Smoky Mountain Living, December 2016

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS | WINTER SPORTS | CANDY CANE BASKETS DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016/2017

Celebrating Southern Appalachians THE

HOLIDAY RECIPES | CHRISTMAS IN THE SMOKIES | RESOLUTIONS FOR 2017

Let it

Snow

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016/2017 • VOL. 16 • NO. 6

smliv.com

SEASONAL MUST-DOS & ICY ADVENTURES

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Resolutions for Higher Living Home Cooking for the Holidays

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Riverfront and Mountain homesites are available and our Home Plans Collection includes Cottages, Townhomes, Lodge Cabins, and Lodge Condos—all with a range of sizes to suit your needs and lifestyle.

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Obtain the Property Report required by federal law and read it before signing anything. No federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property.

This does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy real estate, to residents of any state or jurisdiction where prohibited by law, or where prior registration LV UHTXLUHG EXW KDV QRW \HW EHHQ IXOÀOOHG &XUUHQW GHYHORSPHQW SODQV DUH VXEMHFW WR FKDQJH ZLWKRXW QRWLFH DQG VRPH SKRWRJUDSKV PD\ GHSLFW DUHDV QRW ZLWKLQ WKH SURMHFW There is no guarantee that facilities, features, or amenities depicted or otherwise described will be built or, if built, will be of the same type, size, or nature as depicted RU GHVFULEHG :H ZLOO XVH \RXU FRQWDFW LQIRUPDWLRQ WR SURYLGH \RX LQIRUPDWLRQ DERXW XV H[FHSW ZKHUH SURKLELWHG E\ ODZ :H DUH LQ FRPSOLDQFH ZLWK 7LWOH 9,,, RI WKH &LYLO Rights Act of 1968. We have not and will not discriminate against you because of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or handicap.

EQUAL HOUSING

OPPORTUNITY

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The holiday countdown has started — lists are made and clocks are

OLD-FA ONED

ticking. A camp stove for Johnny; a cast iron skillet for Suzanne;

CHRI

TMAs

a leather journal for Joe — with an eclectic mix of surprises for your entire family, the best gift is your step back in time.

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M A S T G E N E R A L S T O R E .C O M •

Contents

FEATU RE STO RIES

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS A dozen of our favorite holiday destinations around Southern Appalachia offer mountain merry-makers a bit of everything—from homespun traditions such as open-hearth cooking and Yule log burning to festive glamour and glitz.

BY BECKY JOHNSON

PAGE

46

HOME COOKING FOR THE HOLIDAYS This time of year, there’s always room at the table for one more special dish. A feast of new cookbooks celebrating regional cuisine offer recipes for classic Southern mountain dishes with a twist: Think stuffing made from salt-rising bread, fried chicken brined in bubbly, even possum paté.

PAGE

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THE SKY’S THE LIMIT With a new year comes new resolutions, and these mountains offer plenty of inspiration for higher living. Whether you hope to hike more or stress less, eat better or give back, Smoky Mountain Living offers an only-in-Southern-Appalachia guide to making 2017 your best year yet.

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Where Luxury meets

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a golf experience second to none awaits Set deep within the Virginia Highlands, The Virginian is a private, residential community with an Award Winning Golf Course. Now offering a National Membership for your area to allow you to enjoy the best of this Tom Fazio-designed course. The course is highlighted by a vineyard, y ďŹ shing, horseback riding, mountain biking, tennis and more. Memberships begin at $2500 initiation fee and $150 per month dues. Limited availability.

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Contents SWEET APPALACHIA

DEPA RTME N TS

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Comforts for the mountain soul—from a transporting vintage portrait of a boy in the Smokies to a recipe for floral bath salts. Plus: Stay fresh this winter by growing salad greens inside, hunkering down with a trio of new books by local authors, listening to the latest album of one of the region’s most imaginative bands, and learning about a savior of early Smokies history.

MOUNTAIN EXPLORER

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Whether you wait out the season by the fireplace or crave the burn of fresh snow on your cheeks, these mountains crackle with cold-weather activities.

For those who prefer the indoors, stoke your creative fire at open studios, art markets, and the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Meanwhile, snow and ice lovers of all ages get their chills and thrills at a range of winter adventure destinations.

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ON THE COVER Snow blankets a quilt barn in Ashe County, North Carolina.

PHOTO BY SHARON CANTER

AT THE PARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

CONNECT WITH US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 PHOTO ESSAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

STORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Good Living 4

Southern Appalachian Mountains Gallery Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Select Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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55,946 946 feet up on n a mountain a you enter a difffferent world.

Fall colors give way to a blankeet of white, then c come the blooms of spring. But the wonder of Grandfather a Mountain knows no o season. Or equal. w w w. g ra n d f a t h e r. c o m

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GR RANDFATHER® MOUNTAIN WONDERS NEVER CEASE

November 10 December 1, 8, 15, 22 Holiday Thursdays Shopping Specials, Downtown Marion

December 1-31 Blue Ridge Artisans Show & Sale McDowell Arts Council, Marion

December 3 Appalachian Potters’ Market McDowell High School, Marion

888- 2 3 3 - 6 111 | w w w . b l u e r i d g e t r a v e l e r s . c o m Details on these and other local events are online. Call to receive a FREE visitor guide and map.

DISCOVER PROPERTIES & COMMUNITIES AT HOME AND ON THE GO ON beverly-hanks.com

When you’re ready to search for a home that’s as breathtaking as our mountain views.

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for prices and photos.

Advanced searches and detailed community information.

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COMMUNITY OFFICES LOCATED THROUGHOUT THE REGION Downtown Asheville North Asheville Biltmore Park Hendersonville Waynesville Lake Lure

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

EQUAL HOUSING

OPPORTUNITY

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR Community

As a kid, I whipped up my share of mud pies and looked forward to summer camp and

Publisher/Editor . . . . . . . . . . . Scott McLeod scott@smliv.com General Manager . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd ads@smliv.com Sales Manager . . . . . . . . . . . Hylah Birenbaum hylah@smliv.com Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . Katie Knorovsky editor@smliv.com Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Bumgardner travis@smliv.com Graphics . . . . . . . Micah McClure, Emily Moss Finance & Admin. . . . . . . Amanda Singletary Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd, Whitney Burton, Amanda Bradley Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Collier Contributing Writers . . . . . . . Leah Ashburn, Jim Casada, Cassius Cash, Diane Cutler, Maryellen Kennedy Duckett, Ashley English, Will Harlan, Michael Reno Harrell, Don Hendershot, Becky Johnson, Holly Kays, M. Linda Lee, Jeff Minick, Jen Nathan Orris, Jocelyn Reese, Fred Sauceman, Chris Smith, Chris Wilcox Contributing Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Johnny Autry, Nick Breedlove, Terri Campbell, Bob Carr, Lynn Filtenborg, Holly Kays, Vonda B. Magill, Mary Meiners, Greg Passmore, Jon and Regina Phillips, Gary Pinholster, Mark Roberts, Susi Gott Séguret, Larry Smith, Evan Sung, Bonnie Waigand, Noah Wiese Contributing Illustrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mandy Newham-Cobb Smoky Mountain Living has made every effort to ensure listings and information are accurate and assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

For advertising information, contact Hylah Birenbaum at 866.452.2251 or hylah@smliv.com.

For editorial inquiries, contact Katie Knorovsky at katie@smliv.com.

Smoky Mountain Living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Queries should be sent to Katie Knorovsky at katie@smliv.com. ©2016/2017. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reprinted without the express, written consent of the publisher.

Smoky Mountain Living is published bimonthly (Dec/Jan, Feb/Mar, Apr/May, Jun/Jul, Aug/Sep, Oct/Nov) by SM Living, LLC, 144 Montgomery Street, Waynesville, NC 28786. Periodical Postage paid at Waynesville, N.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: please send address changes to Smoky Mountain Living, PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786.

SECOND STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

VOL. 16 • NUMBER 6

games of Kick the Can with my cousins on our grandparents’ farm. But most days I could be found inside, nose in a book. Sometimes my parents would find me reading on the staircase on the way up to my bedroom—apparently too eager to turn the page to find a proper chair.

I’d stay like that for hours. My hometown in eastern Iowa was light on adventure, so I cultivated my imagination through the exploits of the characters in my books, from Laura Ingalls Wilder to the Boxcar Children.

When I lived in Washington, D.C., words consumed my days as a magazine editor, so I didn’t read much fiction.

Instead I escaped to the city’s art museums, finding respite from the stresses of city life in the brushstrokes of the masters. During my last year there, I also started practicing yoga frequently, attending as many as four or five classes a week—slipping out of the office over the lunch hour and planning my commute around studio schedules. I had never been more stressed or more flexible.

A few months after relocating to Asheville, I realized my yoga practice had largely fallen by the wayside. How could it be that my devotion had wavered in, of all places, a city that Yoga Journal named one of the country’s top 10 yogafriendly towns? I came to understand that my lifestyle here felt so much more balanced that I no longer felt the same urgency to constantly hit refresh. Especially during the first few months of living in Western North Carolina, I explored the surrounding trails as often as I could. My husband and I moved here without knowing a soul, but the forests and mountains provided all the assurance we needed of our decision. Sometimes we made friends while hiking or biking; other times we simply connected with our new home.

When we let it, sense of place can sustain us; its opportunities can fill in the gaps in our lives. For that matter, our surroundings have the power to make us better, more well-rounded people. Southern Appalachia is particularly rich in motivation, whether your spirit seeks peace or purpose, direction or diversion.

In this issue of Smoky Mountain Living, we present a variety of ways that this region can help you feel more grounded, balanced, and engaged. Even for the resolution-averse, the ideas in this issue guarantee to help get the new year off on the right foot, from author Will Harlan’s resolution to discover all 54 constellations visible from Southern Appalachia to the pledge of Cassius Cash, the superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to get his hands dirty in service of the park.

My own sense of harmony comes from responding to the forces in my life. When my mind needs stimulation, I read more or travel somewhere new. When distractions drown out my inner monologue, I focus on my breath—whether in a yoga class, in the woods, or even while stirring dinner for my family.

Sometimes listening to ourselves means making hard choices. For me right now, that means stepping down as managing editor in order to focus more fully on my family and my writing.

My parting wish is that 2017 brings us all closer to a state of equilibrium.

— Katie Knorovsky, managing editor

When we let it, sense of place can sustain us; its opportunities can fill in the gaps in our lives.

For that matter, our surroundings have the power to make us better, more well-rounded people.

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AT THE PARK Community

Putting Diversity on the Map B Y H O L LY K AY S

T

he Great Smoky Mountains National Park occupies some of the most biologically diverse forest on the globe, and the recently competed Species Mapper offers the opportunity to explore that diversity from a computer screen.

The Species Mapper is an online database featuring a dropdown menu of more than 1,800 park species. Pick one, and an interactive map appears, showing where that species is likely to be found in the park.

“Prior to us building out this application, we were saying that the park has one of the greatest biodiversity footprints, but there was no way to convince the public of that,” says Tom Colson, the architect of the project, which came into being thanks to some $50,000 from the park budget as well as a partnership with the University of Tennessee’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and its School of Arts.

Tom Remaley, the park’s inventory and monitoring program manager, says they also hope to integrate the tool into interpretation programs in order to further educate youth on the myriad of species that live in the park.

That’s not to say the project is complete. In fact, Remaley and Colson are already embarking on phase two. They’re working to enhance the mapper’s ability, perhaps creating a smartphone app, as well as creating species groupings such as fall wildflowers or butterflies.

Over time, the Species Mapper will also include more species in its drop-down menu. The 1,500 currently displayed represent just a small subset of the more than 19,000 species that have been documented inside the park. Some of them were left out for good reason.

“There are species that if you release the information, there’s a possibility of harm coming to that species or the habitat that species lives in,” Remaley says. “Ginseng is very valuable. If you do a distribution map, you’re basically helping out the poachers.”

Some species need clarification of the data points. For Downy woodpecker. example, if data on black WOLFGANG WANDER/CREATIVE COMMONS bears were fed straight into the computer with no curation, the map would show that black bears prefer campgrounds as their habitat. That’s not really true, but many black bear sightings occur in campgrounds when bears become artificially habituated to human food. For most species, however, the team just needs more time to crunch the data into the Species Mapper.

The Species Mapper is available at science.nature.nps.gov/ parks/grsm/species.

Alum Cave Bluffs.

BOB CARR PHOTO

natural resources along the way. Workers repaired historic cable and handrail systems, reinforced hanging trail sections, reduced trail braiding, and improved drainage to prevent further erosion. As of press time, it’s expected the work will be completed by the end of November.

The five-mile Alum Cave Trail is one of several trails available to reach Mount LeConte, the park’s third-highest peak.

Friends of the Smokies’ Trails Forever program funded the project. Learn more about Trails Forever at friendsofthesmokies.org/trailsforever.

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ON THE TRAIL AGAIN TO ALUM CAVE

HAPPY GOLDEN SOUNDS OF YORE

A two-year effort to restore Alum Cave Trail, one of the most popular hikes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is now wrapping up.

Started in May 2015, the project required regular trail closures as crews worked to improve overall trail safety and protect the

On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music features artists such as Dolly Parton, Norman Blake, Kate Brislin, and David Holt performing tunes that Smoky Mountains residents would have been singing when the national park was developed back in the 1920s and 30s.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

The recently released CD from the Great Smoky Mountains Association features songs such as “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” and “Black Mountain Rag.” “This new album offers 23 never-before-released performances of the classic American folk music repertoire,” says Ted Olson, one of the album’s producers and a professor of Appalachian Studies and Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State University. “These remarkable performances reinterpret field recordings collected in the Smokies by folklorist Joseph S. Hall.”

The Park Service commissioned Hall, a trained linguist, to document the speech of Smoky Mountain folks who would be displaced by the park’s creation.

The album is available for $14.95 at smokiesinformation.org.

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

EVAN SUNG PHOTO

Community

Katie Button

Sharon Canter

Holly Kays

s the chef behind two popular downtown Asheville restaurants and the mother of a toddler, Katie Button is a master of spinning plates. And just when you might think her life couldn’t get more hectic, she’s come out with a new cookbook, Cúrate, named for her Spanish tapas bar that has earned her four James Beard Award nominations in its five years in business.

On page 69, she shares a holiday cookie recipe from the book.

To anyone who might think Spanish tapas sound out of place in Southern Appalachia, Button is quick to point out similarities between the cuisines.

“Spanish cooking isn’t about cooking something fast and throwing it on the table,” says Button, who was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and grew up eating her grandmother’s Southern food. “That low and slow cooking reminds me a lot of the cooking of this area.”

And no matter the cuisine, a dish is only as good as its components.

Appalachian ingredients, Button says, “make the food shine,” whether it’s using Sunburst trout instead of salt cod in her esqueixada (a Catalan salad with tomatoes and black olives) or whipping up panna cotta with local goat cheese, honey, and brandied peaches.

In fact, Button made it a priority to ensure her cookbook only uses products that can be found here. Learn more about Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food From an American Kitchen on page 69 and at curatecookbook.com.

hen Sharon Canter happened upon the tranquil scene that appears on the cover of this issue, she knew she had struck winter gold. A homemaker and freelance photographer in High Point, North Carolina, she and her husband love snow and are especially eager to explore Ashe and Watauga counties when blanketed in white. “As we passed this beautiful quilt barn, I quickly said, ‘Stop!’ The vibrant red barn with the Delectable Mountain quilt pattern sitting in front of snowcovered evergreens was captivating and too much to resist,” she recalls. “I still remember the quiet sense of peace along with the feel of the soft snowflakes on my face as I walked through the snow to photograph the barn. I photographed several beautiful winter scenes on that ‘snow day’ but none with more appeal than this one.”

riginally from Williamsport, Maryland, writer Holly Kays took the scenic route to the mountains of Western North Carolina.

After completing college in Virginia, she headed west to write for newspapers and explore mountains in Idaho and then Wyoming. Now a reporter and outdoors editor for the Smoky Mountain News as well as a regular contributor to Smoky Mountain Living, Kays spends as much time as she can exploring the region’s mountains—whether on foot, bicycle, or ski.

As her essays attest, she rarely hits the trail without her canine sidekick, Arti—a 4-year-old, 25-pound “ball of energy” named for Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt. “Hiking with her makes me braver, because despite her small size she’s quite scrappy, and her confidence is contagious,” Kays says. “It also makes me more eager to explore the mountains, because how can you not smile when every bend in the path is punctuated by a greeting from a galloping, tongue-lolling, happinessradiating Artemis?”

On page 30, Kays recalls crosscountry skiing on the closed-to-traffic Blue Ridge Parkway after a big snowfall last winter. “Winter is like a cosmic permission to stop, slow down, and enjoy a few evenings in. Unless, of course, it snows,” she says. “Then winter is all about seizing the moment—getting outside with your winter toy of choice and enjoying the white stuff with every ounce of your being until it melts away.”

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CONNECT WITH US

Nick Breedlove wrote about his favorite hike— to the summit of Pinnacle Park in Sylva, North Carolina—in the October/November 2016 issue.

Community

NICK BREEDLOVE PHOTO

Top Spots

W

hat's your favorite place in the mountains of Southern Appalachia? Smoky Mountain Living has recently launched a column dedicated to wild places near and dear to our hearts—favorite overlooks, trails, waterfalls, swimming holes, byways, and more. We're seeking essays and photos that illuminate what makes your spot special. See page 35 for an example.

Email editor@smliv.com with the subject line “Favorite Place” for the chance to be published in a future issue of the magazine. Please note: Though we know as well as you do that there are endless special places in this region, please narrow it down to one with a good story. Published essays may be edited.

Give the Gift of Smoky Mountain Living We hope each issue of Smoky Mountain Living helps you feel at home in Southern Appalachia—from the stunning photos taken by our readers to the recipes and stories that celebrate our people, culture, and heritage.

No matter where you gather with loved ones over the holiday season, you can give the gift of the mountains. When you subscribe to Smoky Mountain Living, receive one free subscription for a friend or family member. To redeem the offer, call 866.452.2251 or visit smliv.com (click on the “subscribe” button at the top of the homepage and include name and address for your free gift subscription in the “notes/comments” section).

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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PHOTO ESSAY Community

Jon and Regina Phillips On top of Round Bald, Roan Mountain, Tenn.

Greg W. Passmore Nantahala River Falls with snow (inset)

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tis the season for clean slatesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from

the pristine beauty of a fresh snowfall to the eternal promise of a new year. Our readers share their views of winter resolve.

Bonnie Waigand In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Lynn Filtenborg Cades Cove

Vonda B. Magill Sun rays and snowy mountaintops

Gary Pinholster January snow, Waynesville, N.C.

Winter came down to our home one night Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow, And we, we were children once again. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bill Morgan, Jr.

Jon and Regina Phillips Cades Cove

PHOTO ESSAY Community

“[No] matter what a waste Mary Meiners House Mountain Ridge Trail, near Knoxville, Tenn.

one has made of one’s life, it is ever possible to find some path to redemption, however partial.”

— Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

ach issue of Smoky Mountain Living features photographs taken by our readers. The February/March 2017 issue will highlight airborne adventures that offer fresh views of the mountains. Send us your best photos depicting a change of perspective in Southern Appalachia.

E

Email photos to editor@smliv.com by December 5; include information on where the photo was taken and by whom. Reader-submitted photos are unpaid but may be rewarded with publication in our nationally distributed magazine. Connect with us at smliv.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @SmokyMtnLiving.

Vonda B. Magill Along Cades Cove

Jon and Regina Phillips Winter under the stars at Spivey Falls

Mark Roberts Great horned owl Bays Mountain, Tenn.

Terri Campbell South Holston Mountain near Bristol, Tenn.

Gary Pinholster Maggie Valley, N.C.

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SWEET APPALACHIA COMFORTS FOR THE MOUNTAIN SOUL

AT THE WATERING HOLE In 1936, Civilian Conservation Corps photographer and landscape architect Edouard Exline took this photograph of a boy in the Smokies. Though the scene depicts a run-of-the-mill chore—drawing water from a well drilled on the property—it’s a favorite of Mike Aday, the librarian-archivist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. No matter what the season or weather outside, to Aday, the image evokes cold, clear water on a hot summer day. “I can almost hear the song of cicadas and the whisper of a warm breeze through the dry grass,” he says. “Was he daydreaming, looking into the depths of the well? Was he wishing he was somewhere else? Fishing perhaps, or sitting under the shade of a poplar reading a comic book?”

NPS, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK PHOTO

THE VIEW FROM HERE Sweet Appalachia

A Gift Worth Its Salt

BY ASHLEY ENGLISH

JOHNNY AUTRY PHOTO

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 6

E

ach October and May, I find myself relying on the kindness of strangers. This owes to the fact that twice annually, I bake, cook, make, or otherwise craft an array of items, label them, drive over to my friend Amanda’s house in Black Mountain, and spend a few glorious afternoon hours giving them away to people I, for the most part, don’t really know.

More accurately, I swap them with other women during her biannual Handmade Swaps. The highly coveted invite arrives a few weeks before the event’s date, requesting that we create a handmade, homemade batch of giftable items, and along with a simple potluck dish to share, come trade, swap, and gift the fruits of our labor.

From freshly laid eggs to jars of home-extracted honey, from framed photographs to aprons, the swap items are as diverse as the women gathered.

Spice blends, cough syrup, bug spray, skin cream, herbal tinctures, kefir granules, jam, cocktail bitters, elderberry cuttings—it’s all there. Amanda instructs us to pull a number out of a hat, which determines the order in which we take turns swapping. It’s asked that we bring no more than 10 items in total, and each woman returns home with an equal number of items as she brought. Before the swap portion of the event begins, we take time examining what’s on offer, and then gather together to share details and specifics on what each of us has brought.

The autumn swap, coming as it does rather close to the holiday season, typically finds me in an “others” frame of mind (come the spring swap, I’m in it for myself). I observe what’s being gifted and swapped, and then take some time to consider what might appeal to my loved ones. Does mom need elderberry syrup to get her through cold and flu season? Would my younger sister Theo like that essential oil blend for stress? Could I see my stepmom enjoying that framed photo of a black-eyed Susan? What I put into my swapping basket is largely informed by the impending time of gift giving.

Before the Industrial Revolution and the mass production of items it enabled, not only were the holidays characterized by drastically simpler giftgiving practices, by and large gifts were handmade and homemade. Here in the Smoky Mountains region, where steep, winding roads made access to cheap goods arrive even later than in other parts of the country, holiday gifts were typically small and hand-wrought. Items capable of being stuffed into shoes or stockings were the order of the day.

Despite my best intentions, every time I attend one of Amanda’s swaps, I always find myself looking for the same thing: bath salts. If someone has made bath salts, I make a beeline for them when my number is called. As simple as they are special, a hot soak in a naturally scented bath can feel like a luxury of the tallest order when your life is bustling and the days feel tremendously long. This holiday season, I invite you to mix up a batch of your own. Whether you opt to package them in a decorative jar as a gift or horde the entirety for yourself is completely up to you. Either way, don’t be a stranger to the simple splendor of handmade comforts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Candler, N.C., homesteader Ashley English is the author of seven books. See smallmeasure.com.

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Flower Power Bath Salts YOU WILL NEED 2 ½ cups Epsom salt 2 cups baking soda 1 cup sea salt 10 drops lavender essential oil 10 drops rosewood essential oil 10 drops sandalwood essential oil 2 tablespoons dried lavender buds 2-3 tablespoons dried rose petals

TO PREPARE 1) Place everything except for the lavender buds and rose petals into a food processor or blender. Process until the mixture is uniform in size and texture.

Transfer the mixture to a medium-size bowl.

2) Add the dried flowers and stir with a metal spoon until everything is fully combined.

3) Store the prepared bath salts in a covered jar until ready for use. When ready (or for gifting purposes), place about ¼ cup into a small muslin bag (you can find these at natural food stores, often in either the body care or bulk tea sections). Secure the top of the bag, and place into the bath while it is filling.

As simple as they are special, a hot soak in a naturally scented bath can feel like a luxury of the tallest order when your life is bustling and the days feel tremendously long.

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ROOTS Sweet Appalachia

SOW TRUE SEED PHOTO

Salad Days

C

hris Smith, the community coordinator of Sow True Seed— an Asheville-based company that specializes in open-pollinated, heirloom, and organic seeds—answers gardening questions in each issue of Smoky Mountain Living.

What can I grow indoors during the winter?

Eliot Coleman, author of The Winter Harvest Handbook, coined the term “Persephone months,” based on the Greek myth of Persephone. It’s a wonderful way to explain the winter period when daylight drops to less than 10 hours a day. At this point, plant growth slows to insignificance. Supplemental heat is not enough. You will also need full-spectrum grow lights. Check your local garden center for options.

So, one answer to the question would be: With enough heat and light, you can grow anything you want. However, I would urge some respect for the cycles of nature. Savor digging the soil as the ground thaws in spring and the first seeds are sown, allow yourself the anticipation of vine-ripened tomatoes in mid-summer, and enjoy the rambunctious wanderings of vining squash throughout your garden. Remember that good planning and a bit of green-thumbed luck can give you shelves of canned vegetables, baskets of root crops, fermented and pickled delights, winter squash, frozen corn, and a whole host of “stored summer” energy to eat.

However, I do understand the desire to grow things in the depths of winter. There is a psychological component to this, as well as the nourishment of fresh food. Once we

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enter the dark days of winter, I turn my attention to sprouts, microgreens, and salad bowls.

Sprouts are low-tech, low-energy, and high-nutrition. A mason jar and some screen will get you started, allowing you to soak and strain the seeds twice a day. You can sprout buckwheat, sunflowers, wheatgrass, radish, mustard, broccoli, peas, lentils, and a whole host of different-flavored seeds. You also don’t need the additional light, although you’ll get fatter, greener sprouts if you have it.

Microgreens are the next step from sprouts. By offering the seeds a small amount of growing medium, they develop a root network, and the sprouts grow bigger and leaf out.

The growing medium can be soil, or any number of specialpurpose products. Microgreens really benefit from supplemental light; without it you’ll experience scraggly and weak seedlings reaching out for the sun that isn’t there.

Salad bowls are my favorite. It tickles my British humor to use the plastic boxes in which you buy salad mixes from the supermarket as my growing container, making sure to puncture some holes in the bottom for drainage. I use a mix of potting soil and vermicompost (worm poop for super growth—no joke). Once the greens get to around four to six inches, I chop them with scissors about one inch above the soil. The greens will re-grow, which is why I call them cutand-come-again greens. Sow True Seed has an herb salad mix, which is perfect for this. You’ll certainly need additional lights for growing healthy winter salads.

Is there anything I can do to get ready for spring, even when the ground is frozen and the days are short?

January is named after the Roman god, Janus, who is often depicted with two heads—one looking back and the other forward. So it is with garden planning. The seasonal cycle of gardening always allows next year for trying again, but we also need to remember and learn from the past. Pay attention and take notes. If you did this last year, now is the time to read over your past observations and learn.

This is winter: a wood stove, a comfy chair, a cup of hot chocolate (whiskey optional), and a stack of seed catalogs.

Flip through once in dream phase, highlighting everything your heart desires. Then go through again with an element of realism. How big is your garden? Remember: There is never enough space.

Make sure you plant your reliable favorites, but I encourage you to always try something new. Check your old seed packets; most seeds will last many years if stored dark, cool, and dry. If you’re worried, you can take 10-20 seeds and try sprouting them on a damp paper towel to get a rough germination rate.

Once you have a semi-realistic idea of what you want to plant, you should sketch a garden plan. This can be as rough or as pretty as you like, but the aim is to get closer to reality with each step. This is when you realize your 10 heirloom tomato varieties just won't fit. You’ll sacrifice, trade, and barter with yourself and soon be making hard decisions and finding out what is truly important. Get creative, remember you have containers, hanging baskets, potato towers, and that yet-to-be-used patch of dirt. You’ll always over-plant, but that’s OK too.

Email your gardening questions to ask@sowtrue.com. Sign up for a free catalog and planting guide at sowtrueseed.com.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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READING LIST Sweet Appalachia

3 Cheers for Local Literature

BY JEFF MINICK

T

his year, the muses of literature by North Carolina authors served up a feast of nectar and ambrosia, which— were I not speaking metaphorically—would make for some sticky reading.

First up on the banquet table was Lee Smith’s Dimestore: A Writer’s Life (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2016, 202 pages, $24.95). In a series of essays, Smith conducts a tour of her past, highlighting those episodes that brought her from a girl in the isolated town of Grundy in Southwest Virginia to a novelist of national prominence.

In Grundy, Smith’s father owned the Five and Ten Cent Variety Store. Here Smith grew up helping her father in the store, work that afforded her many opportunities to observe the vagaries of human nature. From an upstairs window in her father’s office, Smith spent hours watching the customers and employees on the floor below. “I witnessed not only shoplifting, but fights and embraces as well. Thus I learned the position of the omniscient narrator, who sees and records everything, yet is never visible. It was the perfect early education for a fiction writer.”

One magical moment in this memoir occurs when Smith, by then enrolled in Hollins College, attends a lecture by Eudora Welty, the Pulitzer Prize winner who set her stories in the American South.

Smith, who had never heard of Welty, intended to cut the lecture until her professor, Louis D. Rubin, Jr., convinced her to go.

That lecture forever changed Smith’s life as a writer. Though the lesson would take a while to sink in, Smith realized she could write about what she knew: Grundy, the mountains, the old men who hung out on the benches downtown, the women who baked marble cakes for church socials, the hardscrabble people who farmed the surrounding hills and hollers. From that point on, Smith turned her imagination toward her own backyard.

In That Bright Land (Turner Publishing Company, 2016, 322 pages, $17.95), Terry Roberts, a Western North Carolina native living in Asheville, also writes with a personal knowledge of his subject: the unrest and violence in Madison County both during and after the Civil War. As in many counties of Western North Carolina, Madison’s native sons, including several of Robert’s relatives, had enlisted in both the Confederate and Union armies. This split of loyalties led to hard feelings, atrocities, and guerrilla warfare.

That Bright Land tells the story of Jacob Ballard, formerly a spy in the Union Army, who is dispatched to Madison County to investigate a series of murders of former Union soldiers. Ballard, who grew up in Madison until his father died, uses as his cover the post

22

of a claims investigator for disabled Union soldiers, a position allowing him the freedom to roam the mountains and ask questions without arousing suspicions. During these travels he encounters historic figures such as Zeb Vance and James Patton as well as places like the Warm Springs Hotel, with its 300 rooms and a dining room seating 600. In addition to tracking down the murderer, Ballard eventually falls in love with Sarah, the woman who helps mend the places broken in him by the war.

One quibble with this otherwise extraordinary book: At the end of part one, chapter eight, Ballard lies wounded in a Union hospital.

One night a man named Walter—it’s clearly Walt Whitman, who served as a nurse during the war—wordlessly slips a hand beneath the sheets and brings Ballard to orgasm. This scene, two paragraphs in length, had nothing to do with the story, though it did leaving me wondering whether Uncle Walt was really prowling the hospital wards and arousing wounded soldiers.

Ron Rash’s The Risen (HarperCollins Publishers, 2016, 253 pages, $25.99) tells the story of two brothers dominated by a sadistic grandfather, a physician who wants his grandsons to follow him into medicine. It’s the summer of 1969 in Sylva when young Eugene and Bill Matney meet a free spirit who goes by the name of Ligeia. She entrances the young men, though eventually Bill, the older and more practical brother, realizes Ligeia is manipulating them toward her own ends. Later that fall, Ligeia vanishes from their lives, disappearing as mysteriously as she appeared.

Or has she vanished?

Forty years later, we discover that Bill, a prominent surgeon, and Eugene, a failed writer and a drunk, have secrets regarding Ligeia and their private “summer of love.” Whatever the circumstances of her disappearance, the events of that summer and its terrible aftermath thrust Ligeia back into their lives. Between them, the brothers must hammer out the events of that long-ago time to arrive at the truth of what happened not only to Ligeia, but also to them.

The Risen is about choices and what those decisions do to us.

“You make choices in life,” the grandfather frequently tells Bill and Eugene, “and you must accept the consequences of those choices.”

Though Eugene is the narrator of this tale, it is Bill who fascinates us, Bill who knows the truth about Ligeia’s fate and who acts on that truth and guilt by becoming a better man, beloved by his wife, his children, and his patients.

Three fine books, all of them set in the highlands and all appearing within months of one another, stand as further testament to the vitality of Appalachian literature. The authors—Lee Smith, Terry Roberts, and Ron Rash—have, as some folks around here still say, “done us proud.”

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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LISTEN HERE Sweet Appalachia

A River Runs Through Them B Y J E N N AT H A N O R R I S

T

he Asheville music scene is rising rapidly, both in Southern Appalachia and on the national stage. River Whyless, a four-piece folk group from Asheville, makes waves with a wash of harmonies and lush violin melodies on its new album, We All the Light.

The voices of Ryan O’Keefe, Halli Anderson, and Daniel Shearin soar above percussion by Alex McWalters. Shearin adds musical texture on bass and banjo, as well as harmonium, a hand-held reed organ. Here Shearin talks about crafting the album and keeping ties with Asheville.

Describe the creative process of making this album.

This one was like a really open book.

We started with one batch of songs and had a very distinct vision for them and things just weren’t working out. For one reason or another we decided to put those on the back burner and open up this new batch of ideas, which consisted of some songs, some choruses, some riffs, some things that were created on the spot. We went up to this place in Maine where a friend of the band has some land. He said we could hang out in the woodshed for a week and just write music. So we went up in this really picturesque part of Maine, right on a bay in the middle of a bunch of cedar trees, and set up shop.

River Whyless was part of WXPN’s World Cafe series “A Sense of Place.” Host David Dye came to North Carolina to interview bands that represent the spirit of Asheville.

What did you want to convey about this region?

We love Asheville. Once you start gaining people’s trust and making your way into the circles here, everybody is really welcoming and really supportive. There’s not that cutthroat mentality that we seem to experience in other cities. When we’ve been on the road for a month, coming back over those Blue Ridge Mountains on the way home is always very refreshing and welcoming.

The band has gotten a great response to this album, both from fans and national media. What is it like to represent Asheville on this larger platform?

I haven’t really thought of us as ambassadors on a national level, but on all the personal levels where we meet people, Asheville comes with very high regards from us. It’s quite an honor to be included in the World Cafe “Sense of Place” and to be spoken of as part of all the different sounds of

JETHRO WATERS PHOTO

What was the energy like between the four of you?

Each morning when we were in Maine, the four of us would carry logs from one side of the forest to the other for about an hour each morning. It got us working together and communicating early in the morning, and by the time we got down to the woodshed we all felt like we were already used to the idea of working together and communicating to achieve the one goal.

You play banjo, bass, cello, guitar, and harmonium. The band has even included a typewriter as percussion. What attracts you to these different instruments?

We all really like texture—musical textures—and you can

24

achieve that with all sorts of things: everything from a typewriter to a thumb piano to screwing around with your guitar and putting things in it that make it sound different.

Then there’s a harmonium, which adds an ambient layer, with a nice wash behind the music. It’s just experimenting, honestly.

Asheville. To see that on an NPR page is really humbling and really a sincere honor that we’re very blessed and humble to have.

You’re touring the country this fall. Why do you maintain these ties with the Asheville music scene, like the instore show you did this summer at Harvest Records?

The scene is so supportive and full of love. It’s a really bustling little scene on all levels of art, not just music. It’s something we always want to be actively involved in. I always try to do anything like the Harvest Records show whenever we get the chance. Things like that are what make a community.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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PROFILE Sweet Appalachia

A Man of the People

BY JIM CASADA

I

t’s become a familiar story: With the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934, early park bureaucrats attempted to rewrite history by presenting the land largely as a primeval wilderness instead of preserving the folkways of the bustling communities that had once prospered here.

In fact, much of that vibrant culture may have been lost if it weren’t for the diligent work of two men—Hiram C. Wilburn, an engineer by training whose first exposure to the park came while working with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and park ranger Charles Grossman.

Tasked with developing a plan to preserve aspects of existing mountain culture, Wilburn and Grossman collected and interpreted noteworthy artifacts for curious tourists. Unfortunately the concept underlying their mandate was one based on falsity—to showcase “the complete isolation,” general backwardness, and “limited quarters” of mountaineers.

Fortuitously the pair, and Wilburn in particular, had an eye toward preservation. In that regard they contrasted sharply with many of their superiors, most notably J. Ross Eakin, the first superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, who had minimal interest in celebrating the area’s history. Thanks to Wilburn’s vision and tireless collecting efforts, vestiges of a vanished way of life survive.

Viewed through the lens of time, Wilburn should be reckoned something of a hero, although his background and training made him an unlikely one. Born in the crossroads village of Cross Keys in upstate South Carolina, he studied at Clemson Agricultural College (now Clemson University) and completed his degree in 1908.

NPS, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK PHOTO

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

Details of how he came to live in the mountains of Western North Carolina are somewhat murky, although extant photographs and other evidence suggest he may have settled in the region as early as the first decade of the 20th century (photographs of Horace Kephart taken in 1904 or 1905, his earliest years in the Smokies, are often ascribed to Wilburn). At some point in this period Waynesville became Wilburn’s home and would remain so until his death in 1967. It was where he and his wife, Ara, raised their four children and became pillars of the community.

For a time Wilburn worked as a land surveyor in North Carolina and then, with the onset of the Great Depression, he became an engineer with the CCC. That, together with the fact that he had already established something of a reputation as a local historian, thanks to his research on topics ranging from Native Americans to old turnpikes, likely explains his choice to be part of the small team charged with handling whatever historical preservation would come with the park’s creation. Once on board with the GSMNP, Wilburn proved to be a veritable fount of ideas.

Some, such as his wish to turn Cades Cove into a sort of living outdoor museum demonstrative of mountain life “after the Norwegian and Swedish manner,” were grand in scale and eventually adopted in part (though he is seldom, if ever, given credit for the concept). Wilburn also felt it would be a good idea to undertake oral history projects, an approach to studying the past that would not gain solid footing until decades later. The NPS never really followed his suggestion of collecting stories and personal accounts of mountain folkways from those displaced by creation of the park “before they moved from the area,” although fortunately Joseph S. Hall, in a series of independent visits to the region in the late 1930s and 1940s, did monumentally important work in this arena.

At times Wilburn could be prone to stereotyping mountain people, although he seemed to do so with no animus or intention to sensationalize. Rather, he stumbled into this minefield with good intentions but also burdened by something almost every “outlander” faced in studying Appalachian folkways; namely, he wasn’t “from here.” Even so, Wilburn managed to establish solid relationships with those displaced by creation of the GSMNP. He took scores of photographs of local people and places, some of them beautifully composed and indicative of a man who was highly competent with a camera. He could not have obtained these images without having established a comfortable understanding with mountain folks. Even more telling is the manner in which he acquired artifacts—well over a thousand of them, including treasured items such as guns, from those being displaced.

Sadly, Superintendent Eakin ignored or belittled Wilburn’s endeavors. Reading between the lines of their correspondence, one senses the bureaucrat considered Wilburn a bothersome gadfly harping away on inconsequential matters. To Wilburn’s credit,

Thanks to Wilburn’s vision and tireless collecting efforts, vestiges of a vanished way of life survive.

WILBURN’S PAPER TRAIL The primary collection of Hiram Wilburn's papers is found in his adopted home town of Waynesville, North Carolina, housed in the North Carolina room of the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Western Carolina University holds a collection of Wilburn photographs, and the archives of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are the repository for extant correspondence connected with his endeavors to preserve artifacts of pre-Park folkways. There are also several hundred items related to his researches on the Welborn/Wilborn/Wilburn families of Virginia and the Carolinas in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, and that endeavor produced a privately printed book, Welborn-Wilborn HistoryGenealogy (1953).

official disinterest—which at times approached disdain—in no way deterred him. He was a man on a mission and some of his extant letters to Eakin clearly show his exasperation. For example, he was furious when CCCs crushed a lovely old stone wall on Palmer Creek into gravel, and he peppered Sugarlands with plans for a “living” pioneer museum that would have allowed a few mountain folks to continue their traditional way of life. When he realized history was getting short shrift, Wilburn wrote: “Violence is being done and there might result damaging public criticism.” He even went so far as to encourage area newspapers to print articles favorable to his views.

At the time his efforts were pretty much to no avail, and the recommendations contained in a 63-page report he co-authored, “Report on the Proposed Mountain Culture Program for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” were largely ignored. To a certain degree, the problem persists. As park historian Margaret Lynn Brown wrote a decade and a half ago, the time has long passed when the park should “quit pretending that no one ever lived in the Smokies. The sacrifice of those who left can be remembered and honored.”

For decades the fruits of Wilburn’s labors gathered dust at Oconaluftee Visitors Center, stored in areas lacking proper temperature and moisture control or indeed much of any type of historical preservation protection. Similarly, access to archival materials, despite dedicated staff doing all they could to facilitate research, was made difficult by factors such as cramped space, storage issues, and lack of facilities for researchers. Thankfully that has to some degree changed with the construction of new display facilities at Oconaluftee and archival storage space in Townsend.

Without the devotion of Wilburn and a few others with a passion for the past, a window to that colorful and meaningful past would have been closed forever. Posterity owes Hiram Wilburn a lasting debt of gratitude.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Casada is the author of the forthcoming book, Profiles in Mountain Character, which will feature 35 notable personalities including Wilburn. See jimcasadaoutdoors.com.

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MOUNTAIN EXPLORER ROVING THESE HILLS AND VALLEYS

Jennie Cockrell performing â&#x20AC;&#x153;Strange Daughtersâ&#x20AC;? during the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. DONATED PHOTO

MAKING ASHEVILLE EVEN WEIRDER Fifteen years after making its debut, the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival returns January 26 to 29 with a spectacle of all things avant-garde. Dedicated to bringing experimental art into the spotlight, the festival serves as a laboratory for more than 30 performing artists to present new works. Anything goes, from puppetry and monologues to art installations and fire painting; at some point during the festival, a flashmob-style display of butoh (a Japanese dance form) will take over Lexington Avenue in downtown. Though many fringe festivals focus on putting outof-town acts on stage, the Asheville festival stays true to its homegrown spirit with local artists dominating the lineup.

Performances take place around Asheville; past venues have ranged from small theaters and music venues to brewery back rooms and even the LaZoom comedy school bus. The festival features free as well as ticketed events. ashevillefringe.org.

OUTLOOKS

The sun sets over Maggie Valley and Cataloochee.

Mountain Explorer

HOLLY KAYS PHOTO

Winter’s Pinnacle B Y H O L LY K AY S

I

t was 20 degrees, snowing, and I was alone with my dog in a trackless middle of nowhere. I couldn’t have been happier.

When I left Wyoming behind to move to the Smokies, I’d accepted that giving up cross-country skiing would probably be part of the deal. And that was a significant consideration, because quite honestly it’s one of my favorite things. Yet here I was in the snowcovered Appalachians, a mere 13 miles from home, my cheeks pleasantly chilly as the rest of my body surged with the endorphinboosting heat of exercise. The gentle squeaking of my skis was the only noise, it seemed, until I paused to draw in the more subtle sounds drifting through the woods. The snow-bearing breeze caused branches to swish and rustle, and when I strained hard enough I’d swear I could hear the snow falling, the soft chink the flakes made as they fell, one by one, onto the foot-high crystallized bed awaiting them.

It was hard to believe that this solitary place was actually the Blue Ridge Parkway, the National Park Service’s most visited unit. During the course of a year, the 469-mile road gets 15 million visitors to its winding curves and breathtaking views, but with the road closed for winter, today its sweeping vistas were mine and mine only. I drank in the view from that first overlook, of Maggie Valley and Cataloochee spread out so sleepily inside their mist of snow and cold.

A new sound broke the silence. I swiveled to see another pair of skiers making their way uphill, pulling off at that same overlook.

As often happens in small mountain communities, a bit of small talk revealed that while we didn’t know each other, we had some 30

acquaintances in common—some of whom, I was surprised to hear, were also cross-country skiers with whom I’d be destined to cross paths before the weekend was over.

My new friends offered to go on ahead, taking over from me the difficult task of trail-breaking. While I am a glutton for the exhilaration of skiing through unbroken powder, I was grateful for the offer. Anyway, it wasn’t too much longer after that that the breeze acquired a sharper bite and the temperature dipped below the comfort level for my thin-furred canine.

It was time to go home, but the mountains can be like a drug, sometimes. The next morning, I woke up with the craving.

It’s amazing how much a landscape can change in just a few hours. Where the previous day had been ruled by powdery snow and a cold, cloudy sky, this new dawn was all blue skies and sun, the snow a little wetter, a little softer. And instead of breaking trail, as I had yesterday, this time the tracks were laid out in front of me, slick and easy to follow.

Maybe too easy, because that combination of joyful sunshine and snow-covered scenery made it just about impossible to turn around. I passed the bridge where I’d called it quits before and decided to check out the Forest Service road intersecting it that I had learned about from my ski buddies from the day before. There were tracks on that road too, probably theirs judging by the fact that I’d seen their car parked at the trailhead again this morning.

So I kept going, and before I knew it I was cruising to the entrance of Mile High Campground, nearly four miles from where I’d begun. True to its name, the campground was high up with plenty of photogenic views of the peaks and valleys surrounding it,

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

so I took the opportunity to break out the camera I’d been hauling all weekend long and document the beauty surrounding me. Then I unhooked the skis, lay down in the snow, and just savored the sensation of snow-borne chill seeping through my gear, offsetting the sweat of my struggle to the top.

That could easily have been the pinnacle of this weekend of snowy adventure. Here I was at 5,400 feet, alone with the mountains and my dog, set to have seven miles under my belt by the time the day was over. How could it be better?

But the mountain craving doesn’t disappear that easily. My skis were still in the car as my Monday wound down, and after work I found myself once more driving the now-familiar route to Soco Gap. The sun hung low in the sky, and by the time I made it to the first overlook south of Soco it was living out its last moments above the horizon. The sky over Maggie Valley was shot with pink, a saturated gleam resounding from the now icy snow that covered the roads and rooftops below.

I pulled out the camera one last time and made a picture that I’ll always be proud of—not so much because of any exceptional photographic quality but because the image is one that the mountains yield only to those who push the hardest.

The snow was hard and crusty as I sailed down the slope, the jagged ice sharp enough to draw blood when I took a tumble. This would be the last ski on this snow, I knew.

But that was OK. I’d had my pinnacle.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Holly Kays is profiled on page 9.

The Blue Ridge Parkway’s scenic route and wide road cuts make it an ideal spot for adventurous cross-country skiers to enjoy a good snowfall. HOLLY KAYS PHOTO

When I strained hard enough I’d swear I could hear the snow falling, the soft chink the flakes made as they fell, one by one, onto the foot-high crystallized bed awaiting them.

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 6

FIELD GUIDE Mountain Explorer

Mom turns her back to the cold wind and nurses her cubs. It’s a scenario every new mother knows: In the beginning, the 10-ounce cubs nurse every 10 minutes or so.

Mom cuddles them closely, especially in the beginning because they are born hairless. The cubs will be covered in fur in about six weeks, but until then they only have Mom and her milk for warmth.

Mama bear doesn’t have it any better than most mothers. She sleeps when she can but spends most of her time and energy taking care of her new babies.

According to Stiver, Mom emerges from her den about three months later, in April—new furballs in tow to greet the Appalachian spring.

ABOUT MAMA BEARS IN THE SMOKIES

JON & REGINA PHILLIPS/J & G PHOTOS

New Beginnings

BY DON HENDERSHOT

A

January snow covers the forest floor in the Smokies. The cold wind spits sleet and more snow and shoves the 200-year-old yellow birch back and forth.

But in the heart of the birch, 50 feet above ground in a clawed-out, leaf-lined den, a female black bear is giving birth to two tiny cubs. “They’re about the size of a coke can when they’re born,” says Bill Stiver, supervisory biologist at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

y Stiver notes that females generally have a smaller home range than males. If food is plentiful, a female is often content with a home range of two square miles or less.

When food is lacking they may travel miles searching for a meal, but when it’s time to den they generally return to their home range, some even returning to the same den site. y Females, especially pregnant ones, generally den early in the Smokies—by late November, early December— and they search out secure den sites. y Bears in the Smokies, especially females, are known for denning in tree cavities, often high above the ground. y Bears don’t have collarbones, so if they can get their head through a cavity opening they can get inside. y The female bear’s milk is metabolized directly from her body fat and is twice as high in calories as a human mom’s milk. This is good for the cub but draining on the mom as she may lose as much as half a pound a day in body weight by converting fat to milk. y The average lifespan of a mama bear in the Smokies is seven to eight years. The oldest female recorded by University of Tennessee was 27.

Mama bear

sleeps when she can but spends most of her time and energy taking care of her new babies.

As you take to the trails in the Smokies, remember: There’s been a bear before you, and there will be a bear behind you.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Don Hendershot is a naturalist in Waynesville, North Carolina.

33

GO WILD

when snowfall is light and days are short. But be warned— Hawksnest tubing sessions sell out fast, so booking tickets online is the best bet. Hawksnest is located off of N.C. 105 in Watauga County, North Carolina. hawksnesttubing.com.

Mountain Explorer

Best On Ice B Y H O L LY K AY S

F

ew things bring out the child within like a blanket of white and some good old-fashioned fun in the snow. No need to wait for a snowstorm in your backyard; these spots in the Smokies offer high-caliber adventure all winter long.

CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA One of the first ski areas in the Southeast to open each year, Cataloochee Ski Area features 18 slopes, three aerial lifts, and two moving carpet lifts to satisfy skiers, snowboarders, and snow tubers. Get the kiddos started on the slopes with the HEAD Kids Adventure Center or take a lesson yourself—and if you find yourself in the market for some healthy competition, try your luck with the ski races held multiple times a week after the new year. Located in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, Cataloochee is 35 miles from Asheville, three hours from Atlanta, and just under two hours from Knoxville, Gatlinburg, or Greenville-Spartanburg. cataloochee.com.

HAWKNEST SNOW TUBING PARK Just down the road from Grandfather Mountain State Park, Hawknest Snow Tubing Park claims to be the largest snow tubing park on the East Coast, with 30 lanes ranging from 400 to 1,000 feet long. The lanes are divided into four different areas, providing an array of terrain to satisfy tubers of all ability levels. And because all lanes have snowmaking and lighting capabilities, wintry thrills are available even

BEECH MOUNTAIN With 30 miles of maintained trail, snowshoes for rent, and plenty of snow, Beech Mountain, North Carolina, is the place to go for a sport that’s hard to experience in the Southeast. Beech Mountain Parks & Recreation offers dozens of pairs of snowshoes for rent at hourly, half-day, and full-day rates with ample possibilities for everything from extensive excursions to simple walks around the one-third-mile walking track surrounding the Buckeye Recreation Center. Would-be adventurers also have the option of booking a guided adventure with the recreation department staff. With an elevation of 5,506 feet, Beech Mountain straddles the Avery-Watauga county line in North Carolina, north of Banner Elk near the Tennessee border. beechrecreation.org.

OBER GATLINBURG If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for winter adventure, try Ober Gatlinburg. A 140-by-75-foot indoor ice rink stays open year-round, and the Wildlife Encounter exhibit introduces visitors to river otters, bobcats, birds of prey, fly squirrels, turtles, and more. There’s even a black bear family, though they’ll be in hibernation for much of the winter. Snow-wise, Ober Gatlinburg offers slopes for snowboarding, skiing, and tubing—including a freestyle terrain park. And when the weather gets cold, indoor shops and restaurants offer plenty of opportunity for a warm-up.

Ober Gatlinburg is just up the mountain from downtown Gatlinburg, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. obergatlinburg.com.

KNOXVILLE is the place to be if you want to ice skate, with two rinks available to find a public skate session, get started with an ice sport like hockey or curling, or even catch a Christmastime performance. Both the Ice Chalet and Cool Sports Ice Complex offer daily public skating sessions, with group rates available as well as individual and group lessons. From December 6 to 10, the Ice Chalet hosts The Nutcracker on Ice, a wintry rendition of the Tchaikovsky classic (tickets range from $15 to $25). chaleticerinks.com, coolsportstn.com.

CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA PHOTOS

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

FAVORITE PLACES

The author and her infant son take in the vista from the boardwalk of the Rough RIdge Overlook, off the Blue Ridge Parkway. NOAH WIESE PHOTO

Mountain Explorer

When the Going Gets Rough B Y K AT I E K N O R O V S K Y

I

t’s not uncommon to find church, or at least sanctuary, in the mountains. On a Sunday morning hike early last spring, I also came face to face—or foot to slippery rock, in this case—with a trail of metaphors for new parenthood.

My husband, our five-month-old, and I had spent the weekend in North Carolina’s High Country and were heading home to Asheville.

With our baby napping in the backseat, we decided to take the scenic route, by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Between Blowing Rock and Linville we planned to stop at the Rough Ridge Overlook, where a short hike along the Tanawha Trail leads to a boardwalk offering a stunning panorama overlooking the Linn Cove Viaduct.

As we pulled onto the parkway near Boone, the skies opened up, a hard-driving rain pelting our windshield. But this was spring in Southern Appalachia, so just as we decided to ditch our hiking plans, the downpour stopped, making way for blue skies and sunshine. The baby stirred in his carseat; we shrugged our shoulders at the timing and pulled over at milepost 302.8.

I strapped on our baby carrier and tucked in my son—his chest pressed against mine, legs bowed out at my hips like a frog. As soon as we stepped onto the trail, we realized our good fortune was not without its caveats. At first, it was just a bit of mud reminding me to tread carefully. Then, puddles of water filling the center of the trail forced us to awkwardly step from rock to rock, and me to steady my balance with a hand on my husband’s arm.

As the trail became more and more washed out, and our footing ever more precarious, it became increasingly necessary to take each step in tandem in order to keep ourselves—and our defenseless child—upright.

We’ve never turned back on a trail, and didn’t want to start now.

But this supposedly quick leg-stretcher—a mere third of a mile uphill from the parking area—was putting us to the test: Was it foolish to forge ahead? Selfish even? Underneath those immediate worries was an unspoken question driving our stubborn perseverance: Were we cut out to be mountain parents? Was a little rain really enough to dampen our plans? Surely we could handle a few puddles.

Because the climb involved such intense focus, we were a quiet bunch. I couldn’t help but reflect on the parallels between our conundrum and life as a new mom—first and foremost the way a baby complicates even a seemingly simple walk in the woods. Whether I’m carrying my son in a canvas pouch or nursing him, my body sustains his. My husband, although steady in his support and essential to our well-being, walks separate from us, free to choose to stay in lockstep or stride a few paces ahead.

Eventually, step by careful step, my family worked together as a team and arrived at the boardwalk, a 200-foot ascent over fragile vegetation that spans the Rough Ridge crest of Grandfather Mountain. Alone except for a photographer with a tripod, we stood on the wooden platform and silently breathed in the scene: peaks rippling like the sea, a foamy layer of clouds, a horizon that stretched endlessly. Our five-month-old seemed unimpressed, but for me, few vistas have ever been quite so sweet.

The slippery slog back to our car was just as nerve-wracking as the way up, but the summit had refreshed our spirits. By the time we got back to our car, our son had fallen asleep again and the clouds had taken back over, obscuring the views from the parkway.

As uncertain as we had felt, our timing, it turned out, couldn’t have been better.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

WWW.SMLIV.COM

Katie Knorovsky is the managing editor.

35

ARTS Mountain Explorer

To Market, To Market

BY MARYELLEN KENNEDY DUCKETT

C

elebrate the season—and the creativity of Southern Appalachia— at one or more of these markets, fairs, and arts communities.

GATLINBURG CHRISTMAS CRAFT SHOW The annual Christmas Craft Show at the Gatlinburg Convention Center offers a one-stop shop for buying holiday gifts made in the Smoky Mountains. More than 100 local artisans—including broom makers, weavers, wood turners, and photographers—from the nearby Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community (thought to be the largest group of independent artisans in North America) gather under one roof for seven days of demonstrations and sales. No worries if you can’t make it to their annual holiday show: The same vendors have workshops and galleries open year-round along the eight-mile Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community Trail, a historic loop road located three miles from downtown. Craft Show: November 28 to December 4; Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m; Gatlinburg Convention Center, Tennessee; gatlinburgcrafts.com.

TOE RIVER HOLIDAY STUDIO TOUR Follow the roads less traveled to discover secluded art and craft studios, many of which typically aren’t open to the public. The self-guided Toe River Holiday Studio Tour route leads into bucolic hollows and past scenic vistas between Mount Mitchell and Roan Mountain. Stops include the working studios of more than 70 artists and craftspeople (some share a studio) plus nine galleries. Except for one or two invited guest artists, all of the people on the tour live and create in Yancey or Mitchell Counties. There’s something for sale (such as clay, fiber, glass, and metals) at every studio, and at some stops you can watch artists at work. Studio Tour: December 2 to 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; Yancey and Mitchell Counties, North Carolina; download tour maps at toeriverarts.org.

KNOXVILLE’S MARKET SQUARE HOLIDAY MARKET Downtown Knoxville’s decorated rooftop trees and twinkling lights add a festive backdrop to the Market Square Holiday Market, hosted by Nourish Knoxville (an East Tennessee nonprofit cultivating deeper connections between local farmers, artisanal producers, and the community). The outdoor market showcases vendors who live within 150 miles of Knoxville, and who grow or make the items they sell. Shop for holiday gifts ranging from honey, jams, and beef jerky to clothing, jewelry, cutting boards, and children’s toys. There’s also a farmers market (open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) where you can pick up potatoes, whole turkeys,

36

The Toe River Holiday Studio Tour includes artists such as glassblower Kenny Pieper (top) and works by ceramist Becky Gray (above).

TOE RIVER ARTS COUNCIL PHOTOS

eggs, butternut squash, and other ingredients for your holiday feast. Holiday Market: December 3, 10, and 17, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; nourishknoxville.org.

ASHEVILLE’S BIG CRAFTY HAND TO HEART HOLIDAY Voted Best Arts/Crafts Fair eight years in a row in the annual Mountain Xpress readers’ poll, the Big Crafty is held twice a year—outdoors on Pack Square in July and indoors at the U.S. Cellular Center in December. Whether inside or out, the Big Crafty is all Asheville: quirky, welcoming, fun, and devoted to “keeping it weird.” The Hand to Heart Holiday edition features a juried group of more than 150

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

indie artists, crafters, and makers.

Past participants include Those Kooky Chickens, a self-taught folk artist couple who primarily create whimsical (you guessed it) chickenthemed pieces from recycled and reclaimed wood, gourds, and other materials. Big Crafty: December 4, noon to 6 p.m.; U.S. Cellular Center; thebigcrafty.com.

FIRESIDE SALE AT JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL There’s no place like home for the holidays, particularly when “home” is the rambling Craftsman bungalow Keith House at the heart of the John C. Campbell Folk School. During the annual Fireside Sale, guests are welcomed in with a crackling fire, sweet and savory treats, and halls decked with handcrafted wreaths and ornaments. Browse the selection of traditional and Appalachian crafts—such as turned-wood and clay bowls, quilts, and jewelry—on display in Keith House and in the Music Studio at Davidson Hall (where you can visit with local and regional artists). As an added bonus, everything in the Folk School’s Craft Shop, which represents more than 300 juried craftspeople, is 15 percent off throughout December. Fireside Sale: December 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Brasstown, North Carolina; folkschool.org.

ASHEVILLE’S RIVER ARTS DISTRICT Make most any day an open studio tour day in the River Arts District (RAD) of Asheville. Located along a roughly one-mile section of the French Broad River, the RAD is home to some 200 working artists including potters, painters, textile artists, and bookbinders. New in time for holiday shopping is the EcoDeport Marketplace (ecodepotmarketplace.com). Artists here either donate a percentage of profits to environmental groups, or create art from recycled or reused materials. Visit the marketplace to see how artist Nancy Basket turns invasive kudzu vines into lampshades, greeting cards, sculptures, and, yes, baskets. Yearround, days and times vary.

Download a 2016 Studio Guide at riverartsdistrict.com to see what studios are open when (some are by appointment only).

WWW.SMLIV.COM

37

FOOD TRADITIONS Mountain Explorer

A Sweetness That Lingers

BY FRED SAUCEMAN

T

here is no visible sign. The exterior of the building is nondescript, with no distinctive architectural features. It sits well outside the Bristol, Tennessee, business district, in a neighborhood, actually. An old Studebaker repair shop and the Shelby Street Church of God flank the unassuming structure. Their missions are clear: Fix cars and save souls.

Ken and Mike Ratliff make candy cane baskets the same way Ken’s parents did in the 1950s. LARRY SMITH PHOTO

38

But a first-time visitor would have no way of figuring out the purpose of the mysterious business at 1416 Shelby Street, unless the company van happened to be parked outside.

Inside, a dark and labyrinthine walk through tight doors and around a maze of tables leads to a spot in the very back of the building, where a father and son are boiling water and sugar in an ancient kettle.

You have entered a candy wonderland. Pure sugar-stick candy has been made here for over 60 years. Ken Ratliff and his son Mike work elbow to elbow, handling molten hot liquid, manipulating gas flames, and struggling to keep volumes of family candy-making knowledge from dying away.

Today the cities of Bristol, Tennessee and Virginia, define themselves largely through country music and NASCAR. In 1927, Victor Records talent scout and producer Ralph Peer came to town and recorded the likes of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Stoneman Family. Those Bristol Sessions would come to be known as the “Big Bang of Country Music,” as Johnny Cash once said. Bristol Motor Speedway, which seats about 150,000 people, is known as “the world’s fastest half mile.” It has hosted races since 1961.

But there was an era when the two Bristols were also defined by their confections. At one time in the middle of the 20th century, the cities were home to some 10 different candy companies, all making versions of the pure sugar-stick candy so popular in the Appalachian Mountains. That candy, often packaged in a stark white box with a single red stripe around it, was a Christmas treat for many generations of mountain children. Sometimes it was their only Christmas present.

Today, those ten companies have dwindled to two.

On the Virginia side, Helms Candy Company has been in continuous operation since the year 1909. Its product line has expanded over the years to include fruity lollipops and nutraceutical products like Get Better Bear Sore Throat Pops, but the company continues to make peppermint stick candy. Red Band and Virginia Beauty are two surviving brands. Horehound sells big in the wintertime, when folks claim it cures colds.

On the Tennessee side of the divided city, Ratliff is the only remaining candy producer. With so much competition in the candy business in the 1950s, Ken’s father Lewis and his mother Hattie had to differentiate their product line. What they came up with was the candy cane basket, and they taught their son the technique. Grandson Mike Ratliff is the company’s third-generation basket maker.

Despite the Ratliffs’ low-key approach to advertising and promotion, Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan got wind of the baskets and

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

With so much competition in

the candy business in the 1950s, Lewis and Hattie Ratliff had to differentiate their product line.

What they came up with was the candycane basket.

Mike Ratliff braids a candy cane handle.

LARRY SMITH PHOTO

carried them in the company catalog for several years. Aretha Franklin became a customer, too.

And an order once came in from First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who used the baskets to decorate for Christmas in the White House during her husband’s presidency.

Helms Candy may employ a couple of dozen people or more, depending on the season. But at Ratliff, the work force rarely exceeds two. In the course of an hour, Ken and Mike turn that kettle of hot amber liquid into handmade works of art. On a pulling machine that dates to 1912,

the amorphous goo becomes white candy.

When the Ratliffs first pour the liquid onto the cooling table, they knead and fold it with a metal spring from a Model T Ford, the same spring Lewis Ratliff used all his candy-making life. The molds that Hattie created for the shaping of the basket handles are still in use today.

Ken and Mike have made thousands of runs of candy, but they still marvel at how the product turns white when you pull it, and they love to watch reactions when a smell of pure peppermint flavoring is offered to the nose.

Ken says Mike is the best striper he has ever seen. A jacket of stripes wraps around a huge hunk of candy, which is then placed on a batch roller and turned into ropes. Those ropes are fashioned into baskets. Customers keep them for years.

“And he’s the best braider I’ve ever seen, too,” Ken says as his son takes two ropes of candy and, in a few deft motions, shapes a handle that he soon attaches to a large red and white basket.

This college political science major and his son, a former baseball player, don’t seek recognition for their work. They tell me they grant usually one magazine or newspaper interview a year. But as Bristol honors NASCAR drivers, country music legends, and, most recently, goes wild over college football, its candy makers deserve a place in the annals of the Twin Cities, too. Considering the ever-decreasing number of craftspeople who practice it today, their quiet art is poignantly sweet.

Fred Sauceman’s latest book is Buttermilk & Bible Burgers: More Stories from the Kitchens of Appalachia, published by Mercer University Press in Macon, Georgia.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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39

IN GOOD TASTE Mountain Explorer

Beyond Moonshine

BY M. LINDA LEE

B

orn in the dark hollows of the Appalachian Mountains, America’s distilling heritage bubbled up in the 18th century with the Scots-Irish settlers who brought their knowledge of making grainbased alcohol with them to the new world.

BLUE RIDGE DISTILLING Tim Ferris distilled whiskey and other spirits as a hobby in his garage before opening Blue Ridge Distilling in 2010. At his North Carolina distillery, Ferris crafts his signature single-malt Defiant American Whiskey in a 1,000-liter, custom-made German copper still. “Unlike what they do in Scotland, we use no peat to smoke the barley,” Ferris says, “so Defiant is a uniquely American expression of a single-malt whiskey.” Aging in American white oak accounts for notes of honey, toffee, and caramel, with a smooth finish.

Ferris is in the midst of creating an estate-style distillery by incorporating a former Girl Scout camp nearby. In addition to the 17-acre lake and hiking trails set on what Ferris calls “550 acres of heaven,” Camp Golden Valley will eventually offer an event center, cabins, and an additional tasting room.

Tours and tastings weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; weekends by appointment. 228 Redbud Lane, Bostic, North Carolina.

828.245.2041. defiantwhiskey.com.

COPPER FOX DISTILLERY Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Sperryville, Virginia, Copper Fox Distillery was established in 2005. After tasting his way through singlemalt whiskeys in Scotland, owner/distiller Rick Wasmund hatched the idea to malt and smoke his own barley. Instead of using peat, as they do in Scotland, he uses apple and cherry wood. His best-seller, Wasmund’s Single Malt Whiskey, is made from 100-percent hand-malted local barley aged in repurposed bourbon barrels to which he adds

40

fruitwood “tea bags.” This novel approach lends additional layers of flavor to the spirit.

Named for his copper still and the animal in Asian folklore that traditionally communicates with spirits, Copper Fox embraces innovation. “I want to be adding something new to the conversation, versus making small batches of what everyone else is doing,” Wasmund says.

Tours and tastings Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m. 9 River Lane, Sperryville, Virginia.

540.987.8554. copperfox.biz.

DARK CORNER DISTILLERY A native of South Carolina’s Dark Corner, a historic haven for moonshiners in the northeast corner of Greenville County, Joe Fenten grew up hearing stories about “white lightning.” So it’s not surprising that he applied his electrical-engineering degree to launching a micro-distillery in Greenville in 2011. Fenten and his team distill spirits over an open flame in an 80-gallon hand-hammered copper pot still that he helped build.

Among their aged whiskeys, Louis Redmond is the flagship.

Named for a notorious Dark Corner moonshiner, this bourbon whiskey has buttery notes rounded out by nutty red wheat.

Other unusual offerings include absinthe and Jocassee Gin, a new American-style gin incorporating hand-harvested honeysuckle and magnolia. “We are making classical spirits using time-honored techniques passed down from our local ancestors,” Fenten explains. “And as engineers and scientists, we’re putting our own spin on them.”

Tastings Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 14 S. Main St., Greenville, South Carolina. 864.631.1144. darkcornerdistillery.com.

PETE DEZZI PHOTO

Today, in place of stills hidden from the revenuers in the backwoods, some 2,000 legal craft distilleries across the United States welcome visitors to tour and taste.

Joe Fenten, founder of Dark Corner Distillery in Greenville, South Carolina, sees the micro-distillery trend as a desire “to get back to America’s roots, to a time when products were handmade locally with pride.” Whether it’s nostalgia for the past or a desire to connect to the local food movement—as Greg Beauchamp, a distiller at Mayberry Spirits in Mount Airy, North Carolina, believes—America is clearly intoxicated by craft spirits.

Below is a sampling of small-batch distillers across the Southern Appalachians. Cheers to a high-spirited holiday— no moonshine necessary.

MAYBERRY SPIRITS Adding to the appeal of tiny Mount Airy, North Carolina—aka Mayberry as the birthplace of the late actor Andy Griffith—Mayberry Spirits produces three sorghum-based, gluten-free whiskeys (one is a

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

MATTHEW & LILLY SHARF PHOTO

moonshine). Toasted Oak, aged in oak barrels to which charred oak chips are added to speed up the extraction process, is the quaff preferred by most traditional whiskey lovers. Distiller Greg Beauchamp claims that adding the oak chips yields the depth of flavor of whiskey aged in oak for 18 months in only a matter of weeks. “The Toasted Oak is 100 proof, but sorghum has a smoother finish, making it oaky and sweet,” he says.

Mayberry Spirits also produces pure cooking extracts, and for the Toasted Vanilla whiskey, second-run Madagascar vanilla beans are added before the whiskey is aged, producing a spirit with subtle vanilla on the finish.

Tours and tastings Friday noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5:30pm. 461 N. South St., Mt. Airy, North Carolina.

336.719.6860. mayberryspirits.com.

SMOOTH AMBLER SPIRITS Tag Galyean and his son-inlaw John Little wanted to start a business that would honor their home in Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia, so they settled on making spirits using local grains and mountain water. Opened in 2010, Smooth Ambler now distributes its products to 33 states and 8 overseas markets. The company makes five in-house spirits—Whitewater Vodka, Greenbrier Gin, Barrel Aged Gin, Legal Hooch (moonshine), and Smooth Ambler Yearling Wheated Bourbon. According

Smooth Ambler co-owner John Little evaluates one of his whiskeys.

VALERIE COLELLA PHOTO

to Val Colella, the retail sales manager, Smooth Ambler’s workhorse is Old Scout 7 Year, which she describes as an “exceptionally smooth high-rye bourbon that exhibits deep caramel and pepper notes with aromas of cherry pipe tobacco.” Old Scout is part of the distillery’s Artisan Merchant Bottled line, worthy spirits which they buy elsewhere, hand-bottle on-site, and bring to market in small batches.

Tastings weekdays, 2 to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tours Friday, 2 and 4 p.m.; Saturday, noon and 2 p.m. 745 Industrial Park Rd., Maxwelton, West Virginia. 304.497.3123. smoothambler.com.

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AROUND BACK AT ROCKY’S PLACE The Ultimate Folk Art Gallery in the South!

Representing a plethora of self-taught artists.

Best selection by artist “Cornbread” in the Universe! Established 2002.

3631 Hwy. 53 E. at Etowah River Rd. Dawsonville, Ga. • 706.265.6030 aroundbackatrockysplace.com Sat. 11-5; Sun. 1-5 BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS ARTS ASSOCIATION AT THE ART CENTER Come visit one of the largest fine art and fine craft gallery experiences in North Georgia at The Art Center. The Art Center is home to the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association and features multiple gallery spaces showcasing a variety of regional artists and one-of-a-kind artwork.

420 W. Main St. • Blue Ridge, Ga. 706-632-2144 • blueridgearts.net Tues.-Sun. 10-6

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BURTON GALLERY Welcome to Burton Gallery, a northeast Georgia tradition of fine art and craft. Paintings, pottery, wood, jewelry, folk pottery, and other handmade work by local artists.

150 Burton Dam Rd. • Clarkesville, Ga. 704-947-1351 • burtongallery.net THE FOLK POTTERY MUSEUM The Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia showcases the handcraft skills of one of the South's premier grassroots art forms, and will explore the historical importance and changing role of folk pottery in Southern life.

283 Hwy. 255 • Sautee Nacoochee, Ga. 706.878.3300 • folkpotterymuseum.com

GUIDE

T

he Southern Appalachians have a rich artistic history. As long as folks have lived in these majestic landscapes, they’ve been molding, shaping and putting together items that serve not only practical purposes but also aesthetic ones, too. From weavers to potters, painters to metalsmiths, glassblowers to woodcrafters, these artisans reflect generations of heritage and innovation. Promoting and perpetuating this beauty are the galleries that are as unique and varied as the artists themselves.

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EXPLORE

THE GOLDEN CARP An eclectic assortment of home accessories, artwork and fine gifts. Design work, staging and consultations available for residential and commercial.

107 Webster St. • Dillsboro, N.C. 828.586.5477 • thegoldencarp.com GREEN ENERGY PARK The Green Energy Park is an award-winning, renewable energy art center that provides enhanced economic development, environmental protection, and unique educational opportunities for the community. The GEP offers public classes and demonstrations in glassblowing and blacksmithing, and allows studio rentals to support local artists.

828.631.0271 • jcgep.org THE JEWELER’S WORKBENCH The Jeweler’s Workbench specializes in unique handcrafted jewelry, limited edition watches, kinetic art and other artistic gifts and treasures.

Featuring over 50 artists from the Great Smoky Mountain region and from across the country.

On-site repairs and custom design and work.

80 N. Main St. • Waynesville, N.C. 828-456-2260 • thejwbench.com

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Michele P. Connors

OPEN 7 DAYS PER WEEK markofthepotter.com | 706-947-3440 9982 Hwy. 197 N. | Clarkesville, GA EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

330 Lincoln Ave. Ormond Beach, FL 32174

(386) 265-6380 www.etsy.com/shop/MimisOriginalArt.com

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MARK OF THE POTTER The oldest crafts shop in Georgia in the old Grandpa Watts’ Gristmill, celebrating over 45 years in the same location. Mark of the Potter features handcrafted pottery, a potter working weekends, and other crafts. Don’t miss the best view on the Soque River with generations of huge brown and rainbow trout (protected, of course).

706.947.3440 • markofthepotter.com MIMI’S ORIGINAL ART, INC. Representing self-taught artists that use impressionist styles, with vibrant and exciting colors captured on pillows, cards, coasters and more. You can entertain and decorate from favorite scenes and famous cities. mimioriginalart@gmail.com 386-265-6380 SMOKY MOUNTAIN DULCIMERS Mountain lap dulcimers and “Masterworks” hammer dulcimers. Mark Edelman has been playing and building the mountain dulcimer for over 35 years! Mark says you will be truly amazed at the simplicity of learning to play the Mtn. Dulcimer and he guarantees that we can teach you a simple tune in 2 minutes.

5 miles from Gatlinburg in Morning Mist Village 601 Glades Rd. #27 • Gatlinburg, Tenn.

865.325.1610 smokymountaindulcimers.com

SUSAN MARIE DESIGNS With visionary talent and skills acquired in thirty-three years as an award-winning goldsmith, Susan Marie transforms nature’s most exceptional gemstones, diamonds and pearls into wearable contemporary elegance. As a G.I.A. Graduate Gemologist, she selects the most vibrant and highest quality cut stones to create fine jewelry.

Four Biltmore Ave. • Asheville, N.C. 828.277.1272 TPENNINGTON ART GALLERY Teresa Pennington is a self-taught colored pencil artist who renders, in amazing detail, the scenery and landmarks of western North Carolina and beyond. See her distinctive work at TPennington Art Gallery in downtown Waynesville, N.C. 15 North Main St. • Waynesville, N.C. 828.452.9284 • tpennington.com

WAYNESVILLE GALLERY ASSOCIATION The Waynesville Gallery Association is represented by 9 unique galleries: Burr Studio, Cedar Hill Studio, Earthworks Gallery, Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery & Gifts, The Jeweler’s Workbench, the mahogany house art gallery and studios, TPennington Art Gallery, Twigs and Leaves Gallery, and Village Framer.

The group promotes and participates in Art After Dark which happens the first Friday evening May through December. waynesvillegalleryassociation.com THE WILLOWS POTTERY Creating functional handmade stoneware since 2003. Specializing in custom dinnerware and vessel sinks, we are proud to provide an excellent selection of locally made gifts.

7273 S. Main St. • Helen, GA 706.878.1344 • thewillowspottery.com

TWIGS AND LEAVES GALLERY Stroll down Main Street in Waynesville to find a unique gallery where art dances with nature.

Browse through an unforgettable collection of nature-inspired works by 150 primarily regional artists and crafts persons. Take home a piece of art that echoes the wonder of nature.

98 N. Main St. • Waynesville, N.C. 828.456.1940 • twigsandleaves.com

A Gallery WHERE

Art

Dances WITH

Nature

Add a little

WOW to her

Winter

Wonderland 80 N. Main Street Waynesville North Carolina

98 N. MAI N ST. • WAYN ESVI LLE NC • OPEN EVERY DAY 828.456.1940 • W W W.T WIGSAN DLEAVES.COM

828.456.2260 | www.thejwbench.com

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EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

DAYS of Christmas

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 6

Partridges and pear trees need not apply: These 12 holiday destinations around Southern Appalachia offer mountain merrymakers a bit of everythingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from homespun traditions to festive glamour and glitz.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

BY BECKY JOHNSON

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12 DAYS of Christmas

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REENACTORS FEASTING

Witness the Christmas traditions of yesteryear when you pass through the gates of Fort Watauga for Old Christmas. A frontier outpost during colonial times, the reconstructed Revolutionary War fort comes to life with period reenactors. Colonial Christmas traditions practiced by early settlers unfold in the fort’s cabins, and militia men stage drills and living-history demonstrations on the grounds.

The historic jollification is held in early January, paying tribute to the original 12 Days of Christmas practiced by our ancestors.

Starting on Christmas, 12 days of feasting and rejoicing crescendoed to a grand finale celebration—the origin of the famous song.

Reenactors share the origin of various customs, like English Christmas Guns, the Irish Holly Wreath, the German Tannenbaum, Scottish First Footing, and the Dutch Sinterklaas. y WHAT: Old Christmas, an historic reenactment of Christmas in colonial times. y WHERE: Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area, Elizabethton, Tennessee. y WHEN: January 7 and 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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y WHAT: Appalachian Coal Town Christmas. y WHERE: Beckley Expedition Coal Mine in Beckley, West Virginia. y WHEN: November 25-26 and December 2-3, 5 to 9 p.m. $10/adult and $5/child. y INFO: beckleymine.com or 304.252.3730.

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TREES A-CHOPPING

Hidden among the high-altitude forests of the Smoky Mountains, Tom Sawyer’s Tree Farm is a one-chop stop for holiday revelry.

After all, a pilgrimage to fetch a Christmas tree down from the mountains is an all-day excursion for most folks. “By the time they get here, the kids have been in the car for two hours and are so excited they’re running all over the place,” says Tom Sawyer, patriarch of the family-run operation. “It is an adventure.

You get the tree, but it’s about the adventure.”

So that’s what Sawyer delivers. Beneath the groves of his choose-and-cut tree farm in Glenville, North Carolina, lies the only known elf village in the contiguous 48.

After a jolly jaunt to pick a tree, families are free to roam the elfish abodes—including a Christmas storytelling house, a craft cottage with make-and-take ornaments, and Santa’s hut with St. Nick himself. Kids who really want to drive their message home can write letters to the North Pole and mail them on the spot from a tiny elf post office.

Sawyer encountered a slight hitch during the early incarnation of his ingenious vision. “I thought, ‘Where am I going to find elf

MINERS MINING

Cross a lump of coal off your Christmas list with a journey into a real mine during Appalachian Coal Town Christmas. Life wasn’t lavish in coal towns, but a stroll through this century-old replica of a mining village in Beckley, West Virginia, will leave you with a bittersweet hankering for humbler times.

“It wasn’t until after the Second World War that we began this march toward materialism, and it became about how much you got,” says Leslie Baker, director of the historic site. “Back then, it was more about shared experiences.”

Lights and greenery grace the camp, from the tiny miner’s shanty to the stately superintendent’s quarters and schoolhouse.

“We have a collection of buildings that lend themselves to decorating, and people on staff who just really love Christmas,” Baker

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says, recalling the origin story behind Coal Town Christmas over a decade ago.

Horse-drawn carriage rides, a marshmallow roast, and a make-and-take ornament add to the merriment. But the real high note is communal caroling in the village church, with a mug of cider in one hand and songbook in the other. The low point, technically speaking, is a quarter-mile trip below ground in an authentic miner’s cart with a veteran miner as your conductor.

Dig even deeper into coal heritage with a gander through the miner’s museum and unearth one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts in the refurbished company store, where coal jewelry and figurines offer a clever rendition of the infamous stocking stuffer. Round out the night with a short planetarium show and on-site Youth Museum fashioned from old railway boxcars.

Holiday décor festoons the re-created historic coal mining camp in Beckley, West Virginia, for Appalachian Coal Town Christmas. DONATED PHOTO

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

Re-enactor Rachel Bennett shares Christmas customs from the Old World as part of the Old Christmas celebration at Fort Watauga. The Washington County militia performs musket drills (above) that were part of frontier life at the fort. DONATED PHOTOS

WWW.SMLIV.COM

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12 DAYS of Christmas

Children wear costumes as they enter the elf village at Tom Sawyer’s choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm, where a visit with Santa awaits. FILE PHOTO

workers?’” Sawyer recalls. “So we decided to make elf outfits and give them to the children when they come in: They would be our elves.”

The grown-ups were roped in for good measure. “Everyone who comes into the elf village, adults and children, all have elf outfits on,” says Sawyer, whose wardrobe of elf smocks and caps runs 200 strong.

The immersion experience at Tom Sawyer’s even involves giving families a go at cutting their own tree with a handsaw. “A lot of families just want to try it, but eventually they come find one of our guys with the chainsaw,” Sawyer says.

There’s also a bonfire for roasting marshmallows, horse-drawn carriage rides, wagon rides pulled by an antique tractor, and a kid’s scavenger hunt. It takes 60 staff to man the operation on peak weekends.

“People rarely come just once. Once they come, it’s a tradition,” Sawyer says.

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y WHAT: Tom Sawyer’s Tree Farm and Elf Village. y WHERE: Glenville, North Carolina y WHEN: November 25 to the weekend before Christmas. Elf Village experience is offered on weekends only, but trees sold on-site daily. y INFO: tomsawyerchristmastreefarm.com or 828.743.5456.

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YULE LOGS BURNING

Glimpse Christmas as your great-greatgreat grandparents knew it. From the clink of a blacksmith hammer to the whir of a spinning wheel, reenactments at the Exchange Place in Kingsport, Tennessee, bring early America to life during Christmas

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

in the Country.

With seven original buildings dating to the 1830s and 1840s, the Exchange Place is the oldest surviving pioneer homestead in the region. Throughout the day, a Christmas meal is cooked over an open hearth following the recipes and techniques of yesteryear, from home-grown ingredients to authentic kitchen tools.

“It is a very hard job to do open-hearth cooking correctly—to be in front of the fire and cook it in an historical way,” says Heather Gilreath, a demonstrator with Eden’s Ridge Hearth Cookery Society. “It is very hot. The cast iron is very heavy. It takes a lot of prep.”

Preparing a true farm-to-table meal over an open hearth is nearly a lost art, but Gilreath lucked into a handwritten cookbook passed down by the original family who lived at Exchange Place. Plum pudding, cinnamon waffles, meat pie, salsify fritters, apple

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12 DAYS of Christmas

At Christmas in the Country, open-hearth cookers create old-fashioned holiday delicacies such as apple pudding baked in pumpkin shells. DONATED PHOTO

pudding baked in a pumpkin shell, and cookies in the shape of a sassafras leaf are among the kitchen concoctions to grace the Christmas table here.

A host of traditional crafters peddle their wares on the grounds, with Christmas wreaths and greenery selling like hotcakes. The day is capped off with a Yule log ceremony, a Nordic ritual traced to winter solstice celebrations during medieval times. A symbol of rebirth and renewal, the pagan Yule log was later wrapped into Christmas and widely practiced in early America.

Visitors who gather around the blazing Yule log can toss a sprig of holly on the fire to cast off the burdens of last year. After a few rounds of Christmas carols, a steaming cauldron of wassail is ladled out by the openhearth cookers.

“We gather around the fire and toast to the health of a new year,” says Marshall Adesman, a volunteer docent at the Exchange Place.

Traditionally, ashes from the Yule log were sprinkled on the fields for fertility, and visitors can take home a scoop of the ashes as a token of good luck for the new year.

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y WHAT: Christmas in the Country. y WHERE: The Exchange Place, an antebellum historic site in Kingsport, Tennessee. y WHEN: December 3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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SILVER TREES SHINING

The aluminum Christmas tree capital of the world: It’s a slogan some would rather not own, but Brevard, North Carolina, is gradually embracing its fate.

“We’re famous,” Pat Childress says with a wry laugh. Childress, the culprit behind Brevard’s infamous claim, is the curator of the gaudy holiday exhibit now in its sixth year at the Transylvania Heritage Museum.

“You can’t walk through without smiling,” Childress says. “Some people you can hear from one room to the next just cackling.”

The team of decorators call themselves a society, but gaining acceptance to the group isn’t hard. “Anyone can volunteer to adopt a tree to decorate,” Childress says. “And they do—because a lot of people are crazy like me.”

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

Forget the crocheted angels and ornament balls, though. The exhibit’s official name—the Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center—is not to be taken lightly. Crazy, zany, silly, funny, wacky, weird, wild, and downright ridiculous is the name of the game here.

The curators are not just aesthetically challenged—they are becoming space challenged as well. The collection is a magnet for more of its kind, now pushing three dozen.

“Every year, at least one person says ‘I have one in my attic, will you take it?’”

Childress says.

In fact, the inherent snowball effect is how the collection got started in the first place. After getting an aluminum tree as a gag gift one year, a local man fell prey to a standing joke, with more friends following suit each year.

“It eventually got too large for him. When he decided to liquidate his collection, we were in the right place at the right time,” Childress says.

It might seem like an odd niche for a heritage museum in the Appalachians, but Childress thinks it’s fitting. The region is known for its environmental stewardship, and ATOM has pitched right in by preserving the “distant cousin of our forest trees,” not to mention a nod to sustainability.

“It is a historic collection at this point,” Childress says. y WHAT: Aluminum Tree & Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center. y WHERE: Transylvania Heritage Museum in Brevard, North Carolina. y WHEN: Wednesday to Saturday, November 26 to December 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. y INFO: transylvaniaheritage.org or 828.884.2347.

Curators jazz up more than three dozen aluminum trees each year for the annual exhibit in Brevard.

DONATED PHOTO

WWW.SMLIV.COM

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12 DAYS of Christmas

The historic inns of Hendersonville (above, left) ring in the season with an annual tour. Children eagerly impart their lists to Santa (above, right) as he strolls Main Street during Franklin’s Winter Wonderland. DONATED PHOTOS

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HISTORIC INNS WELCOMING

Sample a taste of the season on the Holiday Tour of Historic Inns and Cookie Caper—a homage to heritage, a muse for your own décor, and a tribute to holiday desserts.

“At each inn, there is a cookie. I use that term loosely because it can be different goodies,” says Emily Sisler, with the Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission, which puts on the tour each year.

“We offer to provide the cookies but nobody has ever taken us up on that. In the past the inn owners have gotten a little competitive and are all trying to have the best cookies.”

The tour offers a rare public viewing of Hendersonville’s stately inns on a self-guided circuit, but beware of inn envy. “They do it up to the nines,” Sisler says.

The inn tour is one of many Christmas hats Hendersonville wears in December.

Donning the tagline Home for the Holidays, Hendersonville becomes a hub of comfort and joy.

“Holidays are all about family, and we wanted people to feel like they are coming home to a Christmas memory place,” says Beth Carden, director of Henderson County Tourism.

Every weekend in December, downtown is transformed into a vibrant Christmas card, 54

with caroling, carriage rides, Santa, an iceless skating rink, and s’mores. Throughout the month, visitors can take in a hometown parade, gingerbread house contest, Christmas craft show, live nativity scene, and holiday concerts—orchestra, band, and choral.

“There is nothing more inviting than a mountain experience for Christmas,” Carden says. “It is all about going somewhere and being excited about the memories you are going to create while you are there.” y WHAT: Home for the Holidays and Historic Inn Tour. y WHERE: Hendersonville, North Carolina. y WHEN: Home for the Holidays festivities begin Thanksgiving weekend, with the Historic Inn Tour from 1-4 p.m. on December 11.

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MERCHANTS MERRY-MAKING

Christmas comes to Main Street during the hometown Winter Wonderland celebration in the mountain hamlet of Franklin, North Carolina.

The town’s merry merchants set the stage for the Rockwell-esque holiday affair by decking the halls of their store windows with live Christmas scenes. Shop owners take pride in fashioning vignettes and recruiting

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

townsfolk for their window cameo.

“We never really know what to expect, whether it’s a kid around a Christmas tree with a toy train, a nativity scene, or musicians playing Christmas carols,” says Tony Angel, the special events coordinator for the town of Franklin. “One year we had six-foot-tall elves running around a tree placing presents.”

The clop of horse-drawn wagon rides, the smell of steaming cider served by shop keepers, and the glow of sidewalk luminaries fill the quaint downtown with the sights and sounds of Christmas. And the festivities wouldn’t be complete without a sighting of the jolly old elf himself.

“Santa is up and down the street meeting with the kids and asking them if they’ve been bad or good,” Angel says. y WHAT: Winter Wonderland, a hometown Christmas celebration fitting for a Norman Rockwell postcard. y WHERE: Franklin, North Carolina. y WHEN: November 26 and December 3, 5 to 8 p.m. y INFO: townoffranklinnc.com.

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BAVARIANS SHOPPING

Experience Christmas in the Alps without leaving the Appalachians. The Bavarian

12 DAYS of Christmas

backdrop of Alpine Helen, Georgia, serves up a picturesque holiday on high.

“When you come over the mountain into Alpine Helen, it is just like you have taken a turn and are in Germany. It looks like a winter candyland when we have our lights on for the holidays,” says Jerry Brown, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The town is alive with holiday festivities from the day after Thanksgiving, when Santa rings in the season with the ceremonial lighting of the town, to the Dropping of the Edelwiess on New Year’s Eve. The Christkindlmarkt, a shopping and food bazaar in the German tradition, puts the joy back in holiday shopping. Or stock up on gifts with an authentic ring at the Mistletoe Market, a Christmas arts and crafts fair held by the Alpine Helen Arts & Heritage Center.

Pack in an afternoon of downtown shopping for gifts with a German flair, sample pastries, tour one of the many area wineries, or raise a stein to the most wonderful time of the year.

You can even take home a full-loaded Christmas tree from the annual Festival of Trees auction. Trees decorated by local businesses and community members are on display for viewing and bidding, with funds supporting the needy through United Way. y WHAT: A Bavarian-themed holiday. y WHERE: Alpine Helen, Georgia. y WHEN: Events Alpine Mistletoe Market November 29; Christkindlmarkt December 3-4 and 10-11; downtown parade December 10; Festival of Trees on display through December 10.

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LIGHTS A-TWINKLING

Winterfest warms the soul with a melting pot of shopping, dining, attractions, and lights, serving up an all-in-one escape when the mountains come calling at Christmas.

“When the weather turns crisp, you just want to get away to the mountains. It just

feels like the holidays,” says Amanda Maples Marr, marketing director for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce.

The Christmas lights that set Sevierville, Tennessee, aglow go beyond the classic snowflakes and lamppost strings. Massive light displays festoon the main drags and evoke the Smokies’ unique sense of place— think bears catching trout, a leaping deer, or Old Man winter blowing snow in. The Sevierville Visitor Center even sells 3-D glasses for a buck to enhance holiday light viewing. To keep the Christmas cheer rolling all winter, Sevierville leaves its lights up through February.

Winterfest is a theme that captures the full gamut of a holiday retreat to the Tennessee Smokies. Sevierville’s sister destinations of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge hitch their sleighs to the Winterfest campaign, as well, a marketing message the trio has been telling on the mountain for more than 25 years.

Renting a cabin or chalet—think gas fireplace, hot tub, and game room—lets

Alpine Helen, Georgia, sets a picture-perfect holiday backdrop.

DONATED PHOTO

WWW.SMLIV.COM

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12 DAYS of Christmas

160,000 make a pilgrimage to the Barter Theater every year. But the holiday season is the most popular, with 40,000 theatergoers during the five-week Christmas run.

“We have become a Christmas destination,” Rose says. Something about the holidays lures people to the theater—not just as a pretext to show off your satin Christmas dress or favorite Santa tie.

“Christmas is really a bonding experience with your fellow human beings,” Rose says.

“Theater captures the essence of that holiday spirit. Families bond and do something collectively they will all talk about and enjoy.”

The Barter Theater puts on a suite of top-notch holiday productions, such as last year’s Miracle on 34th Street.

BARTER THEATER PHOTO

extended families stay together without invading someone’s home.

Christmas attractions abound, from swimming with Santa at Wilderness in the Smokies waterpark to Shadrack’s Christmas Wonderland, a 1.5-mile synchronized light and music holiday show. y WHAT: Winterfest in the Smokies. y WHERE: Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. y WHEN: All winter.

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PLAYS ENCORING

Nothing sets the stage for Christmas quite like the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia.

With three shows in play during the holiday season, the repertoire charms audiences with a classic Christmas tale, a Christmas comedy, and a Christmas performance for children.

“Whatever you like for Christmas, we pretty much have it,” says Richard Rose, the artistic director for Barter Theater.

The plays feature staggered show times— with five performances a day running concurrently on two stages—making it easy to see all three during a holiday getaway to the historic town of Abingdon.

The season’s headliner is always a traditional Christmas story, and this year it’s Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.

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“It is fun and theatrical and unique. Even if you have seen it before you will see something different, some new twist on it,” Rose says.

The year’s comedy, Over the River and Through the Woods, isn’t set specifically during Christmas, but is a rollicking and heartwarming romp about the love of family.

“It started selling the minute we announced it last October,” Rose says.

The historic playhouse, the longest-running professional theatre in the country dating to 1933, is famous for its top-notch productions and is a darling of theater critics. More than Santa and a cast of Christmas characters enliven a holidaythemed train ride in Blue Ridge, Georgia. DONATED PHOTO

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

y WHAT: Barter Theater’s Christmas production line-up, including A Christmas Carol, Over the River and Through the Woods, and All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth. y WHERE: Abingdon, Virginia. y WHEN: Multiple show times of every play all week, from Thanksgiving week through Christmas. y INFO: bartertheatre.com or 276.628.3991.

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TRAINS CHOO-CHOOING

Get Christmas off on the right track with a ride on the Santa Express. This holiday adventure wraps the magic of Santa and the

Shadrack’s Christmas Wonderland stages a light spectacular synchronized to music in Sevierville, Tennessee.

SEVIERVILLE CONVENTION AND VISITOR’S BUREAU PHOTO

Twinkle, Twinkle

Center in Asheville, North Carolina; Tennessee Smokies Baseball Stadium in Sevierville, Tennessee; Heritage Park Amphitheater in Simpsonville, South Carolina. Nightly from Thanksgiving through early January. shadrackchristmas.com.

HOLIDAY LIGHT DISPLAYS MAKE SPIRITS BRIGHT Each year for Enchanted Garden of Lights, the hillside gardens of Rock City are transformed into a nocturnal fantasyland with more than 30 holiday scenes. Explore the magical lighted scenes along the walking paths winding through Rock City’s unique geological wonders. Activities include a visit with Santa, cookie decorating, live music, and more. Rock City Gardens, Chattanooga, Tennessee. 6-9 p.m. nightly, November 18December 31. seerockcity.com.

12 DAYS of Christmas

At Bristol Speedway in Lights, two million lights illuminate a mesmerizing five-mile route, making it the largest light display in the South. Tour from your own vehicle, guided tram, or Polar Express-themed school bus. On-site activities include a real ice-skating rink, Christmas Village, and more. Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee.

Nightly from November 18–January 7. speedwayinlights.org.

An engineering feat and holiday marvel, the Shadrack’s Christmas Wonderland is a larger-than-life light show synchronized to music. As you drive through the towering displays, the choreographed lights leap and dance to holiday music playing over your car radio. Shadrack’s brings its jaw-dropping show to East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and Upstate South Carolina. WNC Agriculture

During Winter Lights, the N.C. Arboretum’s creative landscapes spring to life after dark with 500,000 lights.

Stroll three acres of winding paths and soak up the magic of the Arboretum lights interwoven with the artistic garden designs, along with animated light sculptures set to music. Then warm up with s’mores and hot chocolate.

N.C. Arboretum, Asheville, North Carolina. 6-10 p.m.

November 18-January 1. ncarboretum.org/ exhibits-events/winter-lights.

Mountain Country Christmas in Lights is more than a light display. This new event brings the community together in a celebration of Christmas spirit with music by local churches, art and craft vendors, holiday food, a visit with Santa, and hot chocolate and s’mores. Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee, Georgia. 6-10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. georgiamountainfairgrounds.com.

Roper Mountain Holiday Lights is a perennial holiday favorite for families in Upstate South Carolina. A 1.5-mile drive weaves past large light displays and sculptures—from Candy Cane Lane to a giant Caterpillar. Stroll the lighted walkways of Winter Wonderland village, with holiday performers, Santa Claus, concessions, and giant holiday greeting cards created by local students. Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville, South Carolina. 6-10 p.m. nightly from Thanksgiving to December 30. ropermountainholidaylights.com.

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Christmas finery, including a 35-foot-tall tree in the Banquet Hall, decks the halls at the Biltmore House. THE BILTMORE COMPANY PHOTO

mystique of a train ride into a single package, courtesy of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, stationed in the quaint town of Blue Ridge, Georgia.

The one-hour Santa Express ride evokes all the right touchstones of a child’s Christmas.

There are candy canes and caroling, hot chocolate and ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, appearances by the Grinch and Rudolph, and, of course, Santa himself with the lovely Mrs. Claus at his side. Children each get face time with Santa to impart their Christmas lists as he moves through the cars.

Looking for a longer journey? The Santa Pavilion train is a four-hour trip with a layover at a Christmas Pavilion for pictures with Santa.

Every passenger gets a commemorative

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bell—a great tree ornament back home.

“Some riders come every Christmas and have been collecting the bells for years,” says Rachel Gray, the ticket office manager at Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. “We have people come from all over the place. You name it, we’ve had them come.” y WHAT: Santa Express and Santa Pavilion train rides with Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. y WHERE: Blue Ridge, Georgia. y WHEN: Friday after Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, with multiple departure times. Saturdays only the first part of December, with daily trips the week before Christmas. y INFO: brscenic.com or 706.632.8724.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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AND A GIANT TREE IN A GRAND HALL

No one does Christmas like the Biltmore Estate. The grand manor in Asheville, North Carolina, tops the chart of America’s greatest holiday destinations.

“Our guests say it’s impossible to not be moved by the infectious cheer spread by the holiday show here at Biltmore,” says Marissa Jamison, a spokesperson for the Biltmore Estate. “Every nook and cranny is decked out for the holidays.”

This year’s Christmas theme at Biltmore is Hearth and Home, a telling testament to tradition. Biltmore’s immense hearths evoke warmth and hospitality, traits passed down at

12 DAYS of Christmas

the estate since 1895 when George Vanderbilt opened his home to family and friends for the first time on Christmas Eve. The Biltmore Estate has been enchanting guests during this special time of year ever since, topping 300,000 visitors during the Christmas season.

Planning begins a year in advance. By December, the in-house design team has jockeyed for dibs on which rooms they’ll each do the following year. Over the coming months, motifs are critiqued, sketches refined, color schemes polished, and material orders finalized. By October, the transformation toward Christmas is underway. The estate’s lead designer has earned the nickname Mother Christmas. “She thinks of something to do with Christmas every day of the year,” Jamison says.

The lavish, grand décor that drapes the home—there are miles of garlands alone— isn’t feasible to replicate, but an ‘ah-hah’

the head of the great Banquet Hall.

Christmas is the only season where guests can partake in an evening candlelight tour of the home, with blazing fireplaces, hundreds of luminaries, and live Christmas music.

Other festivities on estate grounds during the holiday season include free holiday craft seminars on topics such as wreaths and tabletop topiaries; visits with Santa; and the release of Biltmore’s special Christmas wine with a commemorative label by a commissioned artist. moment is common.

“Visitors may see the way a mantel is decorated and gain inspiration for their own home from that,” Jamison says.

Dozens of Christmas trees fill the Biltmore House. The crown jewel of them all—a 35foot tall giant weighing several tons—is delivered on a horse-drawn carriage and ceremonially hoisted to its place of honor at

Come see for yourself —

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y WHAT: Christmas at the Biltmore Estate, with lavish decorations of the Biltmore House, special candlelight tours, and Christmas festivities throughout the grounds. y WHERE: Asheville, North Carolina. y WHEN: Throughout November and December. y INFO: biltmore.com or 800.411.3812.

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 6

Home Cooking for the Holidays ’Tis

the season for good cooking. Whether your holiday food traditions have been set in place for generations or every year starts as a blank menu, there’s always room at the table for one more special dish. An array of cookbooks hot off the presses celebrate the diversity of today’s mountain cuisine—from biscuits and beans to the SpanishAppalachian flair of a renowned Asheville chef. From their kitchens to yours, the authors share a few favorites that would feel at home in any holiday spread.

Stuffing made from salt rising bread. JBN PHOTO WWW.SMLIV.COM

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VICTUALS The Washington Post called Victuals “a love letter to Appalachia, with recipes.” If those seven words aren’t enough to convince you to pick up Ronni Lundy’s new cookbook, the heartfelt narration and evocative photography inside should do the trick. Lundy, a Kentucky-born food writer now residing in Asheville, hits the road on a quest to uncover the foodways, people, places, and recipes of the Mountain South, from her great-aunt’s apple stack cake to Virginia chef Travis Milton’s sour corn. Here she muses on the role of beans in Southern Appalachia.

JOHNNY AUTRY PHOTO

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Shuck Beans or Leather Britches “Leather britches” or “shuck beans” refers to the method of preserving certain types of green beans by drying them in their pods.

Rehydrated and cooked, the skins take on the texture of silk and nearly dissolve on the tongue, while the beans are tender, rich, and velvety.

Shuck beans were traditionally strung on thread and hung in a dry place out of sunlight until they fully dried. The beans shrivel and curl as they dry, and the story goes that they looked like leather britches that had gotten wet and then dried out, hence that name. Shuck beans, which is what my family and many folks call them, or shucky beans, as others say it, refers to the fact that they were dried “in the shuck.” (Beans that were popped out of their shuck, or pod, were called “shell-outs” or “shellies.”) And in a very few parts of the southern Appalachians, shuck beans are referred to as “fodder beans.”

When the beans are dried, they can be put away in cloth or paper bags (some folks put in a dried pepper to keep out insects), or in more modern times, stored in jars or tins or plastic bags.

Some folks freeze them in airtight bags, but they will keep a couple of years if tightly enclosed and stored on a shelf out of sunlight.

Beans were preserved this way to provide much-needed protein through the long mountain winters. Remember that part about protein, because we’ll come back to it in a minute. The commonly accepted folklore of the mountain South says this was a tradition among the southeastern tribes, and contemporary Cherokee people continue to make shuck beans, as do other southern Appalachians today. But it appears that the practice may have originated in Germany and been brought to the mountains by early settlers from the Palatinate, and then adopted by the rest of the people in the region.

Getrocknete bohnen is the term used in Germany to refer to any number of dried beans, including whole green beans strung on thread and dried exactly as described here.

Whoever started it, mountain people universally embraced the dish, and today, long past the need for preserving every morsel from the garden to get through the winter, southern Appalachians still dry green beans. Many folks like to do it the old way with the ristra-like strings of beans hung on an enclosed porch, in the attic, or in an out-of-theway corner. You can also dry beans the way many do apples, by spreading them on a large screen or sheet strung taut between sawhorses. A few folks dry beans in an electric dehydrator, but most of us who’ve had such will tell you that they just don’t seem to taste as good.

And taste brings us to protein. The green beans the early settlers dried were fat and full of beans—the source of the meaty flavor that gives this dish its body. Shuck beans were made with beans at the end of the harvest season, often the last beans from the vine.

In many mountain families, shuck beans are a traditional part of the feast for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and/or New Years. In my family, though, they were a much-beloved winter supper, served only with plenty of hot real corn bread and sliced raw onion on the side.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

YOU WILL NEED 4 cups dried shuck beans 2 ounces seasoning meat, such as salt pork or ham hock 1 teaspoon salt, plus extra if needed

TO PREPARE If the beans are still on the thread, cut the knots at both ends and slide them off, discarding the thread.

Break the whole beans into smaller pieces, and as you do, pull off any strings you may have missed when they were fresh. Place the beans in a colander and rinse them lightly to rid them of any dust that may have settled while drying. Transfer the beans to a large pot and add 2 quarts of water (if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re cooking more beans,

just press them down with your hand and make sure thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enough water to cover them by an inch).

Place the salt pork or other seasoning meat in the pot. Bring the water to a rapid boil, then turn the heat down to a lively simmer and cover the pot. You want there to be bubbles among the beans, but not to let the water bubble hard enough to rattle the lid. Cook for 3 hours, checking the water level often and adding boiling water if the level falls below the beans. Remember that the beans will be buoyant for some time, so use a large spoon or spatula to press down to see what the actual water level is. Be careful to not let the pot boil dry!

After 3 hours, test a bean (the actual bean) to see if it breaks open easily and is tender inside.

The skin may be a little tough, but the inner part of the bean should be soft, not chalky. If not quite there, cover and cook a little longer, testing every 10 to 15 minutes. When a bean tests ready, add 1 teaspoon salt, turn the heat up to a lively boil, and

partially cover the pot. Cook for an additional 30 minutes at a lively boil.

During this time, you are letting the beans finish tenderizing and also reducing the amount of liquid in the pot. You want the cooking water to evaporate enough so that the beans are just starting to come out of the liquid but are not stranded and dry on top.

Test another bean and this time you are looking for a fully creamy interior.

The pieces of the pods will be translucent and feel like silk. If you think the beans need to cook longer, lower the heat back to a lively simmer and continue cooking and testing until they are done. Then remove from the heat, fully cover the pot, and let rest for 20 minutes.

Taste the beans and add more salt, if needed. The amount of salt will vary depending on how salty the seasoning meat is. Remove the salt pork and serve.

Excerpted with permission from Victuals. Copyright Š 2016 by Ronni Lundy.

Photographs copyright Š 2016 by Johnny Autry. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

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SALT RISING BREAD There are a lot of reasons not to love salt rising bread, a quirky no-yeast bread thought to have originated in 18thcentury Appalachia. Making it is a two-day commitment, the dough is notoriously finicky, and its pungent aroma smells more like something coming out of the gym than the kitchen.

But the bread emerges from the oven a dense, white, cheesy taste sensation that’s as distinctive as it is obscure. Fans claim it makes the absolute best toast; even famed chef Alice Waters has fallen under its spell.

Food historians and bakers Genevieve Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown celebrate this culinary specialty in their new book, Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition. Here they share the recipe followed by the late Pearl Haines, a Pennsylvania woman who baked salt rising bread for some 90 years, as well as a recipe for turning the bread into a truly Appalachian stuffing.

Pearl Haines’s Salt Rising Bread YOU WILL NEED 1⁄2 cup scalded milk 3 teaspoons cornmeal 1 teaspoon flour 1/8 teaspoon baking soda additional flour (about 21 ½ cups for six loaves)

TO PREPARE Pour milk onto the dry ingredients and stir.

Keep warm overnight until foamy.

After the raisin’ has foamed and has a rotten cheese smell, in a medium-size bowl add 2 cups of warm water to mixture, then enough flour (about 1 1⁄2 cups) to make like a thin pancake batter. Stir and allow to rise again until it becomes foamy. This usually takes about 2 hours.

Next, add 1 cup of warm water for each loaf of bread you want to make, up to 6 loaves (e.g., 6 cups of water makes 6 loaves of bread). Add enough flour (20 cups for 6 loaves or about one 5 pound bag of flour plus 1/3 bag of flour). Form into loaves and grease tops. Let loaves rise in greased pans for 1.5 to 3 hours—sometimes longer if it is a cold day.

Bake at 350° F (180° C) for 35 to 45 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Salt Rising Bread Stuffing YOU WILL NEED 16 cups of 1-inch salt rising bread cubes (1.5 loaf ) 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 cups medium-diced onion (2 onions) 1 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks) 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1-2 cups turkey broth or chicken stock

TO PREPARE Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) Place the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 7 minutes.

Remove the bread cubes to a very large bowl.

Melt the butter and add the onions, celery, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add to the bread cubes.

Add the turkey (or chicken) broth or stock to the mixture. Mix well and pour into a greased 9x12-inch baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, until browned on top and hot in the middle.

Serve warm.

SUSAN RAY BROWN PHOTO

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Excerpted with permission from Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition (St. Lynn’s Press).

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

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SUSI GOTT SÉGURET PHOTO

APPALACHIAN APPETITE

In the late 1980s, Susi Gott Séguret left behind the sorghum fields of Appalachia, where she grew up, for the wheat fields of France. The fiddle player and food lover from Madison County, North Carolina, spent the subsequent two decades spreading Appalachian music around Europe, along the way earning a diploma in gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu. In 2005, she returned to her native North Carolina to open the Seasonal School of Culinary Arts in Asheville. Her new book, Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America, pays tribute to the region’s creative chefs and food traditions, such as this not-for-the-fainthearted recipe for Possum Paté.

Possum Paté

TO PREPARE

A possum has nine lives.

Once you get beyond that fact, the actual preparation is no more challenging than cooking up a rabbit, which can be substituted in this recipe if you don’t get beyond the aforementioned fact, or if you are opposed to eating a marsupial.

YOU WILL NEED 1 possum (or 1 rabbit), skinned and cleaned A couple of shallots Dijon mustard A few sprigs of thyme A couple of bay leaves A bottle of dry white wine Salt and pepper, to taste

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Remove any silverskin, excess fat, and visible glands from the meat, and cut into pieces as you would a rabbit (which is similar to cutting a chicken). Sweat some chopped shallots in olive oil, in the bottom of a cast-iron Dutch oven. Remove shallots while still translucent and set aside. Salt and pepper the possum pieces and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves.

Brown in olive oil in the Dutch oven. Brush possum pieces with mustard (only Dijon will do), and sear again. Add a bottle of dry white wine, a few bay leaves, cover, and simmer for a couple of hours (two will probably do, depending on the size and age of your possum).

At this point you can serve possum pieces with potatoes and poke sallet or collard greens or, to get to the paté stage, you can continue simmering until the meat falls off the bones.

Pick all the meat off the bones with your fingers (be careful; there are many of them—bones, that is!), and pack in a small earthenware dish. Cover with a lid and refrigerate. When ready to serve, spread on toast and present as an hors d’oeuvre.

Excerpted with permission from Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America (Hatherleigh Press).

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

Polvorones (Marcona Almond Holiday Cookies) Makes 2 to 3 dozen The name polvorones derives from the Spanish word “polvo,” which means “dust.” It makes sense because they’re so delicate they fall apart in your mouth. Classic recipes call for regular almonds, but I prefer buttery roasted marcona almonds. What I didn’t change though is the use of lard. The Spanish love pork so much, they even use it in their desserts. I tried to swap in butter, but the cookie ends up harder. The lard yields a melt-in-your-mouth crumbly round that still retains a toasty cookie appeal. Just be sure to buy high-quality rendered leaf lard, which comes from the fat that runs along the pig’s loin and encases its kidneys.

Polvorones are traditionally baked for Christmas, so we make over 600 to give away to diners on Christmas Eve. The cookies make ideal holiday gifts because they keep well. Just be sure to store them in cookie tins or other hard containers with lids, separating layers with wax paper, because they do crumble easily.

YOU WILL NEED

EVAN SUNG PHOTO

CÚRATE

2½ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup roasted salted marcona almonds, preferably skin on 1¼ cups lard (7¾ ounces), chilled and cut into chunks 1¼ cups packed confectioners’ sugar 1 tablespoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon fennel seeds

TO PREPARE

Since 2011, when she opened her much-lauded Cúrate in downtown Asheville, chef Katie Button has brought authentic Spanish cooking to the mountains of North Carolina. With the publication of her new cookbook by the same name, she brings her awardwinning cuisine to the burners and tables of home cooks. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Button flavors her Spanish fare with the ingredients of Southern Appalachia—and melds the techniques of Spain’s famed El Bulli restaurant with those of her Southern grandmother’s kitchen. (See page 9 for more about how Button plays off each of these influences.) Here she shares the recipe for a crumbly cookie perfect for the holidays.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the flour on a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and bake, stirring once or twice, until lightly toasted and fragrant, about 15 minutes. It’ll smell toasty, but not color at all. Cool completely on the pan on a wire rack. Process the almonds in a food processor until finely ground, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat the lard and confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until well-blended. Once the sugar is completely incorporated into the lard, add the ground almonds, cooled toasted flour, lemon zest, and fennel seeds. Beat on low, scraping the bowl occasionally, until the mixture is completely blended and crumbly with a few larger clumps.

Transfer the clumps and crumbs to a clean work surface.

Gather together and press firmly into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Flatten to ½-inch thickness by rolling with a rolling pan or patting with your hands. Cut into 1½- or 2-inch rounds using a round cookie cutter. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets by sliding a thin offset spatula or bench scraper under each round and placing on the sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Press together, flatten, and cut out the scraps.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until just barely starting to brown on the sides and on the bottom, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets on wire racks.

The polvorones can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Excerpted with permission from Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food from an American Kitchen (Flatiron Books).

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BISCUIT HEAD

YOU WILL NEED

You never know what you might encounter on Haywood Road in anything-goes West Asheville. Unless it’s a weekend morning—in which case it’s a given that a line will have formed out the door and along the side of Biscuit Head. Locals and tourists alike flock here for cathead biscuits, gravy flights, and an allyou-can-eat jam and butter bar, not to mention the fresh-squeezed mimosas and sake-spiked bloody Marys. Devotees are in luck: A new cookbook by Jason and Carolyn Roy, the husband-and-wife team behind the popular cafe (which has opened two additional locations since the West Asheville spot opened in 2013), reveals the recipes for many of their most popular menu items, from Mimosa Fried Chicken (printed below) to sriracha honey butter, along with some new breakfast favorites inspired by Asheville (like a biscuit infused with beer).

VOYAGEUR PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF QUARTO PUBLISHING PHOTO

FOR THE BRINE: 2 tablespoons kosher salt 3 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons ground coriander 1 bay leaf 2 cups water 2 teaspoons paprika 1 teaspoon curry powder 2 cups orange juice ¼ cup champagne FOR THE CHICKEN: 4 large boneless skinless chicken thighs 1 quart vegetable oil (or however much it takes to fill your fryer) 2 cups Biscuit Head Dredge (see below)

TO PREPARE Mix together all of the ingredients for the brine. Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved, then place the chicken into the brine and set covered in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, it’s time to pull out that chicken and fry it up!

As a wise man once said, “Chicken ain’t chicken ’til it’s fried.”

In your home fryer or a pot large enough to safely deep-fry, preheat your oil to 335°F. Note: This recipe (and just about any deep fryer recipe) can also be cooked in a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop. We recommend using lard if you go this route. Use enough so that the lard comes up at least halfway on what you’re cooking—the goal is to flip just once.

While your oil is heating up, remove the chicken from the brine and shake off any excess liquid. Completely coat the chicken in the dredge by shaking the thighs in a doubled-up disposable plastic grocery bag. This is the best way to do it at home, because your hands stay clean, and you can just throw the bag away when you’re done.

Let the chicken thighs rest for 3 minutes in the dredge bag, then give them one more good shake in the dredge to make sure that they’re fully coated. Now they’re ready to fry.

Carefully place each piece of chicken into the hot oil and fry away. Cooking for about 10 minutes should get the chicken right where you want it. You are looking for a nice golden crust and an internal temperature of 162°F. Remove the chicken from the oil and place on a wire rack to rest a few minutes— serve it while it’s hot!

Biscuit Head Dredge YOU WILL NEED

Mimosa Fried Chicken Makes 4 servings This is it: the secret recipe for our fried chicken. While many think of chicken breasts when it comes to fried chicken, we say you can’t beat the chicken thigh. It is a more tender, moist, and flavorful cut—though if you really want to, you can substitute breast meat in this recipe. We source our meat locally and suggest you do the same. Antibiotic- and hormone-free chickens that have been raised the right way make a difference! As for the brine, don’t skip it. That’s the secret to infusing extra flavor and juiciness into the meat.

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Use this to coat anything savory that you want to fry.

8 cups all-purpose flour ¼ cup salt 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon ground smoked paprika ½ tablespoon ground cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

TO PREPARE Sift everything together and mix well. Store in an airtight container for up to one year.

Excerpted with permission from Biscuit Head: New Southern Biscuits, Breakfasts, and Brunch (Voyageur Press).

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

TheSky ’s the limit I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y M A N D Y N E W H A M - C O B B

W

ith a new year comes new resolutions, and these mountains offer plenty of inspiration for higher living. Whether you hope to hike more or stress less, eat better or give back, Smoky Mountain Living offers an only-in-SouthernAppalachia guide to making 2017 your best year yet.

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

“For me, the stars put everything in perspective, especially the petty problems of my everyday life. The night sky is a window back in time. The starlight we see is ancient.

The night sky is also the frontier of our future.”

— Will Harlan

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STARGAZE MORE Will Harlan, the editor in chief of Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine as well as an elite trail runner, plans to immerse himself in the wonders of the night sky in 2017. He hopes to view all 54 of the constellations visible from Southern Appalachia, and to share the experience with his nine-yearold and three-year-old sons. To learn how to navigate the sky, he says he’ll attend stargazing sessions at UNC-Asheville with the Asheville Astronomy Club.

In his words: “The mountaintops and sweeping vistas of Southern Appalachia— especially in winter—are some of the sweetest spots to view the night sky.

For me, the stars put everything in perspective, especially the petty problems of my everyday life. The night sky is a window back in time. The starlight we see is ancient. The night sky is also the frontier of our future. It contains multitudes and mysteries. We don't know what 95 percent of the universe is made of. For as long as we have wandered the planet, we have been crafting stories about the constellations spinning above us. We are a storytelling species, and each culture's greatest dreams and fears are embedded into the stories of the night sky. Stars are also nature's most perfect creation. They live for billions of years and produce all of the elements of the universe. We could not exist without them. Life arose from the exploding guts of distant stars. With all of these wonders overhead, why don't I look up more often? I want my sons to also discover the spine-tingling awe and wonder of the universe and our place within it.”

The Astronomy Club of Asheville offers two monthly stargazing events that are free and open to the public, typically on the Friday nights that occur near the Last Quarter and New Moons (December 2 and 30, for instance). Sky watchers gather at spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway as well as at regional observatories, such as Lookout Observatory at UNC-Asheville and at 74

Grassland Mountain Observatory in Madison County.

Other star lovers: The Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society (smokymtnastro.org) hosts star parties at the Unicoi Crest on the Cherohala Skyway, an overlook on the Foothills Parkway referred to as Look Rock South, and Tamke-Allan Observatory near

Kingston, Tennessee, as well as an annual star party in Cades Cove. Outside Knoxville, Marble Springs State Historic Site (marblesprings.net) gives occasional stargazing workshops throughout the year.

MOVE MORE Forget the gym memberships. Hitting the trails of Southern Appalachia will get you in shape in no time—and the view is a whole lot better than the one of the next treadmill over.

Chris Wilcox, owner of City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, North Carolina, resolves to hike more often in 2017. Naturally, he knows just where to turn for help getting started. “To plan for my outings, I'll dive into some of the fine hiking guides available for our region,” he says. “A well-designed guidebook, with thoroughly researched trail descriptions and a thoughtful layout, is a thing of beauty.”

A few of his favorites include Jim Parham’s Backpacking Overnights in the North Carolina Mountains & South Carolina Upstate, Leonard Adkins’s Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway, Danny Bernstein’s

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

Hiking North Carolina’s Blue Ridge, James Stepp’s Afternoon Hiker, Tim Homan’s Hiking Trails of the Joyce Kilmer, Slickrock & Citico Creek Wildernesses, and Kevin Adams’s North Carolina Waterfalls (“now in a beautiful third edition with stunning color photos,” Wilcox adds).

Even more motivational than the printed word, though, can be encouragement from others.

This region teems with group runs, hikes, bike rides, and other events that mix activity with socializing.

Almost any day of the week, running groups meet up at different Asheville breweries; the Thursday night run starting from Wedge Brewing Company along the French Broad River is one of the most popular.

Departing from Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, North Carolina, each Tuesday evening, the mountain biking guides from the Bike Farm lead free group rides through the trails of neighboring Pisgah National Forest.

Regional chapters of SORBA (Southern OffRoad Bicycle Association) host regular rides in Pisgah, Nantahala, and other areas rich in single-track trails.

Each year from March through December, Friends of the Smokies offers monthly hikes led by experienced hiker and author Danny Bernstein ($20 per hike; friendsofthesmokies.org). Also leading guided hikes throughout the year are the Great Smoky Mountains Association ($10, free for members; smokiesinformation.org), the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy ($10, free for members; appalachian.org), and the Carolina Mountain Club (free; carolinamountainclub.org).

LEARN A NEW SKILL “My resolution is to tie better knots,” says Diane Cutler, co-owner of Bryson City

Bicycles, located minutes from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Tsali Recreation Area. “Andy [my husband and shop co-owner] and I are fly fishermen. Most people think we moved here for the mountain biking, but we actually moved here for the flyfishing and opened a bike shop as a means to support ourselves in this tourist town.

“I can tie a few basic knots that get me by but need to expand my repertoire for not only fishing, but survival skills and practical applications (such as tying down a couch in the back of a pick-up).

The reality is that I'll probably use the web and practice at home in front of the fire. However, it's good to know that I have the resources of my local fly shop, the Tuckaseegee Fly Shop.”

Whether you want to up your outdoors game or try out a new cooking skill, Southern Appalachia likely offers a hands-on class or workshop that could help. A few ideas: On December 11, Hickory Nut Gap Farm will break down a pig from tail to snout in its whole hog butchery class ($55). Past classes at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro have taught disparate skills ranging from forging a Viking round shield to creating a glass pumpkin (see jcgep.org for upcoming classes). And for those who prefer to learn at home on their own time, the 50th anniversary edition of the Foxfire Book of Simple Living offers a primer on traditional Appalachian skills, as it has for the past five decades.

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EAT LOCAL Restaurant menus around the region read like an index of local farms and food suppliers. Can you say the same of the ingredients in your grocery bag? The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) does its best to help make every meal Appalachian-grown.

To that end, the ASAP staff offers their own ideas for making the most out of the regional harvest: y Visit the same farmer every week at a tailgate market for an entire season. y Attend at least one tailgate market every week of the year. y Visit a farm you’ve never been to before. y Learn preservation and pickling techniques.

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y Ask for Appalachian Grown at your local

grocery store. y Volunteer at a tailgate market. y Try five new or unfamiliar fruits or

vegetables that are grown here in the region. y Become a regular at a tailgate market, and

learn the names of every farmer and vendor. y Make an event of learning how to preserve

food, such as going with friends to the tailgate market to buy tomatoes and then having a canning party. y Challenge yourself to cook with less familiar meat cuts purchased from a local tailgate market. y Ask farmers at the tailgate market for recipe ideas and cooking tips.

See asapconnections.org for more ideas, and find regional farm events and tours at fromhere.org/events.

LEARN LOCAL FLORA Ashley English, the homesteading author of seven books and a regular contributor to Smoky Mountain Living, has dedicated herself to enhancing her knowledge of identifying and using local flora. “I'm doing so by taking wild foraging classes with Alan Muskat of No Taste Like Home and Luke Cannon of Astounding Earth as well as herbal classes with Asia Suler of One Willow Apothecaries and Janet Kent of Medicine County Herbs,” English says. “I want to be able to enjoy the nutritional benefits offered by eating wild foods as well as better be able to make medicines and home remedies for my family.”

No Taste Like Home leads foraging tours around Asheville and in the Smokies and Nantahala Forest; notastelikehome.org.

Astounding Earth teaches forest skills (a

10-part series), leads tree identification hikes, and more; astoundingearth.com. In Marshall, One Willow Apothecaries features a curriculum focused on nourishing herbs; onewillowapothecaries.com. An herbal apothecary, herb garden, and nursery in a cove forest outside of Asheville, Medicine County Herbs offers a four-month herbal apprenticeship program as well as a catalog of herbal tincture formulas; medicinecountyherbs.com. And for budding naturalists of all ages, the North Carolina Arboretum (ncarboretum.org) offers classes, workshops, nature walks, field studies, and certifications.

GIVE BACK A new year is the perfect time to devote yourself to a new cause. “During the past year, I challenged myself and others to hike 100 miles in honor of the National Park Service Centennial,” says Cassius Cash, the superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “In 2017, as we enter our second century of service, I am look forward to working alongside our second-century stewards in the Smokies and trying my hand at a variety of projects, from trail building to historic structure preservation.”

Volunteer opportunities at Great Smoky Mountains National Park include assisting with cultural demonstrations, maintaining trails, welcoming

visitors, collecting water samples, and more; look for special volunteer days during the summer months. Find more information at nps.gov/grsm. In addition, Friends of the Smokies (friendsofthesmokies.org) and the Great Smoky Mountains Association (smokiesinformation.org) facilitate a range of service activities in the park.

EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONE As the co-producer of the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival (see page 29), Jocelyn Reese thrives on pushing limits. This year she hopes to spend more time in the audience herself.

“My resolution for 2017 is to go to more avant-garde performances in Asheville, and to encourage more people to experience art that is challenging and provocative,” she says. “I am especially interested in the Anam Cara Theatre Company's new work. They create new ensemble pieces with their Accordion Time Machine cast every few months, and their 2016-17 season looks very promising.” The Anam Cara Theatre Company’s next show, Pulse, tackles the issues that led to the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting (February 24-25, March 3-4, 10-11; anamcaratheatre.org).

Other ideas: Knoxville makes sound waves with its annual showcase of avant-garde music, Big Ears Festival, held March 23-26 at downtown venues. On Chattanooga’s Southside, the Granfalloon hosts unexpected events ranging from an experimental and classical music open mic night to “Rage Yoga,” which mixes yoga with alcohol and loud, aggressive music.

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STRESS LESS Whether or not you believe in vortices— those whirling centers of energy and spirituality said to dot the mountains of Western North Carolina—there’s no denying that this region has an abundance of natural antidotes for stress, from the fresh air of a pristine mountaintop to the healing breath of a good yoga class. Sometimes, unwinding can be as simple as reconnecting with friends.

“I have made a resolution to do more fun things,” says Leah Ashburn, president of Asheville’s Highland Brewing. “This may sound ridiculous, given my job—but

Highland is a real company with all the stresses of any job (with some amazing benefits). I am often apt to relinquish gathering with a couple of friends or even a weekend at a lake house because I struggle to get enough quality rest. The key is that the commitment to fun also leads me to taking better care of myself through mind-clearing exercise. When I have the fun stuff to look forward to, I leave work when I’m supposed to, make time to clear my head and be healthy, and then I get social. The day feels complete and fulfilling when I fit in these soul-nourishing pieces.”

If you’re seeking a fresh way to relax, the Asheville Salt Cave promises relief from everything from asthma and congestion to depression and stress. Tucked away in downtown Asheville, this unique business offers 45-minute relaxation sessions in its enriched micro-climate ($25) as well as

massages and salt spa treatments; ashevillesaltcave.com.

Off the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of downtown Asheville, Shoji Spa and Lodge offers traditional Japanese bathing and soaking, “contrast therapy” (a cold plunge alternated with time in a dry cedar sauna), and other spa treatments. The “Hike-n-Soak” package features a guided tour along the Mountain-to-Sea Trail followed by a twohour soak in a hot tub.

Combining salt and water therapy, salt water floatation tanks are popping up across Southern Appalachia. Also called sensory deprivation tanks, these lightless, soundproof float tanks are said to help people reach deep states of relaxation.

Some 1,500 pounds of Epsom salt helps pull tension out of muscles while also creating a buoyant environment that allows a person to float effortlessly. Check out Still Point Wellness (stillpointwell.com) in Asheville, Lucidity Float Center of Chattanooga (luciditychattanooga.com), and Laniakea Flotation Tanks (lftank.com) in Knoxville.

HELP SAVE THE PLANET Jillian Wolf, a member of the AmeriCorps Project Conserve at Asheville’s Organic Growers School, plans to spend 2017 helping others go back to the land.

“Growing food at home or in community gardens and preserving it for future consumption used to be a matter of course worldwide,” Wolf says. “In the United States, we are now almost completely dependent, going back four or five generations, upon a food system that isn't resilient enough to provide for our population in these times of

WWW.SMLIV.COM

climate crisis. I'd love to see us all get back to growing, to getting our hands in the dirt and walking more tenderly upon it, to building community support systems around that focus on sustaining ourselves and protecting the environment on which we all depend.”

Her own hands-in-the-dirt experience ranges from volunteering at her neighborhood Shiloh Community Garden to activities with the Blue Ridge Naturalist Network (a public Facebook group) and the Asheville Mushroom Club (ashevillemushroomclub.com).

For those interested in environmental sustainability, Wolf points to opportunities with other Asheville-area organizations: The Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council Land Use Cluster (abfoodpolicy.org) advocates for the use of both public and private land for food production. Bee City USA–Asheville (beecityusa.org) works to increase awareness and the number of pollinator plants populating our area, and the Buncombe Fruit and Nut Club (fruitandnutclub.com) plants edible trees in parks and other public landscapes.

The nonprofit Organic Growers School offers myriad resources for home gardeners including a new one-on-one, site-specific consulting program; organicgrowersschool.org.

READ MORE In the words of the popular bumper stickers around Western North Carolina: “We still read.” Indeed, book clubs thrive here— and are a great way to be held accountable for your reading goals. Local libraries and bookshops across the region host clubs, and more groups can be found on Meetup.com and by scouring community boards.

A couple of favorites: Malaprop’s Bookstore, a fixture of downtown Asheville, attracts big-name authors and hosts regular book clubs (malaprops.com/book-clubs). The original club meets in the shop’s cafe on the first Wednesday of each month and discusses a range of fiction and nonfiction books, while specialized clubs delve into topics such as literature in translation (every last Thursday of the month) and autism (first Wednesdays).

In Waynesville, the Banned Book Club meets on Saturday mornings at Blue Ridge Books (blueridgebooksnc.com). Sylva, North Carolina, is a hub for book clubs (citylightsnc.com/book-club-central)—from the Sylva Yoga book club, which stretches body and mind on the second Tuesday of the month, to the Cullowhee Book and Dessert Club, which always ends on a sweet note (no matter the title under discussion).

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SELECT LODGING Directory GLEN-ELLA SPRINGS INN & RESTAURANT 16 distinctive guest rooms, rocking chair porches, amazing gardens and award winning dining provides the ideal setting for the discriminating traveler.

Clarkesville, Ga. 706.754.7295 • www.glenella.com HEMLOCK INN This historic inn, set just off Main Street in downtown Blowing Rock, is only steps from shopping, restaurants and event activities. Eighteen unique rooms, including suites with fully-equipped kitchens. All rooms are non-smoking. Rooms feature private baths, cable TV, air conditioning, phone services, microwave ovens, refrigerators and WiFi. Take advantage of a variety of packages offered throughout the year.

Downtown Blowing Rock, N.C. 828.295.7987 • hemlockinn.net HISTORIC EUREKA INN The Historic Eureka Inn is a beautifully preserved gem located in Tennessee’s oldest town. Come and enjoy relaxing in your own Victorianinspired room, homemade Southern breakfast, and impeccable hospitality.

127 W. Main St. • Jonesborough, Tenn.

423-913-6100 • eurekajonesborough.com

Katelyn Smith & Blake Yarbrough Innkeepers

127 West Main Street Jonesborough, TN 37659

423-913-6100

EurekaJonesborough.com

SMOKETREE LODGE Smoketree’s cozy atmosphere and prime location gives visitors the choice of enjoying the peace and solitude of the Blue Ridge Mountains or the opportunity to partake in many activities available in the High Country.

11914 NC Hwy. 105 S. • Banner Elk, N.C. 800.422.1880 • smoketree-lodge.com

79-39

THE SWAG COUNTRY INN Chosen by readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine as the #2 Best Small Hotel in the Unites States, the secluded hideaway itself consists of 250 private acres. The main lodge and cabins, consisting of 15 rooms, are built of 17th and 18th century hand hewn logs and local field stone. For 33 years, visitors have been able to experience just how remote, rustic, refined and remarkable it can be at 5,000 feet. Three gourmet meals are served daily, with turn down service each evening.

Waynesville, N.C. 800.789.7672 • theswag.com THE WAYNESVILLE INN GOLF RESORT & SPA This resort has been welcoming visitors to the mountains with southern hospitality since the 1920s. Traditional resort amenities include historic and mountain view lodging, 27 holes of championship golf, restaurant and tavern, plus outdoor event space and pro shop. Convenient location provides easy access to shopping, skiing, fishing, hiking and more.

176 Country Club Dr. • Waynesville, N.C. 800.627.6250 • thewaynesvilleinn.com

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6

150 W. MAIN ST. • ABINGDON, VA (276) 619-5260

www.themartha.com

Eat. Sleep. Hike. Repeat.

COUNTRY INN

1802-21

Smoketree Lodge

1803-13

—————————————————— —————————————————————

Just one mile from Downtown Waynesville and 5 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, The Waynesville Inn is the ideal home base for everything from shopping to hiking, skiing and viewing elk in the Smokies.

Amenities: • On-site Restaurant and Bar • Full Hot Breakfast with Stay • 27-Hole Golf Course & Pro Shop • Seasonal Outdoor Pool • Wedding and Event Venues

11914 Hwy. 105 S.

Lodging & Dining Available.

Call for Reservations.

800.627.6250 | TheWaynesvilleInn.com 176 COUNTRY CLUB DR. | WAYNESVILLE, N.C.

Waynesville, NC

800.789.7672 • TheSwag.com

Banner Elk NC 28604

828-963-6505 Smoketree-Lodge.com Managed by Vacation Resorts International

Your place to experience

Unique Lodging – Exceptional Dining

Restaurant open most evenings.

Reservations Recommended.

www.GlenElla.com 706.754.7295 WWW.SMLIV.COM

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STORIES Community

Freezer Burn

BY MICHAEL RENO HARRELL

T

he icicles hanging along the porch roof looked like stalactites we had seen when we visited Cudjo Cavern, outside Middlesboro. It was cold and the morning sun was as bright as July at Myrtle Beach. We took in huge breaths that froze our nose hairs and burned our lungs.

It hadn’t been much of a snow by 1958 East Tennessee standards, but it had come down in huge, pillow-fight flakes, and the temperature had dropped into the teens overnight and turned it into what every kid with a sled prays for: frozen snow. These perfect conditions only occurred a couple of times in an adolescent’s life.

It was slow-going climbing the good half-mile from the very bottom of the hill next to the drainage ditch up to the crest at the north entrance of our neighborhood. My brother, Eddie, and I picked up eager recruits at back doors along our trek. By the time we had gained the summit, a dozen kids tagged along.

My brother—being the senior sledder—plopped down his sled for the first run. Eleven hands went into the air as he studied each face to determine who would have the honor of flying co-pilot with him. I glared into his eyes and sent telepathic reminders that I hadn’t ratted him out for coming in late from his date the Friday night before. He reluctantly gave me the nod.

He eased onto his knees there on that Flexible Flyer and dropped onto his stomach. Taking one end of the wooden steering bar in each mittened hand, he gave the mechanism a couple of test wiggles, then turned his head slightly and indicated that I should climb aboard. I gently lowered my skinny torso onto his back and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. Lifting my feet, Gary McIntyre grasped the soles of my galoshes and leaned into it. The only sound was the shush of the paraffined runners kissing the great white way before us.

We jogged along, just barely able to maintain headway for about 30 or 40 feet. Then, breaking over the crest of the hill, we began to pick up speed at a rather alarming rate. The runners breathed along as we reached the turn onto Gilbert Street. Eddie dug the toe of his left boot into the snow and shouted, “LEAN!!!” I tightened my grip and we somehow made the turn, my teeth clattering a drum solo in my head.

There the thoroughfare had been packed hard as a hockey rink and we did the two-block length of the road in something under seven seconds. We were experiencing the East Tennessee winter equivalent of the Bonneville Salt Flats. I could feel my ears filling with frozen tears and could only see a blur of bouncing light through the slits that were my eyelids. My cheeks felt as if someone had dipped them into a fish fryer and then rubbed them with 80grit sandpaper. It was pure ecstasy.

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There could be no turning at that speed so, at the bottom of the street, we did the only thing there was to do: flew straight into the Reaneau’s backyard. We crossed their front yard in 0.4 seconds, over the road, between a mailbox and a boxwood, and into our yard.

Then the big drop in our backyard was on us in a flash, and, suddenly, we were enveloped in a somewhat supernatural silence as we left terra firma. Eddie and I hadn’t slowed in the least and found ourselves quite some distance above the tundra. A Desoto passed underneath us. I heard Elvis singing “White Christmas.” All of it. Either time stopped or we actually stayed airborne for five and a half minutes.

Suddenly the breath was knocked out of my body as we reconnected with Mother Earth. A sound emitted from Eddie that was a perfect imitation of a Model T’s horn. The sled runners collapsed as flat as a coat hanger as the nose of the sled pierced the crusted snow and dug into the frozen ground below. I heard wood splinter and metal squeal as the wreckage stopped in a split second.

A total of seventeen stitches, two chipped teeth, one broken pair of glasses, and three cracked ribs later, my brother Eddie and I became the subjects of a sledding tale that would be told in our hometown for many a winter to come.

It was worth every scab and scar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Reno Harrell is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller in Burke County, North Carolina.

MANDY NEWHAM-COBB ILLUSTRATION

We were experiencing the East Tennessee winter equivalent of the Bonneville Salt Flats. I could feel my ears filling with frozen tears and could only see a blur of bouncing light through the slits that were my eyelids.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 6