Still Standing, Still Wagging: Long Recovery Continues In North Carolina Treasure

Honestly, the word “rebuild” just doesn’t do this story about Barwells Dog Retreat justice. Rebuild – kind of a nonchalant, chilly and clinical way to describe what really happened, and what is happening, in the far reaches of western North Carolina.

In late September of 2024, just a season or two away from where we sit right now, this scenic and spectacular region ended up face-to-face with devastation and tragedy.

Hurricane Helene: the unwelcome visitor whose short stay resulted in an entire district rocked – and in some cases, destroyed — by flooding. Officials estimate that the flood claimed over 100 lives in the immediate Asheville, NC area.

Personal Loss in the Storm: Jeff Krider’s Story

“These little streams became massive, engorged rivers. And it took out both the gravel road and the asphalt road (that winds down from his property). It was 30-feet deep, and took out the culverts, the road, everything. As the water kept coming my neighbour, Gordon — he had a lot of heavy equipment — was on a Honda UTV and he was just going out to survey the damage and he was sitting on a bank and the river was just pouring down and the bank gave way, his UTV flipped over, he hit his head on a rock and he hit his head and passed.”

“So sad,” he said.

Jeff and his partner Patti Moore are the owners of Barkwells, pegged as The Dog Lovers Vacation Retreat. Jeff and Patti took over the business in January of 2022 and have proudly seen it grow. However, everything changed in late September 2024 when this somewhat unexpected hurricane levelled the Asheville, NC region and surrounding area.

Flooding in the Blue Ridge Mountain region?

It had happened before.

“The French Broad River (nearby) experienced significant flooding itself more than 10 years ago . . . (Hurricane Helene) ended up producing levels 10-feet higher than that.”

Local businesses suffered. Local businesses – many family-owned for generations – were completely destroyed.

From Art to Animals: Damage Hits Asheville and Barkwells Dog Retreat

The storm hammered the entire River Arts District in Asheville – about 20 minutes north of Barkwells Dog Retreat–  as well as the world-famous Biltmore Estate grounds, one of the region’s top tourist attractions. Reports suggest crews will need to completely rebuild the arts district while Biltmore remains damaged but operational.

Business at Risk: Barkwells Dog Retreat Faces a Costly Setback

Down at Barkwells Dog Retreat the damage wasn’t quite as extensive, but Jeff and Patti estimate they lost more than $200-thousand US in cancellations. To makes matters worse, October and November were Barkwells’ busiest months for business.

“People started coming back after about two weeks,” said Patti. “It took nearly a full month before operations returned to normal.. Everything felt like a ghost town.”

Blocked Roads and Blackouts: Challenges at Barwells Dog Retreat

Madalyn Marino works in the company’s office taking reservations, attending to clients and acting as the social media manager. She lives nearby but it took her five full days before she could reach Barkwells.

“My power went out that night (of the hurricane) and the next morning I tried to come into work because I was supposed to work that Friday,” said Madalyn. “I tried about three different roads to get in here, but each one had a massive number of trees down. I turned around and tried a couple of others and it was still pouring rain with power lines down, so I just went back home. Our cell service was out too, so I couldn’t get in touch with anybody.”

Patti, Jeff, Amber (another employee) and I were able to start the clean-up . . . By (the following) Wednesday I was able to get back into the office and we had some internet. I tried to start tackling the emails and we had more than 400. I’m sure for most companies that doesn’t sound like a lot but usually I come in and the most I have is 30 in a day.”

In North Carolina, federal officials labelled 27 counties as major disaster areas. Tragically, many destroyed homes in the state lacked insurance.

Barkwells Dog Retreat showed its gracious stripes by taking in a local family, including its four children, which had lost its home.

The retreat also sheltered staff members, even with the lack of water, power, or internet.

“We were lucky here because we have well water and a generator to drive the well pump. However, we didn’t have electricity for three-and-a-half weeks,” Jeff said.

“We were blessed,” he continued. “Nobody (at Barkwells) was hurt and none of the cabins were flooded away, so we were feeling very grateful on one hand.”

Jeff and Patti also said they were exceedingly fortunate as falling trees spared all eight cabins at the Mills River location (Barkwells has two other cabins in Brevard, NC, about a half hour away).

“It was so sad and so devastating,” said Patti. “And you kind of have this survivor’s guilt.

“I’m a cancer survivor so it’s kind of like the same thing. I had it so bad, but I was able to survive while other people did not.

“We lost a lot financially and had to dip into our savings, but we’re committed to this.”

Jeff agreed.

“We look at it this way, we’re caretakers. We have this for a short period of time and then it will be passed on to somebody else.

“It’s a special place. Dogs feel it, people feel it. It’s funny because when the dogs get here, they’ll immediately run to the cabins of dogs they met last summer to see if they’re there.”

For dogs, Barkwells dog retreat is a kind of Disneyworld.

“It’s magical,” said Patti. “Dogs are happy, people are happy. Everyone gets energized.”

And up until Hurricane Helene, Barkwells thrived. The owners indicate that their vacation retreat has seen more than 18-thousand new and repeat customers.

And with them?

More than 30-thousand dogs.

The rebound is still a work in progress, but there is progress. That after almost insurmountable destruction just six and a half months earlier.

You can read our extensive review of Barkwells here.