N.C. couple aims to open winery in county

A Kernersville, N.C., couple wants to open a bed and breakfast, winery and tasting room in the Horsepasture District of Henry County.

Noel K. and Blanche H. Campbell have asked to rezone about 3 acres at 900 Wagon Trail Road at the corner of Tara Drive and Wagon Trail Road from Suburban Residential District and Mixed Residential District to Neighborhood Commercial District.

Their request will be the subject of a public hearing at the Henry County Board of Supervisors’ meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county administration building.

The Campbells want to build a single-family home at Tara Drive to be used as their residence at the start, according to a letter they wrote the county. The home also will become a bed and breakfast when its upper story is finished, the letter states.

They also plan to convert the existing residence at 900 Wagon Trail Road into a winery and tasting room, according to the letter.

Blanche Campbell said she and her husband hope to have the bed and breakfast up and running within six months of the rezoning approval, assuming that occurs, and the winery may take about a year.

The letter states that the vineyard has been put in and the Campbells “hope to sell a few grapes and grape vines.”

They have planted muscadine and scuppernong grapes to produce wines of the same type, Campbell said. Muscadine wines are red; scuppernong wines are white, and both are healthier than some other wines, she said.

When the Wagon Trail Road property is converted to a winery and tasting room “in the not very distant future,” the couple will apply for state and federal licenses to open the winery and sell wine products, the letter states.

“We foresee this as being a small mom and pop type business with probably no more than three or four people visiting at any one time,” it adds.

The Campbells own four lots at the site and are awaiting the paperwork to purchase a fifth lot, the letter states.

Campbell added that she and her husband got into wines as a hobby four or five years ago, and “it exploded from that.”

Also Tuesday, the supervisors will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to the zoning ordinance to cover homeless shelters and similar facilities.

That hearing on possible changes to the zoning ordinance would define homeless shelters, transitional living facilities, halfway houses, community correctional facilities, assisted living facilities and group homes.

The amendment also would determine which zoning classifications to consider these uses, all of which would require the issuance of a special use permit by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals before the use is established.

Other items on the agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting are:

• A presentation by the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Blue Ridge. According to board papers, club representatives want to thank the board for supporting the organization.

• An update on general highway matters from Lisa Hughes, resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation.