These three cows came at the invitation of Stephen Willingham, who along with his wife Lisa, own the Artists’ Theater across the street and up a bit from the cows. Last year when Stephen was renovating the old theater to create an art gallery, he looked across the street at the operation of the Cheese Factory, but instead of seeing several large storage tanks out front like most of us had seen, Stephen’s creative artist mind saw the bodies of three large cows missing heads.

In time, Stephan turned his attention to bringing these cows to life in West Jefferson for all to enjoy. Stephen studied other cows to determine the proportions of their heads to their bodies and set about to create the missing heads for the three cows he saw by the Cheese Factory. He took many measurements of cows and drew many heads until he had the perfect heads for these large cows. He created a prototype of these heads from plywood and took this mockup to the high school. Rusty Rogers, the welding instructor at Ashe County High School, got his team of students busy fabricating the heads from metal, complete with wonderful ears.

Today, Memorial Day, Rusty and his students arrived in a bus and trucks carrying the cow heads and all their welding gear. After raising the metal heads that weigh 350-400 lbs each into place using a fork lift and some human muscle, they welded the heads onto the storage tanks, I mean onto the cows’ bodies, and thus West Jefferson now has three wonderful cows standing next to the Cheese Factory looking out on all who pass. See a video of the cows being installed.

As one who was there watching, I can tell you it is now a glorious site there! Not 15 minutes after the cows arrived, I saw several people taking pictures of the cows and of themselves with the cows. Many of the cars driving by stopped to look. Thanks to Stephen, we have a wonderful new attraction in West Jefferson. Thanks also to the Cheese Factory for letting the cows come and for helping with the costs of getting their missing heads built and installed. Thanks also to Rusty Rogers and students at Ashe County High School who took Stephen’s design and created the new cow heads.

Today it is a real treat to walk down that block of South Main Street in West Jefferson. It is worth the trip just to see the cows, but there is so much more. Visit the Ashe County Cheese Factory and see cheese being made right next to the cows. Directly across the street from the cows is the Cheese Store where you can purchase many varieties of their cheese.

The cows are not the only art on the street. Just across the street and down a bit is the Ashe County Arts Council where you can see the work of several local artists as well as purchase some unique gifts. Walk up across from the cows and look at the old photos along a wall showing life in West Jefferson in an earlier time while enjoying the flowers planted in front of them. The wall, the photos and planter also came from the mind and work of Stephen Willingham who saw an unsightly lot storing building materials and created something much more pleasant to see.

I went by this afternoon on Memorial Day especially to look at a photo of young men in West Jefferson getting ready to head off to World War I. Continue up the street to visit the Artists’ Theater to see the building Stephen and Lisa renovated and browse some wonderful art and antiques at the Artists’ Theater. You can have a wonderful afternoon walking along the street looking at the cows.

The new cows remind me of how much I enjoy walking around downtown West Jefferson. They also remind me of how much one person with ideas, talent and a strong will can accomplish. Stephen Willingham has turned a block of West Jefferson into something worth seeing a second time. Go visit our new cows. You will love them! When I saw them today they were white, but Stephen tells me they will soon be getting their black spots. I saw these cows turn several old people into kids for a few moments. I haven’t heard any sound from them yet, but Stephen thinks you may hear some mooing there when the moon is full.

Habitat for Humanity is a worldwide organization and is a non-profit Christian housing ministry with a mission to make safe, affordable housing available in Ashe County.  Habitat is not a giveaway program and families who are selected will be expected to participate in the entire process.  The selected family is required to contribute “sweat equity” by working in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the process for building the first family home is set to begin.

And in the fall, the process reverses itself. Our seamstress is now a quilter, piecing together squares of bright orange, vivid yellow and deep red, all the while moving inexorably down the mountain over a period of weeks that reminds us anew of just how beautiful the mountains in Ashe truly are. Living here, it is sometimes easy to forget that beauty, but it only takes a small change in nature’s progress to remind us what visitors from near and far travel to Ashe County to find—an unparalleled, ever-changing mountain tapestry.

That’s right: to find a comfortable rocking chair overlooking the river and the mountains beyond and stare off into a world that will renew your spirit and refresh your mind. This takes practice, I admit, but the rewards are great. So, shut off your cell phone, take a deep breath, and listen to the silence.

The natural beauty and scenery of Ashe County has been a draw for other international teams in the past three years from Egypt and Brazil. Because tourism is such a large part of Ashe County’s economic engine it made perfect sense to get all of these visitors in a canoe on the New River, after all they had experienced other similar rivers and bodies of water (The Nile, The Amazon and the Black Sea)!

And any visit to the High Country would not be complete without hiking along various overlooks and trails from Mt. Jefferson to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Despite only spending two full days in Ashe County, our visitors from Istanbul now have a much greater appreciation for and knowledge of what brings so many other visitors to the High Country and Ashe County: The people, the places and the hospitality!