Meadows of Dan Shops and Businesses

Chateau Morrisette is the result of a love affair between the Morrisette family and the rural Virginia countryside. In 1978, William, Nancy and David Morrisette planted the first vines and the vision of Chateau Morrisette became a small reality. Mrs. Nancy Morrisette stated in 1988 that the winery began as a hobby that soon got out of hand.

David Morrisette is a graduate of Mississippi State University’s first class in enology and viticulture. After a brief stint working for classmate Bob Burgin’s winery in Mississippi, David came home to Virginia and became Chateau Morrisette's first official winemaker. In 1982, the first commercial wines were produced, a modest 2,000 gallons,

Not long thereafter, Bob Burgin joined David at the winery which continued to grow both in quality of wines produced and in production quantity. Bob had been winemaker at his family winery and with facilities in Tennessee and North Carolina when he received a call from William Morrisette in 1990. By that time, he was well experienced in Southern viticulture. Bob was a perfect fit for the vision of Chateau Morrisette and he has helped shape and perfect that vision since joining us. David Morrisette credits Bob with knowing who our customers are, where we’ve been and where we want to go; his dedication has helped make us the winery we are today.

As production increased, so did David and Bob’s duties. Bob became more involved in the overall operations leaving the duties of winemaker ever pressing. Soon, additional winemakers were added to the staff to assist Bob with increasing production work. In 2001Chateau Morrisette hired Dan Tallman, formerly of Clos Du Bois Winery in California, as its principal winemaker and recently promoted Rick Hall from Assistant Winemaker to Winemaker.

For nearly twenty eight years, Dan Tallman has dedicated himself to becoming an expert enologist. He has worked in both small and large winery settings and is known as a premium quality winemaker who pays attention to all the details of winemaking, from production to bottling. A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Dan brings ‘style and complexity’ to Chateau Morrisette wines which enhances our original vision.

It was many years before Chateau Morrisette saw black ink on its balance sheet. Wine production has increased rapidly each year and has now surpassed 60,000 cases per year. Our exciting and consistent growth rate necessitated a new production facility. The Morrisettes invested a great deal in expanding and modernizing all aspects of the winery in 1999, ranging from a new wine production facility to the spacious hospitality center. Blue Ridge Timberwrights constructed a unique building from salvaged timber from the St. Marie River to create one of the largest salvaged timber frame buildings in North America: 32,365 square feet with 135,000 board feet of Douglas fir recycled timbers!

Stainless steel tank capacity at Chateau Morrisette is approximately 130,000 gallons with an additional 50,000 gallon capacity in French and American oak. The winery currently produces fifteen different wines and utilizes production from over 150 acres of vineyards either on site or from growers throughout the Commonwealth. Chateau Morrisette remains an industry leader in quality wines.

Chateau Morrisette is located in a spectacular natural setting in rural Floyd County. From a ‘small reality,’ we are now one of the largest wineries in Virginia. Nationally, Virginia is ranked tenth in commercial grape production and grape bearing acreage. The Virginia Commercial Grape Statistical Report shows 4,120 tons produced from 1,730 bearing acres.

Our location on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway has helped introduce thousands of visitors to premier Virginia wines. The restaurant and winery are open year round and special events are held throughout the year. Chateau Morrisette is both a relaxing and exciting experience for anyone who enjoys fine wine, good food and natural surroundings. It has

Located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, Château Morrisette offers breathtaking vistas, award-winning wines, elegant dining and first-class hospitality. Open year round for tours, tastings, sales and memorable dining. Milepost 171.5, Blue Ridge Parkway, 287 Winery Road S.W., Floyd, Virginia, 24091, 540.593.2865, thedogs.com.

Chateau Morrisette is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Southwestern Virginia. Specializing in New American cuisine, Chateau Morrisette’s restaurant offers the best of local and organic produces and meats prepared with recipes influenced by America’s melting pot. This gorgeous location offers patio seating in the summer, fireside tables for winter and late fall, as well as banquet, wedding or conference capability. Our selection of award-winning wines compliments every flavor and makes the Chateau Morrisette experience a keepsake.

I was raised in the beautiful mountain community of Meadows of Dan, surrounded by music and by people that were artisans by necessity. Mountain people have a long tradition of creating the things that they wanted or needed. I played at my grandmother’s feet as she sewed, preserved fruits and vegetables and kept a busy household running smoothly. Nearby my grandfather was creating banjos, guitars and fiddles out of carefully selected curly maple from his farm. The house rang with music, sometimes from an old radio or record player but more often from a relative’s hands. Books were everywhere, on shelves and in my hands from an early age. My grandmother encouraged me to read and had a bright, inquiring mind.

And as needles sped through cloth and tools shaped wood, stories flowed along with the work, reciting family and community events. Living in the area where generations of kin have shaped their lives can give a child a unique perspective. I grew up listening to stories about Meadows of Dan that were repeated so often that I sometimes feel that I knew the people involved, even if I am separated from them by a century.

I credit the family and community traditions of art, music, reading and storytelling for the directions my life has followed. I have always been interested in fiber arts, even before that term existed as a description. An older student taught me to crochet when I was in elementary school, and I learned many other types of needlework over the years. In the mid-1980s I learned to spin on a drop spindle while living in Maine. Great quantities of hair from a pet Samoyed dog inspired me to learn to make yarn. After I returned to Meadows of Dan in 1990, my mother gave me her grandmother’s spinning wheel. I learned to spin with this wheel and some rough wool from a fiber producer in West Virginia. I still have the rug I crocheted from those first hand spun singles yarn.

After many years of practice, I learned that I enjoyed spinning fine fibers such as merino wool, silk and angora. I still spin on my grandmother’s wheel, along with a hand crafted Reeves spinning wheel and a small upright wheel for shows. I keep a drop spindle nearby as well.

Raising animals for clothing, food and other necessities is also a mountain tradition, and I soon decided that keeping and breeding German Angora rabbits would fit into my fiber goals and lifestyle. My first rabbits came to Meadows of Dan in 1999, and were the beginnings of my fiber business, Greenberry House.

Almost immediately after I obtained the rabbits my grandfather’s health began to decline and I found myself spending much of my time looking after him. Thanks to a generous employer, Felecia Shelor of Poor Farmer's Market, and the nature of my job, I was able to work part-time and nights so that I could spend days with my grandfather. To supplement my income I set up a web page to sell the wool from my rabbits and used books. After my grandfather died the on-line business continued to grow, and recently I opened a small shop in Meadows of Dan. Thanks to fourteen wonderful years at Poor Farmer's, I was well-prepared for the demands of retail and customer service.

Greenberry House, at 10 Concord Road, features hand spun and hand dyed yarns and spinning fiber from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee farmers and spinners. Fibers range from cashmere, angora, llama, alpaca and wool from several different breeds of sheep. Yarn designers create wonderful hand spun yarns that range from bulky yarns for wonderful sweaters and scarves to fine yarns for special socks and everything in between. My shop also carries beautiful art note cards produced by area artists, and photo cards highlighting our beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains by area photographers.

We also feature Used, collectible and antiquarian books, Civil War books and prints, stereoviews, CDVs and other photographic images, postcards, vintage buttons, jewelry and more.

Besides spinning away my days, crocheting fine articles of apparel of my own design and learning to knit, I keep busy as working as a member of Patrick County’s Tourism Advisory Council. I serve on several committees for two tourism initiatives, Round the Mountain and The Crooked Road. I am a member of Round the Mountain as an artisan and also hold a trail membership for the business, and I‘m also a member of the Lost Arts Guild. I attend several festivals and book shows throughout the year where I promote Greenberry House and tourism in the Blue Ridge Plateau. Recently I participated in the Crooked Road Festival portion of the Virginia Arts Festival in Williamsburg. I’ll be returning to Eastern Virginia in October for the National Folk Festival in Richmond.

Southwest Virginia is a special place and I’m lucky to have deep roots in the Blue Ridge Plateau. The small community of Meadows of Dan has a unique character and is a wonderful place to call home. I’m still telling those family and community stories to anyone that will listen.

Sammy Shelor inherited the 22 acre farm where his grandfather, Sandy Shelor, spent the largest portion of his life. This lovely piece of property is located in the small community of Meadows of Dan, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and at the intersection of Squirrel Spur Road and Highway 58. Sammy's career as band leader of the Lonesome River Band is demanding and he spends much of his time on the road and promoting LRB, as well as in the studio with other projects. He and his wife, Sue Shelor, realized the potential of the family property as a means of improving the local economy and promoting Sue's business, Mountain Meadow Crafts. She opened the Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market in the summer of 2005, with a very successful craft and music festival. At the market local farmers and crafters have an opportunity to showcase their talents to the appreciative scores of tourists that come to Meadows of Dan from the Blue Ridge Parkway throughout the season.

The Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market has been a great success, with monthly festivals that include music, crafts, fresh local produce and other activities. Sue is continually working on new ideas for her venture, adding activities and promotions that keep the tourists and the locals coming back for more. Her large tent will be replaced soon with a permanent pavilion, and eventually there are plans for a shop on the property for crafters to rent booth space for their quality hand crafted items. The Market is located on The Crooked Road, the music heritage trial through Southwestern Virginia. The first Meadows of Dan Corn Maze showcased The Crooked Road logo.

Sue's business, Mountain Meadow Crafts, began when she became interested in crafting with gourds. While Sammy's gifts are musical, artistic talent runs in her family. Sue's mother is a fabulous painter, while she has a sister that's creative genius graces everything she touches. A brother is a talented woodworker and makes fine handmade furniture. Sue had dabbled with ceramics, batiking, and pencil drawing in her younger days, before the demands of motherhood and making a living took up her time.

Sue opened her shop, Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market, in 2008. The shop building is unique, built by Sammy's grandfather with found woodwork and doors. She runs the shop seasonally along with her large gardening projects. The shop is open from April to December.

Poor Farmers Market actually began as a roadside vegetable stand across the road from where the business is now. I was working as a farm hand when I got the idea that I would buy the vegetables we were growing on the farm and sell them on weekends to the tourists who were coming to the mountains and to the Parkway. To say that my little farm stand was a success would be an understatement. I was amazed by the interest and response to it. At the end of that first season I had saved up ten thousand dollars which was unfathomable money to me at that time. I had always been very poor. I was working twelve hours a day at the minimum wage of $3.35 an hour. I had to pay six dollars a day for a babysitter. It was a hard life. I was a single parent. I had to leave my little baby crying for me when I left and crying for me twelve hours later when I returned. The first word she ever spoke was the name she had come up for me on her own, Shasha. I would hear her crying "Shasha" when I left and hear that word as I stepped on the porch when I returned. She was not happy where she had to stay and that really hurt me. But I had no choice.

After that first season in 1983 I realized that my little business could not last where it was. It had outgrown it's location. The owner of Meadows of Dan Food Market, Willodean McAlexander, had graciously allowed me to sell my vegetables on her lot free of charge. I could see that my customers were taking up all her space, all her parking lot. I have an old photo of me in that little produce stand carrying a bushel of apples. In the background is an old Gulf service station with a handmade sign in the front with the words "For Lease" scratched on it. Little did I know that my destiny was behind me in that picture.

That following January, 1984, I leased that old cinderblock building with it's two service bays. I spent two months cleaning and painting and fixing it up as best I could. I was not heavy at the time but I remember I had lost ten pounds after those two months from the constant work. And then on March 1st, 1984 I opened for business. My hands were trembling from excitement when I made my very first sale, five dollars in gas. I remember who my first customer was too. I still see her all the time. She works at Mabry Mill.

The store began to grow, in income and in size. And I have to say that I had a lot of help. People would show up, friends or employees who had a vision for something we could do better, something we should be selling, or a new recipe. It was not all me. Not even half of the ideas were mine, I must admit. But I did have the good sense to get out of the way when an employee wanted to try something new, and listen when a friend made a suggestion. Every year we would add a new room. The cinderblocks were covered over with rough cut pine to create a more rustic look.

The property had come up for sale in 1986 for $50,000. This was a huge problem. I didn't have $50,000. I didn't even have the $8,000 I needed for a down payment. When I look back over my life I can clearly see the Hand of the Divine looking out for me. I lived in a little rough house that a farmer friend had used for his migrant workers. When he found himself in financial duress he let me take over that little house for $10,000. That was when I was working for minimum wage and paying a babysitter. I had walked into the First Bank of Stuart in Meadows of Dan and asked Noel Wood whom I have known all my life to lend me the $10,000 for that house. Thanks be to God (and Noel Wood) he said yes. So I owned a home. But as I said I didn't have cash for a down payment. I was in my store one morning, grieving somewhat because it appeared that I was going to lose my business because I didn't have the down payment and the property was going to be sold right away. In walked Thomas Scott, whom I have also known all my life. I said "Thomas, you need to buy my house". He said, "Alright, I will." And I had enough equity in it to come up with the down payment for my store. The owner financed the rest to me for twelve years at eight percent, $562.88 per month.

The property had a little white cottage behind the store and my four year old daughter and I moved in it in 1986. I remember it was just after my great uncle Matt Burnette, a legend here in Meadows of Dan, had died. And oh my, we thought we had "arrived"! We actually had a thermostat and we could just turn up the heat. We had always had to keep a wood fire going. That had been hard before I moved behind store. I would get up in the morning and the fire would be out. By the time the cold house warmed up it would be time to leave. When I got home twelve or thirteen hours later the fire would be out. The house would be cold. So the tiny little house behind the store was a grand home to us. We lived there fourteen years. It was an ideal situation for a single parent with a small child. When she was older she could stay out back and watch television or do her homework and I could run back and check on her often and that is how we lived. She would come to the store whenever she wanted and go home when she wanted. I was always there for her, within reach. And I never again had to leave her with a babysitter who was just keeping her for the money. I never again had to leave her with someone who didn't love her. I should say that after that first babysitter from hell we found a wonderful woman, Monte Bell, a Jehovah's Witness, who loved Casey. She was a fabulous babysitter and woman who also adopted unwanted children with emotional and physical problems. She died at an early age from cancer but I will always remember her. I think highly of Jehovah's Witnesses because of her example. She truly walked the walk.

My business was slow at first. Sometimes I sat in the sun in a lawn chair waiting for a customer to stop by. But the fall produce season was a boom from the very beginning. I have had a lot of help in the form of employees who brought what they had to the business. I have had thousands of employees over the years, each leaving their mark, some not so good, but most by far left an indelible positive mark. I am almost hesitant to name names because there are so many. I would not have traveled this path if I had not known and worked with Ronnie Greene when I was 20 years old. He helped me and taught me. He was the farmer I worked for. He played a major role in my life at that time. He was by far my superior in business and intelligence. I think I always had it in me to succeed but I would not have done it in this way if not for Ronnie Greene. I wish him all the best. Linda Mize worked for me a few years after she sold the Mountain House. She added a lot. Helen Smiley managed the deli for years and shouldered the load. Like I said I hesitate to name names because there are so many. I'm bound to leave someone out. I will name three more. Leslie Shelor, Buford Wood, and Trinity Goad.

Leslie worked for me when she first moved back home from Maine. Like Ronnie Greene, what she brought to my life and to my business is so great that I can honestly say that I would not be where I am and who I am if not for Leslie. She now has her own business, Greenberry House, in Meadows of Dan. Buford Wood. My unique friend died on June 4th 2007 just before his 64th birthday. His impact on my business and my life and his death are so important to me that I intend to tell his story separately later. Look for Buford Wood at this site. Buford handled all the building and maintenance for Poor Farmers Market for 20 years. And Trinity Goad. Trinity came to work at Poor Farmers Market when he was fifteen years old. His mama drove him to work. He has been with us for 15 years and is now General Manager. He took over as general manager when Leslie left to do her own business. I spend a lot of my time now here on the farm and managing (and cleaning) my rental cabins while Trinity takes care of the daily details of Poor Farmers Market.

It was 1993 when I had the idea to expand the business. I must say that it was Buford and Leslie who better had the vision as to how to build and I just trusted them and let them run with it. The store doubled in size. We built a new kitchen in the back, a huge floor space, major storage (including storage upstairs) and an office for me! My business doubled seemingly overnight. Sometimes I wonder just what have I gotten myself into. It "ain't" easy running a business of this size. Something I had not really intended when I was young. I only wanted to make a living and provide for my child.

But these days, in these worsening economic times, I feel so very fortunate and I will say destined, to do what I am doing. Poor Farmers Market provides a job and a way of life for 16 people, not including the people who make a living by selling their products to us. The people who work here are very close, like family. They all care about the business and feel they are a part of it and are making a vital contribution to it, which is the truth. We are central to the larger community. People come to see us from far and wide. Locals gather here to share their day. More and more we are making connections with the Amish and Mennonite communities in order to have better products to sell here and more importantly to help sustain their economy and way of life. A way of life that I think is an example for us all, simple and clean and pure.

Our intention for Poor Farmers Market is "to keep on keepin' on". The older we get the better we get. We want to make a good living for ourselves but also and more importantly we want to contribute to our community and provide an atmosphere for our customers that they cannot find anywhere else. My greatest reward in business, and this happens all the time, is when I walk up unnoticed behind a group of customers and overhear them saying how much they LOVE this store. I often hear customers say something like, "This is OUR store. We stop here every time we come to the mountains". A couple of years ago a huge tour bus stopped in my parking lot. I went out to greet the elderly group of black senior citizens as they stepped down off the bus. "Where are you all headed today?" I asked one of them. "Here" was her reply. They had traveled two hours from Greensboro to come visit my store. For me, it doesn't get any better than that.

For more information about the Meadows of Dan Community Association, contact us.