Sharpsburg restaurant reopens after fire

The Sharpsburg Restaurant became a landmark at its location on U.S. Highway 301. On Oct. 30, a fire gutted the Nash County staple. 

"We're all standing. We're crying. We're watching it burn," owner Faye Logan recalled. 

At the time, Logan wasn't sure if she would reopen, despite pleas from local customers. 

"I'll follow her anywhere she goes," said Tommy Lancaster, a customer for the past 15 years. "I think I speak for a lot of people."

Two days after the fire, an old restaurant building on N.C. Highway 97 became available. So, Logan, her family, 12 employees and a few customers started converting the place into The Sharpsburg Restaurant. 

"If someone told me last Sunday night, as I watched my place burn, that I would be able to open a new place today, I'd have said, 'You're crazy,'" Logan said Monday. 

The Sharpsburg Restaurant opened at its new location on Monday morning, with a line of regulars for breakfast. 

"The crowd was phenomenal," Logan said. 

Logan said that, if it was just up to her, she probably wouldn't have reopened. She said she did it for her employees. 

"I could not let them down because they have not let me down all these years," Logan said. 

The Monday lunch crowd said that, knowing Logan, they weren't surprised to see the restaurant reopen. 

"She's got a lot of old-fashioned spunk. You can't put her down," customer Jackulyn Evans said. 

Authorities were still trying to determine what sparked the fire, but investigators said they believe the blaze might have started outside. The State Bureau of Investigation has been called in to find the cause.