Our State features the best writers in North Carolina. So choosing just ten stories to list as our favorites was a difficult task.
The stories below are listed in no particular order, and is not a ranking. Do you have a favorite story we didn’t mention? Tell us in the comment section below.
September 2011
When he was a boy growing up in Sugar Grove, Robert Dotson took up flatfooting. Now 88, he still lives in the same High Country community, and he’s the master of an art form that requires his feet stay close to the ground. Read the full story. Meet Robert Dotson and see him perform in this exclusive video.
July 2012
As an infant growing up in Watauga County, Arthel Lane Watson lost his sight. As a teenager, he picked up a guitar and created a sound. Now, that sound and that guitar and that blind man are forever linked in one name that will live as long as music is played: Doc. Read the full story. Watch writer Philip Gerard play his favorite Doc Watson tune.
August 2012
On October 15, 1954, a terrible storm makes for a terrible day for the entire country. One county in rural southeastern North Carolina takes the most direct hit, with lives and communities shattered under the storm clouds. Read the full story.
March 2004
Herschel Brown constructs buildings and delivers quality — and now he also builds one-string instruments and delivers happiness. Read the full story.
January 1997
It would have been easy for Billy Arthur to look around and see the differences between himself and others when he was growing up in Charlotte. Upon seeing that his friends were growing taller and that he would be left topping the measuring stick at 39 1/2 inches, it would have been so easy for this unlikely source of inspiration to perhaps settle for a little less in life. Read the full story.
December 2012
An original fiction story by Clyde Edgerton for Our State‘s December 2012 issue. Read the full story.
December 2004
With a name like Nick, this Down East businessman may have been destined to invent a new kind of Christmas tree. Plus when it comes to holiday traditions, the folks of Down East Carteret County take a back seat to no one. Read the full story.
March 2010
Every time he straps on a headset, Woody Durham imagines speaking to just one person — you. Read the full story.
March 2012
Never in my house was it, “Let’s go for a ride.” Always — and impromptu, although ever-anticipated on those steamy, buggy late-summer nights or languorous Sunday afternoons of my youth — my father said, when he was ready to ramble about town and through countryside, “Let’s go to ride.” Read the full story.
February 2013
In a town where everyone seems to have big ideas, the success of a local currency shows the value in working together to make them happen. Read the full story.
Tucked into a historic neighborhood, a backyard in Forsyth County holds hundreds of Southern wildflowers collected by one wild flower woman.
John Champlin has traveled across the state — and the nation — in search of hard-to-find spots that serve an unforgettable hot dog. After 11 years, what he’s discovered goes way beyond the bun.
In the early 20th century, textile mill owners sponsored baseball teams, providing entertainment for their employees and nurturing a passion for the game that’s been handed down through generations of North Carolinians.
Our writer reflects on where his love of vinyl began, and how the snap, crackle, and pop of a needle sliding across a turntable will always satisfy his soul.
