The gala for the Greenbrier Historical Society’s Homes Tour for 2015 will be held at Swift Level on Friday, June 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Jennifer “Tootie” Jones has said of her home, “There are not sufficient words to express what it is like to wake up with the apricot light of sunrise spilling over Weavers Knob, cascading into pastures of green or white with snow. Since early childhood I have crossed the massive and time worn thresholds to walk barefoot on the grass, heavy with the night’s dew, to sit beneath the huge canopy of ancient maples housing a rising chorus of song birds.”
Visitors will experience first-hand the delight of a property whose ownership stretches back to 1788 when James Peebles secured a patent from the Commonwealth of Virginia for 232 acres of land on the waters of Milligan Creek. In 1822, Colonel Samuel McClung purchased the property. It descended through his heirs until 1890, when it was conveyed to Sarah Knapp and from her son, Mason, and in 1934, to Oscar Nelson whose descendants farm there to this day.
It has likely been farmland of a sort from time immemorial when deer and buffalo grazed its then unfenced pastures and Native Americans took food from among them. Today, the food grown there in the form of grass fed and finished beef is not so different. Jones said, “Swift Level practices thoughtful and knowledgeable animal husbandry with humane and respectful treatment. Our grass finished beef, managed with organic practices, live a life free of antibiotics and hormone implants. Swift Level is chemical, pesticide and herbicide-free, which means our animals are too!”
As our culture changes with the times, so must businesses if they want to remain viable. Swift Level is an outstanding example of adaptation. In addition to raising and finishing all grass beef, the main house has been re-purposed into a guest house, conference and event space. Even the barns can be adapted for meetings, dinners, weddings, and more. The old Bunk House, originally a smoke house converted in the 1930’s, once the haven of Nelson children, now accommodates guests.
Guests at the Gala will be treated to tastes of Swift Level beef at a carving station which will be part of a tasting menu featuring food stations and food from many Greenbrier Valley vendors.
Pasture tours, narrated by Jones, take place among groups of cattle illustrating the methods used at Swift Level while enjoying the beauty of the valley. Guests will get a glimpse into current farming life from the relative comfort of a bale of straw on a flat-bed trailer.
Just imagine dusk at Swift Level with guests strolling on the lawn of the main house, favorite beverage in hand, and looking out over miles of beautiful farm land. Music will be provided by the Strum Sum Band. Does it get better than that?
Sponsors for the Home Tour event include Swift Level; Bella, the Corner Gourmet; Edith’s Store, Watt’s Roost Winery, The Bakery, B-Sweet, The General Lewis Inn, Food & Friends, The 19th Hole/TLP, Greenbrier Valley Bakery, The Greenbrier Sporting Club, Ronceverte Feed Store and more.
For more information, please call the Greenbrier Historical Society at 304-645-3398. Tickets, available at the North House Museum and the Greenbrier Convention and Visitors Bureau, are $50 for the Gala on Friday evening, $30 for the Homes Tour on Saturday, and $10 for the Church Tour and Concert on Sunday afternoon. A combination ticket may be purchased for $80. The lunch at the church is a separately ticketed event and tickets are available for $10. Both the Gala and church lunch tickets must be purchased in advance by Monday, June 8. Saturday Home Tour tickets and Sunday Church Tour and Concert tickets may be purchased at the door.
