By Scott Nicholson
Tweetsie Railroad may have to roll up its tracks and head for lower ground in a couple of years.
Tweetsie, a Wild West theme park and summer tourist attraction that was launched in 1957, is facing the expiration of leases for property at the park, which lies between Boone and Blowing Rock. The leases expire in 2007, giving the park less than two years to come up with a plan to either work out a new lease or relocate.
Tweetsie general manager Chris Robbins said moving would be a "dire option" but one that also offers some benefits for expansion.
He said the park has been negotiating the leases for years and said the negotiations aren't the difficult part, it's the number of people involved.
When Chris's uncle Grover Robbins signed the original 50-year lease for part of the park property, they signed with one landowner.
Over the years, the original land has been divided into three parcels, though two of the parcels are owned by the same group of heirs. Tweetsie owns about half of the 200 acres at the site.
Robbins blames rising land prices in the High Country for putting the squeeze on the theme park. He said the leases were tied to local land values, which had been doubling every five years. The negotiations are made more complicated because over a dozen people hold interest in the leased land.
"Plan A is to stay where we are, but Plan B is to find another site," Chris Robbins said. "We have some discussions with county officials and have received some offers and commitments that would make it easier to move. These are counties that are seeking a tourism draw. Everyone has lost jobs due to manufacturing, and the (job) losses haven't ended yet."
Robbins said the theme park officials haven't looked for alternate sites in Watauga County. He said the park would suffer the same problem of high land values, plus the land would either need to be near a major highway or have some other draw that would make it a good business decision. "Everything that's suitable and big enough already has something on it," Robbins said.
Robbins said even if it moved, the park would probably remain in northwestern North Carolina "to keep the heritage connection."
The loss of Tweetsie Railroad would be a blow to the local tourist industry, which is considered one of the keystones of the High Country economy. "I can't quantify it, but I'm sure it would have an enormous impact on summer tourism," Robbins said. "We're probably one of the primary family attractions up here, and secondary attractions might suffer as well."
Tweetsie would also take with it 26 year-round jobs and about 225 seasonal jobs. The park has provided work for several generations of local high school and college students, as well as retirees and people from surrounding counties.
If the park moves, Robbins predicts the theme park elements would be expanded. He said Tweetsie originally started out as an excursion train and no side attractions were planned. The hilly terrain imposed some limitations on offerings, and Robbins said a different site outside Watauga County could offer a more hospitable geography. He predicted a new park would only require 150 acres, but other factors would include highway access, water and sewer service, and construction considerations. The incentives offered by outside counties might also play a role in any relocation, though Robbins stressed that the main goal is to renew the lease.
"It's already late (to plan a move)," Robbins said. "If we started tomorrow, we might still have to close for the 2008 season."
Robbins said the park, which opened for the season on Apr. 29, would operate as scheduled for 2006 and 2007. The park is open for between 130 and 135 days a year, opening daily beginning on Memorial Day weekend. Robbins said the schedule is planned to include as many family vacation days as possible, and said this year's calendar offered more days because of a state law pushing back the opening date of the school year.
Tweetsie Railroad dates back to 1866, when a line of the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad Company connected Johnson City, Tenn, with the North Carolina border. Track expansion eventually brought service to downtown Boone in 1916, where the tracks followed what is now Rivers Street and gave Depot Street its name. Severe floods damaged sections of the track in 1940, and the railway closed 10 years later. One of the final train locomotives was purchased and eventually wound up in the hands of Grover Robbins, who bought it from cowboy movie star Gene Autry, and was used to launch what would eventually become the theme park. The park features a steam engine repair shop and is on the National Register of Historic Places. A three-mile loop of track was constructed and a petting zoo, chairlift, and other activities were added, along with the development of a Wild West theme. A private study commissioned by the park showed Tweetsie had a $6.8 million direct economic impact on the High Country, with an indirect impact, estimated on lodging, food, and other revenues, of nearly $9 million."The primary business decision Tweetsie has to make is to move or be squeezed out by high rent," Robbins said. "It's a dilemma."