Hurricane Helene: Stories of Hope
Jeremy Bollman at Hatchet West Jefferson
He felt the undeniable pull to the Ashe County town of West Jefferson, though he couldn’t tell you exactly why. Since opening Hatchet West in May this year, though, some answers have started to emerge. (more…)
After Helene | Lindsey Kulp: Owner of The Squirrel and Nut
The eclectic art and gift shop in Lansing will emerge again with even greater beauty than before Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic flood. GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN FOR LINDSEY KULP | Photography by Ken Robinson Lindsey Kulp loves furniture with stories and a few decades of life worked into their frames and upholstery. It’s as much a celebration of…
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After Helene: Shelby Tramel at Old Orchard Creek General Store
Shelby Tramel had only owned Old Orchard Creek General Store in Lansing for little more than a year when Hurricane Helene did what hurricanes never do. The storm left Florida, swept through Georgia, dropped a year’s worth of rain on western North Carolina, and flood waters took everything. Now she’s rebuilding. | Photography by Ken…
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Adventures
Linville Gorge: 3 of our Favorite Hikes
The Linville Gorge Wilderness is 11,786 acres of amazing. Here’s 3 of our favorite excursions into this spectacular western North Carolina wild land. Photography by JC Garcia Wiseman’s View–A Linville Gorge Panorama Wiseman’s View provides visitors a panoramic experience from a pinnacle more than 1,400 feet above the gorge floor. The 4 mile stretch…
Wiseman’s View-Linville Gorge: A Quick Guide
Wiseman’s View in the Linville Gorge Wilderness provides visitors a panoramic experience from a pinnacle more than 1,400 feet above the gorge floor. The 4 mile stretch of gravel, rocky, sometimes-rutted road could leave you bottomed out, depending on how well-maintained you find it after heavy rain or snow. The view once you get there,…
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5 Snow Hikes in the High Country: Quick Guide
Snow has a way of transforming the High Country into another world. Of course the slopes of App Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain are natural destinations when the flurries begin, but there are less domesticated areas of the mountains worth a snow hike exploration. Photos by JC Garcia 1. In-Town: The Boone United…
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Feature Articles
Profile Trail: A Journey Through Grandfather Mountain’s Ecosystems
Beginning at the the trailhead off Highway 105, Grandfather Mountain’s Profile Trail takes you on a 3.6-mile (one way) journey through an extraordinary variety of natural habitats. The trail climbs nearly 2,000 feet to MacRae and Calloway peaks, this challenging route showcases the mountain’s wild beauty and distinct ecosystems, each one bringing new scenery and…
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The Grandfather Mountain Mile-High Swinging Bridge
My dad and I walked across the Grandfather Mountain bridge, which he said he wasn’t going across. No way. I’m not going. “There’s nothing to worry about,” I told him. I mean it’s just the highest foot bridge in America so what could go wrong. When he was a kid, his dad took him to…
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Harvesting the Wild Abundance of the High Country
Holly Drake is still learning to see and savor the delicious beauty all around her. Photography by David Uttley Holly Drake guides a group of foragers along a diagonal path up a hillside in Todd, North Carolina. This tract of land is owned by a local friend, and it’s one of many such hillsides, garden…
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The Legend of Baker Perry
Appalachian State Climatology Professor, Himalayan Mountaineer, National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry talks about his roots in the High Country of Boone, North Carolina. | Photography by JC Garcia Baker Perry walks the steep hill behind his house. Past the garden with kale ready to be plucked and eaten. Past the weather equipment uphill from the…
Keeping the Old Ways Alive
At the Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, the historians engage the five senses to transport us back to distant holidays when settlers were just happy to be alive and eating. | Photography by David Uttley Imagine 1750s in frozen Appalachia. Go ahead and imagine. You, plopped down in the dead of winter in these hills…
Joey Henson: A Boone Climbing Pioneer In Search of the Primitive
Boone-area climber Joey Henson seeks to embrace the primitive way of living–without hurry and with a kind of patience that allows for a deliberate enjoyment of place. | Photos by Compelling Story Joey Henson isn’t the easiest person to nail down or sum up in one particular way. Of course the way I learned of…
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John Lucas Reminds Us That It’s Still A Wonderful Life
The Boone-area singer/songwriter says the mountains gave him freedom to wrestle with the big questions of life | Photos by Compelling Story The Bible Belt Sessions, Vol. 1 by John Lucas Google maps had taken us the long way round to get to the Lucas residence just outside of Boone, North Carolina. Rolling along a dirt…
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A Complete Guide to Grayson Highlands State Park
Grayson Highlands State Park, an hour north of Boone, is home to wild ponies, fire eating cows, and neighbor to Virginia’s two highest summits–Mt. Rogers (5730 feet) and Whitetop Mountain (5525 feet). Grayson Highlands is also a beloved expanse along the 167-mile Southwest Virginia section of the Appalachian Trail and nearby Virginia Highlands Horse…
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Ken Robinson Explores Seasons and Sacred Spaces Through His Art
The Ashe County painter believes art is a sacred and healing endeavor | Photos by Compelling Story He starts the music. It is a song by Sleeping At Last. His wife Fleur brings a lamp as he begins stirring white acrylic paint in a large plastic cup. He stirs, considers, and stirs some more. I begin…
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Roan Mountain “Camping”
In which the author and his daughter have a half-adventure on Round Bald. On the way home from Christmas I proposed a camping trip at Roan Mountain and my middle child was the only one who hasn’t experienced camping with me as something to be avoided. Bless her heart. She, like me, never remembers it…
For High Country Artist Lauren Crowe, Printmaking Is About Embracing Process
She is driven by her appreciation for the analog slowness of printmaking, the problem solving challenge of each project, the meditative quality of it, the desire to be better without the distracting tendencies toward (too much) comparison | Photos by Compelling Story Artist linoleum curls into thin ribbons as she cuts subtle and intricate detail…
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A writer reignites his imagination in The High Country
When Maguire returned to Boone almost a quarter of a century later, he was not only an award-winning journalist based in metro Atlanta, but also was working on another creative endeavor: finishing a new novel. For several weeks in winter 1996, writer Mark Wallace Maguire, a long-haired guitar-wielding nomad, lived out of his Toyota Corolla…
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