Applecover Inn

08/25/2024

To any of our former Applecover Inn campers, just keeping you up to date on some our old friends. Vernon Black passed away last week, he was such a wonderful, Godly man that will be missed by so many, we are just blessed to have made such wonderful memories with him and were even able to visit him and Edith last summer.

We were also invited to celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary of Bob and Sondra Ga***rd this weekend. It is such an amazing accomplishment to celebrate 50 years with your spouse, but 70!!! Amazing!!! We should all be so fortunate.

We miss all of our old customers, would love to see everyone again!

02/02/2023

We lost our beloved Uncle Raymond last week. Please keep Wealthia in your prayers 🙏.

Celebrate the life of Raymond VanGundy, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of .

06/07/2022

And we're off, we have left the nest!!! Road trip 2022, destination- Wyoming, Grand Teton and Yellowstone NP. First stop Clarkesville, TN, then on to Lincoln, NE. If any of our Applecover Friends are along our path give us a shout out, maybe we can work in a quick hello!!

03/15/2022

To all of our Applecover friends that remember our Colby puppy dog, we helped him cross the rainbow bridge today. We were blessed to have him with us for 13 1/2 beautiful years, but he was getting older and had his share of struggles. It was a hard decision as he was always a happy boy, still wagging his tail 'til the end, but he is now running pain free.

05/30/2021

Connor proudly sporting one of our old Applecover Inn hats. Happy Memorial Day everyone, thank you to those that sacrificed their lives for us.

05/09/2021

Happy Mother's Day to all of our Applecover Inn Mommas.

This has been quite the week for Maggie Valley, to say the least. While Derrick and I are overwhelmed with the number of views and shares our page has received lately, and as much as we appreciate all of the love and support, I must say it has opened up some wounds that we have been trying to heal. We are still very sorry for the way things turned out and if we could go back and do it again, we would definitely do things differently. We love Maggie Valley, always did and always will, we Back the Blue ourselves as I have 3 family members that are sheriffs/troopers in their community, in addition to many friends that are LEO's in some capacity.

I have been aware of several of the responses in regards to our situation and would like to clarify a few points. The incident in question in regards to the fire happened in June of 2011, we were sued in 2012-2013, we lost by default as we were not able to make the court date and a $1.8 million judgement was placed on us. In lieu of the judgement we agreed to hand over the property (signed May 2014), as is, (yes it was in need of some repairs as it was being neglected with our poor choice of management) and with the 2 years of property taxes owed for the years we left it with said management, 2012-13 & 2013-14.

The "child" that was burned was over the age of 18, I believe was closer to 20, which makes him a legal adult. We were told he was an Eagle Scout so regardless of age, he either wasn't practicing all that he was taught or he falsely represented himself. It is not worth debating anymore because without revisiting it in a courtroom, which unfortunately is too late at this point, it will continue to be a "he said/she said" conversation. I can tell you, the "child" in question was a customer at the motel with his family and girlfriend which I do not believe is the same companion he has today. I do not even believe she was in the picture during any of the legal proceedings, could be wrong, but she was not a part of the lawsuit or settlement. We turned the property over to one individual.

I will say it again, Maggie Valley-we are sorry. We hope the community stays strong, and continues to be a town where families make vacation memories and the beauty of the mountains outshines and negativity Maggie may endure. ❤️ The Coles

01/11/2021

To all of our Applecover families and friends, we are sad to share the news that we have lost one of our dear, dear sweet campers, Jeanette Kyzer, or as our kids called her, Mama Nette. We have so many funny stories of Jeanette from the campground that we will cherish forever. We love you Jeanette, you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Share Memories & Support the Family.

11/13/2020

Derrick and I had a conversation a long time ago about regrets. I told him then that I didn't have any regrets about anything I did in my past because if I did, if I had done even one thing differently in my life, I may not be where I was at the time, with him. Over the past few years I can honestly say that I do have one big regret, and this one weighs very heavy in my heart. I truly regret losing the motel the way we did and having it end up in the hands it is now. I truly regret that the wonderful town of Maggie Valley is having to deal with such callous neighbors. This was never our plan, this was not the "legacy" we wanted to leave. We love this town, we love the people, and we love the memories we made and the awesome childhood our children had there. We are forever sorry to our friends and neighbors of Maggie Valley. This wasn't how it was supposed go.

09/10/2020

I know to some people a vehicle is "just a vehicle" but to me it's so much more. For those of you that know Derrick and me and our truck history, you know how much time we have spent in our trucks. Since 1999 we have owned 5 GMC Yukon XL's (the '99 was actually a GMC Suburban), trading them in every 2 years when it was time to replace the tires as the joke goes, until we bought our 2007. At the time Derrick had made the comment that this was the nicest one we'd had yet and would probably have this one longer, of course that was before it was stolen from the motel 4 months after we got it. (Little did we know the economy and our finances would tank and we WOULD end up keeping this one). 13 years later and over 250,000 miles, traveling between our FL home and our NC motel every 6 months+, multiple trips across the state to see family, and even a road trip across the USA to CA in 2016, it was time for an upgrade.
When we decided to upgrade in '18 we parked her in the yard to sell. Unfortunately the rats were hungrier than us and helped themselves to the electrical system. So there she sat with us for 2 years, waiting for us to find someone to take her, and today was that day. As happy as I am to finally have our yard free of this "abandoned" car lot, I did not realize how emotional I would be. I have so many memories with this truck, many connected to the Applecover Inn and my NC friends, that makes this way more than "a truck". I am sad to see her go, but will always remember the miles we made and the trips she took us on.
(I know this post seems silly but if you made it to the end I hope it took your mind off all of the ridiculous crazy in our world right now. We all need a break from reality, lol)

10/05/2019

To all of our Applecover Inn friends and family that have been wondering about Raymond and Wealthia, Derrick's aunt and uncle from the campground (our awesome apple butter makers), well we just helped Raymond celebrate his 90th birthday!!! They are still doing great but miss Maggie Valley, the mountains and Applecover!

09/01/2019

In the early 1970's Derrick's parents built a summer home on Man-of-War Cay, in the Abacos. In those days all properties had a name to distinquish who they were on the radio, as there were no telephones on the island. While Bud was trying to think of a name for their home the locals were already referring to the property, covered in 7 year apple trees, Applecover. Well that name stuck and Derrick spent almost 20 years of his youth at The Cole's Applecover. Five years later, after his parents' tragic accident on Marsh Harbour, Abacos, he and I purchased a small Mom & Pop motel in Maggie Valley, NC called the Hasty Hideaway.

After our first season with our new adventure we knew we needed to change the name- to make it ours. We wanted something to put us alphabetically at the top of the list- Amy's...? no, nothing with my name; Georgia was known for it's peachtrees, NC for it's apples, Appletree something? Then I asked Derrick, "What do you think about when you think of the Cole's and apples?" And the name Applecover Inn was set!!

The reality hit us this month while watching videos from the Bahama house Derrick took in 1994, that he spent his childhood summers at his Applecover beach home, while his kids, Maureen and Connor, spent their childhood at our Applecover Inn mountain home.

The purpose of this history story today is that this wonderful piece of paradise, Derrick's life and family memories for so many years, has surely been beaten up by this horrific category 5 storm named Dorian. Please pray for all those in Dorian's path. Our hearts go out to all those in the Bahamas and hope our friends have made it through.