For Roger Lee, 68, the view of a particular bend of the Pigeon River along Old Clyde Road held the story of a lifetime.
From trapping muskrats with his father along the steep riverbank as a boy to carving wood in his workshop as a grandfather, Roger’s life has been rooted in a patch of Haywood County soil. His family’s history in Clyde stretches back generations — there’s even a Lee Street to prove it. And the homeplace, sitting just across the river from a shoulder of Chambers Mountain, has long been a refuge not only for Roger’s kin but for extended family finding their footing.
During remodeling 20 years ago, Roger followed a mountain tradition. On the wallboard, before the insulation went in, he wrote his name and those of his family, the date, and a prayer asking God to bless the home. It was a quiet testament to permanence, faith and continuity.
But the river tested that permanence more than once.
Hurricane Ivan destroyed his grandmother Beulah Hooper’s house in that spot in 2004, just after she passed away. Roger rebuilt higher, reinforcing his home with sturdy joists and a raised foundation. When Tropical Storm Fred flooded the area in 2021, they were spared.
They believed they were safe, but then September 2024 came, bringing Hurricane Helene.
During that storm, as the Pigeon rose faster and higher than they had ever seen, Roger, his wife Michelle and their kids and family scrambled to save what they could. Water surged through a next door power substation and poured into the front section of the home. They carried belongings uphill to a picnic gazebo, unsure if even it would remain above water.
Soon it was clear: the entire homeplace would be lost. The Lees watched as generations of memories disappeared beneath muddy water.
Yet even in devastation, the family found themselves surrounded by quiet acts of kindness — coworkers arriving to muck out debris, postal workers connecting them with strangers offering care packages for the children, community members stepping forward before being asked.
“It’s all devastating and heartbreaking,” Roger said at the time. “Sometimes your mind doesn’t work right trying to think about it. But you have to keep the faith. Things happen for a reason. Each step’s gonna be a little bit better.”
“I am so proud of the team we have at Mountain Projects that made this happen today for Roger and Michelle. Things like this just don’t happen without the combined efforts of our community partners like United Way and the tremendous supporters and donors that trust Mountain Projects. This house for Roger and Michelle is a great example of what can be done when people put others first.”
Now, over a year later, they’ve taken a big, better step.
Through the coordinated efforts of Mountain Projects, community partners and generous donors, Roger and Michelle now stand in the doorway of a new home — one built not just with lumber and nails, but with a lot of determination and compassion for those who lost their homes in the floods.
The tidy three bedroom, two-bath home is perched on the north slope of Utah Mountain, a long way from the flood plain and with an expansive new view of the Cataloochee Divide.
“I am so proud of the team we have at Mountain Projects that made this happen today for Roger and Michelle,” said Si Simmons, Executive Director of Mountain Projects. “Things like this just don’t happen without the combined efforts of our community partners like United Way and the tremendous supporters and donors that trust Mountain Projects. This house for Roger and Michelle is a great example of what can be done when people put others first.”
For Michelle, who has spent nearly a decade helping others through her work with Haywood County DSS — training her staff to lead with empathy and reminding them “it’s not a judgment thing, we’re all just there to help” — the experience has come full circle.
“I’ve been on their side of the story,” she has said of the people she serves. Now, for the first time, she found herself fully on the receiving end of that same grace.
The new house cannot replace the generations etched into the walls of the old one — the hidden blessing behind the insulation, the circular locust staircase Roger built by hand, the memories of Beulah Hooper cooking in her kitchen for more than 50 years.
But it offers something equally powerful: family stability – a place they know they can stay.
At the housewarming event on a windy Tuesday afternoon, Michelle and Roger wonder out loud how they will thank everyone who contributed. This house is blessed with a new message built into the walls by the friends, family, neighbors, hundreds of donors and Mountain Projects staff who wanted to help as best they could.