The Stepp Walker building in east Flat rock ca 1983

Editor’s Note:

In May 2024, Flat Rock Together published a story about the history of one of East Flat Rock’s most iconic structures, the Stepp Walker Building. At the time, there were considerable gaps in the building’s history.

Fortunately, two individuals with personal histories with the building saw our original story and helped fill in those gaps. We heard from Elizabeth Pressley Hill whose father operated a grocery store in the building in the 1950s and 1960s and Jim Kirkpatrick whose father acquired and grew a very successful business there in the 1980s.

Many thanks to Elizabeth and Jim who shared their recollections and photos. We share their stories here and the original post has been edited to include the following.

To read the entire history of the Stepp Walker Building, link here.

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Fred Pressley Grocery Store
Ca 1950 – 1965

Following WW II, Fred Warren Pressley returned home to Henderson County having completed his tour of duty with the US Army. His daughter, Elizabeth Pressley Hill recalls that he had experience as a young man working for a grocery store (possibly an A & P) located across from the old Courthouse in Hendersonville.

Fred Warren built upon that experience and opened Fred Pressley Grocery in the Stepp Walker Building in the early 1950s. Although primarily a grocery store on the left side of the building (as you face it from Lamplighter Lane), the right side of the building was used by Pressley to sell hardware supplies. Elizabeth recalls bins of nails and screws and a paint-shaking machine. Pressley also sold appliances for some portion of his time in the building.

In the early 1950s, the building was still owned by Edith and Nellie Hart. They leased the lower half to Pressley for his business operations and the sisters lived upstairs. There were outside stairs on the south side of the building which the sisters would use to get to their apartment. Although very young at the time, Elizabeth Hill remembers Edith Hart would step into the store from time to time. “She was a very warm, friendly, lovable lady,” recalls Elizabeth.

Fred Pressley, Owner of Fred Pressley Grocery

Elizabeth recalls accompanying her father to the store on Saturdays occasionally and has fond memories of time spent with her daddy there. “Being there with Daddy was fun. A lot of the local people would come in and the store was an important part of the community,” says Elizabeth. It was also a place for locals to gather. “Some of the older men of the community would sit on the steps out front and visit with each other.”

Just down the street was Hill’s Grocery owned by Charles Hill and Elizabeth recalls that Mr. Hill and her father were friendly competitors. “If Daddy was out of something somebody needed, then he might run over to Hill’s to get it. And Charles Hill did the same thing. It was just a good community to be in.” Eventually, Elizabeth Pressley would even end up marrying a younger cousin of Charles Hill.

For a short period of time, Fred Pressley shared some of his store space with Hunter Spearman who had a meat counter at the back of the store. Elizabeth recalls that Spearman was in the Stepp Walker Building for only a couple of years before finding his own location for the market. The Spearman family also owned a furniture store in East Flat Rock.

Health concerns prompted Fred Pressley to sell the business in 1965 or 1966. Before he closed his business, however, he had sublet the hardware side of his business to Warren G. Cairnes who used the space to operate a feed and seed and agricultural supply business out of the space called C&C Supply. When Fred Pressley left, Cairnes rented the entire lower level of the building from the Hart sisters. In 1971, Cairnes purchased the building from Edith Hart.

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The Kirkpatricks and Forge Mountain Foods

Warren Cairnes operated C&C Supply in the Stepp Walker Building from the mid-1960s until the late 1970s. During those years, he supplemented his feed and agricultural business with a wholesale food operation called Forge Mountain Country Store that featured homemade jams, jellies, relishes, gifts, and more that were sold to retail outlets and area Ingles grocery stores.

Perhaps due to health concerns, Cairnes sold his C&C business to Doris and Wayne Cole and leased them space in the Stepp Walker Building to continue operating the business. The Coles owned the business for just a few years before deciding to sell it to Bill Kirkpatrick in 1983, The Coles may be a familiar family name for local readers as the owners of the iconic McFarlan’s Bakery in downtown Hendersonville from 1952 until 1974. Their son, Mike, ultimately bought back the business in 1994 and ran It with his wife Kathy until 2023.

In the early 1980s, Bill Kirkpatrick was living with his family at Lake Summit and had retired from his successful career in architectural and engineering marketing. Looking for a business to purchase, Kirkpatrick learned that the Coles were ready to part with C&C Supply. The business fit the profile he was seeking and in 1983, Bill Kirkpatrick became the third owner of C&C Supply.

Bill’s son, Jim Kirkpatrick, was a student at Wake Forest at the time and recalls working in his father’s store during summers. “I was there slinging fertilizer and loading pallets of jelly. We had delivery trucks traveling all over western North Carolina.” Initially, the business continued to sell agricultural products, but Bill Kirkpatrick soon realized that Forge Mountain Foods was the most lucrative part of the business. “Dad was glad to get out of the seed and feed business because it was heavy stuff to move around and low-profit margin,” Jim remembers. “He got really focused on the food business.” Over time, Forge Mountain Foods grew and even developed a very successful mail-order catalog business.

As much as he enjoyed the business, Bill Kirkpatrickwas no fan of the aging brick building. “Dad never liked that building,” Jim recalls with a laugh. “There was just one overhead gas blower for heat and we had kerosene heaters scattered around the building in the winter and then there was no AC in the summers.” When Cairnes offered to sell him the building, Bill declined.

As business grew, Kirkpatrick realized that he would need to find a new location. As a result, he purchased land at 1215 Greenville Hwy (now the Feather Your Nest Consignment Store) and built the new custom building in 1986 and 1987. Business continued to grow. “Forge Mountain Foods started out selling jams and jellies from local farm ladies,” Jim explains. In its heyday, there was a small plant in Dana managed by Linda Justice that was producing up to 12,000 jars a day. “Linda was a real entrepreneur, and she was great with food and figuring out products. We grew it into a nice little business.” The Kirkpatricks sold Forge Mountain Foods in 2004, but the new owner was not able to continue the company’s success and it was soon out of business.

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To read the entire history of the Stepp Walker Building as documented in our original story, link here.