Words and photos by Sean Rayford

Micah Sherrill stands for a photo at the former Mudtools location, where he lived upstairs for nine years in Bat Cave, North Carolina. All photos made June 16-17, 2025 in Bat Cave, North Carolina (Except those noted otherwise).

“Everything I ever owned went right in the river,” recalls Micah Sherrill, nearly nine months after hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, “I couldn't watch it. But the lady on the hill filmed the house twist 90 degrees and go under the bridge. And I had a flagpole on my porch and it kind of looked like a ship going down.”

Micah woke that morning of Sept 27, 2024 to the sound of boulders crashing into his home. Living above the family business in Bat Cave, North Carolina, he first thought the noises were from employees at work downstairs. When he saw the Broad River from his second story kitchen window he knew it was time to go.

*Subcontractors from Precision Pipeline operate an excavator along the Broad River, a few hundred feet from the former site of MudTools. Micah Sherrill lived upstairs.*

The 46 year-old grabbed a bag and a jacket and rushed to his car. But there were no roads out of town. They were gone.

As hell broke loose, he and his neighbors sheltered at the Bat Cave Volunteer Fire Department. Just across the river from his house and near the confluence with Hickory Creek, floodwaters also entered the firehouse basement.

Atticus Sherrill carries recovered Mudtools inventory, mostly polymer ribs. The family business offers more than a dozen versions of the tool.

About an hour after Micah escaped his home of nine years, his house and most of the family business disappeared into a raging torrent.

“The buildings were shaking, and there were gas tanks exploding everywhere, and cars going by, buildings going by. It was unbelievable. And the trees were cracking, like every couple seconds — there’s another tree dropping. And up here behind the church, watching the mountainside collapse — it was kind of pretty dramatic,” says Micah.

The storm took nearly everything — including much of the family's pottery tool business, Mudtools, known by ceramic artists around the world. Production quipment and all of the finished inventory was swept away.

*Atticus, Avery and Michael Sherrill stand along the Broad River with Mudtools storm damaged production equipment on June 16. This machine has since been removed from the riverbank.*

The family is still picking up the pieces — literally. Nine months later, they continue to snatch inventory from the downstream banks of the river. These found tools are then sold as imperfections. But others might call them testaments.

The business that was swept away had deep roots in this community. In 1974, Micah’s father, Michael Sherrill, moved from Charlotte to Bat Cave and joined the Asheville area arts scene.

“I was just in love with clay at that point, and it's developed into a career where I make sculpture out of metal, glass and clay,” says 71-year-old Sherrill, on a recent Monday in June, standing on his crumbled riverside property, soon to be acquired by the Department of Transportation.

Michael’s sculpture has landed in public collections like the Smithsonian’s Renwick Museum of American Craft, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, Corning Museum of Glass, and Takoma Glass Museum.

Leading workshops, he discovered that students loved his tools — and the concept behind the MudTools business was born.

Michael’s artistic interests focus where humans and materials collide — with handmade objects and the natural world. And his personal journey in the art world evolved into Bat Cave’s largest employer.

So it's no surprise that he sees artists as canaries in coal mines — also with the power to transform cities and towns.

“Artists have that power, and they have the power to do that for a community like Asheville. And I think it's totally understated — the impact of the creatives who live in that community, who make it a fun place to live — the restaurateurs, the musicians, you know, the people that are doing small entrepreneurial business. And the artists that are just working in their studio.”

Employees work on sponges at the new Mudtools facility.

In the heart of the Hickory Nut Gorge, Bat Cave sits along the Broad River between Gerton and Chimney Rock. Here, the Sherrill family built their lives and businesses. But during Helene, the once enchanting geography created a hell on earth. Lives were lost.

During the chaos of the flooding, Michael’s second son, 28 year-old Avery Sherrill, and his wife, Destiny, sheltered with them. When Avery and Michael ventured out to check on Avery's house, they thought thought it was about to wash away. Not wanting to see that, they turned back around.

On the return trip, they were forced to hike up the mountainside — around overflowing creeks. When they got back, Avery’s sister, Wren, and his mother, Margery were out helping neighbors.

With no way to communicate, impassable creeks separated Avery and Michael’s families from Micah and the youngest brother, Atticus.

Atticus Sherrill slept in that morning, after a late night playing video games at his home, a few miles from Micah and the family business operations along the river. By the time Atticus woke, Micah was at the firehouse and MudTools was in the Broad.

Rushing down to Bat Cave on foot, the 26 year-old passed two men. Their responses to his questions about the family business - and his brother’s house, shook him.

“It kind of freaked me out, so I really booked it down. And you know, I got up there and didn’t want to believe that — it kind of still looked like it was there. And I got closer and closer. And it was gone.”

Atticus found his brother Micah at the fire station. They hugged. Relieved, Atticus hiked back home as daylight faded through the broken landscape on a Friday he’d never forget.

Not until Sunday, were Atticus, Micah, Avery, Michael an the rest of the family able communicate and account for everyone’s safety.

*Michael Sherrill documented his art career with photography. This collection of images was swept away with the Mudtools operations.*

From here, Micah decided to leave and was evacuated in a Blackhawk helicopter, crammed with his neighbors, their luggage and pets.

Out of the worst of the disaster zone, he borrowed a truck and took a head clearing drive to see a friend in Arkansas. With western routes blocked he was forced a surreal road trip, south through the destructive path of Helene.

Avery and his wife Destiny stayed in Bat Cave, with Avery’s parents, whose home served as a communal residence for two weeks.

*The Sherrills look for buried equipment.*

For weeks, the only way to get back into and around the family valley was on a tractor. At that time, Atticus was hiking ten miles a day, round-trip between the residences.

“We were just running generators for fridges and checking on people. And playing music loud at night — to let everybody know that we were home — and not to come knocking or looking around,” says Avery.

“The family banded together, and we're, we're a family of makers. And so we had made all that equipment originally, so it was just like, well, back to square one. But at least I know what all the squares are, you know. And so we started trudging through rebuilding equipment and taking the opportunity to upgrade some things.”

The Sherrill family business lost their offices, all their finished product and what Avery calls the “fancy equipment.”

Fortunately for MudTools, they were already working on a multi-year expansion plan, on the property where Atticus lives. Primarily used as storage and small production tasks, they’ve transformed a “shanty” into a workshop since the storm.

“Luckily, we were actually nearing the end of that construction when the storm happened,” says Avery, who manages day-to-day operations at the family business.

Nine months after Helene, MudTools employs 16 of 22 pre-storm positions — and employment inside the disaster zone has played a vital role for a small community where road repairs still makes travel complicated.

“I like to tell people we're back on the bicycle. We got some scraped knees, but we're pedaling and we're moving again,” says Avery.

The new MudTools facility reflects that spirit and embraces the Hickory Nut Gap. Work stations have large windows and offices open to the outside with garage doors.

Workers prepare orders at the new Mudtools facility.

However, the recovery remains a work in progress for Avery and many others in Western North Carolina. At work and at home.

“I've still got about six inches of mud under my house, but I walk in and the carpets are dry and I've got AC, so I'm a happy man. And we're working on our yard,” he says, “But I think it's the little victories. And seeing grass come up, where it was a complete mudslide — kind of gets you a little bit closer to normal.”

For Michael Sherrill, the well-being of his family has kept things in perspective. “We're not in despair. We're still clawing back, you know, we lost a lot, but at the same time, my boys are good.”

Read and see more: Hurricane Helene in Photos

Bat Cave Family Rebuilds