Know Your Transylvania Merchants Series
‘ 'If Diners
Operated By Mr. And
Mrs. Henry R. Crais
By • Cal Carpenter
The Red Lion Inn, three miles south of Ros
man on U. S. Highway 178, can best be de
scribed as a “supper club for discriminating
diners."
‘The quality of our food, its service and
the dining atmosphere are our first consider
ations," says Henry R. Crais, retired business
executive and accountant; who, with his wife,
Helen W. Crais, has been the owner and ope
rator since January 15, 1973.
“We consider the restaurant and the four
unit motel an extension of our home down
stairs,” say Mr. and Mrs. Crais. “To us, each
evening we are open is a party at which w®
make new friends and meet new people.
“We do not consider the Red Lion just
another restaurant. We make it a part of our
home wherein we serve nothing but the best
to friends who put gourmet-quality food and
the proper dining atmosphere at the head of
their list of requirements in dining out."
FROM LAND AND SEA
The Red Lion offers a hearty menu of char
coal-grilled steaks (with Rib Eyes a specialty),
local mountain trout, lobster tails and the re
cent favorite, French Onion soup made with
cheese and wine.
There's a “Surf and Turf" dinner of both
lobster tails and steak for those who want
the best of both land and sea, and a “Soup,
salad, and dessert," for light eaters.
In the wintertime, meals are served in the
rustic main dining room, before a log fire in a
big fieldstone fireplace. In the summer, they
may be had on the screened, upper porch, over
looking a cool, feeder stream of the French
Broad River.
listed in “Musical America" as one of the
finest places to eat near the Brevard Music
Center, the Red Lion has become one of the
country’s most prestigious dining places.
Prior reservations are recommended, especial
ly through the summer.
HOURS OF OPERATION
Hours of food service at the Red Lion
change throughout the year. Through January,
February, and March, it is open for dinner
on Friday and Saturday only, from 6:30 p.m.
to 10:00 p.m., although small parties at other
times may be arranged.
During April, May and Juner it serves
four nights a week, Wednesday through Sat
urday, 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. During July
and August, it serves every night except Tues
day, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., in order
to accommodate Music Center patrons.
September through December, it serves
Wednesday through Saturday, 6:30 p.m. to
10:00 p.m.
The four motel units are available all
week, all year except during the months of
January and February when they are closed.
“The 10:00 p.m. closing of the kitchen is
only the food service,” says Mr. Crais. “Guests
may remain longer, of course, and many do.
We’ll also prepare a dinner somewhat later if
guests arrive at or shortly after 10 o’clock.”
HISTORY
The Red Lion Inn building once operated
as the Line Runner Inn, and might be remem
bered by that name by older residents of Ros
man and Brevard. For a time after that, it was
the AMVETS Club.
It became the Red Lion Inn in 1969, when
Joe and Joyce Collins opened it under that
name and established the fine-food tradition
and atmosphere it enjoys today.
Joe Collins was a physicist-engineer at the
Bosnian Tracking Station. He and his wife,
Joyce, the daughter of a British innkeeper,
bought the property and, with unlimited energy
and optimism, soon had it renovated and ope
after you see
your doctor.
bring your
prescription to
HENRY AND HELEN CRAIS — Photo was
made in front of the big, fieldstone fireplace in
the main dining room at the Red Lion Inn, three
miles south of Rosman on U. S. Highway 178. The
Craft, who bought fKe property from Joe and
Joyce Collins, Have Keen Operating the Inn since
January, 1978. (Times Staff Photo)
Summer Schedule Announced
At Local Catholic Church
There will be a revised
schedule of divine services at
Sacred Heart Catholic Church,
according to the Rev. J. Paul
Byron, Pastor.
Masses for Sunday win be the
following: The Sunday Vigil
Mass, 6:00 p.m. Saturday; Sun
day morning services, 7:00
a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
The Mission Church of St.
Jude in Sapphire Valley will
have Mass at 9:00 a.m. Sunday
morning.
This schedule is for the sum
mer months of June, July and
August to accommodate travel
ers, and the numerous Catholic
young people in the summer
camps of the area.
Any officials who need trans
portation help to enable Cath
olic children to get to their
church on Sunday, please call
the Church office.
The lignin that binds together
cellulose fibers in wood is not
only strong, it’s elastic, pro
viding wood with a resiliency
that makes wood floors less tir
ing to walk cm than concrete,
and enables homes made from
wood to bend without breaking
in windstorms and earthquakes.
EXECUTOR’S NOTICE
Id the General Court of Justice
Superior Cent Division
State of North Carolina
Transylvania County
Having qualified as Executor
of the Estate of BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN MERRILL of ITan
sylvania County, North Caro
lina, this is to notify all persona
having claims against the
estate of said BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN MERRILL to pre
sent them to the undersigned
within six months from date of
the publication of this notice or
same will be pleaded in bar of
their recovery. AD persons In
debted to said estate, please
make immediate payment.
This the 27th day of June,
1974.
WILLIAM ERNEST MERRILL
Executor
Rt. 2, Box 246,
Pisgah Forest, N. C. 28768
RAMSEY, HILL, SMART fr
RAMSEY
Attorney Gayle E. Ramsey
6-27-tto
When in need of Job printing
can The Transylvania Times.
rating in the tradition of an old, north-country
British inn.
Joyce and Joe operated with a steadily
increasing number of devoted diners until Joe
accepted a new engineering position and left
for New Jersey in 1972.
“SOMETHING TOGETHER”
The Crais saw the property advertised for
sal© in an Atlanta, Georgia, newspaper, by a
former neighbor of theirs, Chuck Bradley, who
had come to Brevard and was working with the
Jimmie Gaither Realty Company. They visited
the property, were impressed with the potential,
and decided to put forward their later retire
ment plans of “doing something together.”
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Crais knew anything
about the restaurant business, but they were
capably taught by Joyce Collins, who had
“Been raised in an inn,” and who remained
here for a few months to help out the new
owners after they’d bought the property.
They were also capably assisted by Mrs.
Naomi Burns, Joe Collins' mother, who has
stayed on as waitress and advisory cook to Mr.
Crais, who'd “never cooked a steak in his life;”
The Crais continued renovations of the
building, the restaurant, and the nine motel
rooms, five of which they retained for their
home.
“We’re very pleased with the way we’ve
been accepted by people from Brevard, Rosman,
Lake Toxaway, Pickes, S. C-; Greenville,
S. C.; Asheville, Hendersonville, Cashiers, and
from all over Western North Carolina,” says
Mrs. Crais. “Everyone has been hospitable and
helpful. We think this is beautiful country and
we hope to add to the beauty and warmth of
our little spot. We intend to continue making
the Red Lion our home and a place where peo
ple will come and want to come back.”
THE CRAIS
Henry R. Crais was born and reared in
New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a graduate of
Tulane University and worked for several
years for the Kress stores in 1 .onisiana and
Colorado. He returned to New Orleans in the
box business as an accountant, then went to
Atlanta, Georgia, as a box plant manager for
the Continental Can Copany. He took an
early retirement from that company in 1968;
then went back into accounting for a lawn
furniture manufacturer and a salad manu
facturer.
Mrs. Helen W. Crais was born in T<
Kansas, moved to Kansas City, then to Ne
leans where she was married in 1931. SI
a busy housewife until she joined her hu
in operating the Red lion in 1973.
Everyone Will Enjoy The
SIDEWALK
BOOK SALE
FRIDAY, JULY 12th
AT THE
Corner Of Main And Broad Streets
IN DOWNTOWN BREVARD
9 A M. to 8 P. M.
s From This Book Sale
Be Used To Benefit