Stone walls symbolize a delicate balance
OLD STONE WALLS
“An entire book might be written about the natural history of an old stone wall.”
— Edwin Way Teale, A Naturalist Buys An Old Farm (1974)
Panther sightings persist in the Smokies
Have you ever seen a mountain lion here in the Smokies region? I haven’t. In fact, the only one I’ve ever viewed outside of a zoo was somewhere near Crystal River, Florida, back in the early 1990s. It bounded out of the scrub in front of my truck and passed quickly across the highway. Even now, I can vividly recall the combined grace and power of that animal.
Observing birds is a habit that never grows old
Lately, I’ve been writing a lot about birds. I guess I have them on my mind, in part, because the spring migration season is underway. I heard my first Louisiana waterthrush (a warbler) of the year this past Sunday morning. But then again, birds are always on my mind summer, fall, and winter, too. And I’m not alone. Each week that I write about birds, I receive at least 10 emails from readers who share their bird observations and insights with me. Here we go again.
Geronimo’s brush with WNC
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a February 2012 edition of The Smoky Mountain News | The names Geronimo and Gen. George Crook are interwoven in the lore of northern Mexico, southeastern Arizona, western New Mexico and the Indian territories in Oklahoma. An association with the Smokies region and the remnant Eastern Band of Cherokees in Western North Carolina is less well known.
A poet of the mountains
This past weekend was given over to reorganizing the books in my home library. In the process, I relocated a volume of poems I had feared was long lost.
My favorite “Appalachian” poets would be Robert Morgan, Kay Stripling Byer, and James Still.
Real deal boardinghouses don’t exist anymore
Are there boardinghouses still operating here in the Smokies region? There are, of course, hotels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts, and motels galore. But I'm wondering about the true, old-fashioned boardinghouse, which flourished throughout the region until the middle of the 20th century.
Possums are the ultimate survivalist
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a January 2005 issue of The Smoky Mountain News | I became acquainted with opossums when I was a boy running a trap line — a series of wooden box traps and steel jump traps that I checked every morning before school. Even though they weren't my prime quarry, it was possums that I usually wound up trapping. I learned very quickly to respect their sharp teeth and claws. And I was early on introduced to their survival tactic of “playing possum;” that is, feigning death.
Start planning the gardens now
Editor’s note: This column first appeared in a January 2006 edition of The Smoky Mountain News. | Have you started making your gardening plans yet? It’s time. The garden catalogs started arriving in the mail several weeks ago: Johnny’s, Burpee’s, Pine Tree, Park’s, Shumway’s, Seeds of Change, etc. Folks have been studying these sorts of publications with pleasure for decades.
Horse Cove is worth a visit
Editor’s note: This column first appeared in a November 2003 edition of The Smoky Mountain News.
Horse Cove is one of the prettiest settings here in the southern mountains. It’s a highland valley surrounded by the Black Rock, Fodderstack, and Chestnut and Rich mountains, and drained by Big Creek, one of the numerous headwater streams of the Chattooga River system situated on the eastern flank of the Eastern Continental Divide.
It’s time for hog jowls and greens
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in a November 2003 edition of The Smoky Mountain News.
When I was a boy, mother had to force me to eat cooked greens. But the older I get the more I have looked forward to eating them.
