ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Tennessee’s top tourism official says he and his agency are “here for awhile and we’re gonna be here” to help Northeast Tennessee’s recreation economy bounce back from storm damage that’s still impacting whitewater, hiking and other businesses.

Department of Tourism Development Commissioner Mark Ezell and Jenni Veal, his outdoor tourism development manager, spent about four hours last week with Unicoi County political and business leaders. Ezell said the time was right to take stock now that roads and bridges are being rebuilt and debris removal is about to begin in earnest.

“Unicoi County and other counties that were affected have a lot of tourism business,” Ezell told News Channel 11 Tuesday.

“They utilize those natural resources like the Nolichucky (River) and others for rafting, the Appalachian Trail for hiking. Our job was to then come and meet with them and to say, ‘as these assets get ready, are you ready? Is our industry ready to take care of that visitor?’

“And if so, how do we come along and support and promote those communities because they need those visitors back to drive their county’s economic impact and development.”

While the visit was more of a fact-finding mission, Ezell said he left “pretty fired up.”

Meanwhile, he left a business community hopeful that as its members dig deep to try and not just salvage but enhance what was an increasingly recreation-dependent economy, the state is going to have their backs.

“It’s a bigger part of our industry than people may think,” Steel Rails Coffee House owner and Unicoi County native Ben McNabb said Tuesday. Standing in front of an Appalachian Trail map, McNabb said Erwin is “a key supply point” on one of the AT’s most stunning section. Hot Springs is the closest “trail town” to the south, about 65 miles by the trail, with Damascus, Va. the next one north by more than 100 miles.

Hikers, whether long-distance or day trippers, “spend money here at the coffeehouse, the outdoor store (Erwin Outdoor Supply),” McNabb said. “That is revenue that we need to exist and I think it’s close to 20% of our business.”

Perhaps an even bigger economic driver, judging by the more than half-dozen companies that have made their concerns clear to Ezell, is the whitewater industry.

Ezell learned that those folks are still wondering whether they’ll be issued permits for the coming season that usually starts in mid-April. That uncertainty, and significant losses many of them suffered from Sept. 27’s Hurricane Helene-caused floods, is compounded by the destruction of important bridges and river access points.

“They are courageously making efforts to rebuild and ready to put their operations back in as the river and the ramps and the roads are ready,” Ezell said, adding that recent data showing the river water doesn’t appear to pose any hazards.

“So I’m really inspired and encouraged by their willingness. We believe there will be rafting seasons again in Unicoi County. The question is how quick. Is that in weeks or in months? And those are the things that are still undetermined.”

Trey Moore, a whitewater instructor, said some of those businesses have invested hundreds of thousands in the community. Blue Ridge Paddling and USA Raft both suffered extensive damage due to their facilities being in the path of the flood.

“They’ve invested, they made a commitment, they’re not going anywhere,” Moore said of some of the companies that may or may not come back full-strength in 2025.

“They want to build and come back better than ever and we have a real opportunity to do that.”
He attended the meeting with Ezell and left encouraged by the fact that other state agencies were also there, from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Environment and Conservation.

“To know that we have the support of Commissioner Ezell and his team, to hear TDOT talk about when they’re putting these bridges back over the river they’re going to see if they ahve space to create a parking lot, create a boat ramp, it showed a lot of support not just to our businesses but to our community.”

Icons rising from the ashes: Uncle Johnny’s and USA Raft

Ezell pointed to two well-known local businesses as examples of what he hopes will be not just a recovery — granted, a long term one — but a revitalization that someday makes Unicoi County and some of its distressed rural neighbors more economically viable than ever.

USA Raft owner Matt Moses and Uncle Johnny’s hostel owner Terry Wise, once just a few minutes apart from each other via the Chestoa Bridge, both lost much of their infrastructure when the Nolichucky raged out of the gorge. It also took out the bridge, which will take an estimated $13-$15 million to rebuild.

Both say they plan to not just rebuild but expand, with Wise’s already underway.

“It’s going to be built with a second level and you just go, ‘well, that’s bigger and better,'” Ezell said.

“And then Matt Moses, you see his place and he talks about where the water came and what it wiped out and (says), ‘oh yeah, I plan on building more of these.”

Ezell said the nearly clean slate reminds him of the recovery from wildfires that devastated Gatlinburg in 2016.

“The recovery efforts actually allowed them to rebuild with a better methodology, almost, because they knew what they wanted to accomplish and they had the ability to kind of start from scratch with some of those things,” he said. He thinks the new models in Northeast Tennessee can yield similar outcomes.

“The new model can actually be even more successful and outdoor recreation can even be greater in those communities a few years down the road, because they’ve rebuilt with the intentionality of knowing … ‘if we do this, it’s even better than what we had.’ And unfortunately what they had, some of that’s been destroyed.”

McNabb, who grew up in Unicoi County and said “we took the river for granted, we took the trail for granted back in those days,” agrees.

“Long term, I think we come back better,” he said. “What we’re doing with Uncle Johnny’s hostel is looking great. We can we can actually do some better things on the trail. There’s a lot of people that are actually active and wanting it to be better. We need to work towards that.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not concerned about the future. A local stretch of the AT is still impassible as through-hiking season arrives, and those hikers crossed the Nolichucky on the now-destroyed Chestoa Bridge. All those things are being worked on, but the clock is ticking on the 2025 season.

Ezell said he gets the anxiety.

“We are kind of racing against the clock to see, can we be ready by late spring for there to be a spring rafting season? If not, can we be ready by summer for there to be a summer rafting season. The timing of that is still undetermined.

“We’re pretty hopeful, to be honest. Our visit last week had more positive pieces toward recovery.”

As for the bridge and hikers, “the first question was, ‘okay, if it takes two years to rebuild that bridge, is there a temporary bridge or a swinging bridge,’ because hikers could get back and wouldn’t be afraid of a swinging bridge?”

He said his department is working on ways to help draw people to Erwin’s small businesses in the meantime, and that they’ll be back frequently. Visits to Carter and Johnson counties are also on the docket.

“We’re not leaving.”