64 SIDELINES JUNE 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
ByNormanPowers
When Suzanne Strickland moved to the Carolina Foothills 15
years ago, she left behind a cold Boston winter but brought with
her two things: a love of horses and a longstanding dream to run
her own business. “I’ve always been independent and always
wanted to work for myself,” Suzanne said. “I’m not a corporate
person.”
Her dream came true when she opened Landrum’s Stone
Soup, one of the area’smost popular restaurantswith both locals
and visitors.
The business was born when Suzanne’s entrepreneurial
sensors noticed a lack of locally sourced quality dining, even as
people were discovering the beauty of the Foothills and moving
to the mountains frommetropolitan areas. “I loved to cook, but
couldn’t find different ingredients unless I drove for 45 minutes
out of the area. I wanted to open Stone Soup as a kind of Dean
& DeLuca,” Suzanne said, referring to the New York-based
epicurean mecca. Housed in a renovated private home, Stone
Soup’s first version was more of a deli than a restaurant, with
only six small tables. Now, 10 years later, the restaurant serves
up to 500meals aweek in three separate dining areas, including
an outdoor terrace inwarmer weather. The restaurant also hosts
events organized by the regional Slow Food movement, which
emphasizes local ingredients prepared oneplate at a time.
The opening of Stone Soup was a somewhat poignant event
forSuzanne, asher favoriteeventinghorse, Eliot, had just passed
away. Theyhad just placed seventh inSuzanne’s first Preliminary
event at theKentuckyHorsePark. “I love the thrill of riding cross-
country, but I never had much of a budget for horses so I’d buy
prospects off the track and train them, either to keep them or sell
to others. Horses became a huge part of my life. I delved into the
restaurant with full force, I think, because Eliot was gone and I
wassosad. I neededsomething tofill thehole left byhispassing.”
Suzanne continued to compete in three-day on other horses
but suffered amajor setback last summer with a fall that left her
with serious injuries to her lower leg and foot, the first time she’d
e
Entrepreneur -NorthCarolina
GoodFood and aGreatCommunity
in theCarolinaFoothills
Suzanne andEliot at theKentuckyHorsePark
Photos courtesy of SuzanneStrickland
been seriously hurt in 25 years of riding.
After nearly a year full of operations
and rehabilitative therapy, Suzanne
is getting her legs back using school
horses at nearby Clearview Farm. “The
community’s been very supportive of me and wishingme well in
time of need,” Suzanne said of her long recovery, during which
Stone Soup remained open. “I’ll start looking for another horse
once I feel ready enough to start jumping. I love to compete, but
it’s really the relationship I buildwitha horse that’s the fun part.”
But competitionwasn’t really onSuzanne’smind
when shehad
the idea for a branding campaign for the four towns that straddle
the North Carolina/South Carolina border - Landrum, Tryon,
Columbus and Saluda. “All four are connected economically as
well as geographically,” Suzanne said. “We’re a community. You
can’t justmarket one town, and I don’t lookat other restaurantsas
competition. There’s room enough for all of us.”
The campaign, called Our Carolina Foothills, was formally
launched in March in partnership with two other Greenville-
based marketing and design professionals. Corporate support
from Sysco, the big food distributor for restaurants, will place an
Our Carolina Foothills billboard on I-26 with a “Four Towns. Two
States. One Experience” theme. A website, Facebook page and
invitations to travel, and foodwriters from theSoutheast, are also
part of themix.
The timing seems right, with the Foothills area becoming an
important destination for equestrian competitors as they look
forward to the new international-level equestrian complex under
development on the outskirts of Tryon: upscale vacationers
coming to a new five-star spa and resort, the Hotel Domestique;
cultural tourists noting Landrum’s place onSouthCarolina’sQuilt
Trail; performance events at Tryon’s Fine Arts Center – not to
mention a growing menu of outdoor activities, like Saluda’s new
GreenRiver Gorge zipline.
Stone Soup is based on the children’s fairy tale about how
everyone benefits if wework together,” Suzanne said. “No one is
alone.We’re all part of a community.”
About thewriter: NormanPowers has lived in theCarolina Foothills for 20 years.
He writes regularly for regional arts and culture magazines and has published two
novels, themost recent of which, Lily’sGame, appearedearlier this year.
SuzanneStrickland
StoneSoup located in
Landrum, NorthCarolina
