Two thought-to-be-lost works by the acclaimed painter have been acquired by a church in Blowing Rock.
Photo Above: This painting, inspired by Psalm 23, is one of the frescoes on display at Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church. Courtesy of Blowing Rock, NC
Ben Long’s famed frescoes struck Jim Walters like divine inspiration.
Upon retirement, Walters had simply wanted to drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway in 2021 and make a brief pit stop to view Long’s iconic paintings in Ashe County, North Carolina. That short visit, however, sparked a much deeper fascination than he’d anticipated.
Gazing at one religious depiction made Walters long to see more. “I was just amazed,” he says. The paintings truly “become part of the wall. They’re painted on fresh, wet plaster, so the pigment is absorbed into the wall.”
Walters ended up visiting 13 locations across North Carolina housing pieces Long created between the 1970s and early 2000s. He also made an important discovery far from the public eye and across state lines.
In 2022, Walters found two forgotten frescoes — “Psalm 23” and “The Good Shepherd” — that the longtime North Carolina resident painted back in 2009 on what became the walls of a hospice house in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Even more unique is that they are the only frescoes created by the acclaimed artist known to have existed outside the Tar Heel State.
By this time, officials at the hospice house had begun contemplating painting over the pieces. To Walters, the prospect was unthinkable.
The 80-year-old former banker launched an ambitious campaign to save them. He relied on donations totaling $275,000 with the grand plan of purchasing and relocating the artwork to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, where he lived. While worshiping at Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church, Walters found a permanent home for the frescoes.
Nothing about the effort was easy. “The frescos [were] painted using three layers of plaster,” he explains. “And the plaster was put over what was used to anchor [them] to the wall.”
The sheer scale posed another challenge. The largest of the pieces spans about 15 feet and weighs roughly 2,600 pounds. Expert removal was required, followed by two years of storage. In 2025, the church officially opened the frescoes to the public.
The story above first appeared in our March / April 2026 issue.
