Features
Brevard’s McGaha Chapel Is Tiny, but Mighty
Hidden in the woods, McGaha Chapel helped bridge a community’s divisions nearly 150 years ago. At Christmastime, folks still come together here to lift their hopeful voices in holiday song.
Susan Stafford Kelly
Features
A Holiday Poem for the Ages
Seventy years ago, Elinor Hawkins’s professor asked her to choose a book she’d collect for the rest of her life. She picked “The Night Before Christmas.” Today, she has more than 1,000 copies.
Central
The Finest Firs
At the Pinehurst Festival of Trees, wander through a forest of exquisitely decorated Christmas trees — and share the spirit of the season with children in need.
Central
Always in Fashion: The Front Porch in Eden
At The Front Porch, locals gather in a historic downtown building that has long been the go-to source for news and nostalgia — and now, new clothes, too.
Farm Tour
Daddy Pete Farms in Stony Point
A Century Farm in Alexander County capitalized on an underappreciated and often-overlooked product already sitting in the cow pastures.
Eastern
Baker’s Kitchen is Home to Delicious Breakfasts — and Butter Syrup
Baker’s Kitchen has weathered storms — literal and metaphorical — to keep its community in baked goods and breakfast foods (with a side of butter syrup).
Eastern
A Tobacco Town Transformed: Wilson
A former tobacco salesman watches over the evolution of his family’s old marketplace into a modern living complex.
Features
Good Times at the Old Hampton Store
In an old trading post and gristmill near Grandfather Mountain, an artist has created a community of locals and tourists who come together over pulled pork and fried pickles, High Country cocktails, and traditional Appalachian art and music.
Features
The Fairest of Them All
In Pinehurst, an unusual barn once served as an exhibition hall for livestock and a stump for local politicians, who’d snap their suspenders and make big promises. Today, this restored barn in the heart of horse country hosts weddings, dinners, and even rock concerts.