Overview
The Company Calders Coffee Café is a veteran-owned company that provides fine coffee house fare with a Highlands flair. Please visit us often at 384 Main Street, Highlands, NC. The Why Why “Calders?” Our goal for Calders is to be a mirror that reflects the beauty and history of the plateau. The name Calders is Scottish Gaelic and means “stony rivers” like what we see around our many waterfalls. The use of a Gaelic name is intended as a nod to our personal and regional Scot-Irish-Welsh ancestry. We have chosen to honor our four-legged neighbors with the use of a bear as a part of our logo. Our professional lives have always been intensely personal for us, and we look forward to playing our position on the Highlands Main Street team. Our Story The Hartman family is a US Navy family. As a part of the Navy, one of the first things that you learn is that community is everything. The life of the service member and the lives of the families often left behind literally depend on community support and engagement. The second thing you learn is that coffee enables individuals and communities to function better. “Coffee is an enabler of relationships” said Leigh Hartman, of Calders Coffee Cafe. “If you are just getting to know someone – grab a cup of coffee together. If you want to catch up with a friend whom you haven’t seen in a while – grab a cup of coffee together. Are you contemplating an important decision? Discuss it over a cup of coffee. Does your partner still want to shop, while you are about to drop? Come in for a cup of coffee. Coffee is more than a beverage; it is part of who we are and how we do what we do.” Why Highlands? After following orders all around the US, including Seattle during the great coffee awakening and Charleston with its gift of Southern Hospitality, the Hartmans finally got to select their “forever home.” Clay Hartman recalls that on the family’s first trip to Highlands, their young son said, “my soul is here,” and once that had been established, the rest was just details. Meet the Owners Leigh and Clay Hartman are year-round Highlanders who enjoy the sense of community and many wonderful aspects of Highlands living.
