Popular western North Carolina vineyard back open for business weeks after Helene

BANNER ELK, N.C. (WBTV) – Four weeks after Helene devastated much of western North Carolina, a popular vineyard is back open for business.

The owners of Grandfather Vineyard – nestled just off Highway 105 in Banner Elk – said their business suffered an estimated $1 million in losses due to the storm, but was able to reopen Thursday.

“The water was rushing so fast, it had risen so high at this point it was over on top of the bridge,” Nicole Tatum recalled.

Tatum and her husband, Dylan, run the vineyard and said their winery was flooded, and a bridge that they rely on to get in and out of the vineyard was washed away.

“It came up so quick,” Dylan said. “We had the big eye beams on there and it just twisted them and broke them in half.”

While the Tatums tried to wrap their minds around the destruction, their first move was to find ways to help the rest of the community.

In addition to organizing community donation efforts, they also viewed reopening as a way to help.

“Everyone did what they could to help their neighbors, and it felt good to be a part of that,” Nicole said. “It’s what you have to do right now to get through.”

Prior to reopening, the couple said they got help building a temporary walking path from their overflow parking lot. While it is not a long-term solution, the Tatums said that as a venue that hosts musicians and food trucks, being open is about people’s livelihoods and serving the greater community.

“[It] feels like a way to give back to the community and then reconnect again, all of us together and it’s almost therapeutic,” Nicole said. “It’s like we’re going through this journey together, and we can now physically be together again as well.”

At the time of Grandfather Vineyard’s reopening, the couple said they had not been able to secure any federal funding to help with rebuilding, but that they are taking everything one day at a time and are so grateful for their community.

Related: Helene the most destructive hurricane in North Carolina history; estimated $53 billion in damage

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