These aren’t your everyday, ordinary, run-right-out-in-the-middle-of-the-road squirrels. Compared with the gray squirrel, its ubiquitous cousin, the Eastern fox squirrel is twice as large, with a foot-long bushy tail and a variety of color schemes — all gray, all black, black and white, red and gray — that border on the exotic. The largest tree squirrels in North America, fox squirrels are the only ones strong enough to open up a green longleaf pinecone to get at the seeds inside. For many years, a fox squirrel lumbering along a longleaf forest floor was a memorable sighting in parts of eastern North Carolina, but our familiar flatland rodents might be getting neighbors from over the hills. Recent reports of fox squirrels in Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga counties suggest the species’ Midwestern race could be making a move over the border.
During the chilliest months of the year, only a soul-warming stew will do.
In this season finale of the Away Message podcast, we check back in with our hikers to see what changed (and what didn't) after their hike across North Carolina came to a close.
A new mobile museum helps visitors understand the deep history of the country’s first incorporated African American town, its faith born of resilience, and, most important, its hopes for the future.
Western North Carolina is at its most stunning when autumn arrives and the leaves burst into color. Before you head out leaf-peeping this fall, check in weekly to see what colors our experts are seeing at 22 of our favorite mountain spots.
