A mill town saved by music, art, farm-fresh food, and beer.
“THAT’S THE STORY OF SAXAPAHAW in a trash pile,” says Suzanne Nelson, the Capitol Hill reporter turned fulltime farmer of Reverence Farms, just inside the village of Saxapahaw. She’s behind the wheel of a Polaris UTV, zipping past pastures of grazing cows, sheep, hogs, chickens, and turkeys, and she stops to point out a heaping pile of compost layered with scraps from local restaurants and businesses.
Though not nearly as photogenic as the village itself, this decomposing mound is indeed evidence of the symbiotic relationships that exist in Saxapahaw. In recent years, this hideaway along the Haw River—two hours northeast of Charlotte—has attracted a legion of creative entrepreneurs who’ve helped shape its second life. Retired textile mill buildings now house such businesses as a bookstore, brewery, butcher shop, yoga studio, and farm-to-table pub.
In the screenplay of 21st century Saxapahaw, there is no shortage of impassioned characters like Suzanne, nor beautiful settings, such as her Joel Salatin-inspired farm. And if Saxapahaw is a screenplay, its director is Mac Jordan.
Mac’s family owned and operated the Saxapahaw Cotton Mill from 1927 to 1978. As a kid in the 1960's and 70's, Mac grew up walking to school and playing in the woods by the river. In high school, he worked doing maintenance at the mill, from cleaning the filters of giant, saucepot shaped extractors to wiping lint from fluorescent lights. As manufacturing in the United States declined, Mac watched his hometown wither, the mill village eventually void of people, its buildings mere bones.
This story is from the February 2017 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
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This story is from the February 2017 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
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