Montreat Minute – May 30, 2025
2025-2026 Budget Presented to Town Council
Town Manager Savannah Parrish presented the draft FY 2025-2026 budget to Town Council at a special called meeting Wednesday evening. Highlights of the budget include:
- No tax rate increase
- Not appropriating any funds from Fund Balance (Town savings account) to balance budget
- Investments in staff, services, and infrastructure
- 7% decrease in General Fund budget; 6% overall decrease in budget including water enterprise
- Total expenditures of $2,502,815 compared to $2,656,649 in current year
- 4% average merit-based salary increase
- Budget does not include Hurricane Helene projects, as those funds are expected from FEMA
The Council will take formal action on the budget at the June 12 Council meeting.
Presbyterian Heritage Center Opens Hurricane Helene Flood Exhibit
The Presbyterian Heritage Center in Montreat has opened a moving and very interesting new exhibit, Stories from the Storm: Hurricane Helene in Montreat. Montreat residents, Town and conference center staff, students, and aid workers share stories, images, and videos documenting their experience during and after the flooding from Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024.
The exhibit is in the Presbyterian Heritage Center, 318 Georgia Terrace, Montreat. Hours are Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 4pm and Saturday, 12pm – 4pm. Admission is free. For more information on the exhibit, including a video, CLICK HERE.
Student Volunteers Help “Clean Up” Montreat
Nine students and three faculty volunteers from the Durham Academy in Durham, NC, descended upon Montreat this week for a special service project. You can see the fruit of their efforts in all the brush piles along Assembly Drive between Shenandoah and Welch Field.
After exams, Durham Academy sponsors a week of special activity for 9th through 11th graders. Activities include cultural, academic, adventure, and service projects. The Academy has had a 40 year relationship with Black Mountain Expeditions, so they were aware of our circumstances post-Hurricane Helene and wanted to “give back”. Nine students volunteered to come to Montreat to clean up debris on Elizabeth’s Path along Flat Creek. They worked four days, making a huge difference by clearing and cleaning up one of Montreat’s most popular trails.
During their time here, they went to the Presbyterian Heritage Center to see the new Flood Exhibit and were very taken by the damage done to Montreat. They were also taken by the people of Montreat. They were served lunch in residents’ homes and in the Town Hall. Landcare Chair, George Sawyer, coordinated their work and was with them each day. Susan Brookhart, one of the three faculty volunteers, commented, “The kids were astonished at the community spirit of the townspeople. One of our students talked about the people of Montreat, saying ‘What I love about everyone here is they assume the best of each other’”.
We are certainly grateful to and thankful for the students and faculty of Durham Academy for their recovery work. They helped make Montreat the special place it is.
Did You Know?
This is the second article on the place of mission at Montreat. CLICK HERE for the first story on mission at Montreat.
Young children accompanied their parents to the mission fields and were able to attend primary and secondary schools near their homes. For college-age students, the question of what to do during school vacations was a pressing concern. Traveling back and forth from college to their mission home was quite expensive. In the summer of 1933, the Montreat Woman’s Club addressed this issue by renting a nine-room cottage with Sallie Liddell of Jackson, Mississippi, as hostess. The first meal was served on June 15 to Franklin and William Talmage, whose parents were in Korea. By the end of the summer, 24 young people were in residence, earning some money working at Montreat boarding houses and the hotels. They each paid $3.00 weekly for board, room, and laundry.
In 1934, Hickory Lodge, one of Montreat’s earliest boarding houses, came up for sale. The Women’s Club created the Collegiate Home Corporation and purchased the property just in time, since the number of applicants far exceeded the capacity of the rented house. With a very successful fundraising effort, the corporation retired the debt in four years. Then in 1941, the Women’s Auxiliary donated its Birthday Offering of $10,000 to create an endowment for ongoing maintenance. Demand for space remained so high that in the early 1940s another dormitory was added.
Mrs. A. D. Mizell of Tarboro, NC, served as hostess; Mrs. Milton Vaughan of Leland, NC, was the dietician. One of the young men who stayed there, G. Thompson Brown, had stories to tell. Evidently a Christmas party ended with a bone-chilling evening swim in Lake Susan. Romance was in the air as well. Brown had met fellow “mish kid” Mardia Hopper earlier, but during their time at Collegiate Home their friendship blossomed. He proposed, she accepted, and the reception was held in Collegiate Home lounge.
Gradually furloughs became more frequent and the young people could find better-paying jobs elsewhere. The number of those coming to Collegiate Home declined during the 1950s until it was no longer feasible to operate the facility. After 25 years of serving a vital purpose, Collegiate Home closed and the facilities were sold.
Thanks to the Presbyterian Heritage Center, especially Nancy Midgette, for this glimpse from the past. Stop by the PHC for additional Montreat missionary history and so much more. Have an idea for a future “Did You Know?”? Let Nancy know at midgette@elon.edu.
Updates and Reminders
- The Montreat Landcare Committee meeting on June 4th has been cancelled due to lack of a quorum.
- Do you receive your own copy of the Montreat Minute or know someone who doesn’t? Sign up for the Sunshine List to receive the Montreat Minute and stay “in the know” about the Town’s happenings. CLICK HERE to sign up for the list!
- Do you receive Montreat Code Redalerts, an emergency communications system used a number of times during the hurricane and wildfires? To learn more about Code Red or to be added to the list, CLICK HERE.
Questions or Comments?
Do you have Town-related questions or comments to offer? If so, please send them to Angela Murphy at info@townofmontreat.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Have a great weekend!
