Legendary North Carolina storyteller Donald Davis will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18, at the Wells Event Center in Waynesville.

Growing up in Waynesville, Davis has fond memories of spending time with his relatives and running around the hills of Western North Carolina. 

A first-of-its-kind exhibition centering Native voices, perspectives and creativity in response to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the exhibition “Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution” is currently being showcased at the Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP) in Cherokee. 

Who’s in charge of the chickens at the Mountain Farm Museum in Great Smoky Mountains National Park? According to the National Park Service, it’s Interpretive Park Ranger Michael Smith. But the chickens themselves recognize the authority of the large, golden rooster that struts among them — the unchallenged leader of the Oconaluftee flock.  

Bill and Alice Hart know each other’s stories by heart, have been known to finish each other’s sentences and share an obvious trait — the calm satisfaction of having led purpose-filled lives. 

The seeds of that satisfaction began the old-fashioned way — through courtship. William “Bill” Hart, of rural Buncombe County, met Alice Huff, of Sylva, 67 years ago at Western Carolina Teachers College.

The Waynesville Public Art Commission announced that the Historic Main Street Mural project is underway. The new mural will grace the side of High Country Style at 121 North Main St. 

The WPAC worked alongside the muralist-Max Dowdle, local historian, Alex McKay, local artist, Teresa Pennington, the property owner, Doug Worrell, and held a public input session to inspire a mural that feels like a walk through Waynesville’s history. 

On Independence Day 2026, the United States will have reached 250 years of sovereign nationhood, marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

America250 was spearheaded by a Congressional caucus and supporting nonprofit as “a bipartisan initiative working to engage every American in the 250th anniversary of the United States.” 

Events culminate July 4, inviting the public to “pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create.” 

“Attention must be paid.”

Linda Loman, wife of Willy Loman, delivers that well-known line in Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman.” Willy is crash-diving into catastrophe, suffering from exhaustion, failure and delusions, and Linda wants her sons to step up and pity and support their father: “He put his whole life into you and you’ve turned your back on him.” she tells them, “So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.” 

The United States has once again plunged into a war convinced that righteous purpose, overwhelming force and moral certainty will deliver victory. But history — ancient and modern — keeps teaching the same lesson: macho crusades fail. They fail because they are built on arrogance, miscalculation and the belief that military might can substitute for strategy. The current U.S. war in Iran is not an exception. It is the latest chapter in a thousand-year pattern of powerful nations mistaking zeal for wisdom. 

At some points, engulfed in the rush of the ride, “your head feels like it’s going to pop off your shoulders,” said 2026 Remember the Removal mentor Freida Saylor. 

Saylor participated in RTR in 2025, a three-week, approximately 950-mile bike ride that traces the northern route of the Trail of Tears — one path of forced removal of the Cherokee people to Oklahoma from their Southern Appalachian homelands — following the 1830 Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson.  

Just after 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, the drizzle became a downpour — a moment of serendipity for those gathered in what’s now the town of Franklin to watch the deed transfer of the Noquiyisi (Nikwasi) mound to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. 

“Any time it rains, it always washes away anything that’s happened. So, it’s like a cleansing so it’s almost a perfect weather, you know? That this rain is here. It’s kind of washed away for a new beginning,” tribal council member Adam Wachacha said to the audience.