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

Rebuild.

Honestly, the word just doesn’t do this story 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. Estimates put the flood toll at well over 100 lives lost in the immediate Asheville, NC area alone.

Turning the story over to Jeff Krider at this point. Jeff lost a friend and neighbour in the storm.

“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 it 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. That was, until 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.

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

Down at Barkwells the damage wasn’t quite as extensive, but Jeff and Patti estimate they lost more than $200-thousand US in cancellations. The extra bite was the realization that October and November were Barkwells’ busiest months for business.

“People started coming back after about two weeks,” said Patti. “But it was more like a full month before we were fully operating. It was like a ghost town.”

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, 27 counties were labelled as major disaster areas. Tragically, many of the homes destroyed in the state were not insured.

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

Staff members were also taken in even though the retreat was without regular water service, power or internet.

“We were lucky here because we have well water and a generator to drive the well pump. 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 none of the eight cabins in the Mills River, NC location was hit and destroyed by falling trees (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, it 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.