[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," greetings from Cabarrus County.

We'll visit Cline's Antiques, a jailhouse distillery and a brewery that honors service members.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer 1] "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.

- [Announcer 2] Funding for the "North Carolina Year of the Trail" series is provided by.

- [Announcer 2] SECU foundation, proving how contributions from SECU members can generate the support needed to make a difference across North Carolina in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services.

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

I'm Deborah Holt Noel and this week we are exploring Cabarrus County.

This area is rich in history, music, auto racing and great places to eat and drink and it's really growing fast.

The counties to largest cities, Concord and Kannapolis are completely revitalizing their downtowns.

If you love antiquing, this shopping destination is a must visit and even has a place to refuel with the recently opened Depot Deli.

Cabarrus County is also home to Harrisburg, Midland and Mount Pleasant and all of these towns are filled with their own special stories.

Now, let's head to the country for a bit, where Theresa Litsky found a magnet for pickers.

[bluegrass music] - A picker is somebody that sees something, sees value in about anything that they come across.

- [Theresa] Picking antiques has become a popular pastime and great place to hone that skill is at Cline's Antiques.

- It's like a slice of vintage America.

That's what it feels like.

You're stepping back into time, you're finding things that are vintage, but you're also finding things that you can use today, you know, so I just love it.

- This is a good example of the kind of yard decor I sell.

This is a whirligig made out of actual spoons, has ball bearings and like I say, sells for 25 bucks.

It's I think a pretty neat item.

- [Theresa] That man that started this business on his family chicken farm nearly 45 years ago is Don Cline.

- I would say it's a business that sells all kinds of antiques and all kinds of decor items.

Sort of one of our specialties is advertising signs, both old and new.

- He kind of sets you in mind of family, like an uncle or a grandfather, just very caring and loving and you can tell he really enjoys doing this.

- This is our I guess you'd say our menagerie, I reckon.

I've always liked the buy unusual stuff and, like I say, I guess these are unusual.

Like I say, I've always liked weird stuff.

- [Theresa] Before the term picker was coined, there was another word that identified these treasure hunters.

- In fact, a word for picker used to be door knocker.

My manager, Tim, you know, was an excellent door knocker.

They would literally go out in the country and knock on doors and ask them if they had anything they wanted to sell.

- A lot of people go to yard sales and go to thrift stores, they go to auction sales.

They go to different places and resell and make a dollar on them.

- We are buying things that we love while we're here.

We love old rustic vintage finds that you can't find in a regular box store.

- It's been an interesting business.

There's a lot of things to know about and you never learn it all.

- There's no other place that I can think of personally with this much land and this much space that families can go to.

To me, it's enjoyable because if you build a relationship and start coming here, it might be somewhere where you wanna come sit under the oak tree over there where they've got tables and sit around and talk to the guys and enjoy yourself and learn the history of this and they'll tell you everything.

- [Theresa] A philosophy that Mr. Cline lives by benefits both the community and the environment.

It's the simple concept of recycling.

He lives by the old adage, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

- Our landfills are filling up and it just galls me to see all this stuff that's thrown out, it just bothers me.

That's why I feel like that my pickers taking this stuff off the curb and selling it to me, so I can sell it to somebody that will use it is really providing a service.

- I would say it's like a treasure hunt.

You never know what you're gonna find, but you're gonna find something that you love.

- It's a place to come, you need to wear your bluejeans and maybe your boots, you know, 'cause we don't do a lot of dusting and whatever.

- This is definitely one of North Carolina's unique treasures.

It's a one of a kind place and a great destination.

- Cline's country antiques is at 11839 State Highway 49 in Mount Pleasant and they're open Thursday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, give them a call at 704-425-7604 or go online to explorecabberus.com and look under things to do.

This is Gibson Mill, a former textile mill that's been converted into a locally sourced food hall.

It's a great place to get a coffee or a cookie, tacos, you name it.

They even have a cool bar here.

[bright music] That's good, thanks Steve.

You know, distilleries are really taking off in North Carolina and you'll find them in all kinds of places, but a former prison, let's take a visit to Southern Grace Distilleries and get the inside story.

[upbeat music] - This prison where we're located was locally known as Mount Pleasant Prison, but it was actually the Cabarrus Correctional Facility.

It was opened in 1929.

We're co-located beside the Department of Transportation because this was the dormitory for the chain gang.

It closed in December 2011.

- Whiskey and prisons go way back in time.

We had a lot of moonshiners that served time here.

- [Deborah] In 2016, they started making small batches of whiskey in the facility and, lo and behold, whiskey prison was born, America's first distillery behind bars.

[bars close] - We call this place Whiskey Prison because it was, a lot of folks often call a barrel a whiskey prison and being here, it just seemed to fit.

- [Deborah] To get the full experience, visitors have an opportunity to go on the behind the bars tour.

- So, all of our tours begin in our chapel.

We start off, you can take your behind bars pictures and your mug shot while you're down there.

[camera clicks] - First you'll get to go to manufacturing, which is the 1987 four-cell block dorm, where you can see distillation and fermentation and you can see where the prisoners used to sleep.

- It's a little strange walking through a prison facility and then learning about bourbon at the same time, but it's cool, it feels a little backwoods, a little, it's kind of neat, though.

[upbeat music] - [Deborah] Next stop on the tour, you'll walk across the prison yard to cell blocks east and west, where the whiskey is aging with the help of some high decibel music.

♪ And I'm the only one who drown in my desire for you ♪ - We are one of the distillers out there using sonic aging.

- And the idea is the sound waves from the speakers will actually help the liquor inside the barrel move in and out of the wood and that's essentially increased the rate that it ages at.

- I have heard of it in my life.

I just heard Metallica blaring and I was like, what is that and then she told us about it and I thought it was a really cool thing I had never heard of before.

- [Deborah] The process they have in place is working well.

After two years, the bourbon they call Conviction is starting to get attention.

- The nose of Conviction, a lot of folks call it a vanilla bomb, it's got a sweet, very caramel forward nose.

The taste is smooth.

- Probably quite possibly the best bourbon I've ever had.

So, I'll be back.

I have friends that come in from out of town, the first thing they say is take me to see your friends at the prison.

And I'm more than happy to bring them down and we'll get them a tour and they do their tastings and it's something that they can go home, no matter where you live, when you go back home, you tell people you've been to a prison that makes bourbon and you've got a unique story that nobody else can tell.

[upbeat music] - Southern Grace Distilleries is at 130 Dutch Road in Mount Pleasant and they're open Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, give them a call at 704-622-6413 or go online to southerngracedistilleries.com.

Check out this amazing mural of the Avid brothers.

They grew up just a few miles from here.

Music is special in Cabarrus Country for sure.

It even houses the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.

And since we're talking about music, let's head up the road a bit because some young musicians are tuning up for a summer of concerts at the Eastern Music Festival.

[orchestral music] - It's intense.

Their schedule and the music is demanding, but it's really rewarding.

- We get to work with some really awesome professionals and that's a really cool experience.

- And it gives you such an exponential way to grow.

- [Deborah] And the Eastern Music Festival has grown.

From its early beginning in 1962 as a small modest music camp, the EMF now brings hundreds of the best young musicians, music faculty and professionals to the beautiful campus of Guilford College in Greensboro.

Here, these aspiring students practice and perform for six intense weeks.

- Shelly Morganstern, who started the festival 60 years ago had a vision for what he wanted.

He wanted a professional orchestra and he wanted all of those professionals teaching students.

- The kids, the kids, that is really what it's all about.

These young people come from all over the country.

They come from all over the world and they bring with them such a wealth of talent and such energy.

- There's so much energy in the air all the time, just, you know, being around so many people with the same passion as you and you can just hear music wherever you go, it's amazing.

[orchestral music] - I've played so much music I've never played before.

I've met so many great people.

- I enjoy being around students and faculty that are equally as determined to be great players.

It's just a one in a lifetime thing and you're never really gonna be around the same people again.

- I think just being with like musicians that like to play and are interested and work hard, it's really rewarding.

- You know, you're not just colleagues with these people, we're not just part of the same orchestra, we're living together.

We're roommates, all of us practically, which just creates such a bond and I think it translates to our music.

- [Deborah] That bond is led to a group of over 10,000 alumni, who like today's students, have been taught the rigors and discipline required to perform at a professional level.

- I think it's a good introduction to the real working musical world because it is intense and there's a lot of time constraints.

You know, here we only have, well, a couple of days to learn all our new music for the next concert.

We have them weekly, so it's really a good way to learn what the real professional world is like and how to manage that with your time.

- I've been given a lot of great opportunities, playing very difficult pieces and when I first get them, I'm like how can I do this, but, you know, after a week of working and trying really hard, you know, I've risen to the challenge and it's awesome.

- I've never had to get, you know, like a program ready that quickly.

But they're preparing us to be professionals, so.

- And I always say my favorite part of the day is watching the kids, just the light bulbs go off.

Just to see that moment when it's in a rehearsal or it's in a performance and everything clicks and, you know, they met as strangers and they suddenly are performing as an ensemble.

It's magic, it's magic.

- [Deborah] But the intense rehearsals are coupled with fellowship and friendships made, as a visit to the dining hall reveals.

From shared meals to shared practices, life on the campus at Guilford brings its own rewards.

- [Ben] I've met so many great people.

You know, my ability as a player has been greatly like expanded on and I just, I love it here.

- [Deborah] The late afternoon summer sun seems to bathe Guilford College in a magical light as the students prepare for the evening concert.

Tonight's performance is a symphony by Dvorak.

- Our concerts are what one would consider casual.

In other words, you don't have to get dressed up to come.

There are no airs.

Our hall, Dana Auditorium here on the Guilford College campus, one of the best acoustical halls in the country, but it's not, can I say fancy.

It's a down home, wonderful place to hear great music.

And we're so thrilled to be here at Guilford College.

And it has become a destination place.

- I'm extremely looking forward to performing the Dvorak tonight and we've worked so hard on it and I'm really excited for everybody to hear the beauty of it.

- And that beauty can be heard in performances large and small at the Eastern Music Festival.

The Eastern Music Festival runs from June 24th through July 29th, 2023 on the campus of Guilford College in Greensboro.

For tickets and more information, visit their website at easternmusicalfestival.org.

Here in Kannapolis, they're completely upgrading the downtown with a pedestrian friendly infrastructure and lots of new shops and eateries.

One of them is Old Armor Beer Company, so we sent Chelsea Goodnight to sample the beer and learn about their mission.

- When combat veterans Kyle Lingafelt and Stefan Perrine decided to open a brewery, they knew they wanted to serve more than just beer.

Today, we're at Old Armor Beer Company where you can grab a pint and pay it forward to the heroes serving our community.

Let's check it out.

- Kyle Lingafelt, former Marine, founder of Old Armor Beer Company.

- Stefan Perrine, I was a platoon sergeant and I'm the heard brewer here at Old Armor Beer Company.

- I graduated college in 2008.

I was on a waiting list to go into the Marine Corp.

I did three deployments to Afghanistan.

I went through some tough stuff.

Still to this day, I'll never regret that choice.

- My family always said you gotta give back something to your country.

We went over to Afghanistan, did two tours over there.

My military did lead to most of the good things that happened in my life.

It taught me a lot about myself, what my body and my, you know, willpower is capable of, too.

- This is the first business on revitalized West Avenue here in Kannapolis and then from there now it's just exploded with all kinds of different businesses.

- There's a lot of hurry up and wait in brewing, but it's very therapeutic.

This is American made craft beer, made by veterans in a small town.

You put the ingredients in, you do the right thing, you don't try to skimp on them, then you're gonna get the best quality.

We try to brew a little bit of everything and they all have some type of military honoring, like Belleau Wood is honoring the Marine Corp and we got stuff like Odar 30, 10 Minutes Out, 1 Minute Out and the 30 Seconds Out.

Those are literally the hand gestures you do when you're jumping out of an airplane.

Part of North Carolina law that we were told was you have to name your tanks.

Most people just do tank 1, 2, 3, 4, there you go it's got a name.

But we were like we have an opportunity right now to really pay homage to the military leaders an people who've done amazing things.

Hank 1 is Chris Kyle.

The two cooking tanks is Shughart and Gordon.

You got General Patton up there, Half Cocked, they're all somebody who did something amazing in the military.

- When you come back from deployment, you're on a high.

Then, everybody goes through a time where it kind of dips own again.

Some never come out, some of them don't experience that.

There is a burden that is on all of us when you serve, especially police and fire.

They're on like a 30-year deployment.

That wears on you as human being.

I mean, it's just impossible not to.

We established, it's our pay it forward board.

You could come in, pay it forward for that veteran or first responder and now when they come in, it's already taken care of.

It was a small little 1 by 2 foot maybe chalkboard.

You know there's a few hundred dollars worth of beers on there.

It just started getting bigger and bigger.

Now, it's like a 5 by 3 chalkboard.

There's probably somewhere between 15 to $20,000 worth of beer on the board.

[gentle music] - The city council decided in 2014 to take a bold step in buying the entire downtown from the previous owner.

Old Armor has been critical to our revitalization project.

They took the first chance and that was a big chance because Kannapolis has never had a brewery this side, the city was a dry city until 2002.

- The social district is a new thing that North Carolina promoted.

It's a six square blocks area that is dedicated by the city for you to have open container from ABC permanent buildings.

- It's awesome to see that the city is behind all this, but that these businesses are supporting each other and y'all are all like building each other up is incredible.

- This is just one more thing to do in downtown Kannapolis.

We really wanted to make this a central point of enjoyment for everyone.

The space next to us, nothing was happening and said well, why don't we add a cidery and expand that way, but at the same time downstairs, we said, hey, we could fit four lanes down there, dove into the whole duck pin bowling, which we call Kingpin.

Welcome to the underground.

- Yes, thank you.

This is very cool and very unexpected.

- A little hidden gem.

Here's the bowling balls, smaller.

- All right, yeah, a little bit smaller.

- We do focus on hiring vets and first responders.

It's obviously not all we employ, but we do focus on that because when you're transitioning, you're coming from a very abrasive lifestyle into a civilian sector.

This gives them a good middle ground of hey, you're still working with vets, you still get the comradery and everything that comes with it and in the meantime, it's gonna help you find your next step.

Whether it's staying here or not, it at least helps you transition.

We've had several veterans come in here and now they've either moved on to school or I wanna go be police or I wanna go work in banking.

It gives them like a stepping block really to that next step of what they're gonna do in their career.

- [Stefan] Bringing everybody together with civilians I think was way more important than just doing something that's dedicated just to the military, just to first responders, 'cause veterans and first responders, they're people over our community, they're just people.

All we want this place to be is a place where people can come, drink good local craft beer, have a good time and not have to worry about the problems they might be facing on a regular basis.

- We believe that we've found the perfect mix of private, public investment in creating that perfect American downtown.

- [Kyle] We're always here and we're always working on it, moving forward on what we can do better and what's next.

Everybody's trying to catch up because they see that there's an opportunity to make just such a cool little town.

- Old Armor Beer Company is at 211 West Avenue in Kannapolis and they're open daily.

To find out more, give them a call at 704-933-9203 or go online to oldarmorbeer.net.

This is the Brown Mill mountain bike trail, a really popular spot for mountain bikers here in Concord.

And, you know, that 2023 is the Year of the Trail in our state, so we're highlighting great trails all throughout the year.

Come along with Clay Johnson as he met a cyclist on the isothermal trail.

[upbeat music] - [Jimmy] I've been cycling for about a year and a half.

I actually officiated basketball for about 20 years and I actually retired and I was looking for an opportunity to continue some cardio and to kind of somewhat stay in shape and as well spend some time with my family and this track just kind of, just gave me all those answers that I was looking for.

- [Clay] Jimmy Poole cycles the Thermal Belt rail trail at least twice a week.

- It's very family oriented, somewhere that's very safe where I can bring my grandson and my family and we can come and enjoy the track and not worry about looking over our shoulders, just a great opportunity for a family to come and to enjoy a track like this.

- [Clay] The trail runs through Rutherfordton County from the community of Gilkey, southeast of Forest City.

It's 13-1/2 miles long, 12 feet wide, paved and perfect for cycling, rollerblading and walking.

- [Clay] It's had an enormous impact on our communities.

- This used to be a railroad quarter, mostly serving textile mills along its route.

Then the textile industry left and the mills closed.

- The local businesses wanted to keep the railroad here when Norfolk Southern was gonna sell it and they actually created and entity and bought the corridor locally and kept it going for a while as a railroad.

When that fizzled out, local leaders decided to pull up the tracks and turn it into a rail trail.

It was just gravel at first, then the county and towns decided to upgrade it.

- The towns and the county, they had an idea that it would help the economy for sure.

- [Clay] They got money from the RHI Legacy Foundation of Rutherfordton to pave the trail.

- And their interest was in local health and wellness.

It opened as the Thermal Belt Rail Trail in 2019, named for the temperance where the trail is located.

- Every sector of our community is using it.

- [Clay] The northern portion of the trail is more rural.

- [Jerry] It's peaceful and quiet and shady.

- [Clay] The southern portion runs through the towns of Ruth, Rutherfordton, Spindale and Forest City.

- [Jerry] We've got these Main Street communities that are perfect to visit.

- [Clay] And the trail is attracting visitors.

- I've been to parking lots on the trail and I don't see a car from North Carolina.

- [Clay] Nearly 130,000 people use the trail every year.

That helps bring more business to places like Barley's Tap Room and Pizzeria in Spindale.

- We've seen a lot of increase of cyclists.

Yesterday we had a group of ladies that came in, they drove all the way from Charlotte, you know, just to come and ride the rails and trails.

It's definitely added a little bit of extra oomph to what we're already doing.

- [Clay] It's added a little oomph to Jimmy Poole's life, too.

He discovered the trail soon after it opened.

- And ever since then, me and this trail is actually been connected to the hip.

This track actually gives you that open mind, that peace of mind to come out and to be with nature.

[upbeat music] - The Thermal Belt Trail connects Rutherfordton, Spindale and Forest City.

For maps and more information, go to thermalbelttrail.com and to learn more about the Year of the Trail, go to greattrailsnc.com.

- I'm in the Davis Theater downtown Concord and if it looks like a courtroom, that's because it is.

This space is literally the second floor of the 1876 courthouse, well worth a visit if ever you're in Concord and especially if you wanna see a live music performance.

We've had a great time today here in Cabarrus County and if you missed anything in today's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[upbeat music] ♪ - [Announcer 1] 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 Great Smoking 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.

[gentle music]