By Stephen Smoot
James and Kate Tardella, until very recently, called the sun kissed shores of Florida’s Atlantic Coast their home.
Now they have come to a location about as different as one can get from Florida east of the Mississippi River. When they wake up in Riverton, instead of a blue horizon to the east, they see North Mountain rising thousands of feet above the valley floor. Look the other direction from the right spot, and they can make out the ridge from which the highest point in the state – now and forever Spruce Knob – extends into the sky.
The sounds of water they hear come from the gurgling of the North Fork River, not the endless crash of waves on sand.
“On Oct. 15, we moved up here and dove in headfirst,” said Kate Tardella.
The property’s earliest deed was made out to John William Phares, who also operated a grist mill. The building changed hands during the decades and hosted a number of different kinds of stores. As time passed, owners and tenants renovated, added to the structure, each making their own unique marks on the building and its history.
During the years, the list of families who owned and operated establishments there reads like a roster of long established families. The Phareses gave way to the Ruddles, who gave way to the Hinkles. Members of the Hedrick family owned it last before the Tardellas purchased the property.
“From the very beginning, each one of them had a store in here,” she said.
The family was on the hunt for a different kind of place that offered a different kind of lifestyle. She explained that they looked first at topographical maps, seeking out areas with higher elevations. They then found the building for sale online, purchased it and moved up.
Once they got into the building, with plans to use it as both a residence and a business, plans fell into place.
The businesses that used the space to serve locals and visitors assisted the public in an astonishing variety of ways. In that space over the decades, entrepreneurs have run flea markets, a pizza restaurant, hardware establishments, and more. The River Mart operated out of the building as well for a time, until the owner took the gas pump a quarter mile down the road to a more convenient location for such a shop.
The Tardellas have their own dream for the location. Like the Rawson family in Franklin, they see opportunity in coffee. Today’s coffee enthusiast tends to spurn the mega corporate options in favor of family run mom and pop shops.
Furthermore, their location sits astride one of the main tourist thoroughfares in Pendleton County, giving them strong opportunities, like businesses such as Yokums and Harpers Old Country Store, to benefit from the growing throngs of tourists frequenting the region.
While they have started work to restore the massive structure, the family had to settle in. Kate Tardella works from home and her husband does automobile body work.
Renovations commenced in the front of the building. There, one can see the vision emerge of restoring a community landmark to an historic looking condition. The large front has lovingly restored hardwood floors, white walls and a period ceiling. On cold days, the warm aromas of the wood burning stove in back give it the same feel as if one had visited when Phares still owned it.
When they got into the work, however, they found that the building offered more challenges than originally expected. “When we started pulling the floors up, we started to make some discoveries of really bad conditions,” she said.
While the front of the building remains in the best condition, the living quarters in back and above the store needed considerable work. She described how, at some points, owners or tenants had mistakenly removed load bearing structures that have produced some notable dips in the second-floor apartments.
Much of the work in removing debris has been completed, with the difficult work of painstaking restoration still remaining.
“The ‘face’ is my favorite part,” Kate Tardella stated, referring to the classic two-story double porch façade replicated often in period businesses through the area.
She discussed how “this building has a significant footprint in the whole North Fork area.” Residents share their excitement in the fact that not only will a new business occupy the location, but that also a piece of local history will return and shine.
“Everybody we met has a little story,” shared Kate Tardella. She went on to relate that people remembered not only shopping, but also using it as a gathering spot, “spending their days chit-chatting.”
A number of locals with interests in tourism, business development, and area history have made contact and offered to help how they can, which reinforces the Tardellas sense of welcome in the community.
While no set date of opening has been confirmed, the Tardellas remain excited about the opportunity to not only operate a business out of their new home, but to also further immerse themselves into the North Fork community.
