Tamera and I wanted to come up with a name for the property. What would we call this parcel of land? We thought about the aspects of the land that appealed to us. Of course, the views were paramount. One September evening before the driveway was installed, we took our camping chairs and a bottle of wine out to the property, sitting there admiring the sky changing color as the sun set behind us. As the sky darkened, I noticed what appeared to be headlights on the mountaintop, right where Bearwallow sits. It wasn’t headlights. It was the full moon. Stunning.
Seems that there are many businesses out here with the name moon. There’s Daymoon Coffeebar. Daymoon is coffee, scratch-made baked goods, smoothies and tea. “Do you hear this music anywhere else in town?” Daymoon’s Facebook page asks. “We doubt it. Do you get better service anywhere? We sincerely hope not.” We have to agree. This is one of our favorite coffee shops in Western North Carolina.
There’s also New Moon Marketplace, an eclectic antique store. It seemed obvious to us that the moon should play a starring role in our title. We brainstormed several ideas using the word moon, and there was no question that we had it when we stumbled upon Bearwallow Moon. Made perfect sense. The name was born out of our experience on that September night.
The new name needed a logo, and we knew exactly who could do that for us: Wandering Arts & Crafts. We’ve always loved local artist Melinda Irby’s work, and we were pleased when she said she’d be happy to draw up something for us.
We knew Melinda was the right pick for the job because all of her art is so original, evocative and inspiring. Plus, she loves Western North Carolina as much as we do. Her rendering captured the ridges, just as they look, with the moon rising over Bearwallow with Little Pisgah to the left. We could not have been more pleased.
Follow Melinda on Instagram @wanderingartsandcrafts.