Family forced from home during Helene loses their ‘Cabin of Hope’ to North Carolina fires

By Justin Berger

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    FLAT ROCK, North Carolina (WLOS) — Matthew Rogers bought his Flat Rock home more than 30 years ago and named it the “Cabin of Hope.”

“One thing that strikes me about that line is what comes from “Shawshank Redemption,” the line ‘Hope, hope is a good thing. Maybe the only thing and no good thing ever dies’,” Rogers said.

Rogers lived at the Cabin of Hope with his wife, Rosy, until the Hungry River tore down a bridge a few miles away during Helene. For over two months, he and Rosy lived in the basement of their downtown Hendersonville restaurant, Three Chopt Sandwich Shoppe.

“They’d walk to a foot bridge; they’d climb up where the bridge was and then someone would pick them up and drive four miles, so we just chose to stay in town,” Rogers said. “I was never late to work.”

Eventually, a friend let them stay at his apartment until just recently when the bridge was rebuilt.

It was only days later when three fires in Polk County broke out and they were told not to return to the Cabin of Hope.

On Monday morning, Rogers logged on to Facebook to check the progress of the fires. It was then he discovered a video, shot from a helicopter, that showed his home actively burning.

“At 7, I woke my wife up and I said, ‘That’s our house!” Rogers said. “There’s our lake, well the dock is still there, but the house, it’s gone and then our firemen friend Phil called and said, ‘Hey, buddy. I’m sorry.'”

After the fire dissipated, their chimney was all that remained amidst a pile of their burned-up possessions.

“The first thing you wish you had is time,” Rogers said. “Half an hour to get pictures and your scrapbooks of your grandparents, that they were sent down to you. Your family history, which I had to pass on to the next generation, but it’s stuff.”

The Rogers’ home remains in an evacuation zone. They have not yet returned.

“We will survive because you’re talking to me today,” he said.

Rogers told News 13 his restaurant will stay open and they’ll rebuild their Cabin of Hope.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish, so I don’t wish that it’ll be rebuilt, I’ll plan it,” he said.

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