well as a fine touch of vocals and features acoustic guitars, mandolin, Celtic harp, banjo, Irish bouzouki, piano and world percussion. They are among the most respected and well-loved acts in the acoustic music scene.
Spotlight: Pat McPhail The Jesus Nut, It Holds It All Together
The Jesus Nut is the name they gave it in 1939.
Here's what happened: One of helicopter inventor Igor Sikorsky's mechanics was heard to say, "We better pray to Jesus that nut holds the whole thing together!" The nut did, in fact, hold the whole thing together and Sikorsky's first successful helicopter, the VS-300, flew that day. Ever since, helicopter people have known that nut as "The Jesus Nut". Today, Jesus Nut jewelry has become a reminder of hope, faith and belief for many who are looking for a better tomorrow.
Click here to read a re-post of a special web feature, Then... and Now. This account by Grant Goodge, a longtime resident of the community until recently, chronicles the history of the early days on the Mountain and the importance of a good homeowners' association and why all property owners need to be involved in their community.
Special Feature: Squirrels, Snakes and Stills
Ever wonder what it was like on the Mountain years ago? No one has spent more time on this Mountain than Bud Huntley who has hunted and fished here ever since he was 12 years old. Click here to read this re-posting about the early days when there were just logging trails and when houses were few and far between — back when it was just squirrels, snakes... and moonshiners!
Making us look good... Fred Aberle and his mowing crew! The vendor mows the clubhouse grounds, main road and side roads frequently during the spring and summer.
The Goodyear blimp passes over the Mountain in this photo dated June, 2004.
Amy White and Al Petteway, resident musicians, perform at the FFHA Annual Meeting, circa 2003.
The Green Space trail along Trantham Creek in Fairview Forest
Tranquility and beauty along the Green Space trail
A cairn marks the entrance to the Green Space trail along the main road across from Chestnut Forest Road; from there, it's all downhill!
Jim McPhail's miniature, layered bowls are made right here on the Mountain from from a palette of more than
250 woods from around the world.
Mountain resident Allan Zullo, author and co-author of more than 100 current and forthcoming non-fiction trade paperbacks, is picture with wife Kathryn and their grandchildren.
Al and Amy, the Mountain's own acoustic duo... award-winning, critically acclaimed, passionate and playful.
In the summer of 1978, three couples who did not know each other relocated to the Mountain to enjoy an idyllic setting — a serene, somewhat solitary, and most definitely independent lifestyle in what is now Fairview Forest. Back then, the entrance was marked by a large carved arrowhead. Saplings, brilliantly colored wildflowers, and swaying unmowed grass lined the roads.
Bill Sanches has piloted everything from a single-engine trainer to a B-52 bomber, and eventually he'll be flying his own plane — one that he started building in the basement of his house on White Oak Forest Road.
Two washouts occurred in the community in 1977, one in April and another in November, near Maple Forest Road and the main road. Ditch lines were overwhelmed by rainfall, plugged with debris and as a result, there was extensive damage. There was no homeowners' association at the time and the few residents that lived above the washout points on the Mountain back then had no way in or out for days. This reminds us the necessity and benefits of having an excellent roads program with well-maintained roads, ditches, and culverts.
Allan graduated with a journalism degree from Northern Illinois University where he worked on the school's daily paper. Hooked on journalism, he was a reporter for the Rockford Register-Republic covering everything from murders and fires to trials and politics. And then came the scandalous years.
wife, Pat, moved to the Carolina Mountains to pursue his life-long desire to work as a professional craft artist. In the early 1990s,
Jim experimented with a variation on the wood-art style often called segmented or laminated turning. He decide to expand on the concept as he moved from hobbyist to professional. He dubbed the technique "layered bowls".
In November 2005, Fairview Forest property owners and residents Rick Johnston and Sam Fair left Asheville on a flight to Santiago, Chile. The next day they took a charter flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, the world's southernmost city. There they boarded a small expedition vessel for an evening departure south, three days in the very rough and infamous Drake Passage, then cruised the Antarctic Peninsula Islands and the mainland continent of Antarctica.
heartfelt music. During an Al and Amy performance, the audience is treated to a variety of acoustic stringed instruments and percussion with a dash of pristine vocals. They capture the hearts of audiences with colorful stories of wildlife in their own back yard in Fairview Forest and the people and places along the way that have influenced their music. Al and Amy invite their listeners to celebrate beauty and joy in all aspects of life.
The Jesus Nut is the name they gave it in 1939.
