The eclectic art and gift shop in Lansing will emerge again with even greater beauty than before Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic flood. GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN FOR LINDSEY KULP | Photography by Ken Robinson
Lindsey Kulp loves furniture with stories and a few decades of life worked into their frames and upholstery. It’s as much a celebration of skilled craftsmanship so commonplace in other decades as it is a sensible protest against throwaway culture so commonplace today.
The pieces in her store took years to collect, curated with the same care that owner Lindsey Kulp employs when selecting the work of local artisans to showcase for sale in her downtown Lansing shop The Squirrel and Nut.
She fills her shop with the old and the handmade and wares that are made in the USA. Local artists and artisans, though, are the mainstay, which was Lindsey’s vision for The Squirrel and Nut when she opened the store in February 2023.
Lindsey said they moved to Lansing because they were looking to put down roots somewhere away from the crowds and city life of Raleigh.
”I went to school in Asheville and so this area and the mountains were always part of who we were and what we enjoyed in life,” she said. “This store was never part of the plan. It kind of just fell into place, and I saw an opportunity to help incredibly talented local people. The amount of artistic talent here is absolutely incredible.”
Lansing After Helene
When Lindsey and her fiancé finally made it to town the day after Hurricane Helene’s devastating flood, her beloved town looked as grief-stricken as she felt. The floor of her shop lay under feet of mud. The shelves were cleared of everything.
Big Horse Creek had come and gone. It’d risen seven feet inside that shop and covered everything in mud. It swept everything else out the door as the waters receded.
She could be seen down at the creek that day following a trail of everything that was on display just hours before. Most of it was gone.
“It’s really interesting. Part of the vision for this store is trying to keep things out of landfills. And so to literally see my furniture that now is making its way to a landfill because it’s moldy, beyond repair. It’s really sad, because that’s the big goal of this place — to keep stuff out of landfills.”
Rather than the responses of grief everyone felt, all the local business owners gathered in a nearby parking lot that week agreed to start rebuilding.
“We just got to work,” she said.
Just to open back up, Lindsey says she’ll need at least $25,000. A GoFundMe campaign started by a friend. To date, she’s still almost $5,000 short of this initial milestone.
With the help of friends and family and other business owners, The Squirrel and Nut has been freed of mud and mold. And Lindsey is full of hope that her store and Lansing will return with even greater opportunity and as a destination for creatives to thrive and connect in this off-the-beaten-path location in Ashe County.
Lindsey also sees it as a chance to rework the space with a new vision. Even the surviving pieces that she recovered from the mud have added dimensions value and meaning. These include the paper art and the many pieces of pottery, which now have become signature works marked by the thousand year flood.
“I actually went and walked the creek bed with a couple of my friends, and we pulled out two boxes of my inventory,” she said. “It is a miracle what survived. Fragile stuff. Jewelry and pottery. I’m going to be able to breathe new life into.”
“I want people to walk in and feel like they’re walking into a home. I kept saying I needed to change things up, and now I’m given the opportunity whether I wanted it or not,” she said. “I know I’m going to expand on that idea of creating a gathering space. I think we just need a place to come and have a good conversation and just hang out. I want it to be a more immersive experience, and this really gives me the opportunity to create something even more special than before.”
