Typically after tragedy strikes a community you hear about how it brought people together.
This is not that story.
Two weeks ago, McClatchy received a report that U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from Banner Elk, was preventing seven people from driving off their property at the base of Grandfather Mountain after the collapse of a road she owns with her husband, Tom.
What transpired in the two weeks since is a convoluted story of how property rights, private roads and stubbornness can bring out the worst in people.
Flo Davis, 70, lives at the top of Rime Frost Road with her husband, Glen, their son, Will, their daughter-in-law, Meghan, and their three grandchildren ages 2, 4 and 7.
On Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene showed no mercy to Banner Elk, Davis or Foxx.
Two feet of rain fell over the Foxx and Davis properties.
The rain caused a portion of the hill that the Foxx residence sits on to give way.
But a much bigger issue for the two neighbors is what happened further up the road next to the Watauga River.
As the 24 inches of rain fell, the river swelled, leaving its banks.
Halfway up a steep incline, the river hollowed out the underside of Rime Frost Road, causing more than half of the road’s only lane to collapse into the river below.
And that cut access from Rime Frost Road to Highway 105, the main thoroughfare from Boone to Banner Elk.
For the Davises, they say, there’s no other way out of their property by vehicle.
For the Foxxes, the congresswoman says she has a right of way through the road behind her, and she can cut across the fields of her own property to access that right of way. She says she’s not using that route because of a rickety bridge on J H McLean Road.
And if the Foxxes gave the Davises permission, they could too.
But Foxx says that’s not going to happen.
“When you let somebody on your property, you become liable for anything that happens, and that’s a significant thing,” Foxx said. “People have been sued for big amounts of money as a result of being on somebody’s property, even when they’re allowed to be on their property. They can get into big time trouble, and that’s an issue. We’ve always taken that stuff very seriously.”
So the Foxxes have cut off access to their property using locked gates — some with vehicles parked behind those gates.
“They blocked the only egress from our shared properties — with a gate and a tractor — that goes through the nursery that they own at the bottom of the property, and that’s the only way we could get our vehicles out to the top of the road,” Flo Davis said.
HELENE FUELS A LONG FEUD
Hurricane Helene marks the capstone of a longstanding feud between the Davis family and the Foxxes that involves lawyers, litigation and law enforcement because of a road that the Foxxes own, but for which the Davises are legally obligated to pay 80% of maintenance.
This is not uncommon in the High Country of northwestern North Carolina.
Looking at the deeds of the property owners around the Foxx and Davis land, many include statements about who owns the roadway and who have shared agreements to use those roads.
So while Foxx’s story is notable because she’s a member of Congress, and it’s caught attention on social media thanks to posts made by Will and Meghan Davis, they are far from the only families in the area dealing with struggles for how roads will be repaired, who is responsible and what to do in the meantime, thanks to Helene.
The Davises had hoped not to get into past issues with the Foxxes when discussing their current battle, and were quick to point out that their relationship with the couple wasn’t always this vitriolic.
Flo Davis remembers regularly having coffee on her back deck with Tom Foxx, believing he thought of her husband as his son, and both Foxxes attended the Davises’ son’s engagement party.
The beginning of the Davis family’s journey to their Rime Frost Road home sounds straight out of a Hallmark movie.
In 1996, Tom, who owned a local nursery and Christmas tree farm, approached Flo and Glen Davis about buying 10 acres of land from the Foxxes off Rime Frost Road, Flo said.
The Davises began building on the property in 2000 and moved into their home in 2004.
The trip out to the Davis family is as picturesque as you can imagine a North Carolina mountain road in the fall.
The trees are browning with pops of red and orange peeking through what’s left of the green that’s fading as summer temperatures slip away.
The typical roadside attractions you find on mountain roads line Highway 105, including ziplining, fly fishing, roadside peanuts and more than one mining attraction.
And as you get closer to Rime Frost Road you can see the features of Grandfather Mountain. At 5,964 feet, it’s the highest peak on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And the Foxxes’ and Davis’ houses are tucked into its side.
Turning onto Rime Frost Road, you travel down a steep grade toward a bridge that once was part of the Clinchfield Railroad and allows vehicles to pass over the Watauga River.
Once past the bridge, a log cabin sits on the right side of the road with a small waterfall out front, flowing into a pond that currently houses the koi fish that the Foxxes have owned for 30 years.
You continue up the road past deer in the fields that once were home to Tom Foxx’s Christmas trees.
Just after you pass the Foxxes’ house, you’re greeted by the Davises’ horse, Rose, and donkey, Eddie, and arrive at the Davises’ house that overlooks it all.
“This is our dream property,” Davis said. “I have 10 acres. I’ve got my horses. This was our dream.”
For Foxx, this type of property would have likely seemed out of her reach growing up.
“It is something we worked very hard for,” Foxx told McClatchy. “It did not come easy.”
Foxx was 6 when her family moved from New York, where she was born, to North Carolina, a place her mom and aunt had lived before.
“We were extremely poor,” Foxx said.
She said none of her old homes are still standing. She grew up without electricity or running water and her father was rarely home.
After leaving the military, her father worked away on construction jobs. And since they often had just one car the family would need to wait for him to return to get groceries.
At 14, her family bought a house for $1,100, agreeing to pay $100 a year, with 4% interest. She remembers clearly worrying where they would find that payment.
During her junior and senior years of high school, she began working as the school’s janitor, sweeping it out every afternoon. It was then that a student teacher took notice of her, told her she was smart and she needed to go to college.
By the time she graduated, her father moved the family to California, and Foxx was left alone to figure out how to pay for school.
That eventually meant working full-time while taking one course per semester until she graduated in 1968. Foxx would later go on to earn a doctorate.
But during her initial studies, she met Tom. And after college, they moved to his native Watauga County.
On a drive out to Foxx’s property, she pointed out where Tom grew up. The chimney still stands.
Tom’s father died at 62 from diabetes, and his family struggled to pay his medical bills. Together Tom and Virginia Foxx chose to sell off his last remaining property.
“That was a pretty big deal to us to do that,” Foxx said, “because property is so important, but it was also important to pay that hospital bill and that was the only way we could do it — because we did not have the money collectively to do it. That’s how we live our lives, and we assume other people will do the same.”
That much is clear from a five-year court battle between the Davises and the Foxxes that began over Tom Foxx’s desire to pave a portion of Rime Frost Road — which was all gravel — from the bridge over the Watauga River to his driveway.
“Tom and I did everything in our lives properly,” Foxx said. “If we owe you money, we pay you. When we sold that property to the Davises, we believed that it meant something.”
ROAD TOUCHES OFF YEARS OF FIGHTING
For 11 years, the Davises had lived without the Foxxes on Rime Frost Road. But court records indicate that in 2015, the Foxxes built their own house on their property.
Four years later, in 2019, Tom approached Glen about paving that half-mile stretch to his driveway. He had received a quote from Moretz Paving Inc. to do the work for $64,900, court records state.
In November 2019, the Davises emailed the Foxxes saying they would not participate in paving the road, court documents state.
“They don’t live up here in the winter,” Flo Davis told McClatchy. “We do, and to drive on a paved road going down the hill in the snow and the ice is not always the best thing to do.”
Tom Foxx went ahead with the pavement, costing a total of $69,178. And then he sued the Davises for the work, according to court documents.
A judge found the Davises in breach of contract due to repair work needed on the gravel. That work had to be done before the road could be paved.
The Davises were ordered to pay the Foxxes $9,900, but they weren’t held liable for the cost of paving, since they did not agree to have the work done.
At the same time, the judge decided to change the terms of the deed to a 50-50 split on maintenance costs. The Foxxes appealed. The appellate judges mostly upheld the lower court’s ruling.
“We affirm the part of the trial court’s judgment concluding that Defendants were not liable for a portion of the cost of paving the road under a theory of unjust enrichment because Defendants did not voluntarily accept the benefit,” the judges wrote.
But the appellate judges sided with the Foxxes over the deed, changing it back to 80-20.
The Davises had already paid the Foxxes the $9,900 for the repairs, and the court ordered that they pay an additional $5,940, court records state.
“So that began the fight,” Davis said.
At McClatchy’s request, Davis provided more court documents showing back-and-forth battles between the neighbors — over the depth of divots Tom Foxx had put into the roadway near the Davis’ house to prevent water erosion, and, in the latest, filed just weeks before Helene hit, over more repairs for the road.
At one point, a judge said he was concerned if he didn’t tell the two families what to do that they would “renew their injurious behaviors” over the water diversion issue.
HELENE DAMAGE
Just before 1 p.m. Monday, Foxx stepped out of her chief of staff Hunter Bradshaw’s vehicle and walked down her road toward the damage from Helene.
She wasn’t worried about walking to the edge where the road gave out, despite being told repeatedly that the rest could give way.
She then walked to the former railroad bridge over the Watauga River and stopped to look up at the damage.
“I am so fascinated by that rock,” Foxx said, pointing toward huge sets of stones stacked together and sticking out of the water like giants. “I had not noticed it before, but since this happened, the fact that they eroded, they look like books.”
Then she turned her attention back to the problem at hand: the Davises.
The Davises’ vehicles were parked on the other side of the bridge, allowing them to avoid a 25-minute walk from their house to Highway 105. On the highway, the Davises parked a vehicle they’re borrowing from Flo’s cousin. The Foxxes are also parking vehicles at the opening of the road.
Davis told McClatchy: “We can walk up and down this road as long as we need to, but I don’t like having three little girls walk up that road. I don’t like knowing that if something happens to any of them, or any of us, that there’s no way that emergency vehicles can get up here, because the Foxxes will not unlock that gate.”
Foxx assured McClatchy that if there was an emergency, she would unlock the gate and let first responders through, though she questioned whether they could even make it over that questionable-looking bridge on J H McLean Road.
After hearing that assurance from Foxx, the Davises contend that waiting for her to unlock the gate could cost their family precious minutes in an emergency.
Back at the river, Bradshaw walked up behind Foxx near the Davis’ vehicles and noted that if Foxx was “trying to be a dictator” she would also prevent them from parking on her property, but she’s not doing that.
Foxx then walked over to what she says is the gate the Davises want to use.
“You can see, even here, it’s dangerous because the river has washed it out,” Foxx said, pointing to a portion of a dirt roadway that’s collapsed on the side into the river.
Bradshaw chimed in that even if the relationship between the Davises and the Foxxes were great, it would be an issue to let them on the dirt roadway given its condition.
“Unfortunately … if you have a party that you can’t even speak to without lawyers present, it’s a significant issue,” Bradshaw said.
Foxx added that if the Davises had fulfilled “even one legal obligation” she would work with them now to fix this situation.
Later Monday afternoon, Flo Davis met with McClatchy and pointed out several other locked gates that could allow the Davises and the Foxxes to cut through the Foxx property and access the other roads. At least two had vehicles blocking the other side of the gate.
Inside the house, Davis continued the conversation while Meghan cooked dinner for the family.
“This issue has been going on for years,” Meghan said. “And an easy olive branch would be to open that gate, especially now that they know children are living up here.”
Meghan, Will and their daughters moved into Davis’ house at the start of the school year to get their daughters settled into the local school system as they start a move from Charleston, South Carolina, to Watauga County.
Davis looked over an email from the Foxxes’ attorneys with a plan that would allow the Davises access through the gates if the Davises agreed to pay more than $22,000 the Foxxes say they owe, obtain a written estimate for how much it will cost to rebuild the road, put 80% of those costs into a private trust with 20% from the Foxxes, and then provide written permission from the neighbors on the other roads for both the Foxxes and the Davises to use the neighbors’ right of way. Much of that is a nonstarter with Davis.
“If we have to walk up the road until it’s fixed, that’s what we’ll do,” Davis said.
“We’re kind of at an impasse right now.”
Under the Dome
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