Boone

Karen McCard holds up a giant ladle full of boiled peanuts

Peanut Pit Stop

In Watauga County, a roadside shop named for the owner’s mother is the place to find Appalachian foods, hospitality, and peanuts — perfectly boiled and salted right on the front porch.

Angel of an Epidemic

In the late-1980s, a Boone nurse opened the doors of her western North Carolina home to AIDS patients and HIV-positive men, giving them space to cry, shoulders to lean on, and fellowship with other sufferers at a time when fear kept some people from even lending a hand.