Popular Hot Springs eatery gains national attention, hosts art festival
HOT SPRINGS - Despite its remote location, a Madison County restaurant/general store has been receiving national attention lately.
Trust General Store and Café, at the junction of N.C. 63 and N.C. 209 in Hot Springs, was spotlighted by United Airlines in its onboard magazine, Hemispheres Magazine, according to manager Kim Murphy..
The Trust General Store and Spring Creek Café was established in 1986 in its present location and building as a grocery store and diner. After being closed in the late 1990s, the property was renovated and reopened in 2008 as the Trust General Store and Café. Today it operates "in the tradition of the general stores that served the Spring Creek Community in the past, with a variety of goods, scratch-made food and old fashioned southern hospitality," according to its website.
The new management team of Kim and Kris Murphy took the helm in 2020.
"We came in, wiped out the whole menu and started fresh," Kim Murphy said. "We're chefs. We make everything from scratch. We revamped the store, changed all the product offerings, and we're pulling in lots of local goods now. We really try hard to find local makers and artists and sell their goods in our store. We're really trying to make it a place where you can find lots of great stuff, including lots of great local stuff."
In the time since the Murphys took over, people from around the country have visited the store and fallen in love with the products, most notably the oatmeal cream pies, according to Kim Murphy, who serves as the baker.
Many bikers stop into the shop, too, as Trust General offers gas for motorcyclists along "The Rattler," a 24-mile stretch of N.C. 209 that takes drivers on a scenic and challenging ride north to Hot Springs, to stop in and fill up — with both fuel and food.
"We get a lot of bikers through," Murphy said. "We have a motorcycle route off 63 as well, called Shiner's Run. So they come through. It's really funny because they'll buy one oatmeal cream pie at the register, and they'll be like, 'I'll just take one of these and try it.' In my head, I'm always going, 'I'll see you back in just a minute.'
"You watch them walk out into the parking lot, take a bite, and then they turn right around and they come back in and they'll order like six or eight or 10 or 12 and take them all with them."
The dessert offering's popularity prompted the business to start shipping products, Murphy said.
"These people come from all over the country to ride their motorcycles out here — or in their cars, too," Murphy said. "Some people drive, or they're out vacationing, and they'll get home and they'll be really jonesing for one of those, so they'll call us up and say, 'Do you ship?' So, we make it known that we will ship, like once you get home and you want one of these, just call us.
"I have a woman in Ohio who, about once a year she will call me and order four dozen or six dozen, and I pack them all up and ship them to her. She says she keeps them in the freezer and just pulls them out one at a time. So, they're really popular."
Both Kim, 46, and Kris Murphy, 50, have an extensive history of preparing food.
"My husband grew up and his father owned a restaurant. So, from the time he was quite small, he was in the kitchen learning things from the chefs there," Kim Murphy said. "As a teenager, that was his first job.
"My family didn't really cook. So, I learned at a very young age that if I wanted the good food, I needed to learn how to cook it. So I did. I started cooking in the second grade, and was completely self taught. I would get cookbooks from the library. Now that YouTube exists, you can learn anything. When my husband and I met, he was a chef at a restaurant in Winter Park, Florida, and I was waiting tables there."
The couple spends half the year in Florida and the other half in Western North Carolina, Murphy said.
As for the food options, while the oatmeal cream pie may be the popular menu item, there is no shortage of tasty options to eat before dessert.
"We offer a pretty big variety," Murphy said. "Our core menu is pretty much set, but what we try to do is everything scratch and local features when we can. We try to get our eggs locally, and we try to get whatever we can locally and feature that. We always try to put a little bit of a Southern twist on everything we do.
"For instance, we've got a Cuban sandwich that we run as a special pretty often because it's very popular. We smoke the meat instead of just roasting it like a typical Cuban would be. We kind of twist it to have a little bit of a Southern angle to it."
The restaurant's best-selling meal is the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, according to the manager.
"We have a half-pound burger that's a proprietary blend of meats that's made specifically for us," Murphy said. "We also have a delicious banana pudding."
The restaurant reopened for summer service May 18.
Art festival
On May 27, Trust General will host an art festival, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the store and café.
Murphy said Trust has held artisan markets for the past few years but wanted to branch out and do something that might eventually turn into an annual event.
The main motivation for the festival is to showcase the wide array of artistic talent on display in Madison County and throughout Western North Carolina.
"We want to hone in specifically on the art because we've seen so much talent in the area, and so much that doesn't get seen or spotlighted or highlighted, so we'd love to shine a light on that," Murphy said.
"I go to different places, and you see how much beautiful stuff is out there. You see it in shops, but in our area, I don't see a lot of opportunities for the artists to come kind of showcase themselves, other than finding stores that will carry their art and sell it. This is a time where they can stand there in person and meet people and talk about their art, and really promote themselves rather than depending on storefronts to do it for them. I think there's a need, and I hope there's a need."
The business's art festival will feature 15-20 local artists, according to Murphy.
The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will also feature some kid-friendly activities, such as a bounce house, an inflatable slide and a Toxic Meltdown inflatable ride.
The festival will also feature music from Cold Mountain Bluegrass and Taylor Knighton.
As part of the festival, Trust will also host a community art project to benefit Spring Creek Community Center, and the center will later raffle off the winning project.
"We're going to do little stations where kids and grownups can tie-dye T-shirts," Murphy said. "They can paint rocks, and they can paint canvases. We'll have lots of artsy things going on."
According to Murphy, Spring Creek Community Center will be hosting a blood drive the same day, so the store partnered with the community center to encourage residents to donate to SCCC's cause.
"We're giving tickets down there, and they'll give a ticket to each person that donates blood," Murphy said. "They can bring that ticket to us, and they can get a free cotton candy or popcorn that we'll have that day as well."
Emily Pinelli, who owns Studio Weebli and lives in Marshall, will be one of the featured artists.
Pinelli said she is excited to be partaking in the art festival, and said she feels the festival will offer Madison County artists the opportunity to continue to showcase the deep artistic talent that exists throughout "The Jewel of the Blue Ridge."
"Not a lot of people realize the hidden creative community that is out here in Madison County," Pinelli said. "Everyone often associates the art community solely with Asheville. I'm excited to be a part of an art festival here in my home county. I typically go to conventions that are more dedicated to my demographic for the type of art that I create and I'm excited to see the feedback from my neighbors here in Madison County. Also, to be able to share what I do with the folks here will be pretty nice as well."
For Madison County artist Ryleigh Willett, the festival offers her the chance to live out a childhood dream.
"I've been drawing ever since I was a little girl and I always imagined having my art displayed for people to see, and now that's coming true," said Willett, who has lived on Meadow Fork her whole life.
"I am very pleased to see that my hopes are turning into reality. Madison County truly is full of wonderful artists who just need the spotlight on them long enough for everyone to see."
Fletcher resident Jessica Warren, who owns The Lucky Butterfly Traveling Boutique, said she is excited to be participating in a Madison County art festival.
"I'm an Asheville native and have always enjoyed exploring all of the culture, art, and beauty that these majestic mountains hold," Warren said. "I consider this entire area an absolute gem."
Trust's manager agreed with Warren, as that was her primary goal in bringing the art festival to Madison County, she said.
"I think it's really important to highlight what we have," Murphy said. "It's a real treasure what we have out here."
The festival will also feature music from Cold Mountain Bluegrass and Taylor Knighton.
Trust General Store and Café is located at 14535 N.C. 209 in Hot Springs.
The general store hours are: Monday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to7 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The café hours are:
Monday: closed
Tuesday through Saturday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hot Springs eatery Trust gains national attention, hosts art festival
