Celo Inn

09/12/2025

We have been quiet for a while as our family has been focused on managing the many transitions we’ve faced this past year. But we wanted to give a huge thank you to the friends, neighbors, and former innkeepers who came out to the inn last weekend for a work day! Together we continued to deconstruct the remnants of the cottage, remove debris from the grounds, smooth out the pathways, and clean inside.

This summer, the grounds of the inn has transformed into a vibrant community space, with Goldfinch Gardens constructing a farm stand, Dead Pan Bakery and Heater House Bakery hosting weekly pop up markets, and neighbors Iris, Margot, and Pat tending the flower beds.

At the same time, a group of South Toe residents has come together to continue envisioning the future of the beloved inn building. We are laying the groundwork to rebuild—using flood resilient design and materials—a multi-use community hub for resilience, creativity, wellness, and local enterprise.

Stay tuned for more news about the Celo Commons project…and our reflections as the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene approaches

10/13/2024

We are so grateful for the outpouring of concern and support from our family, friends, former guests, neighbors, and more.

There have been many ongoing needs that our community has been working on, from rebuilding roads and trails, to removing damaged walls and floors from flooded buildings, to staffing donation tables, to making communal meals, to organizing childcare. At the same time, the whir of helicopters overhead is constant. The national guard has been regulating traffic in and out. We pass swift water rescue teams and search dogs combing the river for signs of people who were swept away.

Both Nick and I enjoy being of service to others, and it’s been uncomfortable to need more than we have to give right now. Our family has spent much of the last week trying to salvage what we could from the inn and getting settled into temporary housing. Friends and neighbors helped us save the Inn’s upstairs furnishings, pull our downstairs belongings out of the muck, sort through what could be saved, and rinse it in the creek in front of the Inn.

We are so fortunate that Kavita’s mom owns a small house only about a mile up the road from the Inn, and are trying to make that home. But it’s roof leaked during the rains, and both the well and pump house were damaged. Electricity was finally restored a couple days ago, but we won’t have potable water for a while. So cooking remains a challenge and we need to fetch from elsewhere or boil all water that contacts our food and cookware. We are slowly making our way through washing our clothes and outdoor gear, but our salvaged dishes remain piled on our new porch.

We’re learning to navigate a variety of programs and agencies: donation tables for food, FEMA, SBA, unemployment for Nick, insurance agents, Ezzy’s college applications, etc. With the Celo Community, we are consulting professionals to evaluate options for the building that has been our beloved inn.

Amidst all this, we celebrated Nick’s birthday last week and will celebrate Mayra’s this week. We are trying to make time for small moments of joy: breakfasts together in the mornings, welcoming Silas home from college this weekend, and admiring the fall colors.

10/03/2024

Thank you for the outpouring of concern and support. We are so grateful that our family is safe, and to live in a community with the resources, skills, and organizing to support us and our other neighbors who were directly impacted by the flooding while we wait for outside assistance.

It is with heavy hearts that we share that it is likely that the Celo Inn has been damaged irreparably. We have temporary housing in the valley, and have spent the last few days salvaging what we could from the muck. We are mourning the loss of our home, the life we thought we were building, our business, many of our belongings, and the gift of respite we have been honored to offer so many over the last two and a half years.

As we piece our lives back together, help our community rebuild, and begin to imagine what could replace what the Celo Inn has meant for so many people, we would be grateful for any financial support you can offer. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-nick-kavita-and-the-celo-inn-after-hurricane-helene

**If you're looking for information on a loved one, please go to South Toe Fire and Rescue's page for a list of roads that have been assessed and all residents accounted for.**

Hi my name is Emily and Im raising funds for my brother and s… Emily Chapman needs your support for Support Nick, Kavita and the Celo Inn after Hurricane Helene

09/30/2024

There are just no words for the devastation Hurricane Helene has wrecked here.

We have lived in Celo for 15 years and thought we understood what the South Toe River was capable of. There are lines marking previous high water levels painted throughout the Inn and on a tree we walk by daily. But when water started lapping through our front door, higher than any of those lines and with hours more of the storm to go, we realized we needed to evacuate to the emergency shelter. We walked up the road a quarter mile at the height of the storm with two of our children (the oldest is safe at college), dog, and a bag of essentials. It was the scariest thing we have ever done. But we’re glad we did it because it meant that we were safe. The river eventually raged through our home and the inn up to the ceiling of the first floor. Entire houses were swept into the river, including our cottage. Landslides and collapsed bridges left our valley trapped and isolated. We know that people died.

And yet. The resilience and resourcefulness of our neighbors and community has been astounding. From showing up with backhoes and tractors to patch up roads and bridges, to chainsawing apart trees that are blocking streets and crushing homes, to getting critical medications to those who need it, to setting up solar powered phone charging stations and satellite WiFi, to finding shelter for displaced families like ours, to preparing communal meals at homes with propane stoves, to shoveling muck out of flooded buildings, to distributing clean spring water, to organizing daily information shares…the list goes on.

We don’t know what the process of rebuilding looks like, but we know it will be long and we will need help. In the meantime, communities across our region need support for both the national and community-led relief we need. Here’s two organizations for our little valley (will update with links to donate as we find them)

Mountain Community Health Partnership www.mchp.care/donate

South Toe Fire and Rescue (also has info about missing persons) www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-south-toe-fire-depts-hurricane-efforts

09/26/2024

The river sure is mighty today. The water level has dropped several feet from its peak last night, and even though it hadn’t stopped raining, so far we are safe. But we’re bracing for round two tonight and tomorrow morning. We’re grateful to our neighbors who answered our call at 9 pm last night to help move furniture in the cottage to higher ground. Our hearts go out to everyone whose safety and security are being threatened by this powerful storm.

09/10/2024

Join us for a concert on Sunday, October 6 at 7 pm!

Djoukil is a group of five fantastic French musicians from Lyon joined by their common passion for the music of Django Reinhardt style Gypsy Jazz and American Swing mixed with some ballads "à la Française". Their favorite era being the jazz/swing rhythms and melodies of the 1940s makes them a much sought after band for swing dances, festivals and concerts in France these last 14 years and they are coming back to the U.S.!

Tickets are $15.

09/06/2024

08/18/2024

Thank you Snakeroot Ecotours for sharing some of the boletes and chanterelles you found on your Summer Headwaters hike yesterday. Hope you all enjoy the wild mushroom quiche for breakfast this morning!!
*
*
*

08/02/2024

05/20/2024

May has been unusually rainy this year, but it means that the waterfalls are especially stunning. Crabtree Falls is our four year old’s favorite hike — she asks for it every time we plan an outing — and it did not disappoint this weekend. Which are your favorite waterfalls to visit around here?
*
*
*

05/11/2024

We’re in awe watching this rare sighting of the here in WNC! And how especially glorious after this week of rain.
*
*
*