The November 2019 Issue

Bursts of color on city walls, in shop windows, and on restaurant tables are transforming downtown into a vibrant center for the community.

A Century Farm in Alexander County capitalized on an underappreciated and often-overlooked product already sitting in the cow pastures.

On the banks of the Watauga River, a mountain winery turns customers into friends.

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.

Toot toot! When the steam whistle sounds and the railcars start click-clacking down the tracks, a different side of the Great Smoky Mountains comes into view.

What can’t a potato do? Smashed, stewed, or scalloped: We’ll take a spud at every meal.

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).

That soft blue haze — the namesake smoke of the Great Smoky Mountains — is a quirk of nature that was once severely threatened by man-made pollutants. Now, the vistas are opening up again.

While most North Carolina communities were manufacturing textiles, a small town in Alleghany County became famous for its finely crafted pipes.

Farmed in the clear waters of Haywood County — and sublime when smoked — these mountain beauties are a favorite of the best chefs across the Southeast.

The line is out the door at Southern Smoke, a tiny carryout barbecue joint in Garland with a big following. Their secret is knowing how to tend both fire and family at the same time.

There’s smoke filling the spaces among trees, in backyards, between homes. It tumbles over the eaves of big buildings. No need for alarm, not here. The smoke is for our honeybees.

R.J. Reynolds’s old tobacco campus is now a center for innovation.

A former tobacco salesman watches over the evolution of his family’s old marketplace into a modern living complex.

A mural artist re-creates the hustle and bustle of the local bright leaf trade on the wall of an old tobacco auction warehouse.

When our maritime forests become choked with brush, native ecosystems are put in danger. To clear the way for fresh growth, prescribed burn crews set carefully controlled blazes, giving nature a little nudge.

Bittersweet memories of growing up in a tobacco town reveal the complicated relationship between a community’s main industry and the families who paid dearly for it.

Zach Heath wanted to preserve his late grandfather’s rural work ethic inside his own modern suburban home. So he took some wood from the old family farm and had it transformed into a beautiful gift for which his family can be truly grateful.

When Greensboro fourth graders decided to launch a “state cookie” campaign, they got a lesson in civics, as well as patience. It turns out, nothing about Moravian cookies is easy — except, of course, eating them.

We found the season’s sweet spot — a series of them, actually, along a remote byway in far-western Graham County. The Cherohala Skyway dips and rises, curves and coasts past waterfalls, hiking trails, and mountain views that (almost) never end.

North Carolina’s investment in a public art collection opens minds, enriches the lives of citizens, and creates a home for the state’s cultural aspirations.

Good food tastes better in the great outdoors — especially if you’ve hiked or paddled for it. The best part? Gathering ’round the campfire with family and friends till long after the skillet’s empty.

From barbecue festivals to holiday celebrations, your curated monthly guide to events across North Carolina.

Back in 1971, astronaut and former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper Stuart Roosa carried more than 400 seeds into space with him on Apollo 14. Two of those seeds found a new home in North Carolina.