Top Shop will topple

at Grandfather Mountain
By Eric Jones
Avery Journal-Times

A building that has long been far above most other buildings in Avery County—in a literal sense—will soon be replaced.

In April, Grandfather Mountain plans to begin the demolition of its Top Shop, which has been perched atop the mountain near the Mile High Swinging Bridge since 1961, in preparation for a new Top Shop to be built in its place.

Wear and tear over the last decades, and the costs that brings on, is the main reason this project comes up in 2008.

“We’ve been Band-Aiding it [the current building] here and there for many years,” said Crae Morton, president of Grandfather Mountain. “It makes more sense to redo the building. And we’ll end up getting something that suits our needs better in 2008.”

Nearly 50 years of strong winds, cold winters, and rain and ice have taken their toll on the roof and on the walls. The snack bar and bathrooms in the Top Shop have to be shut down on cold winter days, because the above-ground lines from the primary pump supplying water to the building freeze, and the pump under the building can’t meet the demand itself. Morton also said the septic system is barely adequate for the crowds, which have increased since the building’s opening 47 years ago.

In designing the new building, Grandfather Mountain looked back on a half century of experience with the old, examined needs for the present and for the foreseeable future, and made plans that fit into the Mountain’s overall strategy to minimize its impact on the environment whenever possible.

The new building, which will actually use some of the still-sturdy framework and structure of the old building, will be shifted slightly east and will actually be about 2,000-3,000 square feet smaller when all floors are added up.

“We don’t need as large a building [now],” Morton said. In 1961, the Top Shop was the primary building for the whole park. Since the larger Nature Museum opened closer to the entrance in the early 90s, the Mountain doesn’t need the space at the top.

It will also include an elevator, something that was originally planned for the current building but never came about. Handicapped visitors will finally be able to experience the Swinging Bridge.

The building will include a new, higher-capacity septic system, and the Mountain has already drilled a new well, 1,200 feet deep, that can supplement or possibly replace the well under the building in the winter.

In everything, Morton said, the organization wants to do first what is in the best interest for the mountain and its environment while still serving its visitors.

That balance even extends into the visual realm. The new building will have a “stairstep” design for its floors that will better match the mountain’s slope than the current straight-sided building does (and won’t take the wind gusts as directly). It will most likely include stained concrete that more closely matches the color of Grandfather’s mountainside.

“We want that building to blend in to the mountain as much as possible,” Morton said. The building should be especially inconspicuous when viewed from N.C. 105 and the Blue Ridge Parkway, he said.

At the same time, the building will incorporate some of the same Grandfather rock that makes up the Top Shop now. That will match the theme of other structures (the gatehouse, overlooks, even the large sign in Linville) and will link the new Top Shop to the history of the old, providing an easy visual transition to the new building.

“Grandfather Mountain needs to remain as natural as possible, while allowing citizens to be able to enjoy and appreciate it,” Morton said.

During the transition, a temporary metal building or doublewide will be placed in the Top Shop parking lot in March. This will allow Grandfather Mountain to maintain a presence at the top for safety reasons, for communications equipment, and for some retail.

Busy days will require the park to shuttle visitors to the top from lower parking lots due to limited parking caused by the temporary building.

Also, people parking to access trails will not be able to use the Top Shop lot.

The goal is to have the new Top Shop’s exterior structure complete by late fall 2008, while interior work can be done during the cold and windy winter months that follow. Morton said the new building would hopefully have its grand opening in spring 2009.

It’s definitely a big project for Grandfather Mountain, and Morton is excited to see it take place.

“It will be a challenging project,” Morton said, “but the end will be very gratifying.”