Business owners in the Chesterfield community hope to gain from Morganton growth yet still keep its rural appeal.
The demolition of Chesterfield Elementary School marked the end of an era for the small community north of Morganton on U.S. 64, but local business owners say the neighborhood still has a distinct identity and potential for a bright future.
Among those business owners is the 27-year-old operating a new restaurant in the Chesterfield Family Restaurant building — another longtime Chesterfield landmark.
Isaiah Browning, known as “Duff,” opened Chesterfield Fish House in March, and is optimistic that Morganton expansion will turn north, bringing fresh clientele and new business opportunities.
Browning said the restaurant is just a start: He plans to build a performance horse facility in Chesterfield in the coming years.
For now, Browning said he has plenty of regular customers from Chesterfield, and most of his employees are from the neighborhood. While his clientele are middle-aged and older — Browning said he plans to start a Bingo night soon — he has been noticing some younger folks lately.
“I think younger people will start moving out here and populating the area,” he said. “We get more and more younger clientele every week.”
Kaila Savage, owner of HorsePower Park just off U.S. 64, said she has always viewed the community as part of Morganton, but that doesn’t mean it’s not distinctive. Savage said she loves living in Chesterfield and hopes it will retain its rural feel even if — or when — the expansion comes.
Still, she expects more businesses to move into the neighborhood, drawn by traffic along the route and out-of-towners attending events at the track.
“There is a lot of traffic going through, so it’s definitely supported by people,” she said. “That’s where I see it going.”
Savage said that while larger events at the racetrack can bring people from as far as Michigan, Texas, and Florida, people from Chesterfield and nearby communities are often in the stands. At smaller races, about half the spectators are from “really close to the track,” while the other half are from places like Asheville or Boone.
Savage lives at the racetrack with her husband and co-owner Paul Strong and their children and enjoys living in Chesterfield.
“I like our little community,” she said.
Farther up the road, Styles Tavern 2 also draws customers from Chesterfield. Owner Kevin Motz estimates that about half of his customers come from Chesterfield or the nearby communities of Gamewell and Piney.
“We’ve got the ones who have been coming regularly, then we have a lot of new faces starting to come in,” he said.
The newer clientele are mostly from Morganton and Lenoir, he said, and often new to the area.
Motz said the bar is “not what you’d consider a family environment,” since it’s an alcohol-only establishment. He is in an uphill battle to improve the bar’s reputation — “My choice of tenants was not one of my better moves,” he said — but he has high hopes of making the bar more family-friendly.
He’s also in the permitting process to have a concession truck on site, and planning a cancer benefit poker run with pit barbecue and live music.
Motz said he would like to see more family events in the neighborhood where participants are encouraged to leave their smartphones behind and connect the old-fashioned way.
“You’ve got to bring the roots of the community back together without technology right in their face,” he said.
Motz and Browning’s optimism about the area’s future was tempered by economic realities. Both said inflation has made it difficult to keep prices affordable for customers, and they see rising costs as a major obstacle to future business growth.
Still, both said they hope more entrepreneurs will give Chesterfield a try.
“I do see Chesterfield having a future as far as smaller businesses go,” said Motz. “People in this community need to try for a change. … Being a small business is not always the easiest of tasks … but even a small business can make a big change.”
