[upbeat music] - Next on North Carolina Weekend, join us from Elkin as we highlight stories from the foothills of our state.

We'll visit the Reeves Theater, a water buffalo farm where they make real mozzarella cheese and take a tour of wineries in the area, 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.

[upbeat country music] ♪ - Welcome to North Carolina Weekend.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

And this week we are in downtown Elkin, a charming little town in the foothills of our state that offers shopping, coffee, beer, wine, antiques, and more.

In fact, Elkin represents a lot of what you can find in our foothills.

The towns and small communities around here have a rich tradition in arts, food and music.

We're standing in front of the Reeves Theater which has just reopened, much to everyone's delight.

Here's the story about how this old theater became the showpiece of the town of Elkin.

[country music] - We love the Reeves anyway, and it had been like this dead weight on downtown for so long.

For two decades, it broke our hearts.

We brought our children here to movies.

When we started thinking about music and thinking about a place for music.

When we heard that this was potentially available, we began at least dreaming.

- Debbie and I had been talking about a music venue for a few years and we'd looked at storefronts that came open downtown and nothing really seemed just right but that's what we were after.

And then when there was a chance that the Reeves might be sold to become just a warehouse we sort of said, "we've got to do something other than that."

- After purchasing the Reeves, Chris, Debbie and business partner, Eric Dahlager knew there was a tremendous amount of work to be done before one musical note was ever played.

It was an empty shell.

I mean, luckily some community groups had taken it over when the roof had fallen in, and it was full of ruined seats and fleas and pigeons and cleaned it out and put a roof back on it.

But there was really nothing here.

- Retrofitting things in a building that was built in 1941 probably was some of the biggest challenges.

The facade was a big challenge, getting all those pieces back.

- Eric and I were definitely committed to something non-traditional not square, not typical.

We had nothing to restore.

- And after a year and a half of planning and two years, eight months of construction, we were finally opened.

- With Eric's background in stucco and fresco painting, this visionary team transformed the property into a magical listening room.

- First person who was in, when we decided on construction was the sound engineer.

He came in very first and told us what we needed to do to make the sound work right.

And you know, our goal from the very start has been a venue that is musician friendly.

- Now some folks refer to the historic Reeves as a home for music here in the foothills.

So many different genres of music are performed each week along with an open mic event every Tuesday night.

But once a month don't miss the popular Martha Bassett Show.

- It's a variety show, mostly musical and we are hosting national artists, local artists, and my band.

- On this night Wilkes County's own Presley Barker was on stage.

[county music] - Yes, it is no historic elk and it's a great little town.

I love to be here.

And just having having the Reese theater here is just a real great added part of Elkin.

- The primary objective of restoring this Elkin landmark was to create a gathering place for locals and visitors alike along with good music.

It was a natural fit to include a farm to table cafe.

- It's wonderful.

Our chef is terrific.

We love her to death.

- What we are serving is mostly locally produced food always preservative free, organic almost all the time, handmade, homemade all the crusts, all the breads, all the, everything.

- Everything here is baked fresh.

Every day we bake bread almost.

- The only problem with having the cafe is I may get fat with all the good food that's here.

- Seems to be filled with all kinds of music and fun.

And yeah, I haven't talked to anybody every day.

I talked to somebody who says, are you going to the Reeves tonight?

And so, it's exciting.

- Our hope is that the Reeves is and will be a home for musicians, a space so inviting and, and so well designed that people will come here to play music, to enjoy music, and to remember the wonderful time they had when they visited the Reeves Theater in Elkin.

♪ and sing a little bit of these working man ♪ ♪ blues ♪ [applause] - Thank you folks, thank you.

- The Reeves theater in cafe is at 129 West Main Street in Elkins.

For more information about upcoming events check out their website at reevestheater.com.

I learned something today.

Mozzarella cheese comes from the milk of water buffalo.

That's right.

And there's a farm and cheese maker in Rowan County called the Fading D where it all comes together.

- These sweet little water buffalo calves are less than a week old, but they already play a major role in the way things work at Fading D farm near Salisbury.

The idea to raise and care for water buffaloes came to David and Faythe DiLoreto as they were nearing retirement.

Faythe was trained in early childhood education and had raised three children with Dave.

- I was a family physician for many years here in Rowan county.

And there came a time when we were looking to do something different.

We happened to make a family trip to Italy and not searching for anything there, but just kind of fell in love with a Buffalo mozzarella while we were there.

And so we got home and said that let's get some more.

And we realized nobody was making it here in the United States.

- Since that time, the DiLoreto's have located a handful of Buffalo mozzarella producers in the United States but none within 500 miles of Rowan county.

- There's one in Maine, one in New York state one in California, one in Texas and one in Colorado and us.

- The DiLoreto's have a 64 acre tract on the outskirts of Salisbury, where they are now raising, milking, and doting on a small herd of female water buffalo along with their stud named Zee.

- See you don't have to push everybody away.

I can pet the others.

- Mozzarella is not an easy cheese to make but buffalo mozzarella is even more difficult.

- It was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be.

We make it with a culture rather than with acid which is a much more difficult process but it makes much more flavorful cheese.

And it's the traditional way to make a mozzarella.

So it's difficult for one.

The other is the animals.

You know, they're big animals.

They don't produce much milk.

So you're milking a cow, the size of a Holstein and getting the milk, the amount you would get from a goat.

- But folks who've tasted it swear by it.

- Water buffalo milk is naturally sweet.

So on top of being 9 to 12% butterfat, it's very sweet.

So it, if you drink it it's almost like drinking a melted milkshake.

It's that nice.

- And that brings us to the gelato freezer.

Grown-ups might come for the mozzarella, but kids come to the Fading D for the calves, and the Italian ice cream.

- Mmmm, is that good?

- She's so expressive.

- Mozzarella is a fresh cheese, meaning it's not aged.

It also means it needs to be consumed soon after it's made.

- As a fresh cheese, the fresher you eat it, the better it is, now it can be eaten several weeks after it's made but the first day after it's made it's at its peak.

- Anybody who's traveled to Italy and had the mozzarella knows it's completely worth it to get the fresh cheese as soon as possible after it's made.

- The best place to get it is right where it's made.

But don't be sad if you want some and you can't get it at your local grocery.

The trip to Fading D farm on Saturday pickup day is well worth the effort.

It is possible to find Fading D's Water buffalo products in stores near the farm.

That information is current at their web address which will give you at the end of this story but nothing beats the in-person visit.

Tours are available by appointment and the DiLoreto's are always excited for their buffaloes to get all the socialization possible.

Do know that if there are very young unweaned calves when you visit, you might be put upon to bottle feed them.

- Fading D farm is at 295 Fading D Farm Road in Salisbury and their farm store with all of that delicious mozzarella cheese is open.

For more information, give the farm a call at [980] 330-8189 or visit them online at fadingdfarm.com Did you know that the Mountains to Sea trail the Overmountain Victory trail and the Yadkin River Blue Water trail all converge right here in Elkin.

It's the only place in the state where three trails meet.

And if you ever want to explore the foothills any of these trails, we'll lead the way.

Now, let's meander down the trail a little bit to Traphill for a personal look at this small community in the foothills.

[country guitar music] ♪ Well out here where the chickens and the birds ♪ ♪ All chirp a farmer's up before the sun ♪ ♪ Get into work, ♪ ♪ 30 minutes from a Walmart off of dirt road ♪ ♪ Where I lay My head is where I call a home.

♪ - You know, Traphill has always just been you know, cool.

You know, you know, everybody in the Traphill just about but it's just, it's just cool because it's unique small town, not even a stoplight, but it's, it's just it's still cool to me.

- Traphill is the most wonderful place in the world.

I was born and raised here.

- Just a real small, a good country place for people to go to.

- Located in Wilkes county Traphill has a rich and colorful past, from Civil War history to making moonshine during the prohibition era, this area is ideal for history lovers, but more and more visitors are discovering the natural resources this foothills community has to offer.

- Activities for just about anybody that likes outdoor nature.

- It's, you know, we've got the Blue Ridge mountains all around us and, you know, we got the famous Stone Mountain State Park right, right, in our backyard.

- We have over 14,000 acres.

It's the largest Pluton mountain in the state of North Carolina - Hiking, and two waterfalls, a swimming hole.

- We have about 14 miles to trout stream at Stone Mountain a lot of people like to fish.

- You know, it's an awesome place to go camping, you know escape the city for a little while and stuff like that.

- You couldn't ask for a better part to go to on a Sunday evening or a Saturday to spend the day.

- If you enjoy golf, you know, there's nothing more challenging than a mountain golf course.

The well-manicured 18-hole course at Stone Mountain Golf is a great way to spend the day.

- I'd say it's probably one of the most hidden secrets as far as golf in this area.

Beautiful scenery, very relaxed atmosphere, great place to come to relax.

- After a round of golf or a hike in the park, it's time to head on over to The Old Country Store for some hand dipped ice cream.

- Well, we, we sell Mayfield ice cream, which is a premium quality ice cream, and it's very, very popular and lots of people want to get their ice cream.

And we have a really large porch here.

So it's enjoyable for people to get their ice cream and sit on the porch and relax or visit.

- It's delicious ice cream, mint chocolate chip.

- There's an abundance of lodging in the area that can accommodate an overnight stay.

There are log cabins, villas, and several restored historic structures that give a true sense to what the area is like.

A perfect example is The Old General Store located in the center of town.

- I restored this old store.

And there was an apartment in the back, but not originally.

Originally the counters ran all the way to the back and the post office was back there.

But at some point they chopped it off and made an apartment.

And now I rent that out.

It's just a really neat place.

- In addition to everything else Traphill has to offer, it's conveniently located to several Yakin Valley wineries.

There's plenty to explore in this beautiful spot in Northwest North Carolina.

- Traphill is a great place to find peace from something.

You know, there's not the loudness of the city not no cars honking and all the time, you know, it was just it's just really quiet, but it's, but it's really, yeah it's really nice place to stay.

♪ I'm in the middle of somewhere.

♪ ♪ I'm in the middle of somewhere.

♪ - To find out more about Traphill and the surrounding area call the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce at [336] 832-8662 or visit their website at wilkeschamber.com.

One of the biggest towns in the foothills is Wilkesboro.

A rich hub of history, music, and more.

Let's take a look.

[upbeat music] - Wilkesboro, the county seat for Wilkes County, it has the history of years and years and lots of good heritage.

Strong people, strong community, good community.

- It's funny that you mentioned Wilkesboro.

It feels like the town is in the blood somehow for in Wilkes County.

It, it just runs, it runs fluid around here.

It's just, it's it, maybe it's in the water you know.

[laughing] - Over the last few years, that talent could not be more prevalent.

Thanks to the vision of local government and private citizens who saw the potential downtown Wilkesboro is now a premiere destination.

- This is a good example of private and public partnership tax dollars.

Plus companies here in the county that have helped pay for a lot of this.

The town of Wilkesboro has, they did a really good job with it.

- Yeah, it's really great to see what's happening in downtown Wilkesboro.

The town has really jumped on board with a revitalization built a new stage, a revitalized park, street scapes, it's just turning into a beautiful walking environment down here.

- The downtown, we had a lot of antiques.

We had a lot of history here to begin with.

We wanted to really see that grow and what better way to create that then a downtown master plan that was going to bring people out on the streets.

We could see people with their families coming out on holidays to walking around and doing shopping in the downtown, but you needed something to draw that.

So restaurants are one of those things that link everybody together.

They can all come and shop, but at the same time they can have a little bit of a dining experience too.

- We've been very blessed to have a series of private investors as well, who have taken ownership on some of these historic buildings and revitalize the historic buildings and really given a pulse drive downtown giving people a reason to visit the downtown area.

- If it's Contra dancing on a Friday night, visiting the Wilkes Heritage Museum enjoying a delicious smoked salmon BLT, or maybe finding your favorite piece of old fashioned candy, there's something for everyone in Wilkesboro.

- Wilkesboro is a perfect weekend destination for anyone looking to hike, to ride their bike.

We have the Yakin River.

You can certainly canoe, kayak.

There is entertainment going on.

There's food venues and people, people are nice.

People will greet you.

And it's just a wonderful way to get to know just a small part of North Carolina.

- This area is known for many things, two of which are music and the festivals that celebrate it.

- People started to realize, you know, that, you know, just in the last, let's say 20 years, how important this region for the music actually is compared to other regions.

That's why my office is here.

You know, Carolina Fall Festival is here that we have a large music hall of fames here.

This place is really starting to buzz with music.

So people come from all over the world, actually you know, when we had, you know, last Carolina in the Fall people came from all over the world actually to be here.

And that makes me very happy because we want to share this.

- It's very important for a town to be vibrant for the economy and for the people who live there.

Wilkesboro's on their way up.

They're doing that job.

They're making it a vibrant community for all.

- To plan your trip to downtown Wilkesboro call the Wilkesboro Tourism Development Authority at [336] 838-3951 or visit their website at wilkescountytourism.com.

We're at The Wisdom Table wine bar and bottle shop in downtown Elkin.

Of course, no visit to the foothills is complete without a little wine, right?

After all the Yadkin Valley is our state's richest wine region.

In fact, right now it's meet a couple of wine makers from the area in this story from Our State Magazine.

[soft music] - No, you have to realize that in North Carolina it's a very unique place in the grape world.

We grow European varieties.

We can successfully grow them here, where you can't a little bit south of us in South Carolina.

And we grow some of the hybrid grapes and hybrids are crosses between American grapes and European grapes for whatever reason, to get them right for them to withstand, certain temperatures, things like that.

And then you have the native grapes that were grown in this part of the world for thousands of years the Vitis rotundifolia that are also known as Muscadine grapes.

So we do a little bit of all three.

[soft music] - So Yakin Valley is a very bucolic setting.

So it's very rustic in a sense where, you know Napa and some of the other wine regions it's a lot of neon signs and highways and byways, here you could pass through a residential community in a world-class winery like here at Jolo winery, for example.

[soft music] - So we started out with a white varieties of Chardonnay, a Sauvignon Blanc, Pino Gris, Viognier.

Then with the red grapes, we did all five of the Bordeaux grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Malbec, but we also planted Syrah which was our own variety and Sangiovese hue which is an Italian variety, experimenting in those regions to see, see what had done well.

We're a little bit unique in Childress in that if people go to Napa, they go to Napa for just for dry red wines but at Childress we have a lot of people here that would show up to visit that haven't had wine in years.

So we have the ability to turn people on to wine.

- Take a sip.

[light chatter] - So the grapes that we grow here have been hybridized to tolerate the weather that is prevalent here in North Carolina.

The wines that those grapes produce really run the gamut.

And that's one of the reasons that we grow them here.

So it can be a nice crisp, clean white.

And then we have Tramenet, which is a beautiful white wine on its own, or it's a good blending grape.

It's very floral.

And then the Chambourcin and Cynthiana same way.

So all the way from a Rose, all the way to a Port.

So I would say our winery's defined by rustic elegance.

So with the beautiful backdrop, the bucolic setting and Pilot Mountain in the backdrop and the vineyards nestled in between all the guests seating, the fireplace, the stone, the chandelier, clad tasting room, the stone top, tasting bars.

So I think it's a good combination of rustic, but elegant without being pretentious.

- At Childress, the impression we wanted is that you're sort of wowed right away and say, "Wow, I didn't -- look at this.

"Well, I'd expect this here.

"This is -- I would -- this is like out of Napa or something like that."

And that's what we want to do.

From that moment, all the way through the tasting.

So we have great coordination between pairing wines with the making staff, to the kitchen staff that runs our everyday bistro, to special events that we do through our banquet staff.

And we try to do that in everything we do.

The future of North Carolina wine, I see growth in lots of small wineries.

I see growth in really these little sub regions developing where you can get three or four wineries together.

And that way we can get people traveling out of Charlotte and out of Raleigh.

And you're starting to see groups of people come from Atlanta, groups of people coming from Nashville.

So that, that I think is the future.

We've got a great future.

- Childress's Vineyards is at 1000 Childress Vineyards Road in Lexington, and they're open daily.

For more information give them a call at [336] 236-9463, or visit them online at cchildressvineyards.com.

Jolo Winery and Vineyard is at 219 Jolo Winery Lane in Pilot Mountain.

And they're open Thursday through Sunday.

Give them a call at [855] 565-6946 or visit them online at jolovineyards.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We have had a great time here in Elkin.

Small, charming town here in the foothills.

And if you've missed anything in today's show just remember, you can always watch us again.

online at pbcnc.org Have a great weekend everyone.

[upbeat music] - 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.