Operate a hotel for long enough, and eventually you feel like you’ve seen everything. But for Pisgah Inn owner Bruce O’Connell — in the hospitality trenches since 1979 — the last year takes the cake.
“I’ve been through sewer plant failures, rockslides, other parkway closures that have been severe and long lasting. I’ve been through government shutdowns. I’ve been through everything you can imagine that would cause the road to close. I’ve had hurricanes come through here in the past and knock out the power. I’ve seen a lot. This was definitely the worst,” O’Connell said, looking out over the mountains from the cozy interior of the Pisgah Inn’s wine bar.
Outside, the sky spat a chilly late-summer rain, and the wind swirled fog around the peaks. It’s not all that far from what it looked like when Helene rolled over the ridgeline nearly a year ago…