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Choking Your Biscuit Out Just Right
Dwight Yoakam’s grandmother kept her bacon grease in a small brown ceramic pitcher. She kept her flour, already sifted, in a big green porcelain pan that, when she wasn’t using it, sat in the bottom of an old, wooden Hoosier cabinet in her kitchen. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
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Holly Kays photo
Rolling the Dice on a Walk in the Woods
My sister and I were hiking a downhill section of Black Balsam—my favorite trail, a high-elevation loop featuring thickets of wild blueberries and grassy summits that offer to-die-for views of the surrounding Blue Ridge—when my foot caught on a rock. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
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Michael E. Gouge photo
Southern West Virginia
Mountaineers are always free, so says the state motto of West Virginia. Traveling past the farms and forested ridges of the southern half of The Mountain State, one can sense the independent spirit that still inspires artisans and adventurers alike. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
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Jenni Chandler Photography
‘Daydreams’ Become Classic Stories for Young Adults
Author Megan Shepherd has created worlds filled with fantastical and otherworldly characters by seeking inspiration from horror tales of an earlier age. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
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Larry Smith photo
Notorious for Bluegrass
Walk into Brooks Gymnasium on the campus of East Tennessee State University and you’ll likely hear the cadence of an ROTC drill instructor or the squeaks of shoes during basketball practice. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
Regional Content:
Choking Your Biscuit Out Just Right
Dwight Yoakam’s grandmother kept her bacon grease in a small brown ceramic pitcher. She kept her flour, already sifted, in a big green porcelain pan that, when she wasn’t using it, sat in the bottom of an old, wooden Hoosier cabinet in her kitchen. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Good Food Equals Love and Strength
Food has a way of taking the sting out of tragic events and helping the community bond in love and strength. That’s what happened after deadly fires spread through Gatlinburg in November, 2016. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Jason Sheppard photo
‘We’re All Ghosts’
Gravestones have lured visitors for centuries, beckoning them through stone passes or iron fences. Whether it’s a longing to connect with the past or a desire to explore one’s own mortality, people are fascinated with eternal resting places. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Pick Me Up On Your Way Down
Located in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of downtown Lexington, Kentucky, the Chevy Chase Inn is the oldest bar in the city; 86 years and counting. It’s the size of a one-car garage, where a few dozen folks would be considered “at capacity.” Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Holly Kays photo
Rolling the Dice on a Walk in the Woods
My sister and I were hiking a downhill section of Black Balsam—my favorite trail, a high-elevation loop featuring thickets of wild blueberries and grassy summits that offer to-die-for views of the surrounding Blue Ridge—when my foot caught on a rock. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Seasonal Blooms Offer Food for Hungry Pollinators
In a recent report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, scientists say most native species have experienced at least a 20 percent loss in overall abundance due to habitat loss since the 1900s. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
A Conversation With the Smokies’ Mountain Lion Expert
In 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the eastern cougar subspecies from the endangered species list in order to “correct a lingering anomaly” that listed the species despite its having disappeared forever at least 70 years go. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Summer’s End Means Sorghum
As cool air slowly creeps in and the leaves begin to change, it can only mean one thing—it’s sorghum making time in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Guy Smalley illustration • smmalleyart.com
Dry Those Eyes
Until my wife, Mary Pat, and I bought our first house, which included a dishwasher, our greatest ‘home appliance moment’ had been the purchase of a low-budget washer/dryer set. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
The Shiny Penny
I almost always slowed as I crossed the footbridge, because there was almost always something interesting for a boy to see in the clear, running waters of North Indian Creek. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
Sweet Soul Of The Smokies
There has never been a sizeable African-American population in the Smokies, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it may actually have decreased in the last half century. Certainly that’s the case in Swain County, North Carolina. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
In Appalachia It’s the Women Who Brought Social Justice
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty” in the United States, taking aim in particular at the Central and Southern Appalachian states. In some parts, more than 50 percent of the people lived in poverty. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
12:00 AM
