The highest town east of the Rockies draws some 10,000 people during the winter months — to ski, snowboard, snowshoe, sled, tube, and cap it all off with a beer in a bar in the sky.
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The Old General Store That Became a Home
A family brings new life, fresh stories, and a renewed sense of purpose to an abandoned general store near Boone.
The Pipes of Sparta: Dr. Grabow
While most North Carolina communities were manufacturing textiles, a small town in Alleghany County became famous for its finely crafted pipes.
The Godfather of Linville Gorge Climbing
Joey Henson found that the best way to protect this wild and vital landscape is to conquer it.
Making Blue Ridge Memories on Max Patch
A marriage proposal in a sprawling meadow. Mating warblers in the brush. Orphaned boots on the Appalachian Trail. We are drawn to the majesty of Max Patch — a gorgeous bald in Madison County, 4,600 feet above sea level, where forest ends and 350 acres of open land begin — to gather life-changing memories.
Beneath Still Waters
Pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, began her writing career on a 2,300-acre network of islands a short paddle south of Beaufort. At the reserve that now bears her name, marine scientists follow in her wake.
The Kids Are All Right
The most popular club at some North Carolina high schools is nearly a century old, but it’s as relevant as ever. Energized and optimistic, members of the Future Farmers of America are shaping the state’s agricultural path forward — not just in fields, but in labs and offices, too.
Gathering Wool & Wisdom
On a typical sheep, one year of fleece growth will yield three sweaters. But there are precious few shearers to tend all of the flocks in North Carolina. For the last traveling shearers, an age-old trade has become a kind of modern artistry.
The Life-Changing Magic of a Mountain Medicine Man
The curative and preventative medicinal wisdom of old Appalachia and ancient Asia find common ground — literally — in Yancey County.
