People
Wrought iron for the Poe House opening
The Poe House to open March 5 in Hendersonville
Grand opening April 16
By GARY GLANCY
In the opening verse of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” a distraught lover awakes to hear the sound of a “gentle rapping” before proclaiming: “’Tis some visitor … tapping at my chamber door — Only this, and nothing more.”
In the famous 1845 poem, the visitor was a bird. Next month, Kimberlee Young and her fiancé, Derek Schuler, will eagerly await the arrival of wine and craft-beer enthusiasts to their new downtown Hendersonville business, The Poe House.
The Hendersonville couple have been working with their friend, carpenter Paul Posthummus, to transform the space underneath West First restaurant — which formerly served as the Henderson County Democratic Party headquarters — into a Charleston-style, Poe-themed retail store that will sell a wide range of wines and craft beer as well as homebrewing supplies and equipment.
Young and Schuler also have obtained their license to sell a host of hand-picked wines and microbrews by the glass for consumption in the shop’s rusticlooking tavern and Charlestonstyle courtyard. A soft opening is planned for March 5, with a grand opening scheduled for April 16.
“I think it’s a wonderful addition and a pretty cool service to have right here in downtown Hendersonville,” said Bob Williford, president of the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce.
A fan of craft beer, Williford said the closings of specialty beer/wine shops Rabbit & Co. and Adventures in Wine and Beer left a void in Hendersonville, underscored by the excitement generated by Sierra Nevada’s arrival in Mills River and the explosion of craft beer in general in Western North Carolina. Young and Schuler agree.
”There’s really nobody here (in Hendersonville) that’s doing anything as far as the beer scene goes,” Young said. “And, unfortunately, with the way the economy went, we lost a lot of our wine shops as well, so we felt there was a real need to have something like this.”
Young, a certified sommelier who has sat on national wine-tasting panels, is equally passionate about wine and craft beer. So is Schuler. The couple own and operate Travels in Wine, which this spring enters its fifth season providing private WNC winery tours out of Hendersonville and Asheville.
They have hired a new marketing director and tour guide, Hendersonville resident Dana Hensley, and also have expanded to Charlotte and Greensboro for tours in the booming Yadkin Valley wine region. Now, Young and Schuler — both Hendersonville natives — plan to begin offering weekly brewery tours in WNC as well beginning in May.
Adding a retail component had been part of the business plan to grow the company, though not right away. However, two things happened that accelerated the process. First, Young and Schuler returned from an outing in Greenville, S.C., inspired after visiting The Trappe Door restaurant, which offers Belgian cuisine and beer in a fittingly dark, Medieval-style basement setting.
Then, back in Hendersonville, Young and Shuler walked into the space under West First, which they planned to renovate into a new corporate office.
“Derek is a visionary, so he walked down here and saw something,” Young said. “I mean, we had a dream to do it at some point, but it was kind of a couple years down the road. But then when he got down here and started looking around, he said, ‘Hey, if we did this and we did that, then we could go ahead and start a couple years early.’” Armed with a vision that includes a love of Poe and the Romantic Gothic period theme, Young, Shuler and Posthummus — whom the couple called a “godsend” — went to work to realize what they’ve called the building’s “Poe-tential.”
First, they rewired the entire place and installed ceiling track lighting and Charleston-style lanterns to set the desired mood. They sandblasted the green walls to reveal the natural brick, built rustic-sophisticated wine shelving into them, and painted the ceiling to enhance the dark look even further.
“It’s made a huge difference,” Schuler said. “You’ve got to create the right environment.” Young and Schuler have purchased furniture from Michigan that — like The Poe House bar — is made from recycled wood, including a table in the tavern’s banquette seating area that will feature the image of a raven burned into it as a tribute to Poe’s poem.
Meanwhile, Young’s brother, David Roark, an artist from Mills River, is busy working on murals that include a portrait of the poet as well as a depiction of Poe’s short story, “Cask of Amontillado.”
Outside in the courtyard Young and Schuler envision a décor of wrought iron and a fountain where customer can enjoy a glass or flight of wine and beer.
A teacher at heart Young’s motto is “educate entice, enlighten and entertain.” The couple assure The Poe House will include it all, with regular beer and wine classes and tastings to complement their winery and new brewery tours.
”With beer, I have the same philosophy that I did with wine: Our goal is to make it fun,” Young said “We want people to be able to understand the craft-beer scene and not be intimidated by it.”
On the home brewing side, Young and Schuler have obtained a brew-on premises license and plan to have educational brew-in sessions in the store. They also hope to collaborate with Blue Ridge Community College to offer similar opportunities for the new beer and brewing-related courses at BRCC.
In that regard, the couple believes solid partnerships lead to healthy, prosperous communities, and they see their venture doing just that in the place they call home.
from blueridgenow.com
Wrough iron gate from the Ernest Hemingway’s Key West home on eBay
Hemingway gate to be auctioned on eBay
An original wrought-iron gate from the one-time Key West home of Ernest Hemingway is being auctioned on eBay.
The gate hung at the side entrance of the property where the Nobel Prize-winning author lived in the 1930s and wrote many of his classic works.
It is believed to have been installed in 1935, when a brick privacy wall was built around the Whitehead Street home Hemingway occupied with his wife and sons.
In 1964, the property became a museum honoring the author. The gate was replaced in 2011 with one that better protected the nearly 50 cats that reside on the property. The original was donated to Helpline, a non-profit local crisis hotline, to be auctioned for fundraising.
from ocala.com
Valentino Paris Fashion Week : riffs on filigreed wrought iron gates
Valentino : Paris Fashion Week features enchanted gardens
by Jeanne Beker
Speaking of torch bearing, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli continue to wow Valentino devotees by remaining true to themselves and to the legacy of the house.
They, too, got their gardening gloves out and cultivated an achingly romantic collection that paid homage to the classic Roman garden. Presented in the swish salons of Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, there were riffs on filigreed wrought iron gates, masterfully recreated with swirls of piping, and embroideries that suggested garden mazes. Many dresses featured long sleeves, and novel cape-dresses were particularly modern.
A rested-looking Valentino watched from the front row, leaping to his feet at the show’s end to hug the designers as they passed by to take their bows. Evidently, the master is as proud of this talented duo, who have blossomed so beautifully.
from thestar.com
Wrought iron design for the Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Melissa Gorga
Melissa Gorga’s New Jersey Home
ALESANDRA DUBIN
The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Melissa Gorga has listed the home she shares with her real-estate developer husband, Joe. They built the six-bedroom manse in Montville Township, New Jersey in 2009. It’s now up for sale for $3.8 million.
Gorga’s New Jersey home sprawls over 2.24 acres, and has an English slate roof.
The Italian marble foyer in Gorga’s home has marble staircases with wrought-iron bannisters, and cedar French doors.
Chandeliers, carved bookcases, golden detailing and domed ceilings fill the property.
Two bedrooms belong to Gorga’s three children, including one room with a sports theme.
The other child’s bedroom is all done in girly pink, with soft drapery as a headboard and a chandelier over the bed.
The 13,500-square-foot home also has a home theater with luxe leather seating and wood detailing.
from ivillage.com
Wrought iron balconies for the new house of Chris Hardwick
Comedian Chris Hardwick, whose offbeat humour embraces nerdiness, has purchased a house in the Hollywood Hills for $2.05 million.
Out-of-the-ordinary features include an outdoor mosaic tile bath with a 200-year-old faucet and a log cabin art studio. The 4,200-square-foot home, built in 1924 and recently renovated, has wrought-iron balconies, vaulted ceilings, two fireplaces, four bedrooms and four bathrooms. There are terraced gardens and stone walls on the quarter-acre lot.
Hardwick, 41, founded the cross-platform Nerdist entity; hosts Talking Dead (2011-present), a talk show that follows new episodes of The Walking Dead; and voices a lead character on Nickelodeon’s Back at the Barnyard (2007-present).
from timescolonist.com
