- Next on "North Carolina Weekend," we explore towns and places along iconic Highway 64, like a rum distillery in Manteo, tiny houses in Rocky Mount, and the charm of downtown Lenoir, coming up next.

[light upbeat music] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, 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.

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

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and in tonight's show, we are profiling small towns along Highway 64, the longest-running stretch of highway in North Carolina, over 600 miles.

And, situated just about in the middle of Highway 64 is Asheboro.

Asheboro has really stepped up its downtown game in the past few years with new shops and restaurants.

This is Four Saints Brewing, a popular craft brewery in a repurposed building that used to be a car dealership.

Now Highway 64 stretches from Manteo to Murphy.

So let's start our journey at a distillery in Manteo, where they make a rum that honors the graveyard of the Atlantic.

[rum trickles] - When you think of the Outer Banks, you automatically think rum.

The town of Kill Devil Hills gets its name from shipwrecks coming along our coast, carrying barrels of rum, and they would wreck, and the barrels of rum would wash ashore.

- [Rick] Back in the day, that rum was strong enough to kill the devil, you might say, but here at Outer Banks Distilling, the modern Kill Devil Rums have the total recipe.

- [Matt] Well, everyone kind of waits for the burn and it never comes.

So we're very proud of our Silver Rum.

We've kind of gotten it dialed in, perfecting our craft with each batch.

- [Rick] Outer Banks Distilling opened for business with batch number one in May of 2015.

Four friends who met while working at a local brewery broke ranks with beer, gutted and repurposed an historic Manteo building, and busted out their new and tasty idea.

- [Scott] It is fairly new that this, the whole distillation industry in North Carolina is starting to really pick up.

I think there's about 35 or 40 of us right now.

And that's great.

There is more power in numbers, but people are really embracing this, people who go after the the craftier wine, craftier beer, are now going after that with their spirits.

And we've really seen that with all the local restaurants really carrying us, supporting us.

- [Rick] And spreading the news.

But these four buddies, Adam Ball, Scott Smith, Matt Newsome, and Kelly Bray did not anticipate just how quickly their Kill Devil Rum would sell.

Out-of-towners cannot get enough of it.

- We're only available in North Carolina right now.

We have not gotten out of the state 'cause, as much as we make, it's selling in North Carolina.

So we need -- it's a great problem to have, but we're gonna be doing an expansion project this fall, so that we can get into Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, all those states.

But right now- - [Rick] The team had done its homework, with distillation studies at Michigan State University, further training from the manufacturers of their equipment.

And now, they've backed it up with the continued quality analysis that each serving provides.

They like the way things are going, and how their equal partnership, and friendship, has held up through the startup.

- We have liquor.

It works out really good [laughs].

The end of the day, we solve all of our problems the old fashioned way [laughs].

- [Rick] Daily tours of the Outer Banks Distilling property give visitors a chance to hear some history, learn some of the basics of the processes, and to sample the product.

- Absolutely, we do two tours a day, and that brings in a lot of tourism.

So we do anywhere between 30 to 50 people, per tour, per day, at one o'clock and three o'clock.

They range from, we've had about 10 different foreign countries.

Probably about 30 or 40 states have been in here.

- I think it's a really nice idea.

They have a lot of beer breweries here, but you don't see any distilleries.

And it fits right in with the pirate lore of the area.

So, it's pretty neat.

It's neat that four young men started a business on their own and are doing something really unique to this area.

- It's been, by the locals who've been reading about it, been widely anticipated.

- [Rick] What's the favorite part of the tour for them?

What's the favorite part of the tour for you?

- Drinking rum, on both sides.

I think both people really like that part, especially once they learn how it's really made, and they actually see the guys back there sweating, making this product that everyone loves.

- [Rick] At Outer Banks Distilling in Manteo, the home of Kill Devil Rums, Silver, and with honey and pecans, I'm Rick Sullivan for "North Carolina Weekend."

- Outer Banks Distilling is at 510 Budleigh Street in Manteo.

For more information, check them out online at outerbanksdistilling.com.

If you love looking for old treasures and antiques, the Collector's Antique Mall here in downtown Asheboro is a must-visit.

Another historic mill town is Rocky Mount, where they've transformed the mills into a commercial district and cultural destination.

I got to visit recently, And the highlight of the weekend was spending the night in a tiny house.

[light upbeat music] - Rocky Mount Mills was, and is, a historic cotton mill.

It was established in 1818, and has been functioning up until 1996, when it closed.

It was the second longest-running cotton mill in North Carolina, and the most historic, oldest cotton mill.

- [Deborah] Today, Rocky Mount Mills are reinvented with new industry.

- We have five breweries.

We are the country's only incubator for breweries.

We have three restaurants.

We have pizza, we have tacos, we have tavern-style food.

We've also got the river, and all the beauty of being able to be on the river and enjoy kayaking and canoeing, and tubing and paddling.

And then finally we have the tiny homes, River and Twine, our Tiny Home Hotel.

20 tiny homes, each one has records and curated album collections, and Eno hammocks, and all kinds of great things for you to do.

Let your kids run around, play gaga ball, or join a, join the slackline crew, hanging out.

- [Deborah] With plenty of open spaces and the river, Rocky Mount Mills is a great destination for young families, couples and small group getaways.

And the tiny house hotel concept provides the curious, like my husband Jerel, a perfect way to experience tiny house living.

[door creaks] - [laughs] Oh wow.

- What do you think?

- This is great.

[Deborah laughs] You know, you see all the television shows and they really make it look really neat.

And I loved it.

You know, they thought of everything.

The use of space, you know, things like that, is just really neat, and how creative people are, I guess, who designed these.

I think the biggest thing is, for me, being six foot tall, is just I gotta remember to duck.

But I'm looking forward to my stay.

- And you didn't bump your head or anything.

- No, I might have to- - There's plenty of room.

- Duck right here, but wow.

- [laughs] Yeah.

This is better than my college dorm.

[both laughing] - I gotta tell you, one of the best parts about staying at the River and Twine Tiny House Hotel, is you can just walk right over to the restaurants and breweries.

- Ready to go?

- Yeah, let's do it.

In the mornings, walk no further than to Books and Beans, a casual spot for breakfast and delicious, fresh brewed coffees.

The owner is not only a barista boss.

She's a "New York Times" bestselling author, looking to build community.

- I think that we all think in a small town that is historically known to be a small town, that we know everyone in it.

But once the Rocky Mount Mills campus opened, I personally found myself meeting people that I've never met before in the past decade that I've been here.

And we sell breakfast and lunch, coffee, books.

We have book club meetings every month.

It's really been a place where people have come together to get to know each other and get to know Rocky Mount.

- [Deborah] Later in the day, the mill is hopping with both eateries and breweries.

- What I find fun is just coming out to the Beer Garden on a Friday or Saturday afternoon.

There's always a gathering, and just people kind of congregating and talking, and then getting a bite to eat at Tap@1918, is a specialty that I like to do.

- So we're a gastropub, pub, tavern food.

We have a full bar, 40 beers on tap.

We have wine, champagne, total top shelf.

And then when you get the pub part is, you know, a good burger, good sandwich, a good fish and chips.

We have that.

The gastropub part is, the food is a little bit more concentrated.

So all our food is pretty much made in-house, even to the French fries.

So that's what I like.

I'm very progressive.

So I like to always see something happening, something new.

- [Deborah] And that's exactly what Capitol Broadcasting envisioned as they invested in this destination and business incubator.

- The Incubator program here was a perfect fit for us, really allowing us to come in, you know, and get started right away, hit the ground running and really put a lot of focus into the quality of our beer, and the business plan behind it.

The resources here have made it really easy for us to scale and grow over the last two years.

And it's just been a perfect, a perfect home for us to start our business.

- [Deborah] And grow their business, as Hopfly expands to a 1,600-square-foot taproom, right on campus.

Just adding to all the great reasons to visit and stay a while, at Rocky Mount Mills.

The River and Twine Tiny House Community is at 24 East Elm Street in Rocky Mount.

For more information, you can call them at 252-904-4731, or go online to riverandtwine.com.

Asheboro was recently invited into North Carolina's Main Street Community program, which helps towns with their downtown revitalization efforts.

Another town that's done well with this program is Lenoir, which recently won four big awards for their revitalization efforts.

Let's meet some of the people behind Downtown Lenoir's huge success.

[man whistles] [light reggae music] ♪ ♪ Say what ♪ - [Christina] Lenoir is bouncing back from the recession by reinventing itself.

The city is leaning into its deep artistic and musical roots, and rebranding itself as a destination.

I wanted to see how Downtown Lenoir is attracting new businesses, and promoting its artists.

So I met with Charlie Frye, Lenoir native and owner of Folk Keeper Gallery & Antiques.

- Well, when I was a kid this was really and truly a hub of industry.

We were really well known for the furniture industry, which is still present in Lenoir, but I mean, it really, it drove our economy for decades.

One way that I have thought about Lenoir since I started being in Downtown since 2008, is that we're, you know, we're really a department store.

Everybody's into going one place and getting everything you need.

But we have food and we have entertainment.

We have a bookstore and we have several antique stores.

And then our shop has antiques and art and, everything else.

And you know, we've gotta look at each other as a team, and the citizens and everybody else sort of as part of the team too.

And our town really does a good job of that.

- [Christina] Downtown Lenoir also has more than 80 pieces of public art lining its streets in a concept called Tucker's Gallery.

Sculptor Suzette Bradshaw helped start the outdoor gallery.

- There has been a big draw, because we can advertise and talk about market sculptures in Downtown Lenoir.

And people can come down and see a concentrated number of sculptures in a small area.

So it's kind of become a destination.

- [Christina] Lenoir is recognized for its vibrant art, but it's also becoming known for downtown living.

- One of our awards this year with the Main Street Conference was our downtown branding.

"Downtown Lenoir, together we create."

And that's sort of our theme behind what we're trying to do in our community is together, we can create good thing.

- [Christina] One of the mayor's favorite restaurants is Piccolo's, which serves Chicago-style, deep dish pizza.

The family-owned business runs three locations, two of which are actually in Chicago.

As a pizza aficionado, I absolutely had to check out this spot.

- We bought this building in 2000, and there wasn't a whole lot Downtown Lenoir, not a whole lot at all.

So it's changed an awful lot.

It didn't use to be this busy, and I think it's getting busier every day.

- [Christina] In addition to a variety of dining, Lenoir also has literature, and it's affordable.

Every single book at Tybrisa Books is only $1.

- We try to make it so that everybody can afford to come in here and pick out a book.

Oddly enough, we didn't spend a lotta time in Downtown Lenoir before we opened the store.

And once we got down here, we discovered how much there is actually going on in Downtown Lenoir.

And we know now there's no place we'd rather be.

[lively folk music] - [Christina] Strolling through Downtown Lenoir, it's possible to be serenaded.

Bob Henson, a musician who works with these young pickers, shared how Lenoir is preserving its musical heritage.

- We're listening to Blackberry JAM, which is part of Caldwell JAM.

And JAM is Junior Appalachian Musicians.

It's a program that teaches traditional Appalachian music and traditions, bluegrass and old time music, to young people, so that the tradition is passed on to the next generation.

They are a very amazing group of kids.

They named themselves and they perform out.

They do gigs and make money, and have a really good time.

- [Christina] I got thirsty, so I headed to the Side Street Pour House and Grill, which has the largest draft craft beer selection in the area.

- And Lenoir, Downtown Lenoir died off for years.

When I was a little kid, Lenoir downtown was a booming place.

But Lenoir downtown itself is reviving.

We get a lot of people coming here from upstate South Carolina, and now the Charlotte area that are headed up to the High Country, Boone, Blowing Rock.

And they have learned that we're here and, they stop here because we have something a little different.

- Another unique option for eating in Lenoir is Katz Sandwich Company.

Its menu includes gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan choices.

It seems that when I walked in here, it reminded me of like "Cheers," but a sandwich shop.

So can you tell me about the sense of community, how you develop that in a restaurant?

- They did, like, we didn't develop that.

That's the thing.

It's like, when I moved from Florida to here, it was completely different, because Lenoir is just, it's so cool.

It's so welcoming and it's so.

It's so weird to me, because everyone says, "Why'd you choose Lenoir?"

It's like the going saying, but I don't know Lenoir is just amazing, especially if you have -- I have two boys.

And so, and everyone's community-based.

Like everyone here, we, you know, Bri and Sunny and everyone kind of just comes together and, my little booger head over there.

You can come over here.

He's six going on 35, but like everyone just helps out.

You know what I mean?

And it's like, it's the best community you could live in, ever.

- [Deborah] For more information on things to do in Lenoir, go to downtownlenoirnc.com.

Will you check out this cool train mural here in Downtown Asheboro?

Well, it reminds me of a really interesting piece of trivia.

Have you ever wondered how the town of Apex got its name?

Well, there was a train depot there that was sitting at the highest point on the Chatham Railroad.

So they called it the apex.

And today the population in Apex has just exploded, but it's still as charming as ever downtown.

[train whistle blows] - [Rick] It's Saturday morning in Apex, game day for kids and families at the edge of downtown.

And for three seasons of the year, it's Farmer's Market Day at the old train depot turned chamber of commerce building.

Across the street, the coffee shop is bustling, and very shortly the rest of downtown's businesses in these pretty brick buildings will be doing the same.

- What we are fortunate enough to have here is the result of two catastrophes in 1905 and 1911, when a lot of our wooden structures downtown burned in two fires within six years.

- [Rick] The residents of Apex didn't feel so lucky back in 1911, I'm sure.

But they made a critical decision to rebuild only with fireproof brick.

That means Downtown Apex is essentially, delightfully, frozen in time.

- I think we've really got something going here.

We've got a story to tell, and that's the thing.

The history of Apex, how it got started, and how it has built up over the years.

[train whistle blows] - [Rick] The town ambassador, J.C. Knowles, and Mayor Lance Olive, can both remember a time when these buildings were nowhere near peak capacity.

- Come the '80s, when people started building strip malls around the edge of the town, a lot of the businesses either moved out or kinda got run out by the bigger suppliers, people who could buy a hundred of something, and put 'em on the shelves.

In the late '90s, maybe the early 2000s, we started seeing some reinvestment in the downtown building.

So what we've found here, for what worked for us, is the town understands that our downtown is valuable.

And so we make sure we do investments like the light poles and cleaning the streets and making sure we have nice trash cans and nice benches.

And we make it a nice, pleasant place to be.

- We still have that old country atmosphere downtown.

It's a family-friendly downtown.

[singing country style] - I get people coming here from Pittsboro, from Garner, from Zebulon, even as far down as Henderson.

I've had people from Siler City coming all the way up here, or Sanford, just to spend a lunch day and a shopping day.

- I'm from here, so I just kinda had a vision for the little historic district.

And luckily I made the choice, and it's prospered here.

- I had a studio above Antiques on Salem, 15 years ago, and I always wanted to get back to Downtown Apex.

It's a great community.

This is a gallery that contains all functional artwork, and all of the work is done by master craftsmen.

So I'm a feltmaker, which means that I take wool that's been combed or carded, and I layer it, and I design something to come out of it, whether it's a scarf or a hat or a purse.

- We absolutely love being here.

It's a nice homey feeling.

It has a sense of being a real downtown, because of all of our brick buildings and everything that we have down here.

The farmer's market has been a nice addition.

- [Rick] So one thing I've intentionally not mentioned until now is that, in 2015, Apex was named the best place to live in America by "Money" magazine.

That would have been cheating, a spoiler.

By now you can see for yourself that Apex has what it takes to attract and satisfy its visitors.

But residents here don't seem to be resting on their laurels.

They'd like to think they are still getting better.

- [Deborah] You can find more things to do in Apex at apexdowntown.com.

This is The Table Farmhouse Bakery in downtown Asheboro.

It was started by Dustie Gregson, a woman at the forefront of Asheboro's revitalization.

Another woman making a big splash on the culinary scene is Cheetie Kumar of Garland Restaurant in Raleigh.

She's been a James Beard Award nominee for three years in a row.

Let's get to know Cheetie in this My Home, NC story by Heather Burgess.

[light folk music] ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ [uptempo contemporary music] - The inspiration for food really comes from the ingredients for me.

I am fascinated by the way ingredients have made it from one part of the world to the other, just like my family [laughs].

My name is Cheetie Kumar, and my home is Raleigh, North Carolina.

I am the chef and co-owner of Garland in Downtown Raleigh.

Rockstar chef [laughs] is a little, I'm not sure how I feel about the title, but if I had been a rockstar, I would never have had to open [laughs] a restaurant, I guess.

So it's a bit of a misnomer, I guess.

[energetic rock music] I played music for a big part of my life.

So I'm a guitar player in our band, Birds of Avalon.

I also own KINGS, which is our music venue, and Neptunes, which is our basement cocktail bar, with my husband, Paul Seiler.

Garland began in the summer of 2013 as a walk-up window.

We are a locally sourced, Indo Pan Asian restaurant.

I believe in cooking what's in season, and, you know, I just think that's really the only way to eat.

And that's what our bodies need.

We have the seafood from our coast.

I love supporting the farmers.

You don't have to go to New York or San Francisco to have a creative meal that really feels like it was, that it was thought about.

That's really what a dining experience is about, that connection.

[light guitar music] When I was a little girl in India, I would spend hours in the kitchen with my grandmother and my mom.

Cooking was just like a part of life.

I always picked things up from my mom, and she was such an excellent and patient, meticulous teacher, very demanding [laughs].

When she came here, it was about four months, five months after we opened, [food sizzles] I was really nervous because she's such a brilliant cook.

And my whole life, when we go to restaurants, she's just like always disappointed [laughs].

So I was really scared, but when she came and we sat and we had a meal together, and she was so, she was so proud.

And that really made me happy.

You know, I felt like, okay, if, I don't think she was lying 'cause she never lied about food.

She never would say this out loud, but I think she really understood how deeply she instilled this knowledge about her food in me, that it was easy for me to just like riff off of it.

You know, I wasn't just replicating.

I was able to really understand the essence of her memories.

[rhythmic rock music] Tonight we're doing a repeat, an encore if you will, of our dinner that we cooked at the James Beard House back in September.

I want this to be really efficient.

I would love for everybody to be down and ready for the first course at 7:15 at the latest.

I think one of my favorite ones is this eggplant dish that we worked on, and it kind of encompasses eggplant, the way we use it in Northern India, the way they use it in Gujarat, which is a different state.

It means like to stuff vegetables with spices [laughs].

It's kind of a thing.

I think you can really tell when, when it's a personal dish.

I think it, whether you know the story or you don't, there's a, there's a song in it.

There's a narrative that I think people connect with.

It's about recalling memories and then making new ones.

And that's what the best dining experiences are about.

[light rock music] - Garland Restaurant is at 14 West Martin Street in Raleigh.

Check their website for more details at garlandraleigh.com.

This is Carriage House Tea, where they hand-blend the tea and pack it, the perfect place to wind up our visit to Asheboro on this brisk winter day.

We'd like to thank the folks in Asheboro for hosting us.

And if you're ever traveling along Highway 64, stop by, it's well worth a visit.

And if you've missed anything in today's show, you can always catch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

Goodnight.

[light folk music] ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, 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.