[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," we'll have some foothills fun as we explore the town of Hickory.

We'll go cycling in Surry County, and sample wines at Raffaldini.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

- [Narrator] Funding for the North Carolina Year of the Trail series is provided by.

- [Narrator] SECU Foundation.

Proving how contributions from SECU members can generate the support needed to make a difference across North Carolina in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services.

[light music] [light music continues] [light music continues] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we're having fun in the foothills.

Right now I'm in Hickory, one of my favorite places to visit.

This small city has really taken off with a revitalized downtown, a new river walk, and some young entrepreneurs with big ideas.

Here's a sample of some things you can do here in Hickory.

- We're turning to a destination where you want to come here, you want to enjoy yourself, spend the weekend, and there's just so much to do.

There's so much culture here, as well.

Not what you would expect at Hickory.

[light music] - We're a small town that lives big.

- Every night of the week you can find live music somewhere, at a restaurant or at one of the local bars.

- [Zack] We're seeing a renaissance of food and culture, and beverage as well.

- We love the Hickory area.

When we moved here 10 years ago, we decided this was gonna be home for us.

- The funny part is that I hear people say, "There's nothing to do in Hickory!"

And I'm going like, "What rock do you live under?"

- I think there's more than enough to make you feel like you're in a great place.

[light music continues] - Hickory grew because for a long time it was the main stop on the railroad for Catawba County.

So at the time it was a rural community.

All the farmers were bringing their produce, their product to the railroad.

From there, that grew into, you can see very naturally, the textile industry, from the cotton.

And then from there, the furniture, because of the local woods.

- The local businessmen would watch the lumber that originated from this area be sent to the factories up north to make furniture.

And they were wondering, "Why are we sending all "of our furniture up to factories up north "when we could be producing it here "and supporting our local economy?"

We have a lot of manufacturers in this area still.

A lot of people think that it has left, but it has not.

- When you bring together people that have different backgrounds, expertise, and knowledge sets, and allow them to cohabitate, amazing things can happen.

[light music] - The idea was, is to get the potters together so that buyers could see lots of pottery, and might have a choice of what to buy.

- We had thought at first we would just concentrate on Catawba Valley, but it became obvious that with the interest we were getting, that we really needed to cover all of North Carolina.

- The artwork in here is amazing from the moment you walk in.

- It just has always amazed me that we have such a fine cultural base here.

[soft music] - We have people of all ages that come here.

They are often, they stagger a little when you try to take in all the different wallpapers.

This is the parlor of the 1887 Harper House.

It was built by a gentleman named Daniel Webster Shuler, a successful businessman who came down from Michigan, but it is known today for the family that lived here the longest.

Mr. Gwen Harper established the first car dealership here in Hickory.

People just want to know more about that era of Hickory.

When Hickory was growing.

[light music] - [Patricia] I rode by it and instantly fell in love with the house.

Then I had to persuade my husband to open up a bed and breakfast.

- She brings me over to the house to show it to me and we pull in the driveway and I say, "No, heck no."

Because the house had been abandoned for 17 years, overgrown, it just looked kind of spooky.

[chuckles] And, you know, we got a chance to come into the house and got a little history of the house and we just instantly fell in love with it.

We knew it was for us.

- [Patricia] The house was actually completed in 1920 by a gentleman by the name of Ray Miller Hunsucker.

He built this house for his wife and his family.

When the stock market crashed of 1929 happened, he lost quite a bit of his fortune.

- We were driving through downtown one day and she saw a sign in the window that said sweet tea.

And she looks over and she goes, "What do you think about Sweet Tea?"

- [Patricia] The furniture in the upstairs rooms were actually from local estate sales and yard sales.

We wanted to keep this whole home as authentic as possible to Catawba County.

[energetic music] - We had pancakes, we had waffles, we had a breakfast casserole, which had sausages, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese in it.

I made some pastries.

[energetic music continues] We are the first and only bed and breakfast in Conover.

[upbeat music] - I think the food scene in Hickory's really picked up and blossomed.

- We opened this small little place six years ago, not knowing what it would do, since it was kind of a different concept for the area.

We specialize in sandwiches, pulled pork plates, things like that, local sides.

And every Friday night we have entrees.

[light music] - We do traditional styles of beer using traditional methods and the idea is to have a balance, and have a balance, not just within the beers, but to also have a balanced portfolio.

What we also do a lot of are a lot of barrel aged beers.

Most of them are bourbon barrels.

Of course, the beer picks up the nuances of the spirit that was in the barrel.

- When the Olde Hickory Tap Room first started in 1998, they decided to initiate a mug club.

We assign every one in number, we hang them on the wall in order.

When they come in, we get their mug down, we put it in the ice and they get a iced mug beer.

The owners said they thought they might sell 200, and now we're over 1100 mugs and counting.

- With my girlfriends we like to go to Boca.

Have the tapas, a little wine.

- We focus on tapas, you know, because we love to share.

It's really going back to comfort food, something that you share with a group of people.

You just sit down and you just have a glass of wine or a glass of sherry and you just dig in.

Most of our customers are from Asheville and Charlotte and from Savannah, from all over.

I mean, this is kind of a really melting pot in between big cities, you know?

[light music] - What's great about Hickory Furniture Mart is that we have four levels of nothing but furniture.

[light music continues] It truly is an experience and it's a destination.

People will come here because they can find everything under one roof.

They can find their furniture, they can find accessories.

We have design service and most of the people that work here in the building have grown up in furniture.

Whatever level of quality, whatever price point we can, you know really work towards that.

[light music continues] [relaxing music] - Rock Barn was started in 1969 so we are the first in the area.

We have massage services, we have estheticians, we have nail services, we have the salt water pool, we have the mineral waterfall, we have the outdoor Jacuzzi, the cooling pool, we have saunas, we have steam room.

I mean, it's just an unbelievable spa here.

People are starting to recognize the spa and also Rock Barn and Hickory and Conover area.

- The art scene in Hickory is really happening.

One of the biggest bold-faced lies that we all need to squash is that there's nothing to do in Hickory.

That is just absolutely ridiculous.

[intense orchestral music] So the Western Piedmont Symphony was founded in 1964 as the Hickory Symphony.

We do about 85 performances a year.

- Oh, the Salt Block is one of the coolest cultural places around.

[upbeat music] ♪ Hey ♪ - It actually stands for Science, Art, Literature Together.

There's so many things to do, it's hard to choose.

- I think a good forward thinking art museum is thinking about needs in the community, and then build bridges together that can move the needle forward in terms of progress.

[upbeat music] - Hickory's on your way to everywhere.

You wanna go to high country, go through Hickory.

You wanna go to Asheville, go through Hickory.

You wanna go to Winston and Raleigh?

Go through Hickory.

We're on your way to every, Charlotte 321.

We're on your way to everywhere.

Stop here, we have a lot to offer.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] To find more things to do in Hickory, go to VisitHickoryMetro.com.

- This is the new river walk that the town of Hickory's been working on for several years.

It stretches nearly 10 miles, and it's been a great boost to the economy.

Isn't it impressive?

[light music] Now follow the foothills north, you'll reach Surry County.

Beautiful county and a favorite by lots of cyclists.

And Surry County has created trail maps with designated routes for cyclists.

And as Rick Sullivan discovered, it's even better than it used to be.

[light music continues] - [Rick] Surry County's natural beauty is on par with any location in North Carolina, and cycling is one of the best ways to experience it.

The most visible and famous geological feature is Pilot Mountain.

It can be seen from most any high spot within 20 miles, but the county has over 500 miles of roads that it calls scenic bikeways, roads that are favorable for scenic and or challenging bike rides.

- I think Surrey Scenic Bikeway really stemmed from the fact that cycling has been a huge pastime for a lot of people in Surry County.

I moved here 17 years ago, became passionate about cycling, joined up with a lot, and met a lot of new friends through cycling - [Rick] The county decided to hire Dave Petri, a marketing consultant, cyclist, and local resident, to make bike riding in Surry more navigable and practical.

Something that might attract more bike riders to the area.

- I think the county recognized that it had a great asset for cyclists to come and ride, in rolling hills, flat roads, climbs up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

- [Rick] Petri put his marketing and bike skills to work, making SurryScenicBikeway.com a more powerful website tool for cycling anywhere in the county.

- I set out and created GPS tracks for all the Surry Scenic Bikeway routes.

There's four loops and three spurs.

I digitize them.

Created downloadable Garmin tracks, Google Maps with the routes on 'em and had the information that you can do the route either clockwise or counterclockwise.

- [Rick] These are Petri's video clips from his travels on the Surry Scenic bikeway.

At the website you can download digital maps for the bikeway, or you can order a free hard copy map.

Points of interest are notated.

- Breweries and wineries and restaurants and places you can stop and rest.

- [Rick] In fact, stopping in Surry County doesn't even have to be about the rest.

Visiting any one of the dozens of wineries and breweries now populating the area is a frequent routine for local and visiting riders.

- Sauratown, Hanging Rock- - [Rick] Jan Kriska owns Thirsty Souls Brewery in Mount Airy.

He's also ridden some of the most popular bike destinations in the world.

- We have more, it's just all these sites have just one thing which are great at, but we've got roads, we've got wine, we've got breweries, we've got urban stuff.

We also have natural stuff.

We've got 12 months of riding.

Which, you know, you don't get that when you go north, and you don't get that when you go south, because it's too hot.

And if you really feel like it's hot, you just climb up the mountain and it's seven to 10 degrees less.

- I would consider Surrey County world class destination.

I think what's unique about Surrey County for cycling is it has everything a cyclist I think would want to challenge them.

It has flat, straight flat ways where you can really get up a good sprint.

It has rolling hills where you're changing your speed and your technique for riding, as well as the opportunity to do some serious climbing.

Here at Pilot Mountain, you can climb up to the top of the Pilot Mountain.

It's about a 1,200 foot, 1,300 foot climb with 9%, 10% grades at certain points.

If you wanna go riding and see this beautiful rural countryside, this is a place to go do it.

- [Rick] For anyone who takes the bikes to Surry County for a day trip, you'll find lots of valuable information to make your ride more safe and more fantastic by going first to the Bikeway's website.

But if you're making an overnight visit, here's an insider tip for lodging.

Most every winery has onsite lodging and is located near a Surry Scenic Bikeway.

- [Narrator] To find out more about all the great bike rides in Surry County, go to SurryScenicBikeway.com.

I'm with Zack Cranford of the Cranford Hospitality Group.

Zack, you've been a big player in the revitalization of downtown Hickory.

What do we've got here?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So we've got a mixed use hospitality project we've been working on for quite some time.

In the front we're gonna have a barbecue restaurant called Cranford Brothers with me and my brother doing it.

And then in the back we're gonna have a brewery and a distillery.

They're gonna be in separate spaces with a patio outside.

We're gonna produce spirits and beer on site.

It'd be really fun for the city of Hickory.

- Wow, so you're gonna have a distillery, a brewery, a barbecue restaurant.

All you need now is a steakhouse.

- Funny you say that.

Follow me this way.

Deb, welcome to the Charlais.

Glad to have you here.

- I love it, it's like a classic steakhouse.

Tell me more about it.

- Yeah, absolutely.

We've been here since 1969.

Been around a long time in the Hickory area.

What you'll find here is different than most steakhouses.

We cut the ribeye and strip tableside, so we'll bring a cart out.

[light music] We have a full salad bar.

We also have a very extensive wine list.

And we recently added at our remodel a brand new bar, sitting behind me here.

- Sounds fabulous.

So how did you get into the restaurant business?

- So I grew up in the restaurant business.

Kind of, you know, you don't have a choice.

You just kinda work in in the restaurant business.

And then it's an industry you either fall in love with or you hate, and I fell in love with it.

- And now you've been featured in "Garden and Gun Magazine" as one of the top 25 destinations in the South for a restaurant.

How does that feel?

- Yeah, it's such an honor for our team.

We've all worked hard to get to this point and it's really nice to kind of receive that recognition, and we've had folks come from all over.

So it's just an exciting time to kind of carry the legacy forward for the Charlais.

- Well, I'm excited for you and for Hickory, and can't wait to try out your restaurants.

- Thank you.

Look forward to having you back.

- [Both] Cheers.

- The Charlais Steakhouse is at 766 4th Street Southwest in Hickory, and they're open for dinner Monday through Thursday from 5:00 to 9:30, and Friday and Saturday from 4:30 to 10:00 PM.

For more information give them a call at [828] 328-4597, or go online to TheCharlais.com.

Here at the Hickory Wine Shop, you can find terrific wines, delicious charcuterie plates, and even live music.

It's a really popular spot.

And here in the foothills, there are lots of great wineries.

One of the most popular is Raffaldini Vineyards.

And Teresa Litschke discovered that a visit there is just like a trip to Italy.

[relaxing music] - Yadkin Valley is sort of the epicenter of vinifera, which is European grapes and winemaking in North Carolina.

- The industry is flourishing.

Wilkes County's embracing it, and I think we're just beginning to peel back the onion as to the potential for Wilkes County and the wine industry.

- [Teresa] Jay Raffaldini is a successful stock trader, but had another passion he wanted to explore.

His family had a long-standing tradition of making wine in Italy, so he decided to purchase an abandoned farm near Ronda to plant grapevines native to that country.

- Drinking wine is part of my Italian heritage, and I wanted to maintain that in the United States, 'cause I'm a first generation Italian, so they're both my mother and father were both born in Italy.

- [Teresa] Initially, there were two objectives when planning out the property.

- Did two things.

The first was it stirred the soul of fellow Italians.

It reminded them of where their family came from.

And the second, which is for all people, not just Italians, is when you walked onto this property, you have what I call an exhale moment.

You walk, you look around, you're like, [sighs] okay.

Now I can unplug and reconnect.

And that was the purpose for all people, not just Italians.

- It's kind of a very Mediterranean experience.

You feel like out of place when you come here.

The ambiance, the whole decoration, the whole place just transports you and it's been a very rich experience.

- Raffaldini is a little piece of Italy.

We've been to Italy and this is gorgeous.

I brought my sister here from Ohio to visit and she loves it.

- [Teresa] As you make the turn onto a winding road that leads through the vineyard, you're rewarded with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Suddenly, you feel as though you're in a different place in time with an Italian villa as the centerpiece.

- Classic Tuscan style.

And nothing is uniform.

All right, if you've been to Italy before, you see these beautiful villas.

They're made up all these different rocks, because of the villa's been there for 500 years.

- It was simply beautiful.

The roses in front and the grape vineyards, and the mountains.

- It's just beautiful.

It's a paradise.

- We're the only Italian themed winery in the entire state, so you came to the right spot if you're a big Italian wine lover.

- The only white that we have is a white called Vermentino, which of course comes from the province of Sardinia.

And in terms of the reds, we have Sangiovese.

Sangiovese is the grape to make Chianti.

And then we have Montepulciano, and the next grape is called Sagrantino.

And then we have a grape called Piedirosso, which is a blending grape that we have.

And then we're planting Trebbiano, which is from the central to northern part, and that'll be the base for our sparkling wine.

- The Montepulciano, I think is a reserve.

Very fine, very, very soft wine to have, It actually is the one that I'm taking home.

- If I had to describe one word on my feelings in Wilkes County, what it means to me, the word will be home.

It is that karmic, it is that essence of what I want to live, to be, and to be surrounded by.

These people, this location, this wonderful area.

- [Teresa] Raffaldini Vineyards and Winery is at 450 Groce Road in Ronda, and they're open every day, except Tuesdays.

All visitors must be 21 or older, except on designated family days.

For reservations, give them a call at [336] 835-9463 or go online to Raffaldini.com.

- This is Cowasake Restaurant, a brand new restaurant here in Hickory that by the time you see this story, will be newly open.

It's just one of the many places in this burgeoning downtown that makes it a great and fun destination to explore, whether you're hiking, shopping, but especially if you're a foodie.

We have had such a great time here.

It's one of my favorite cities.

And if you have missed anything in tonight's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at PBSNC.org.

Have a great "North Carolina Weekend" everyone.

[light music] [light music continues] [light music continues] [light music continues] [light music continues] [light music continues] [light music continues] - [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

- [Narrator] Funding for the North Carolina Year of the Trail Series is provided by.

- [Narrator] SECU Foundation, proving how contributions from SECU members can generate the support needed to make a difference across North Carolina in the areas of housing, education, healthcare, and human services.

[upbeat music]