Bryson City Magazine VOL.2 December 2019/ January 2020

BRYSONMagazine CITY Free

December 2019/ January 2020

WELLNESS | SEASONAL FLAIR | GRUB | COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

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Hello

Ashley and her husband Brian live in Bryson City with their two boys Evan, 13 & Owen, 9. A typical boy mom, she chases sports and school activities.

She has a passion for Swain County and pretty things.

As I placed the 2020 date on the cover it hit me like a ton of bricks. Holy Smokes, we are in the “future” y’all. I half expected to have flying cars and self cleaning houses by now. Maybe in the next “future.”

Jim Casada’s story in this issue about a Old Time Christmas is a nice reminder that not everything is about who received what. Rather, Yuletide warmth and youthful anticipation.

Winter has always been a challenge for me; to start there is the crazy rush of the holiday season followed by the clear and abrupt stop of everything in January. Which is why, personally, winter is a natural mate for wellness. While visitors trickle into town to experience cold, snowy mountain days, my Florida roots generally crave warmth and sunshine by the beginning of February.

Despite contrary beliefs, wellness is so much more than a diet in January. So as we enter into the “future,” take our advice on page 18 and Be Well, My Friend.

Ashley Butcher, Publisher

On the cover Elk

On a recent visit to the area Jason Gibson, from Lynchburg, Ohio captured this beautiful shot.

Instagram: @ jasonandhana 4

We are loving it Family Time

The winter months are meant for family and food. Sometimes it’s a game of UNO on the kitchen table after dinner that recenters and re-prioritizes life.

Contents BAEO, LLC Bryson City Magazine Address | 300 Everett Street

Bryson City, NC 28713 Phone | (828)788-2020 Publishers, Accounts & Advertising Brian & Ashley Butcher brysoncitymag@gmail.com Contributors Editorial Photography Tony Fortier- Bensen Terry Bradley Jim Casada Jason Gibson Melissa Erzo Hana Gibson Scott Bjerkness

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Cover Story | Elk Return

Seasonal Flair | Nature’s Christmas

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GIVE ME MORE Visit us online at brysoncitymagazine.com or follow us on social media.

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Wellness | Get out & Explore

Winter Wonderland Must Do .............................19 Let’s Get Social ....................................................21 Community Connection .....................................22

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For more information about Bryson City Magazine or advertising rates please email or call (828) 788-2020.

brysoncitymag@gmail.com 5

Photo: Hana Gibson 6

COVER STORY

Long-Awaited Return to Smokies On any given afternoon it is not uncommon to drive by the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee and find Elk sunning in the field. This was not always the case. Join Tony Fortier- Bensen as he chronicles the history of the North American Manitoban Elk in our region.

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or hundreds of years, millions of elk roamed freely in the Great Smoky Mountains and throughout the southern Appalachian mountains.

But by the late 1700s, they were all gone.

Over hunting and loss of habitat wiped out the elk population in North Carolina. Their meat was considered the best-tasting of all area animals, and their teeth were prized for jewelry.

For nearly 200 years, elk were nowhere to be found in the Smoky Mountains. Then in 2001, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in conjunction with many other organizations, reintroduced them back to their homeland.

Now, there are around 150 to 200 elk in the region, and it’s a common occurrence to see them walking along Tuckasegee River near Bryson City, the streets of Cherokee or near the entrance of the Park.

“Since the initial reintroduction, the elk have been growing slowly but steadily, which is the kind of growth you want,” said GSMNP wildlife biologist Joe Yarkovich.

In 1990, park officials started planning a way to introduce the noble, 700-pound creatures back to their old stomping grounds. Because the North American Elk was extinct, they focused on the North American Manitoban Elk, its closest relative.

In 2001, they released 25 elk, originally from the western Kentucky and Tennessee border, into the Cataloochee area of the Smokies. Park rangers kept a watchful eye on the herd, monitoring them with collars equipped with GPS trackers to ensure they could handle new predators, like bears and coyotes, and possible diseases.

The herd made it through the first year with flying colors.

With their success, park rangers decided to release Continued On another 27 elk captured from Canada the Page 8 7

Cover Story | Elk Return following year.

Again, this herd had no problems acclimating to their new environment. With both herds strong and growing, park rangers became less involved with the elk.

“We’ve been handsoff with population when it changed from reintroduction to experimentation,” Yarkovich said.

“They’ve been on their own.”

The only major help they gave the elk was a predator relocation effort, removing some bears to see how it would impact the herd’s growth. Yarkovich said it proved unnecessary, and they haven’t really done anything to help the elk since then.

“After we stopped doing that, calf survival increased even more,” he said. “They learned how to defend their young better.

We didn’t feed them or offer any protection during calving season.

We’ve left them on their own.”

It’s been almost 20 years since the elk came back, but Yarkovich said it will still be some time before they fully understand the animals’ effect on the Smokies’ ecosystem.

“When reintroducing a large mammal, we have yet to understand trickle-down effect on the ecosystem,” he said. “We’ve looked at obvious changes we can think of like habitat consumption, Continued from Page 7

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soil impact studies, overall takeoff on grasslands, vegetative studies, but when you put a new animal back in its original ecosystem, you won’t really know it’s true impact until years later.”

Some benefits park rangers have recognized include constant plant regeneration and low and clear grasslands, which helps smaller animals like rabbits travel across fields, while allowing birds of prey to find food.

Elk aren’t the only animals the national park has reintroduced after being extinct in the area.

River otters, peregrine falcons and three different types of fish have all returned and are thriving in the Smokies again.

The best places to view the elk are at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee and in the Cataloochee Valley area of the Park, around the morning and evening hours and cloudy days during the summer.

As the elk continue to grow, they’ll be stretching out to more areas outside the national park. Yarkovich said it won’t be long until it’s a common sight to see them in town.

“We’ve had more and more elk spreading to our south and west including Bryson City,” Yarkovich said. “Now that those initial elk pioneered a trail that way, it will be more common to see elk than we do now.”

Photo: James Gibson

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Old Time

Natural Christmas P

erhaps advancing age explains the nostalgia which “lays holt” of a corner of my soul every year around Christmas. While youthful anticipation and unabated excitement associated with opening gifts left me long ago, fond memories of yesteryear’s Yuletides warm me like a cheery hardwood fire on a bitterly cold mountain day. Doubtless boyhood, like some fine wines, improves with age, and without question time seems to make it better. Though those December celebrations lie decades in the past, elements of them still ring through the halls of fond memory with the clarity and charm of a church bell on a chilly winter morning.

None looms larger than what might be styled a “natural Christmas” celebrated through use of decorative materials from the wilds. My mother cherished every moment of the Yuletide season—caroling, church activities, visits with extended family, rides about the countryside to look at displays, and cooking her myriad of holiday specialties. Nothing, though, provided her more pure pleasure than decorating. Frugal to a fault, she insisted on extensive use of materials from the natural world. Momma rightly felt that decorations from the wild, whether greenery, berries, mistletoe, or numerous other items she used, had a beauty far transcending artificial “store bought stuff.”

Moreover, they cost nothing but gumption and gathering them fostered meaningful family togetherness.

Decorating always began with the family Christmas tree. In today’s world, obtaining a tree involves stopping at a store or viewing cut trees in a vacant lot, but during my boyhood virtually 10

Seasonal Flair

A native son of the Smokies who grew up in Bryson City, Jim Casada is a long-established freelance writer with thousands of articles and numerous books to his credit. To receive his free monthly e-newsletter, order any of his books, or get information on his forthcoming memoir, A Smokies Boyhood and Beyond: Mountain Musings and Memories, contact him at jimcasada@ comporium.net or visit www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com.

everyone cut their own tree. Our family search for the perfect tree began early—the opening of rabbit hunting season. While afield Daddy and I gave every promising tree a visual “once over” and those with potential would be filed away in our minds. Eventually that grand day, always a Sunday afternoon a week or two before Christmas arrived, the entire family piled in the car and headed out to cut the tree of choice. For my siblings and me there was great excitement, while Momma, whose perspective on anything and everything connected with Christmas matched the eagerness, anticipation, and joy of an eight-year-old, fell right into the spirit of things. Yet tree cutting was but one part of the process. Mistletoe was a must, and it loomed large in Mom’s overall decorating scheme. That proved a boon for me, thanks to the process involved in obtaining it. In some areas mistletoe grows low and can be gathered by the sack full with ease. But in the Smokies mistletoe is

comparatively scarce. Invariably when you found a hardwood bedecked with clumps, they would be high up in the tree. Far from that being a cause for dismay, inaccessibility presented precisely the challenge a teenager welcomed.

Basically, there were three ways to procure mistletoe. Occasionally it was possible, provided one had sufficient agility coupled with a virtual absence of fear and common sense, to climb the tree. A second method, more commonly employed because finding climbable mistletoe- bearing trees occurred infrequently, was to throw rocks or sticks at the clumps of greenery. Sticks with some heft and size were preferred. They increased the likelihood of producing satisfactory results.

My favorite tactic, however, involved shooting mistletoe. A .22 rifle in the right hands was perfect.

It required expert marksmanship to cut away a nice bunch of mistletoe right where it joined a tree limb, but that challenge was no small part of the fun. The “sport” became even more delightful if three or four boys were involved, each trying to outdo the other in demonstrating shooting prowess.

We would take shot about, tease one another about misses, brag about hits, and indulge in all sorts of verbal foolishness connected with speculation about getting whatever girl happened to be the apple of our respective eyes under some mistletoe. I remember precious little in the way of positive developments in that context but do fondly recall Momma’s pleasure when I came home bearing a nice batch of mistletoe. She would make over the fresh greenery as if it was equivalent to gifts of the Magi, decorate it with red ribbon, and hang mistletoe in likely places throughout the house.

Along with mistletoe, Mom always wanted several honey locust tree clippings. She disarmed the plentiful thorns by tipping them with colorful gum drops, thereby making an unusual, attractive eyecatcher. If gum drops mysteriously vanished thanks to depredations of greedy-gut youngsters, in the spirit of the season she just quietly replaced them.

Mistletoe and gum drop tree decorations required little time. Some family favorites, however, involved considerable effort. Prime examples included wreaths and table centerpieces. They were fashioned from natural materials such as hazelnuts still in the husk; cones from hemlocks, pines, and other evergreens; sweet gum and sycamore balls; milkweed pods; old wasp nests; small bird nests; and the like, all carefully glued to a wooden base.

Sycamore and sweet gum balls could be dipped in a flour-and-water mixture to give them a miniature snowball-like appearance or spray painted silver or gold. Items of this type gave Momma great pleasure, drew favorable comments from visitors,

and added appreciably to the overall festiveness of our home.

In keeping with the colors prominently associated with Christmas, she-holly with its bright red berries was always an important part of Christmas decorating. It was fashioned into door hangings, used as edging around doors and windows, spread atop mantles, or featured in tandem with candles. Looking for a berry-laden holly was a standard sidelight to searching for a perfect Christmas tree.

Cedar was another widely used evergreen.

Cutting cedar branches adorned with small blue-green berries, then partnering it with holly, pyracantha, nandenia, bittersweet, or other berryladen plants meant real beauty. Mind you, Daddy wanted no part of cedars as our family tree. He maintained that dealing with them, given the way they stuck and pricked the skin, wasn’t worth the trouble, but he readily acknowledged using cedar for other decorative purposes brought a pleasing aroma to the house.

Making garlands using popcorn we had grown, shucked, shelled, and popped was another seasonal ritual. It provided double fun because some of the popped kernels would be salted and buttered or blended with molasses to make popcorn balls. This was a marvelously messy process, and never did finger-licking seem more enjoyable.

While snacking, you could string popped kernels with a needle and sewing thread.

The foregoing offers a mere sampling of natural items suitable for holiday decoration, and as these approaches suggest, two or three generations ago folks turned straight to nature’s rich bounty for much of their Christmas preparation. The end result was simple beauty and seasonal connection with the good earth. That link to the outdoors was an integral, important part of life throughout the year, so it was only appropriate that nature figured prominently in Christmas celebrations.

Continued On Page 12

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Seasonal Flair | Nature’s Christmas

Wreaths & Crosses from Nature

More than a decade ago my brother and his wife, on a whim, took a woodlands walk near their home in the Christmas season. While strolling, they gathered snips from plants which caught their eyes. Afterwards they assembled the assorted vegetation to create a lovely wreath. The end result so pleased them that their wild woods gleaning and subsequent decorative crafting became an annual tradition. In time though, thanks to listening to the Bluegrass Cardinals sing “From Cradle to Cross to Crown,” wreaths gave way to Christmas crosses.

Much of what they gather, and it varies appreciably each year, is commonplace--broom sedge, ragweed, sumac berries, leaves from Continued from hardwoods, and altogether selections from perhaps Page 11 25 to 30 plants. With some effort and a good dose of creativity, however, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. The invigorating walk in the woods, gathering nature’s offerings, and rending from them a lovely seasonal symbol has become a tradition. It also offers, in English poet John Keats’ words, “a thing of beauty” which becomes, first through display and then through photos, “a joy forever.” Perhaps their experience might inspire others to find distinctive ways to celebrate Christmas through nature.

NOTE: The above photo is not one of the nature wreaths mentioned in the story, rather inspiration for those interested in creating simply with nature.

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NA-BER’s D -I rive

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Melissa Erzo shares the history and nostalgia that makes this local drive in a staple.

Even though the restaurant has changed hat do you think of when you think owners a few times since then, Na-Ber’s has been Na-Ber’s?”

I raised my cup, which was full of cherry lemon mountain dew, a childhood favorite of mine, stemming from my first visit. My childhood friend, Megan Hoke, guided me through the ordering during my first trip, telling me what was good and gasping in disbelief that I had not heard of certain things. After figuring out what we were eating, she said to me: “You’re gonna LOVE this!”.

My love for Na-ber’s started right then and there. We would go and grab a bite and head out to the football game afterwards to walk the track while the Maroon Devils took to the field under those Friday night lights.

“Exactly,” said Brittany Willard, whose mother, Karen Horton, owns Na-Ber’s currently after waitressing there for over 20 years, “Those burgers and dews are Na-Ber’s. Everyone has their own favorites and a lot of memories, too! We see folks who come in regularly, they know exactly what they want and how they want it.”

For over 70 years, Na-Ber’s Drive-In has been a local icon in the heart of the Smokies. Howard Black brought Na-Ber’s to Swain County in the late 40’s, making it the first drive-in opened here. Offering burgers and fries, hot dogs, shakes and more, and, seeing as how it was one of the only places to eat in Bryson City at the time, it was a hit. When first erected, NaBer’s was near the Governor’s Island bridge and stayed there until 1965, when a grease fire destroyed the building. Na-Ber’s, which was originally spelled as “Neighbors”, was rebuilt a little further down Highway 19 in it’s current location.

Black would greet his guests with a: “Hi, Neighbor!”, which is how the name got it’s origin.

able to keep it’s 1950’s feel alive through vintage decor and memorabilia from over the years, while also keeping customers satisfied with a menu that has not varied much from its origin.

Willard: “Things have changed a bit since back in the days when a burger cost you about 35 cents, but, we make it a point to always keep the memories alive. You hear old timers come in and they just paint a picture of what it was like back in the old days. Classic cars, letterman’s jackets, milkshakes with two straws on a date. Only thing that has really changed is we now serve our folks out of a brown bag rather than on a clip-on tray to your window.”

Visitors and locals pour into the diner and order the “all the way” specials; cheeseburgers, chili dogs, chuckwagons, house smoked, home made BBQ and all the fried goodness you can think of.

The best part is, you can get it exactly how you want it. Be it simple with just ketchup, or full on sloppy with all the fixin’s, Na-Ber’s is going to deliver exactly what you’re looking for.

Around here, a burger all the way means you’re getting slaw! As I sat down to get the inside scoop with Willard, my husband, daughter and I ordered our dinner. I forgot to mention to him when he asked for a double bacon cheeseburger, all the way that he would be getting tomato, ketchup, pickle and slaw.

He’s not native to this area, so it was a surprise to him when he took off the top Continued On bun and saw slaw. He gave it a Page 16 try, and then proceeded to tell 15

Whether you remember Na-Ber’s from its origin, when there were peacocks caged by the Continued from Willard, seated across from him: “Well, river or you’re just passing through, you will always Page 15 it may be dangerous to sit across from remember the taste of some down home, slaw or me with a burger like this in my hands, chili topped, mouthwatering goodness.

If you haven’t given your taste buds the because, good grief that is good, and I just might pleasure of this mountain treasure, stop on by at accidentally get it everywhere!”

Willard, who grew up on a farm, replied: “It’ll 1245 Main Street in Bryson City, but before you can take more than getting some ketchup and slaw on sink your teeth into this hometown classic, be sure to bring cash. me to get me upset.”

Grub We

| Na-Ber’s

Photo :Terry Bradley

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Must Do | Local top stops & events

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Be Well, My friend M

Dr. Scott Bjerkness is a chiropractor at Smoky Mountain Chiropractic in Bryson City and loves the Lord, his wife and his kids. He enjoys sharing the truth about health and sharing the gift of healing through chiropractic care.

ost have heard the modern “old adage” in one form or another, “to get to a new great place we can’t expect to do the same old things to get there.” Speaking of great places, I thought I would start out this writing in a wonderful place for me personally, which is on a trail.

This article is being pecked out on a keyboard attached to an electronic tablet, in a trailside shelter on the Fire Mountain Trail system in Cherokee, NC overlooking downtown, but mainly overlooking the Smoky Mountains.

This is definitely an awe inspiring and new place to write for me. My happy place happens to be up here with a nice breeze, a sunny day, and being able to look up and take in the beauty of God’s creation. It is part of my personal wellness practices to walk on a trail to get to a place of beauty and take in nature and think and pray. So is that wellness? It can be part of it, but not the definition of it. That would be like saying that the definition of health is eating carrots, stretching, not getting cancer, going to church and flossing.

Wellness is intricately woven with health in our culture. For instance if you want to take a college course on Wellness it would likely be called Health and Wellness. So to clarify the broadness of wellness, lets talk about health and its definition. Is health just not being sick? Is it merely not having 18

high blood pressure and not being diagnosed with heart disease? How about being symptom free, is that it? What about the guy who felt great at his checkup and the doc said he was in good shape and died of a heart attack two days later. Was he healthy?

The World Health Organization says health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Keeping it simple and applicable, there are basic principles to follow to grow towards wellness. The easy way to think about it is not necessarily simple to follow, but here goes: We need 1. Exercise 2. Rest 3. Good nutrition 4. Great relationships and 5. Balanced function of the nervous system.

How much rest and exercise, you ask? Let’s keep it simple, the amount needed for you to do your daily life freely, without burden. What is good nutrition?

Lets not over-complicate this, eat foods that are grown not manufactured. The nervous system is the master control system of the body and it must function at a high level with no interference or imbalance for you to function well.

Wellness as a concept is an ever increasing state of wellbeing, and as such, it is a place of constant improvement, so shoot for the stars! You can be healthier one year from now than you were one year ago!

Winter Wonderland

MUST DO GET OUT AND EXPLORE

Just because there is a chill in the air doesn’t mean you can’t get out and explore. Weather can change fast in the mountains so be sure to be prepared.

Oconaluftee River Trail One of two walking paths in the National Park where visitors can walk dogs and bicycle. The trail travels 1.5 miles one-way from the Oconaluftee Visitor Center’s Mountain Farm Museum to the outskirts of the city of Cherokee, NC. It is relatively flat, but does have a few small hills. The trail runs through the forest alongside the Oconaluftee River and offers beautiful views of the river.

Deep Creek Loop (Trails: Deep Creek to Loop Trail to Indian Creek and back to Deep Creek) — 4 miles, easy to moderate.

The trail is fairly level except for a one-mile section that crosses the 420-foot Sunkota Ridge (Loop Trail section). The trail passes by two nice waterfalls – Toms Branch Falls and Indian Creek Falls.

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Bryson City

MAGAZINE

LAUNCH PARTY

The inaugural issue flew off the racks. Our little bimonthly publication delivered the last box to the Swain County Visitor Center in a little over three weeks from the launch. We are elated to see how embraced we have been by both visitors and locals.

Special thank you to Nicole Huett and Evan Butcher for capturing pictures from the launch party held at Bryson City Outdoors on September 26, 2019.

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Regina Mathis

Profession: Bryson City Town Manager Hometown: Sylva, NC

What brought you to Swain County: I accepted If you could ask advice from any historical a job as the Assistant Principal at Swain Middle figure, who would it be? What would you ask School them? Abraham Lincoln- He was a great leader who believed and trusted in people. Lincoln was Favorite thing about Bryson City: It is hard to even quoted in Opponents and Enemies, “Do narrow down to 1 favorite thing. I love our quaint good to those who hate you and turn their ill will little town in the middle of The Great Smoky to friendship.” I would love to know even during Mountains with 4 distinct seasons and a variety of times of turmoil, crisis, and betrayal how he activities for each season. maintained his calm and courageous demeanor and still looked for ways to embrace his enemies.

What one thing would you suggest to a visitor If we all incorporated some of his qualities, it as a “Must Do”? Again it is very hard to narrow would be a better world. down depending on interest and who is visiting.

My top 3 would be: 1) Train 2) Hike up beautiful Question for our next edition: Flashback to 10 Deep Creek 3) Visit Darnell Farms years old. What did you want to be?

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