Original subtitles

- My name is Eleanor Fahrner Mailloux,

Downloaded from YTS.MX

and I'm a woman of a certain age.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Isn't that the Victorian novel?

Yes.

Age doesn't mean a thing.

You know that.

God, I've seen people dead at 30.

I mean, you know?

May as well.

You know?

Energy, they have nothing.

Dreams, you've got to have dreams.

And then you've got to go after them.

You can't just dream them.

You know?

You've got to... you've got to go after them.

[light orchestral music]

- Eleanor was my grandmother.

She died mid-March of 2011.

I'm making this film because years ago,

Mutter asked me to help her write it,

and we didn't get that opportunity.

I feel that I made a promise

to her to relay and capture her story.

She knew that she had had an amazing life.

And I think that she wanted to share that with people.

And so whether you're using the medium of pen and

paper or camera and footage, it doesn't really matter.

- [Eleanor] 30 or 40 years ago, I would have done this.

Now it seems like an awfully big task.

When I go home, I just want to relax and I don't

want to try to sit down and write.

You have to write, I think,

in the morning when you're fresh.

See, I've written this.

- [Clara] Several times in your head.

- [Eleanor] Oh, yes.

- [Clara] Well, then just do the same thing

you've normally done.

- [Eleanor] I have written it and written and written it.

It's just a matter that there seems to be no time.

I even have areas written--

- [Clara] On paper?

- [Eleanor] In paper.

- [Clara] Well, give me those and I'll write,

I'll type them.

- [Eleanor] The spelling is, see,

I don't write because I can't spell.

- [Clara] I don't care about spelling.

- [Eleanor] I can't--

- [Clara] I can't spell either.

- [Eleanor] Oh, God.

You can't even read.

[laughing]

- She knew that I had a passion for writing.

Like, I truly love it.

I think she thought that I was organized

and would help her get

things down in a way that might be more of a story.

It would be a good way for her

because she was more sporadic and more wild.

It was just like a lot of stuff everywhere.

She approached me in 2007 and said that she'd like

to start not only recording some of the stories

that she remembers on tapes and mix those in to a story

of what it is like to be an Appalachian woman who

has a Swiss heritage.

In order to tell her story, because she's not here,

we've had to pull a lot of archival footage together,

the audio tapes that I had, and interview people

about her as a person.

That's been a difficult journey to navigate because it

does feel very forced.

But I guess there's no other way.

- [Jonathan] Is it going to work?

- Yeah.

It's going to be all right.

[light orchestral music]

- Well, let's just start at the beginning.

[light orchestral music]

The truth is that my mother was English

and my father was the Swiss.

I was born in Virginia.

I was born the night the house burned down.

This will give you a little clue to some things.

It was a windy March night.

My mother was in bed with labor for her fifth child.

Some sparks flew the wrong way and the house got on fire.

My mother got out of bed and walked

to the big plantation house.

I was born in the ballroom.

I've never stopped dancing.

I was born either before or after 12 o'clock

so I can always celebrate two birthdays.

It was a very great beginning because... the fire

seemed to have carried me many places to do many things.

I fell in love.

I fell in love with Helvetia.

- [Gerry Milnes] May I ask, can we start that again please?

I didn't get a five second role.

I needed a five second role.

- All right.

Every move that I ever made in my whole life was

made toward eventually coming back to Helvetia and doing...

trying to do what I'm doing today.

It's been a lot of fun.

It's a lot of work and it's a lot of fun.

October the 20th in 1869, a group

of Swiss walked over that hill into Helvetia.

Why would you leave lovely, beautiful Switzerland

and come to the wilds of West Virginia?

There had to be some wanderlust

something in them that they came.

Instead of bringing hoes and rakes and guns,

they brought books with them and musical instruments.

They were very musical.

They were very bright people, by the way.

They weren't dunces.

Can you imagine how much fun it must

have been to create a community?

Toot toot for the Swiss.

- Here we are at the Hutte.

The Hutte is the heart of the town.

We have people who come in, they don't feel good.

They want to tell us their sad story.

Or they tell us their dreams.

It's much more than a place to eat.

I don't know in reflection how

we ever got along without it.

But you see, you build it, be courageous.

Be courageous, just do it.

That's how you get it done.

You can't get it done if you don't do it.

Okay?

[phone ringing]

- [Debbie] Hello?

Hutte restaurant.

[light orchestral music]

- Hey, how are you doing, Henry?

- Oh, this is so good.

That banana bread.

- I told you.

- [Man] Is it really? Okay.

- [Woman] Very.

- [Clara] Do you want an apron?

- [Cecilia] Yeah.

- [Clara] Yeah.

There's some right over here.

- [Cecilia] Okay.

How about a pretty one?

- [Clara] Yeah, how did you do that?

- Oh, there's a little, I crossed it in the back

and then buttoned it.

- [Clara] Okay, you're smart.

- Sometimes.

- I can't do this.

Let's see, how did you do this part?

- Okay, this goes to this shoulder.

- [Clara] I see.

I have to unbutton this one?

- [Cecilia] Uh-huh.

- Okay, thank you.

Who knew that there was a science to an apron.

- People come here so much, we get to know their names

and their stories.

That's why I think they come here.

It's more personal.

Everybody says that it's like their grandma's house.

It's different, people just really appreciate

it a lot more.

- [Jacob] It's not like my grandmas place.

[laughing]

- It smells like cooking.

- Mm-hmm.

That's why people say that is because

grandma's place always smells like really good cooking.

It's not just about food.

It's about the whole experience, really.

I mean, you know, it's like coming in

and looking at everything and the

atmosphere and the really great home cooked food all

at the same time.

It's an experience.

It's not just going out to eat.

I think without the Hutte,

there wouldn't be Helvetia anymore.

It's what keeps the community together and that's what keeps

people coming here.

I mean, I think eventually we would be forgotten.

- If you don't have an anchor

that no matter what, it's going to get

cleaned up and the grass is going to be mowed,

we're gonna fix

the fence, we're going to clean up the trash,

people will see that

right there in the middle of town, and

everyone else, it just goes down the line.

Everyone else says, "Well, I'm going to keep my stuff up."

And you're happy to be around that.

You just got to keep going. You can't give up.

♪ Grandma's in the cellar, Lordy, Lordy ♪

♪ Can't you smell her baking biscuits ♪

♪ On that darn old dirty stove

♪ In her eye there is some matter ♪

♪ That keeps dripping in the batter ♪

♪ And she whistles while the

Can you do this part?

[sniffing]

♪ runs out her nose

Okay, so we're going to be real gentle.

Treat it like it's a little baby.

- [Eleanor] My first memory, my first memory is eating.

It was a warm,

sunny morning and my mother had baked biscuits and biscuits.

My father had made the sorghum molasses.

We were sitting around the table in the Lynwood Plantation.

I couldn't make the biscuits and the sorghum molasses

come out even.

My stomach was already achy.

- [Clara] Did it taste good?

- [Eleanor] Oh, it's wonderful.

It's very good for you.

- [Clara] Yeah.

- Can we have it with jelly?

- Here, can I put some on yours, girls?

- [Lucy] No.

- Just a little tiny bit.

- Okay, yeah.

Sophia, I think you'll like it.

Okay?

- [Lucy] I think I will not like it.

- You want to do it yourself?

- That's not a tiny, little bit.

- Here.

You want to try and do it yourself?

You had to make the biscuits or your mom made the--

- [Eleanor] My mother made the biscuits.

I was four years old.

Yes.

My earliest memory is eating.

Oh, let's talk about food.

The first thing you get when you go someplace is food.

[Huütte bell ringing]

You go visit your neighbor, it's sit down, sit down.

Have a piece of pie.

Sit down, have a hosablatz.

Sit down, have a donut.

Sit down, have a hunk of cheese.

Food is the soul of this place.

- [Heidi] The food here is very good.

It takes time.

It's homemade.

You're not going to have fast food.

It's comfort food in some ways so

it's so satisfying.

- I am Eleanor's daughter, one of five children.

All of us pretty close apart.

Like, for instance, I'll be 61

and it would be 61, 62,

63, 64, 65.

- I was born first in San Francisco.

Then 11 months later, Cathy came.

Then about 11 and a half months later, Mike came.

Then 11 months later, Robin came.

Then we went to Guam.

Then Heidi was born about a year and a half, right?

- [Robin] Yeah.

- [Anne] Because it was October.

- [Robin] She's 18 months younger.

- She was the first baby born in the Navy hospital in Guam.

In fact, it was such a new thing

that the gurney wouldn't even fit

through the delivery room door.

They had to take mom off and

flip the gurney and get it through and put her back on.

She said there were a lot, oh,

they only had hot running water and she

was fed Navy beans the morning after she gave birth.

[laughing]

- [Heidi] She was close to 40 when I was born.

She waited late to have

children and once she started having them, she went big.

That's typical of my mother, whole hog about everything.

You know, anything in life was whole hog.

- We had just a wonderful childhood.

Oooooooh

- Oh my word.

What is it?

It's a dead Snake.

- Okay.

- I've got my scissors.

- Okay.

As far as a mom went, she always wanted us to be

exposed to as much as possible.

She just always believed in us

learning how to be tolerant of all different kinds

of people's and places.

- She never wanted to be called grandma.

She's very Swiss,

she's very Swiss, Anne.

You're weird, Anne.

She's my oldest sister

but you know how older sisters can be.

When the first grandchild came, which was yours,

Lindsay, and he was born in--

- '70.

- 1970.

I think you must have asked her, what do you want him to

call you because you lived here in the area at that time.

And she said Mutter. - No, she said Grossmutter.

- Grossmutter.

Grossmutter

- Which means grandmother--

- In German.

- Grossmutter, which the kids had a riot

with. Grossmutter.

Grossmutter is Swiss for grandmother.

And my mom wanted to be called Mutter.

- Then everybody, the people at the restaurant

that worked for her--

- Everybody started calling her Mutter--

- If they were close to her.

they started calling her Mutter.

- [Willie] Eleanor was my grandmother.

We called her Mutter.

She was just one of the most lively spirits I've ever known.

A wise person, inspiring to a lot of people around her.

And you know, got things done.

[light banjo music]

- Eleanor was very fun.

She always had neat outfits on and

jewelry and pearls.

I mean, just so sophisticated and put together.

- [Heidi] She liked to dance

and she liked to sing and yodel.

She liked to have a good time.

That's very important to all of us here in Helvetia.

We're a fun loving bunch.

- Yeah, she was frisky and she sang,

sang songs with you and

all kind of happy things like that, and...

Laugh with people and when it got down to brass tax...

She was pretty strict too.

- She was not someone to mess with.

She was stern, would tell you

it's time to do this or go help do that.

You know, no bullshit.

Did what she said.

But she wasn't mean in any way.

She just had been around so long, she knew all the tricks.

She was going to have,

her family was going to act the way that you should.

- [Jerianne] She would tell you exactly how she felt.

She also can make you cry in like a second or two.

- That was my mom.

She was, she expected perfection.

And you could do everything,

you could be waitressing and you could be doing

everything you can.

And then she would create a little bit of stir

because she'd come slam banging through and grabbing things

off the table like you weren't working fast enough.

That drove all of us crazy.

And she expected a lot of a lot of people that worked here.

I think that people don't see that side of her.

In a way, they just see the graciousness.

I don't mean to speak ill of my mother but, you know,

you can stay until three or four in the morning and make

sure the floors were waxed and everything was spotless and

everything ready for the next day.

That's what was expected.

- Whatever she told you to do,

she figured it ought to be done

one way or another.

There are not too many excuses for not doing it.

[chuckling]

- I know there's been plenty of girls crying

on the back porch or leaving.

She was pretty blunt.

I mean, I feel like she always did it

in the most graceful way that she possible could.

She wasn't ever like being mean or hateful.

She just was pretty blunt.

- Well, there was one time when we were all working, at

the end of the day, and you know how mom used to find

cobwebs where, not even a mouse could find,

I mean really, it was amazing.

At the end of the day we were all exhausted.

We sat down and then she'd start, "Do you see that?

Right up there in the window, there's a cobweb right there.

Girls, clean it."

And so we'd run and we would,

because you know you ran when Mutter said, didn't we?

- Yeah.

- When Mutter said to go do something, you pretty much went

and did it.

- [Eleanor Betler] As I got to know Eleanor over the many...

years, right or wrong, she was right.

Sometimes feelings were hurt.

But I think she always

tried to have her heart in the right place for Helvetia.

She took great pride in being in the community

and keeping the Swiss story alive.

[grand orchestral music]

- [TV Narrator] This town, settled by Swiss immigrants

after the Civil War is one

of scores which were almost completely isolated

until new roads were constructed.

Many of its people still speak their native

language and preserve the arts

and customs of their birth place.

Even to the making of excellent Swiss cheese.

- Helvetia is 35 miles from anywhere.

Now, 35 miles on I-79 is not much,

but you go 35 miles up and down and around and

meeting coal trucks and wood... hauling wood out.

And in the winter time, you know, you slide and slip around.

It is not an ea... Thank God, it's not easy to get here.

It's just wonderful.

[laughing]

[light piano music]

I'm possessed, okay?

You have to be possessed.

This is life long.

This... I am possessed.

When I came here and I was up on the hill

and I looked around,

I said to my father, and I'm five or six or seven years old,

I say, "I wish I could own everything I see."

I am positively possessed.

- [Eleanor Betler] The reason I live in Helvetia

is because my dream was to live in

Helvetia since I was about four years old.

I wouldn't want to live

any place else, no matter what the opportunity was.

The people who are living here really want to be here.

I just think it's a real privilege to live here.

Being non typical West Virginia,

when people come here they never forget it.

[laughing]

- [Betty] I was born and raised here

and it seems to be that everybody

who was born and raised in Helvetia, it is in your blood.

They just can't wait to get home.

I mean, there's something about Helvetia

that you just can't get it out of your system.

- You know, we love Helvetia.

We, most of us live here because

this is where we want to be and we always come home.

- People involve you.

They say, "Hey, come join me for this.

Let's have a beer, let's have a cookout."

People weren't afraid to

speak to their neighbors because they know them and knew

their family.

They know everything about them for 50 years.

- You can ask a lot of people.

It feels like home.

Like they feel like they can relax and be nurtured here.

- We're a living history and the ones of us who

want to be here, know it's a living history.

Heidi, my Heidi, she's a bit possessed.

- I like the way of life.

I liked running out in the woods along the

sheep paths.

And I spent a lot of time outside when I was younger.

I loved that.

And I think maybe I loved the outdoors anyway.

I love nature.

I think I liked it right away.

I don't know the reasoning why.

Maybe because people were so real.

I think people can

come here and they always know what to expect.

It's always here for them.

- My grandson, Willie, who is six foot seven, possessed.

- Helvetia is in Randolph County, West Virginia.

It's sort of north, central

part of the state, so the Allegheny,

Appalachian mountain range.

A lot of people come here

and say it's like being in another country.

But it's also very much just American, you can sort of

do what you want as long as you aren't hurting anybody else

and being a nuisance,

people let you do what you want around here.

- [Eleanor] There is a need for this place to continue.

In order to do that, you have to be crazy.

You have to be possessed.

Yeah, really.

- [Vasco] Possessed by what?

Just say it.

- The people, the place.

I mean, if you don't understand it, you don't understand it.

If you don't get it, you just don't get it.

You're lost.

- [Heidi] Right now I'm getting ready

to go pick some greenery

and some natural flowers to mix with my arrangements.

We do care that we present something beautiful

from our surroundings.

I think the restaurant becomes alive with flowers.

I mean, I think that if you don't have flowers there,

there's just something missing.

There's a spirit missing.

And so flowers, real flowers, brings life to the Huütte.

It brings warmth and life, and I think that's a very

important thing to have.

I mean, if you took a picture at your table,

you would know what season it was because of the

flowers on the table, which is nice.

- [All] Hi.

- [Heidi] Hello.

I didn't know you were here.

My mother always saw everything.

I do too, which is not good in a way.

It's a terrible thing and I feel bad about it

because it's like

not very nice of me, but if it's not right,

I can't handle it.

I mean, I would like to be the kind of person

that just says, oh, that's lovely

and good enough and thank you so much.

But no, it's not right.

Sorry.

It's going to be changed.

My sister Anne did some

flowers for me this summer.

They were horrible.

She's so talented in many areas.

But it was awful.

And she knew, she knew that I

would be jumping on them and getting rid of them

as soon as possible, which I did.

- I'm a better picker.

I'm also a better arranger.

- Anne, should we use these or not?

- Sure.

But mom, apparently Heidi thinks that mom thought

she was the best,

but mom always told me that I had the most creative and

the most beautiful little arrangements.

She wouldn't have to go

through and alter or fix mine.

But she had to go through and do Heidi's, so--

- We can't pick those flowers over there, right?

Because Heidi would have our heads, right?

- [Anne] Those ones don't go as well, Heidi said.

- What about that purple one over there?

But who wants to go into the river to get it?

- I'll go.

- Well no, I'll go but actually, I will.

- It's not really actually too far into the--

- No and also, Anne, listen.

Is it half dead anyway or no?

Oh, Lord, help us all.

Oh my word, if I fall in that low,

I'll fall in and kill myself.

Hey, that's a good idea.

Hang on to the old lady.

Oh, I'm getting a long stem.

Did I get the stem long enough?

- Yes you did.

- Now watch out now.

Now when you get old...

okay.

- Now you can see, look at the buckets?

Who's are more beautiful?

Robin.

So mom would say--

- Oh, there's a bee.

There's a bee.

There's a bee. - Mom would say-

- Sorry.

- You know, Robin is really the best

with the flower picking and, you know?

- Well, you talk.

Oh, what pitiful.

Oh, the bees, bees, bees.

- Do I have something on my face?

Like a bug?

- Not a thing, not a thing.

No, you've got that diamond in your nose but,

honey, I love that.

- Okay, here we go.

- Are we back on track?

- Can I get a cookie?

Thank you.

- [Gerry] No, put it back.

- No.

- [Gerry] You cannot have a cookie.

[speaking Swiss-German language]

- Yeah.

I've envisioned it

as the Huütte restaurant is the center.

That's the focus.

Then we keep darting in and out with

phases of things that happened.

But always coming back to the Huütte.

It's the center of my life.

Come on.

You can't get away from it.

- [Clara] Yeah.

- We're going to capture the spaces that she enveloped.

You know, that she danced through.

We're going to capture the places that she invented.

And we're gonna explore

and interview the people that she probably

had a lot of impact on.

And try to get it from her directly

as much as we can but it's not going to be perfect.

And there's going to be a lot of things that we'll

have to forgive as far as the quality.

But I think we can get some of

that and piece it together to express who she was.

- [Clara] The Huütte can be the focus, I think,

but I think it's going to have to

be more, there's got to be more of a thesis.

As time goes by,

you may have something in your head that you're like,

oh, this is what it's really about.

- [Eleanor] Mm-hmm.

- [Clara] You know? - [Eleanor] Mm-hmm.

- [Clara] Well you've spent more of your life

here than you really have spent anywhere else.

- [Eleanor] Yeah, right.

- Things start here and end here.

I've observed much of Helvetia from here.

40, 50 years I've been here.

Till I was five years old, I was in Virginia.

My father and two brothers did what,

at that time, they called the wander yar.

A young man was expected to go out

into the world and find himself.

First they went to Kansas and Oklahoma

and they were cowboys.

I think they were out there two or three years.

Then they came home and my father

said they had a bag of gold money, gold.

Can you believe that?

Gold.

Then they hadn't had enough of wandering

so the three brothers went south to Virginia.

They bought the Lynwood Plantation,

it was 1,000 acres.

But they spent all their gold.

Then when I was five, my father said,

"Irene, we have to go to Helvetia.

I'm just too homesick.

We have to go home."

So that's when we came to Helvetia.

And we came to Pickens on the train.

And wouldn't you know, it was snowing.

And wouldn't you know that

my father met us with a horse and sleigh.

If that was not a delight

with the sleigh bells, it was just unbelievable.

And I had never seen Hemlock trees before.

I had never heard the language,

everybody speaking this foreign tongue.

Everything so different.

When I went to school, the teacher spoke Swiss.

She also spoke English.

Many of the kids spoke Swiss.

And I thought, You know we're in another country.

[light acoustic guitar music]

- Pickens School did not have the last year, I think.

They only went to the eleventh grade.

In order to graduate at that time,

you had to go to Elkins or Buckhannon [WV].

The two people that I knew

that came were my mother and I think Mary Zoller maybe.

They did go to Elkins and they lived as housekeepers to

pay for their room and board.

They went to high school the last

year and graduated from Elkins High School.

After that, she taught here in Helvetia.

That only lasted for a few years.

And she joined the Red Cross.

[light orchestral music]

It was right after World War II

because she was in Europe right after the war.

She did Red Cross work there.

Then she went to Guam.

That's where she met my father.

And then they went to San Francisco, had four babies,

and went back to Guam and had me.

He was working as a private guard for the military.

Then, of course, she was there raising children.

- [Willie] I think that what she did is... she always

had a sense of adventure.

I think that she decided to go see what was in the world.

She traveled all over the place.

Then when she came back, I think that she brought a lot

of those experiences with her and made

the whole area richer for it.

- When we opened the Huütte restaurant,

everyone said, "You're crazy, Eleanor.

Nobody is going to come this far to eat."

And I said,

"Well, let's just give it a chance."

So we gave it a chance and guess what?

The old adage about, "if you build it,

they'll come," is absolutely true.

They came and they come from miles.

[bluegrass music]

- [Anne] When we first moved here,

the Huütte restaurant was the home

of Stella Carlin

and she was the Helvetia telephone operator.

And then we got the telephones in the regular system.

That was in, I think, about 1966.

Then I think Stella sold the building.

And then that's when they changed it into the restaurant.

- In 1968, Mutter and Dolores Baggerly founded The Huütte.

Honestly, I do think that it was a means

for supporting her family.

She had recently divorced my grandfather and had

moved back to Helvetia within the last couple of years

and needed to support five children and herself.

Like, she needed something

besides just raising children, I think.

I honestly think that she

wanted something to do.

- Dolores Baggerly came to Helvetia when Eleanor moved back

from Guam.

Dolores had helped the Ford Foundation create the

Ford Village up in Michigan,

so she had all kinds of experience and expertise.

Eleanor knew this and they had been friends on

Guam and I guess both of them were ready

to leave there at the time.

Mrs. Baggerly had bought these buildings

that were being repaired.

And she decided that the community needed a restaurant.

She said it couldn't be like a short order thing.

It had to be classy.

[light banjo music]

- Mrs. Baggerly got sick and that is when Eleanor

took it over full time.

She was here every single day

for like 40-some years.

She was really like the matriarch

of Helvetia and kind of the boss and the mayor.

Pretty much everyone's role model.

She kept things going in a town that's not easy

to keep things going.

- Eleanor became the Huütte and the Huütte became Eleanor,

as far as I'm concerned.

In order to financially get along,

she decided when she wanted

to keep the restaurant open seven days a week,

that the only way financially she could do it

was to do it herself in the winter time.

And she was not a woman who wanted to

be in the restaurant sitting down and cooking.

She didn't knit or crochet or anything.

So when she was here, working and reading

was what she did.

And I was so proud of her that she could do that

because she just wasn't that kind of a person.

She was all about the story, you know?

She wanted to have fun and laugh

and give you ideas, and you do the work.

- I use the royal we.

[laughing]

Shame, huh?

No, that's not true.

It's us.

No, no.

It's always, it no.

As I've said before, I just pushed, I just

gave a little push.

Then I'm lazy.

You know, I'm lazy.

I don't work.

Everybody else works, I just push a little button.

- She tried to incorporate

and include a lot of families within the

identity of the Huütte, which was really important.

She knew that if a small business like this

is gonna survive in the middle of

Appalachia where it's very rural and hard to get to,

it needs to be unique

and it needs to be embraced by the local people.

So she had that opportunity

to really make the community feel like it

was part of their identity as well.

For example, the antiques in

the building and some of the recipes are actually from the

families within Helvetia.

So it felt like home.

Like, that is home and

you can ask a lot of people, it feels like home.

[laughing]

- [Clara] And the staff only make it feel that

way much more because they're

primarily women and they are lovely women.

They have an Appalachian charm

that you can't find in other places.

- [Debbie] Wow, oh mercy.

Goodness, goodness.

[light acoustic guitar music]

What do they say, "Messy cook, a good cook?"

- [Clara] Debbie is our breadmaker.

She is the one that has it perfected and

no one messes with her on her bread days whatsoever.

I mean, she has it down to an art.

She usually makes about eight

to 10 batches and then freezes them

so that we always have it.

- Now you see why I can't sell it.

It's too hard to make.

Keep enough made, I don't know how many other places

you'd run across where people make it like this.

Not hardly a day goes by that somebody don't ask

if we sell it.

- [Willie] She's been there for years.

She was always, you know, always

down there helping Mutter out.

They would bounce ideas off

each other, I'm sure, during the day.

Just a great lady, always... as

soon as you walk in, she'll say, "Hey, are you hungry?"

Yeah.

Be ready to make you something to eat.

- [Customer] My mom used to say she wished she had a nickel

for every loaf of bread she made.

- [Debbie] Oh man, I'd be--

- [Heidi] You'd really be rich.

- Yeah, if I had a certain amount for each loaf

I've made since 1977,'78.

- [Sharon] Have you ever sat down and figured it out?

- No.

I probably don't want to know.

- I would be rich, I could retire.

I could have retired.

- [Heidi] She's been with us for years

and she's an amazing woman.

And she's got a lot of heart and soul.

- I went to school with Heidi at Pickens.

Then of course her mother had, Eleanor,

had the restaurant then.

They just called me one day

and asked me if I would like a job.

My dad brought me over and I sat down

in there, nervous as could be.

You know?

Gee whiz.

And they asked me about... if I wanted full-time.

I said, no, just part-time.

Well, I ended up full-time, five days a week

because we closed on Mondays then.

I started out as a dishwasher.

[laughing]

The girl that was cooking here, she was

going away to college, so I took her job of cooking then.

And I've been doing that ever since.

Cause it's become like a home, a second home.

Does that make sense?

[light acoustic guitar music]

- Cathy, I believe, was her second oldest daughter.

She came back home

after several years when she was married and so forth,

moved back here and just became the cook.

And she could cook.

- [Heidi] Excellent cook, big heart.

She was quite feisty.

She had a little bit

of mother in her, that's for sure.

She worked really hard and I think it took a lot

of the weight of the worry

of the Huütte off of Eleanor for many years.

- She was there pretty much every day.

She worked there for

years and taught my cousin Henry, probably my best friend.

It's good to have a couple good friends up here to hang out.

He's the cook on Sundays.

His mother was the cook and she taught

him in about five minutes how to make everything one day.

Just, "Oh, that's how you do it.

Just go ahead."

- [Henry] Now, when mom got sick

and started showing me, probably

eight or 10 years ago.

She just showed me there was nothing

written down or anything.

Once I learned it, you know, you don't forget it.

- Cathy at that time had been diagnosed with cancer.

She was trying to pass on,

because Henry stepped up to the plate and

said, "Yes, I'll cook."

So she was teaching him how to cook.

Cathy, she's the kind that throws everything

and no measuring, just throw, throw, throw.

Henry is there looking and he's just like in

shock and terror that this is, you know?...

And she had no patience teaching him.

It was like, ugh, you know?

Everyone should know how to do this.

Dun, dun, dun.

And Henry cooks that way.

He's an excellent cook.

And he cooks the same way.

He just throws, throws, throws.

And he knows what to do.

- Henry is a very quiet person, as far as I know.

I mean, just ultra quiet

and I couldn't imagine anyone even convincing him to

come in a public place and work.

- He is just shy and introverted

and wants to make good food but

is bashful about making good food.

- [Eleanor] Henry is very good.

He's here.

Man, he has gotten it.

- [Clara] He is excellent.

You know, when I worked with him, it was a joy.

Keeps the kitchen neat.

- [Eleanor] He's here on time.

The food is out.

There's no bickering.

- [Clara] He stays calm.

- [Eleanor] Yeah.

How does he do that?

Very good.

- [Jerianne] He likes to hear his cooking is good

but he doesn't really want,

you know, he almost doesn't want people to tell him.

He wants them to tell me and then I can tell him.

He would just kind of

prefer to be by himself.

I usually try to get here by eight a.m.

Then I set up the whole buffet.

Then I have to get the green

beans ready, the carrots ready, the sauerkraut ready,

apple sauce, the potatoes.

I tried not to work here.

My aunt, Heidi, asked me.

I said no immediately because it's a fine line

between family and relationships.

I didn't want to make things more complicated.

But here you see where I am now.

[upbeat bluegrass music]

- [Kay] I started probably in '87.

I've been here ever since and I started

out actually waxing floors.

The first two times that I waxed the

floor, I waxed them all on my hands and knees.

And I had went to Eleanor and I told her,

I said, I can't do this, you know?

Eleanor did not like change.

You know, so I went to her and I

said, you know, we need to do this with a mop or something.

It's just, you know, crazy.

So she agreed.

Things just evolved after that.

As you work here, of course I started waitressing.

And then I started cooking.

And you just kind of get thrown into everything.

You know, wherever you're needed.

I came here when I was probably 20 years old.

So, I grew up in the Huütte.

I mean, I might have been 20, but I hadn't grew up yet.

It was a lot to digest right off the... you know?

I had a big responsibility and I was pretty young.

Like I said, I grew up here.

I really grew into a person here.

[light ambient music]

- Everybody does everything.

You know, you wash dishes.

You mop floors.

You wax floors.

You sweep porches.

You do laundry.

I cooked.

Oh, I hated it.

I cooked and I would go several times to

the corn crib and cry in my apron.

I mean, the pressure.

I would rather do anything,

clean the bathroom, waitress tables, deal with the public.

It just makes me so nervous to do cooking.

If there was a major difference between my mom and how she

ran things and what we do now

is I think that there were times

that people did not feel appreciated.

I think that that is

something that we really actually, it's not what we work on.

It's how we feel.

We really do appreciate everybody. And for every little

thing they do.

I know everything.

I mean, I,

I'm sorry.

We have good people.

[light piano music]

- [Heidi] There's just people that come in and say,

"We really miss your mom.

We had wonderful times."

It's almost like an extended family for her.

She was genuinely happy to see people that

hadn't been here for a while or that,

you know, came frequently.

She loved people.

- [Dave] Of course everybody knew Eleanor.

She made it a point to know

everybody and remember their names and that kind of thing.

Just about everybody that came there

for a meal would come in to see if she was in the breezeway.

- [Debbie] She was always here.

She was always available and sat back

there in her chair and was there to talk

to the customers to tell them the history,

tell them stories.

They loved that.

♪ And drift with bones

♪ When all our days are washed away ♪

- [Dave] When I was working,

I was just here on the weekends.

I'd get up here Friday evening

and I would go down about the time the restaurant's

going to close.

A lot of times we'd sit till way late

at night and talk about things.

You know?

I really liked her old stories.

- And I would like to put a little story in here if I may.

I think I'm five

and I was going to get ice cream. He had

an ice cream stand.

And I walked on the grass.

He had done it new, it was new.

And he had put a wire around it.

But you know, I'm from the country.

We've never heard of not stepping on the grass.

So he screams at me, "Little girl, get off the grass."

And I said, "you see my money?

Well you're not gonna get it."

- There was just times that I would sit

and talk to Eleanor for two, three hours.

And it was as a friend, it wasn't as my employer.

I enjoyed those times more than anything.

[upbeat accordion music]

- [Heidi] Mom always had fun.

She always had fun with people.

She loved having a glass of wine with everyone.

I think she loved

entertaining and loved for people to have a good time.

Senator Manchin came and she always had a wonderful

time with he and his wife.

Andrew Zimmern came and she had a blast with him.

Actually, when Andrew Zimmern came and he filmed the show,

he was hours late because it took him on a goat path is

what they said.

I mean, it was hours and hours.

- [Heidi] After Andrew, there was an influx of people

that came to the restaurant,

which we were so appreciative of, because we're a

small business and we don't do much advertising.

So it has to be word of mouth.

It was so funny because it was almost like she

was a movie start.

You know?

[upbeat jazz music]

♪ See what the boys in the backroom will have ♪

♪ And tell them I'm having the same ♪

♪ Go see what the boys in the backroom will have ♪

♪ And give them the poison they name ♪

♪ And when I die

♪ Don't spend my money

♪ On flowers and my picture in a frame ♪

♪ Just see what the boys in the backroom will have ♪

♪ And tell them I sighted

♪ And tell them I cried

♪ And tell them I died of the same ♪

[light ambient music]

- When I came home and I've been home how many years,

I tell you?

50 years.

Things were slipping.

Traditions were slipping, foods were slipping.

The old people who were the

keepers of these treasures were dying.

- Things were going to pot.

A lot of families had moved off the farms,

maybe put a trailer in here or there.

And Eleanor knew that was going to take the beauty away

from the community.

- You see how nice it looks today,

what had once been the lovely

community flower garden was a briar patch.

All they needed

was somebody that wanted to do something about it and

somebody that cared.

- I feel that she did a fantastic job

keeping the history alive and the Huütte alive.

Her history keeping alive was mostly through

the Huütte because she was always here.

She was in the public eye seven days a week.

That's who they saw as the face of Helvetia.

[mandolin music]

[singing in Swiss language]

[yodeling]

[singing in Swiss language]

[yodeling]

- Good.

- Even though, you know, the restaurant's still going and

everybody is doing everything they can to keep it

the same, it still is not quite the same

without her sitting back in her corner.

She is very much missed here.

- [Heidi] I know after she died we got a lot of letters.

She touched a lot of people.

I think that is something that helped me after she died.

Something of a comfort to know

that she had touched their lives.

That gives you comfort when you lose someone that you

care about.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- What I miss the most about Mutter

is just her knowledge, her wisdom.

A lot of times I'm wrestling with ideas in this society.

You know, what's going on in the news,

what's going on in the world.

I always loved her ability to look at things.

She had that vast knowledge of seeing years

and years of watching how things pan out,

how humans act by themselves

and with others.

It was a great resource to say,

"hey, what do you think about this?"

When she said something, you listened because it was,

you know, it had some weight behind it.

- She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She was already 93, so, honestly,

I never think of it as the disease killed her

because screw that.

She lived an amazing life and she wouldn't want to

say that that is what killed her.

She died from an old age or

having too much wisdom.

I think she was actually very surprised.

I think she told herself that she would be over 100,

hiking the mountain and die on the top of the mountain.

[light ambient music]

♪ My heart will be with you

♪ Wherever you may go

- [Clara] So one day we drove to Cleveland to see a doctor.

And on the way home, she told me that her father,

when he was working really hard in the fields,

he often would quote,

and I don't know that they were particularly religious

but it was a quote from the Bible.

It was, "I lift mine eyes unto the mountains

from whence come with help?"

And she was looking at the mountains, I remember, almost

like she still didn't want what was happening to happen.

Help should come.

♪ Oh, if I were Queen of France ♪

♪ Or still better Pope of Rome

♪ I'd have no fighting men abroad ♪

♪ Nor weeping maids at home

♪ All the world should be at peace ♪

♪ And the right should be the might ♪

♪ I'd have those that made the quarreling ♪

♪ The only ones to fight

- [Clara] You know, you always have fear of failure,

that you're not gonna

do something justice and things like that,

but I think this story would be better with her.

What film wouldn't be better with the

person telling you themselves straight from the horses mouth

what they experienced?

But I am her.

And she is me.

So thus, she's kind of here too, right?

And my mother is her and The Huütte is her.

So she's still here.

You don't really have to have the person in order to

express the story.

[light orchestral music]

I think that's what is special about it. It's, like,

she lives in the walls, and...

in the people.

- Today we're celebrating the Hutte's 50th anniversary.

We will be dancing and having some live music,

and some food, and homemade wine.

And we're roasting a pig in a pit.

We are remembering someone that impacted us immensely

and created this amazing gift, which is The Huütte.

- Yay, come on girls.

[all clapping] [all cheering]

[light piano music]

Have you seen the moon tonight?

- [Heidi] Eleanor's spirit will always be in here

because it was a part of her.

It absolutely was an intrinsic part of who she was

and who she evolved into after being here for so many years.

I don't think you can separate the memory

of Eleanor Mailloux and The Huütte.

I think that became her vocation after all the setting up

of the community and doing things.

It just was an important thing that happened.

And it's still happening.

- [Clara] She was driven.

And when you have drive to create or explore,

it makes you more inclined to inspire people.

And I think she did inspire people.

- [Debbie] She worked hard to get it where it's at

and personally I'll do what

I can do to keep it going.

I'm sure the others tha t work here, you know, we try.

- [Kay] Well, this was Eleanor's dream, you know?

She always wanted to have a restaurant in Helvetia.

It was just always her dream.

That's what she would tell me, you know?

She dreamed about it for years.

- [Eleanor Betler] I can remember so many times coming down

and sitting in the rocking chair around the fire with her.

And we'd just had such a pleasant time.

And I always expect her to come slipping around the

corner whenever I'm sitting there

and that little old stove is going in the back.

- [Vernon] I still have a picture of her in my mind

when she danced, she always had a good time.

I can see her how she smiled.

She will be remembered every place you look,

here in Helvetia.

- [Clara] She was born the night the house caught on fire.

So maybe we're all a little bit fiery

because Mutter was born the night

the fire enveloped her home.

- [Eleanor Betler] She had a story to tell.

She really had a lot to say in this world.

- [Eleanor] That's how we did it.

- [Vasco] You are wonderful.

- Oh, I am not.

- [Vasco] Really, Eleanor, you are.

- You just don't know.

You just haven't been around, honey.

- [Vasco] You are an incredible thing.

- You just haven't been around.

- [Vasco] Well...

[laughing]

- I haven't been out.

[laughing]

♪ Mama said boy you better keep the faith ♪

♪ Stay strong

♪ Even when it slips away

♪ Be wise when you're younger

♪ Hold onto the hunger

♪ Broken

♪ Every part of me is used

♪ I can't fake it like I used to do ♪

♪ Step on and push me down

♪ Way into the ground

♪ But I'm back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ Yeah, I'm back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ One day

♪ All of this will have its end ♪

♪ You'll see

♪ Laughter in the sky again

♪ Work out who is worth you

♪ They're all gonna hurt you

♪ Mama said boy you need to keep the faith ♪

♪ Stay strong

♪ Even when it slips away

♪ Stay strong through the cold and rain ♪

♪ Let go of your pain

♪ And I'm back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ Oh yeah, back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ We're resurrected

♪ We're resurrected

♪ Oh no, no

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ Oh, I'm back

♪ Like Jesus

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ I'm resurrected

♪ Oh no, no

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪

♪ Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down ♪