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Land Trust buys historic Rickman General Store
By Colin McCandless and Michael Lewis, Staff writers

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee has purchased one of the best known and most beloved historic buildings in the Cowee Community of northern Macon County, the old T.M. Rickman General Store, according to LTLT executive director Paul Carlson.

On Aug. 1, LTLT bought the former general store, which served as the hub of Cowee living for decades.

Thomas M. "Tom" Rickman operated the business for nearly 70 years, selling dry goods, groceries, clothes and hardware.

John Hall built the store in 1895 and it initially bore his name. Rickman bought the establishment from W.H. Bryson in 1925. Rickman operated it as a general store until his death in 1993, during which time the building became inextricably linked with the spirit of the community.

Rickman's daughter Zena Brogden and son-in-law Ed Brogden helped him run the store starting in 1991 and then operated it for a short time after his death before selling it. Then two other owners bought the building and likewise sold it.

"Everyone who has been in Cowee for at least 17 years has special memories of Tom Rickman and the store which he kept operating into his 90s as a gathering place for the community," Carlson said.

"As the traditional social fabric of our rural communities becomes frayed by the rapid growth occurring all about, we need to preserve special places like the T. M. Rickman General Store if we are to conserve a sense of community."

Carlson called it the "last true general store" operating in Macon County.

An excerpt of an interview with Rickman from the Heritage of Macon County, Vol. 1, describes the store as a gathering place, where 30 to 40 people might congregate at any moment on a Saturday playing checkers, pitching horseshoes or just catching up with the neighbors.

According to family history, Rickman made living quarters in an upstairs area curtained off by feed sacks. Later, he would remodel the upstairs for more permanent living with his wife, Fannie Alva Holbrook.

Rickman was Macon resident Harvey Fouts' great uncle and Fouts grew up on his home place. Fouts said that Rickman and his wife Fannie always served as great examples of adults to be around. He described them as role models who were community-involved, church-going, trustworthy people.

An example of Rickman's trust can be seen in his actions towards customers. Fouts said he remembers how Rickman would often extend credit to kids.

Daughter Zena Brogden said that her father "carried a lot of credit" for families.

Both Rickman and Fannie were people with a deep sense of faith and the only time they ever opened the store on a Sunday was during the "Blizzard of 1993," Zena said.

The power company was out working, and they opened the store for them so they could come in and get what they needed.

"That was my daddy - helping others," Zena said.

Fouts, who lived near the store, recounts what a treat it was to visit the general store as a child and sample his three favorites: Brownie Chocolate drink, Nehi orange soda and later, Mountain Dew when it had first came out.

He recalls that the soft drinks were always in glass bottles and always "really cold."

Fouts said it was the kind of store with no shopping carts. Customers requested items and Rickman would go retrieve them from the shelves and bring them to the counter.

There was usually an older gentleman or two from the community sitting in the back talking, and Fouts said that sometimes Rickman would join them. A little dog named Peanut lay anchored to the floor in the back, too old to move around much anymore, Fouts recalls.

Rickman's Store also had a big black telephone on a roll top desk in the back. Not everyone in the community owned a phone at that time, and Fouts would let people use it for calls when requested.

The store carried all the necessities, including boots, blue jeans and work shoes made in Asheboro.

"It was always a treat to go down and get a get a pair of Walker boots," Fouts said. They felt so comfortable on your feet."

Fouts said that Rickman had a great memory and also loved to tell riddles, in which he would ask a question and reveal the riddle at the end.

When the Ruby Mines began attracting out of state visitors, Fouts said that tourists would stop at Rickman's, which had a front porch facing Cowee Creek Road, to either ask for directions or inquire about the area, and Rickman would engage them in conversation.

After they would get to know him, they would stop again to see him, Fouts said.

"I think he was a really good ambassador for Macon County," Fouts said. "He represented what Macon County was like in years past."

Fouts said Rickman fulfilled a lot of roles: as a mentor, as a community-minded citizen and a leader.

"He really contributed a lot to Macon County personally and as a businessman as well."

He added that Rickman's wife Fannie had a flower garden across from the store and used to bring finely decorated flower arrangements she had made from indigenous plants to Cowee Baptist Church. "In her own quiet way she contributed a lot to church and families in the community," Fouts said.

Lifelong Macon County resident and Press news editor Michael Lewis reminisces about his childhood memories of the general store in the Aug. 7 edition of the editorial pages, as he recalls drinking in the sights, sounds, tasty orange soda and flavorful conversations at Rickman's.

Could Rickman's once again become a gathering place for Maconians?

Now that the LTLT has purchased Rickman's Store, Carlson said the next immediate step is to begin forming a community-based group to decide the best usage for the building.

"We are very open right now to how the store can be used," Carlson said. The LTLT collaborated with the Cowee Community Development Organization (CCDO) to establish the Cowee interpretative kiosk and historical marker in February.

With the Rickman Store, they plan to create a volunteer network within the project and to eventually host an open house for the building. Although he said they would like to display some of the general store's history and that of the Cowee Community on its walls, Carlson said the LTLT's hope is that it develops into something more than just a static museum.

Fouts said he would like to see Rickman's Store become a place to host community activities, but said the store needs the community's ideas and support to make this a reality.

Zena said it would be nice to see it back the way it was or as something similar to a museum, but she qualified that it can't be retail-oriented or it won't last due to competition.

"I'd love to see it back in its general store look and used in the same way that would be for the community," Zena said.

Preserving Heritage

Carlson commended Macon Bank for recognizing the community spirit of the Rickman Store project and providing a loan on generous terms to LTLT, which allows LTLT time to move forward with fundraising.

Although LTLT's main focus is protecting land, their mission is to conserve not only the rivers, forests and farms of the Little Tennessee Valley, but also its heritage and this objective of their organization helped drive the Rickman purchase, according to Carlson.

"This is a real opportunity to have the LTLT make an investment in the historical district," Carlson said.

He commented that the LTLT made a quick decision to buy Rickman's store, which is also featured in Cowee-West Mill's self-guided driving tour of historic buildings and sites, established following the dedication of the Cowee interpretative kiosk in February.

The nomination of the Cowee-West's Mill Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places marked one of the Land Trust's first projects in the late 1990s.

At 369 acres, Cowee -West's Mill is the largest historic district in western North Carolina, and with 1,400 years of documented historic structures it boasts the richest historic district in the state, if not in the entire Southeast.

The Cowee-West's Mill district lies on the banks of the Little Tennessee River and includes 21 principal historic structures and over 40 secondary structures. Still intact at Cowee is an exceptional archeological record including histories of many cultures - Mississippian, Cherokee, African-American, and 19th-20th century rural Appalachian. Cowee is also steeped in Revolutionary War history.

In 1999 LTLT invested in a preliminary restoration of the Pleasant Hill AME Church, the sole remaining structure of what was the largest rural African-American community west of the Balsam Mountains in NC at the turn of the last century.

Over the two years the Cowee Community Club oversaw a complete restoration of this church and continues the ongoing maintenance of the cemetery.

Then in March of this year LTLT purchased the Cowee Mound, which served as the principal commercial and diplomatic center of the Cherokee in the mid-1750s. The Land Trust conveyed title to the mound and 71 surrounding acres to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in an April dedication ceremony.