Artistry
and the Business of Making Life Beautiful
by Carol Harding Safer
(This
article featuring Jack Belk was written by Carol Harding Safer and
appeared in The Tomahawk,
a weekly newspaper serving Mountain City, Tennessee, in 2002.
All rights reserved. Reprint by permission only.)
The
mountains and valleys surrounding Mountain City, Tennessee make
up one of the most beautiful places in the world. Rolling ridges
form waves of color as far as the eye can see. Sparkling streams
rush down hillsides and plunge over rocks. Farmhouses are tucked
into valleys with fields spread around them like will-used comforters.
Cows, crops, and orchards form patterns as unique as any crazy quilt.
In
the midst of this beauty, it’s probably not surprising that
people congregate who are in the business of making life beautiful.
They are our local artists and craftspeople, and those who support
their work. These folks have found ways to combine their love of
this area with their life’s work. They offer, to us who live
here and to those who visit, their own particular gifts of arts
and crafts.
There
is a quiet, gentle love of natural beauty that permeates the mountain
way of life and infuses people’s work – whether farming
or crafts – with a love of the land and its gifts. And, of
course, history is alive and well in these mountains and valleys.
Wherever you look, you find nature, history, and people merging
into a unique way of life.
Folks
who visit this area come for many reasons. They come to hike the
Appalachian Trail, or to bask in the scenery of the mountains, or
perhaps for the history, The sense of our country’s early
beginnings could not be stronger than while walking the trails that
Native Americans and, later, frontiersmen like Daniel Boone followed.
The annual festival of Trade Days celebrates this combination of
history, nature, and crafts. Many folks who visit come for the local
crafts and to experience the way of life they reflect.
Some
have made their business out combining history, nature, and the
way of life in the mountains. Jack Belk’s antique shop, Casa
Que Pasa, located in the old Trade School House, is an excellent
example. We discovered this gem early in our travels to these parts
and continue to visit Jack whenever we can both as our neighbor
and as a local shopkeeper.
Casa
Que Pasa is the place to go to see and buy antique quilts (mostly
local-made) and stained glass windows, retrieved from crumbling
buildings in Scotland and other fascinating locales. Jack has a
story for each treasure. During one of our early visits, we bought
a quilt as much because of Jack’s stories as for its own beauty.
Jack told us that it had been quilted about 75 years ago, probably
by a farm wife living in southern North Carolina. He had found it
at an estate sale of an old farmhouse (one of his favorite places
to treasure hunt). The bright patterns of turquoise, yellow, and
splashes of red, he told us, meant that it was probably made for
children (although its good condition makes me think it was used
only on special occasions, perhaps when the grandchildren stayed
overnight). As we chose among quilts, Jack spread several across
a bed in the middle of the old schoolhouse and told “life
stories” about each: the wedding quilt (stitched in white
with different kinds of fabrics), the crazy quilt from somewhere
in Johnson County, and the well-worn comforter pieced together with
patches from seed bags. We thought our “children’s”
quilt was extra special for its colors and for the intricate stitching
pattern that shows best on the “wrong” side. Today as
I write, the quilt catches my eye though our bedroom door as it
dazzles in the sunshine. I think of Jack’s stories and the
children who slept beneath the beautiful colors. I dream of future
children who will enjoy its warmth and colors when they visit us.
Shops
that offer not only local crafts, but also their stories are a special
feature of our area – one, perhaps, that we sometimes take
for granted. Everywhere you turn there are places like Casa Que
Pasa to go for shopping and talking. Even the buildings have their
own stories.
When
you enter the old Trade School House, for example, you cannot help
but think of the many children who walked the smooth floors and
leaned against the weathered walls, Our very special friend, Miss
Ruby (Mrs. Chase Main from Trade, Tennessee) taught in this school
for many years and has told us her own stories of those years. Her
memories of riding sidesaddle across the mountains or balancing
on 2-by-4s as she slid with her students down snowy hillsides conjure
images that stay with us as we visit Jack Belk and his many things
of beauty.
The
bright colors of stained glass windows have replaced the colors
of the schoolchildren’s scarves and hats. This has to be one
of the best places in the world for finding antique stained glass,
hanging unadorned across windows or leaning against walls. And again
the stories. We spend hours talking with Jack about the windows,
quilts, and old tools filling every inch of the place. A recent
treasure is the hand-carved pitchfork held together with leather
binding that Jack found in Scotland. I imagine one of my ancestors
must have used it somewhere along the way.
This
is how shopping should be. Each visit to Jack Belk’s Casa
Que Pasa is an adventure in local history. Each purchase buys a
treasure and its story. Each story is a lifetime of history of this
beautiful land and its people. This business of making life beautiful
is good for our local economy and for the souls of the folks who
live and visit here.
Jack Belk now shows and sells antique stained glass windows and doors,
beveled glass, architectural salvage, and international folk art collectibles
Online at www.jacksstainedglass.com
