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OUTLINE-Phil Templeton - Nov. 12, 1975
I.
History of business
A.
II.
Recession
A.
III.
1967 - Becoming popular w/Fla. people (area).
1. Saw demand so started business
2. Been growing steadily since 1967
Affected all real estate businesses
1. Reason - People no longer can spare money for
investments
Discussion of business
A.
What type of people real estate in Boone is for
1. Offices in business for 5-10 yrs. for investors
looking for property
2. University had increase since '63
a. Students
b. Parents
c. Faculty & staff
SHORT INTERRUPTION BY TELEPHONE CALL
3.
We are in diversified markets
(moble homes, apts., buying land)
B.
How to acquire land
1. You know what land is available
2. Through real estate board meeting
3. A business describes what they want & we go find it
C.
Why do people come to mountains to build
1. Beauty of mtns.
D.
People bringing w/them what they are trying to leave.
Is development changing mtns.?
1. Some people more to Boone & then want development
stopped but a selfish approa~
2. Economic side
a. Farmer who can't make decent living
3. County zoning good but shouldn't go too far
a. City zoning ordinance
b. No county zoning yet
4. Farming here never been lucrative
5. Ecologists inconsiderate
6. To tell a guy he can't grade a mtn. top is one thing
�2
E.
Good things brought about by development
1 . Roads improved
2. Other economic improvements
3. Created income , jobs
4. Given people a reason to stop in Boone
a . Motels improved
5. When you stop development , stop growth
a . To those who have steady income , don ' t
care if Boone doesn ' t grow
b . People narrow-minded in their fixed positions
F.
Will mountains lose cultural heritage
1 . T. V. makes people aware of outside world
2 . Culture & mtn . life as once known will soon be gone
G.
Can there be progress & save culture
1. Don ' t know of any way
a . Would be good to preserve heritage & upgrade
standing at same time
H.
What would you like to see happen in area
1 . As real estate man
a . Boom & growth (orderly growth)
I.
What do you predict will happen?
1 . Boone's growth will level off in 1980
a . No money to invest
b . University growth will level off
c . No influx of industry
d . Not enough people to man industry
2 . No boom for yrs . to come
a. We are gearing down now.
J • . Personal comments
1.
Have enjoyed living in area but desirability depends
on ability to make an income
�This is Janice Young and Jane Efird on November the 12th , 1975.
We're working for the Appalachian Oral History Project at Appalachian State University.
Today we are speaking with Mr. Phil
Templeton who is at Carolina Realty.
And we · re speaking to him
at his office on Blowing Rock Road, in Boone.
Q:
O. K., Will you give us a brief history of your business?
A:
0. K.
The , our business was organized in April of 1967, uh,
primarily due to the fact that the area at that time was becoming
very popular with Florida people and uh people who wanted to buy
resort property acreage for investment , second homes, and things
of this sort.
We saw the demand and , so we set up our offices at
that time and we have uh
grown
steadily from then to our present
time and our present location.
Q:
O. K., uh , how has the recent recession , has it affected
your business?
A:
Most definitely , I think it has affected all real estate
companies.
Uh , the reason being the people that we were selling
land to and houses and investment acreage , were people who had
made good profit in the stock market or who had saved up their
money for retirement and thought they could spare some of it
for investments.
People coming up looking for second homes,
and then when the energy crisis came, 18 or 24 months ago, and
inflation kept growing , people became concerned about their
retirement money not being sufficient for their own needs let
along investment.
They became concerned about having the gasoline
to drive from Atlanta to Boone to see their property. and uh
this curtailed that investment group ) I ' d say a good 75~.
�2
Q:
Uh , you said , you know , your busine s s really got started
when the Florida people and people like that came.
Uh , do not
necessarily you , but other real estate businesses around here , do
you all cater particularly , you build for people like that or are
there some of the real estate businesses geared more for local
people like building homes and stuff like that?
A:
Well , most of the real estate offices that have been in
operation for 5 to 10 years have uh made the main , their main
efforts , directed their main efforts toward the investors looking
for property up here.
And in addition to that , the university
had a growth of about 6,000 , , had an increase of about 6 , 000 form
1963 until the present time and this growth in student population
caused the growth in the faculty and staff.
Uh , it brought parents
up here who had never before been in the area.
that they wanted to buy.
They saw things
In fact , we just sold a house the other
day to a student , a girl student who · s father bought it for her to
live in while she goes to school.
Uh , the university I think has
as much impact , the growth of the university had as much impact on
the area as did the skiing industry and the tourism in general.
So , people , real estate companies , who have geared themselves
primarily toward that market are in bad trouble or have gone out
of business because that market dried up.
the point where
(INTERRUPTION:
We're diversified to
PHONE CALL)
As I was saying , the real estate companies who have, who were
geared to that market alone, the Florida market and the investors
have had a very difficult time.
But we were, we were in a business,
�3
a business earlier and became diversified in the mobile home
parks . commercial development , uh , buying and selling real
estate, ourselves, and the apartment complex we had, so we've
been able to exist where others would have had to fold up.
Q:
That's another question I wanted to ask was , like what
all tyµes of like apartments you were saying and mobile homes
and buy and sell real estate .
How do you acquire your land?
Would you tell us a little about that?
A:
Well , being in the real estate business you know what
land is available for sale .
some is too high .
Some land comes in at a good price,
If a piece of property is listed with us that
we feel like is a good buy , and that we can develop it , then
we ' ll buy it ourselves and develop it , you see.
Uh , some other
realtor might have a piece of property for sale that we find
out about through our local real estate board meeting . and then
we buy that land.
Another case is , is if a business comes to town
wanting a building built and lease it to them.
They tell us what
they want and what they ' ll pay and then we go out and find the
property and build the building for them, or sell it to them or
Whatever.
Q:
So that ' s the method of operation.
I have a question that's made just to be an opinion of
yours .
Why do you think so many people like to come to the
mountains here?
And have do so much in the past?
�4
A:
Well , primarily the mountains themselves.
I've travelled
all over the world, from Hong Kong to Switzerland, and there are
very few places that are as pretty as the Western North Carolina
Mountains, believe it or not.
I've been to the Rocky Mountains,
I've been to uh the Carribean , I've been all over. and for
natural beauty this area is hard to beat.
Q:
It really is .
Well , uh , another man we interviewed made a comment that the
peoole that are , that are , do come up here , like Florida people,
that they're really bringing with them what they are trying to
leave , you know to come to these beautiful mountains.
think , what do you think about this?
Do you
Do you think the real estate
business or all this development is changing the mountains?
A:
It's changing the mountains , but I don't think to a , to a
negative degree because a 200 acre tract of land is nothing , you
know , unless someone does something with it .
So , there are those
people who would like to come up here and say , O. K. , I ' m, I've
moved to Boone , not let's, let's, cut, cut all future growth out,
now that I'm here.
O. K?
Cause I like the
way - Jo~ B~ ow ' s
farm
i s s just like that -=:ana >!'.:·-.don't want him to develop it, see cause
;
I want to enjoy it for my own beauty .
of people I resent.
ment.
So, that's the type
I'm for ecology , and I'm for orderly develop-
But you've always got the extreme element who comes in and
says O. K. , I'm here now
Boone to grow any more .
ago
O. K?
that's all I care about . I don't want
We sold a house to a couple about 2 years
and the other ni ght at a meeting his wife made that very comment,
�5
I don't want Boone to grow any more , now that · r•m here.
that's a selfish approach to it.
Well,
So , I think a lot of times
people have the uh , notion that they can dictate to another
property owner what he can do with his lands.
that the
And I'm sure
Utopia would be that everything would remain in its
natural state and be beautiful and everybody would enjoy it, but,
for those who have to look at the economic side of it , a farmer
whose , who can no longer make a decent living on a farm.
What's
he gonna do . see , is he gonna draw welfare , or is he gonna be
allowed to develop his property, sell off tracts and uh, and
derive income from that, and continue to live of is he going
to be uh , put into welfare for the rest of his days , you see?
I think a happy medium's got to be struck here, so county
zoning , is a good thing providing its not, its not done too far,
you see.
Q:
What kind of zoning laws are there in Boone?
What kind of
restrictions are there?
A:
Well in the city of Boone , of course , you have the city
zoning ordinance , which takes care of your , it takes care of all
the property within the city limits of Boone , that's the residential,
the commercial . the industrial , properties.
of the town.
yet.
So , uh , that takes care
Now outside of the city , we don't have county zoning
There's been , uh , a lot of effort put toward coming up with a
county zoning plan.
But here you get into such uh , a bag of worms
because what one farmer wants to do with his land the other farmer
might not want to.
And you , you get to tinkering with someone s
uh , ability to make, uh, a living off their land , you see.
And
it's , it's much more difficult to have orderly zoning of a county
�6
than it is a city, for the reasons that most of the rural people
are, are very very much against someone in town passing an ordinance or a county law telling them that they can't raise hogs
in their back yard, if tha2s what that guy has for a source of
income.
See, the farming in this area never has been lucrative.
The weather is too unpredictable.
not enough rain.
very great.
If you got too much rain or
The cost of farming hillside land is very, is
So, I am for zoning and things as long as it's done
in moderation, you see.
But invariably your ecologists , and when
I speak of ecologists I'm not speaking of the average citizen,
I'~
talking about those who , who go out and eat the bark off the trees
and this sort of thing , the real , the real nature lovers.
They're
the ones who I think are the most inconsiderate andthe most demanding
on other peoples rights.
Q:
Especially as relates to their farm.
Do you have any kind of restrictions on , like
how it can be used?
land use sales ,
You know , laws like , I mean like, if you sell
some land , is there any way people can use it, like they can go out
and just grade it off , you know, leave it bare?
A:·
Well , inside the city limits, if we sell a tract of land, the
buyer has to develop it according to the zoning law, Number 1.
Number 2, we have the pollution laws now which prohibits someone
from grading off a hillside and just leaving it there without reseeding it and I think that's good, you know.
I think that's O. K.,
but to tell a gµy that he can't grade· off a mpuntaintop is one
thing , but to let him grade it off and then let him put it back in
a good state of appearance and uh , erosion proofing
all right.
I think that's
�7
Q:
Uh , I have a auestion here about not just , not just your
business , but just all the development that has taken place over
the past or however many years.
Could you give us in your opinion
what are some of the good things that have come about because of
this development?
For instance , the economic situation.
Then give
us some of the bad things you think.
A:
Well , I, I moved to Boone when I was must have been 8 or 9
years old.
And , back at that time , the population of Boone was
probably 15 hundred.
The student population probably 900.
we didn't have good roads in through Boone.
entertainment-wise.
Uh,
We had meager facilities,
There was one movie in _town.
Uh, there were no
restaurants to go out to eat to speak of , maybe one or two little
cafes.
The university hadn'g expanded to offer the arts and the
sciences and the things it does today , the local people can take
advantage of.
So , as the area has grown, the roads have been im-
proved , and I noticed in the paper this week that River Street back
there is going to be four-lane . and this is , this is the good things
that come about as a result of growth.
When a business comes into
town . and succeeds that creates jobs for people . that creates income
for their employees to spend in the local stores.
It creates a
better economic situation all the way around , you see.
something more to people coming through Boone.
reason to stop , whereas in years past
It offers
It gives them a
they'd come through town and
s ay , well , there was Boone , what was it , you know.
I missed it.
Now we · ve got a Holiday Inn in Boone, they'll stop and spend the
night.
And, before the Holiday Inn came , many people didn't stay
in Boone simply because the motels were so inferior.
want to come and stay in a dinky motel.
They didn't
So, an upgrading of the
�accomm .iations and I think that uh , just a general economic, uh,
improvement comes from development.
And when you stop the developers,
I'm speaking of commercial developers, land developers, in terms of
residential of anything like that you'll literally stop the gfowth,
you see.
And that's fine for someone to uh be in favor of that who
has a state job at the university , drawing a salary from the state,
if Boone didn't grow another bit it wouldn't matter.
But if that
person weren't employed by the state , and had to depend on outside
employment for . for livelihood , he·11 look at it differently you see.
It's very easy for those people on fixed salaries or state salaries
to . to look out and say well now he shouldn't have built that hamburger joint right there because it will hurt the looks of that
street.
But if he weren't drawing that salary from the state, then
he would be out having to be employed by , perhaps by that burger house.
And then it'll be an asset to him.
I think people are
narrow-m~nded
in their , in their opinions sometimes because of , they're secure in
their positions so the heck with everybody else.
Q:
I think one of the main things that we were , that uh the Oral
History has been concerned with is the question of whether Appalachian
mountaineers are gonna lose their cultural heritage with all the new
~eople
coming in , and all the change going on.
What do you think
about that?
A:
Very possibly you're , that could be , especially to some degree.
If a guy has made a living building mountain crafts, lets say, and
uh the area keeps growing he can get a-job in a factory , then you're
losing one segment of the , uh of the craft business , and maybe that
is never taken up again in his family.
But } with the advent of
television and people in this area having TV's in their homes,
�9
they're aware of the outside world much more than, than we were
when I was growing up here. Uh, when I was growing up , to go to
town on Saturday was a pig deal . you know , and to go to the movie
was an even bigger deal.
when I was growing up.
I think it cost a dime to go to the movie
But , uh , I think the . the influence of , of ,
uh . t.elevision and radio and news , dissimination in particular has
had as much influence as anything else.
So , I think you're right ,
uh , the cultural end of it and the , the mountain life as it was once
known , will soon be , be gone.
Q:
Do you see any way of keeping all the progress and saving this
cultural heritage?
A:
Frankly , I don't know how you would do it , uh, I wish there
were some way to do it , uh , I wish there were some way to do it.
In
other words, if you could keep the culture like it was and yet upgrade a fellow's standard of living , you see.
To go back into the
mountains here and find an old mountain family that's been rooted in
their uh area there for a hundred years and to observe them with
curiosity and amusement is one thing , but to upgrade that fellow ! s
standard of living to where he has an indoor bath , television , uh,
hot-air furnace . an automobile to drive 1 a tractor to plow his
fields with . it's very difficult for that to ever come about unless
he leaves the old ways and adapts to the new , to the new times.
Q:
The last
uestion I have here is , what would you like to see
happen in this region, say within the next 20-25 years in the area
of growth and progress?
�10
A:
Well . as a real estate man . of course . you have a desire to
see the thing grow and get back in the boom it was in the early
1970.s.
On the other hand , I can see that there would be dis-
advantages to that continuing right on without orderly growth,
so if I were to have, uh , if I were to have my , my wishes granted
in that respect , I would say wish for an orderly growth, by that
I mean , a growth that can be kept up with in utilities , in streets,
in services , uh , commerserate with the number of people coming in
the area.
I don't think any area should grow faster than its cap-
abilities for providing the essential services, in terms of power,
uh , fuel . uh . roads , services , shopping areas and schools.
So as
long as the . the services and utilities could keep up with it , I
think it would be fine.
Q:
What do you predict will happen?
A:
Well . if I were , if I had a crystal ball I would say that the
growth of Boone is going to level off sometime around 1980.
Two or
three reasons , one reason I think people aren't going to have the
extra money to . to uh . invest in pro erty , they're going to have to
spend the money that they have to live on.
With inflation, the cost
of everything going up , we're not going to have the excess money that
we once had.
level off.
Secondly , I think the University growth is going to
I think
m~ybe
you get up to ten or twelve thousand
students and that'll be the plateau that uh, that'll level off .
Uh , thirdly I don't think that there·s going to be any influx of
industry here to speak of, because the lack of , of uh, water and
rail service ,
and the trucking up the mountains can get so expensive
�11
that's another deterent to industries moving in .
Another item is
we simply don't have the people to man another great deal of industry you
ee .
Industry ' s going to go where the people are, and
where their products going out you see , their materials coming in
and so forth .
And we don't have this , I would say that ' s the biggest
drawback to . the biggest single drawback is the rail service.
we have a railroad now in West Jefferson.
Now
Giving an example, I
am one of the owners of a lumber company , and we · re buying· our
lumber from the west coast.
It's
sh~pped
all the way to Boone , or
to West Jefferson rather , on . uh , rail cars and we take our trucks
to West Jefferson . pick it up and haul it to Boone.
Now there·s
not enough demand for that rail service in this area to make it a
profitable operation for the railroads, therefore , they ' ve petitioned
the, uh , agency that handles that to eliminate , to let them eliminate
the , uh , rail service to West Jefferson .
Now when that happens we'll
have to go down to North Wilkesboro and pick up the lumber and haul it
all the way up the mountain on trucks which is going to take .more time,
more fuel , uh, more wear and tear on the vehicles , and consequently,
cost more money to someone buying lumber .
So , if we had a rail head
in Boone . let's say , like , uh , we had a good track in and out
ofr
Boone that would make a big difference because then you could
induce a factory to come in , but it's difficult for them to do it
all by trucks.
And this is the problem , one of the biggest problems
we · re going t o have .
So I would say by 1980 we'll see a great
levelling off in the growth of t his area .
�12
Q:
Between the time from now to 1980 do you think there·11 be
another boom like before?
A:
No . I don't think there 11 be another boom for many years
to come.
I think we'll have a , a uh . in fact we're on the , we're
gearing down now .
The big decrease was back in the last 24 months
and now it's gonna be a gradual decrease , I think , you know , as
far as the people coming in the area and then maybe by 1980 we'll
see a levelling off.
strictly speculation .
Of course . what we're talking about here is
I could be dead wrong , but that's . I've
given a lot of thought to tha t very auesti on , because that . the
answer to that question determines what we do in our offices.
Whether we devote our energies to another aspect of real estate ,
whether we develop commercial properties or houses or whatever .
Q:
Uh , do you have anything you'd like to add to this , your own
personal opinions or anything?
A:
No , not really, I , just to say that I've enjoyed living in
the area
and uh , a lot of other people do , but the success or the
desirability of anybody living anywhere is their ability to make
an income and a living whereever they are and we've had many people
come in the area uh , to give an example when
(INTERRUPTION - END OF TAPE)
This is Jane Efird with Mr . Phil Templeton . we : re interviewing
him for the second time on November 20 , 1975 .
Q:
Mr. Templeton ,. you mentioned before that the area must obtain
orderly growth , and uh . you also mentioned that you weren t in favor
of too many zoning laws such as the mountain management act , could
you , uh , go into detail a little about this , as to why you aren : t
uh . too favorable , or too much in favor of this?
�13
A:
I don t know tha
much. about the Mountain Land Management Act
yet uh . but in what discussions I've had with people who were familiar
with it
it seems like that it
uh , closely parallels the results of
what's happened down east with the Coastal Land Management Act .
It
was initiated some time ago , and in talking with people who have had
contact with that law there . it's very bureaucratic in it's set up.
You have to get numerous permits for doing anything.
Uh , almost a
nightmare of headaches and paper work involved in complying with the
letter of the law of the Mountain , I mean of the Coastal Land Management Act that was enacted .
business
Our concern being in the real estate
is that the people who initiate these acts many times have
a very honorable purpose in mind and on the face of it , it turns out
to be a very good act , but then it ' s expanded , added to , changed,
amended . modified or whatever , and becomes a real headache for everybody.
And almost stimies growth completely . so unfortunately the people who,
uh who make these laws and who enforce them are people who . who have
no experience whatever in developing land . they have no concept of
the developers point of view
they . they're trying to create utopia
a it's very difficult to do this and still meet the needs of everybody .
So . from what I know of the Mountain Land Management Act , that
they're working on at the present time , I think I'd be opposed to it .
Not because of it's present statutes , but
expect to grow out of it you see .
because of what you can
Uh , it's , it may be a baby today
and a monster tomorrow.
Q:
Who are these people that are , uh, developing this act?
A:
I'm sure it's the environmentalists , uh , group , primarily , like
the Sierra Club and things of this sort , who get behind it and initiate
the action . and of course , you have your federal
agenci~s a~d
your
state agencies who . who get together and uh , you know, actually do
the legislation.
Uh , drawing up the legislation and submit it to
�14
the legislature to be enacted into law.
And , uh , the Sierra
Club , I think , has done a lot of good things , but by the same
token. they have their own nar row interests at heart.
care less about the economic growth of a region
They could
whether the farmer
makes a living or whether he doesn ' t is immaterial to them as long
as the land is protected for their enjoyment , you see.
And : gh .
I'm not speaking of all Sierra Club members because I've got friends
in town who are members of the Sierra Club.
But I think the overall
thrust of their effort is uh is in that vein . you know , not so much
as to what's the practical approach . but a narrow
a narrow view ,
towards strictly conservation.
Q:
Uh . last time you were talking about , giving us an example
about how much trouble it was to get permits and things like
that
A:
would you tell that now?
Locally we don't have too much trouble with that at this point,
uh. it seems like almost monthly there·s another permit required
to do something , you know.
But I think, by and large , we are
fortunate in that area because we haven't gotten so regimented
that we have problems with it.
I was reading in the paper the
other day someone down east , it seems like they had to have either
23 or 33 permits . I've forgotten the number , to build one , to build
one building . down east . because of this Management Act I was telling
you about.
Twenty-three different
were going to do.
And uh
~gen cies
very often times , those agencies have
overlapping authorities and it's just a ree.1
INTERRUPTION:
had to O. K. what they
(inaudible)
RECORDER TURNED OFF FOR A SHORT TIME
�15
Q:
O. K. , uh . we re talking about . you said that uh , you felt
that we would need to somehow control the growth of the future .
you know . have some kind of orderly growth.
this should be done?
A:
How would you say
Do you have any ideas about it?
Well . I think you've got to have a , a pragmatic approach
to it.
I think you've got to take the interests of the , the farmer ,
the city-dweller , the environmentalist , and try to mesh those together and come up with a program for development that neither excludes any of them "s interests , nor gives uh , any one of them the
right to just run roughshod over the others.
and take situation.
It's got to be a give
And so , I would say that uh , the zoning should
be approached with that in mind to where if a farmer needs to use
his land in a way that's not entirely satisfactory with environmentalists
that they understand his economic plight , and that each of them are,
are made to uh , to work together on it . you see.
Any time you have
any particular interest group dominating the legislation you ' re
going to have a biased approach to it and a , and a biased law coming
out of it
Q:
to where I think it s no good to anybody.
Well . who do you think would be able to get something like
this together . uh , an organi zaton of all interests
you know?
It
would have to be probably be started by somebody.
A:
Well . I think , ideally speaking
from each sector , you see.
you'd have representatives
You'd have environmentalists , you'd
have your real estate people , you ' d have your , your. farmers , you'd
have your uh , townspeople , you know have a committee type situation
where all views are , are at least discussed and , and represented.
And , of course no legislation I guess is perfect.
But I think
�16
too many times legislation pertaining to zoning and what not
comes out of a group that represents only one , one area you see .
One a r ea of thought , whether . and , this has happened in uh, in
terms of developers .
Many places, developers themselves have
gotten on the zoning boards , and have made laws that completely
ignore the environmentalists arguments, you see .
equally as bad .
And that's
Being a realtor , I think it's, it's more difficult
for me to keep a , an unbiased opinion of it than if I were a, a
state employee or something like that .
a . a reasonable outlook on it
But , but I try to, to keep
and not let my personal interests
uh . dominate my thinking to the point where it will work to
the ~
disadvantage of other ueoule.
Q:
Uh . you also mentioned before that developers such as resort
develoµers are sometimes different than companies like your own,
and you were going to give us some examples of that . like that
had ignored environmentalist's concerns , such as that .
A:
Well. I think in Florida , uh and Arizona are the most typical
examples of
of the unscruplous developer who goes into an area and
simply for his economic benefit , striµs the land of all its vegetation,
uh dries up the swamps, to where the , the uh , wildlife can't, can't
live any longer , uh 1 goes into high-pressure sales just for simply
for the matter of selling a lot and making a dollar.
And I think
those type people have caused much of the legislation to be passed
which really is too stringent upon the average citizen , you see .
Uh , and so I can see how the , these _1aws originated , but by the
same token , they were passed almost entirely with these developers
in mind . not with your average real estate developer .
I think 1
by and large , your average develouer has the interests of the
community at heart .
�17
Q:
By average, what do you mean?
A:
Yeah, the local developers in a given area.
Local people?
Now, you, you've
got your exceptions, there are those people who don't care anything
about the local people, the local community.
Q:
Well, do you mean uh, people like yourself who maybe have
grown up around here or are you talking about the people that
aren't concerned are the people that come in, say developers from,
that don't know about the area?
A:
Yeah, people who care less I think are those who, who don't
live here, or coming in from out of the area and say ·hey Boone,
North Carolina has, has got a boom going, let's go down and buy a
piece of land and cut it up into postage stamp size lots and sell
it and move on, you see.
Q:
Have you, or do you know about any of them, those in this area?
A:
I don't know of any big concerns, uh, to speak of.
I think
that uh, that we've been spared a great deal of that in this area,
whereas, in Florida and Arizona and places like that its more
prevalent.
We're not a quite big enough attraction to bring in
people like that, your big swindler s , you know.
Q:
Uh, what part do politics and government play in mountain
development?
A:
I don't know that politics plays much of a ny part.
much inclined in a political vein.
I'm not
I try to keep up with, with
politics in the paper and in the news and what not but I've never
been associated with any political party.
Also, in all the dealings
that we've had in real estate I, I don't find government to be to be
a factor, politics, either,
As far as uh, governing much locally,
I don't think politics has, has near the the influence it does in
some other area~.
In other words, if we have a Republican governor
�- 18
or a Democratic governor, I don't think it makes any difference,
locally.
Now in terms of what influence the government has had
uh, I think the greatest influence has come about in the last four
or five years.
You, You're running more and more into government
regulations about everything, you know.
You can't do that, you can't
do that, you can't do that, and you can't do this, that sort of thing.
So, this is what I'm concerned about that we don't have so many
regulations that, that it stymies growth,
Uh, the Utopia would be
if there were enough regulations that we didn't have to evervhave,
have uh, a bad development.
But by the same token, if you had
that type situation, it would be such a nightmare of paper work and
permits and inspections and government agencies it would be almost
impossible to work within that concept, you see.
So, somewhere we
need to strike a happy medium, do the best we can, with the least
amount of red tape.
Q:
The next question, I think is another one just about your
opinion, and uh, it's just that how, how many would you say real
estate companies and developers in this area are local people like
yourself that have grown up around here, that own the±r own businesses?
A:
Probably, there are probably twenty different agencies in this
area, but I'm talking about in the Boone immediate area.
there's probably Eix locals.
·1
And of those
Now, by local I mean people who've
been here before the, before the boom started.
And then you've
got several other people who have moved here and made this their
permanent home.
Uh, sort of semi-local, I guess you'd call it.
And then you've got those people who came here strictly for the
development that was taking place.
with that you know.
And there's nothing wrong
Uh, back during, during the gold rush, people
went to California because the gold rush was there.
But, and some
�19
of those people I ' think do as good a job in developing as
those of us who've been here all our lives you see.
good local developers, you've got
b~d
You've got
local developers.
got good developers who've moved in here from
You've
other ~places,
and
you've got bad developers.
Q:
What can local people do to control the orderly growth of
development?
Or what, if anything, have they been doing?
Have
the local people gotten together and tried to do something to control the growth as of yet?
A:
No, I don't think there's any concerted
effor~
toward that yet.
Uh, I think your, your best approach there is to work through your
city council or county commissioners.
of a group.
Uh, go as a representative
Don't go on an individual basis.
Try to get a, a
meeting of the minds, people have similar ideas to yours, and,
and approach the, the right people with them.
But, basically,
I think, they've got to be reasonable ideas.
If I were a city
councilman, and someone came to me with a reasonable idea, a fair
proposition, I would do my best to see that it was initiated.
However,
if they came to me strictly with a, a proposition that looked at
their own interests, not the interests of the community at large,
then I don't think I'd be inclined to help them. So, I think that
we need to take our uh, our ideas to, to the local government agencies
and officials but before we take them, make sure that they're not so
biased in our favor, that it makes it impractical.
�20
Q:
Uh, one fellow that we interviewed made the comment that so
many people are buying land now that uh, the land prices go up,
therefore taxes on the land go up.
And, uh, you know, if one
just, if a person just has a steady income, how can he, that
you know, does not go up, how can he cope with this?
Would
there be, do you see any change in that, or help for him?
A:
Not really, uh, that's an unfortunate fact of life I guess
that taxes are gonna go up whether we use the land or whether it
sits vacant.
And, uh, I don't think locally, that's, that's been
enough of a problem yet to cause anybody undue problems.
Now, true,
the county tax rate this year did almost double, the tax, the tax
on your county property almost doubled over last year.
But even at
that doubled figure, it's considerably less than taxes in many
places, you see.
So, I think that this is a part of, a fact of life
we're gonna have to live with, that if you want a lot of land
you're gonna have to expect to pay increasing taxes uh, on that
property.
Which to some degree may be a good idea.
It'll cause
people to put their land into use, to make it productive, in terms
of farm products or uh, developing it in terms of secondary homes
or primary homes, instead of it just sitting vacant you know, and
dormant.
see.
If nothing else, they could plant a tree farm on it, you
There are thousands and thousands of acres of land in this
area that have been non-productive for years and years simply because
the taxes were so cheap the guy didn't have to make it productive.
So, taxes are bad, nobody likes tham but I think it is necessary
that we have taxes and uh, I can see a lot of benefits to be derived from it.
END OF TAPE
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
In 1973, representatives from Appalachian State University (ASU) began the process of collecting interviews from Watauga, Avery, Ashe, and Caldwell county citizens to learn about their respective lives and gather stories. From the outset of the project, the interviewers knew that they were reaching out to the “last generation of Appalachian residents to reach maturity before the advent of radio, the last generation to maintain an oral tradition.” The goal was to create a wealth of data for historians, folklorists, musicians, sociologists, and anthropologists interested in the Appalachian Region.
The project was known as the “Appalachian Oral History Project” (AOHP), and developed in a consortium with Alice Lloyd College and Lees Junior College (now Hazard County Community College) both in Kentucky, Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and ASU. Predominately funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, the four schools by 1977 had amassed approximately 3,000 interviews. Each institution had its own director and staff. Most of the interviewers were students.
Outgrowths of the project included the Mountain Memories newsletter that shared the stories collected, an advisory council, a Union Catalog, photographs collected, transcripts on microfilm, and the book Our Appalachia. Out of the 3,000 interviews between the three schools, only 663 transcripts were selected to be microfilmed. In 1978, two reels of microfilm were made available with 96 transcripts contributed by ASU.
An annotated index referred to as The Appalachian Oral History Project Union Catalog was created to accompany the microfilm. The catalog is broken down into five sections starting with a subject topic index such as Civilian Conservation Corps, Coal Camps, Churches, etc. The next four sections introduced the interviewees by respective school. There was an attempt to include basic biographic information such as date of birth, location, interviewer name, length of interview, and subjects discussed. However, this information was not always consistent per school.
This online project features clips from the interviews, complete transcripts, and photographs. The quality and consistency of the interviews vary due to the fact that they were done largely by students. Most of the photos are missing dates and identifying information.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1965-1989
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Young, Janice
Efird, Jane
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Templeton, Phil
Interview Date
11/12/1975
Location
The location of the interview.
Boone, NC
Number of pages
22 pages
Date digitized
9/17/2014
File size
14.7MB
Checksum
alphanumeric code
0d8b019193d786f9ac93b39173165d99
Scanned by
Tony Grady
Equipment
Epson Expression 10000 XL
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the interviews on the Appalachian State University Oral History Collection site is held by Appalachian State University. The interviews are available for free personal; non-commercial; and educational use; provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Appalachian State Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records; 1965-1989; W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection; Special Collections; Appalachian State University; Boone; NC). Any commercial use of the materials; without the written permission of the Appalachian State University; is strictly prohibited.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
AC.111 Appalachian Oral History Project Records; 1965 - 1989
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
111_tape332_PhilTempleton_transcript_M
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Phil Templeton [November 12, 1975]
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Document
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Young, Janice
Efird, Jane
Templeton, Phil
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/195" target="_blank">Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Real estate developers
Rural development--North Carolina--Watauga County
Rural development--North Carolina--Ashe County
Templeton, Phil
Description
An account of the resource
Phil Templeton, a real estate developer, talks about the development happening in High Country over his lifetime. He attributes the development to the growth of the university, the skiing industry, and tourism in general. He is a proponent of the development, even if it means the loss of traditional mountain culture, because it provides a higher standard of living for people. He says: "Utopia would be that everything would remain in its natural state and everyone could enjoy it, but that's not how it works."
Boone
Carolina Reality
county tax
mountain development
mountain heritage
Mountain Land Management Act
mountain resorts
permits
Phil Templeton
pollution laws
railroad
real estate
Sierra Club
West Jefferson
zoning laws