Notes from a plant nerd: Playing with a full deck

Dear reader, yeah, I mean you. You who are reading this while holding the paper in your hands or scanning through on your computer, tablet or phone. Yeah, you. I am so deeply grateful to you for reading my articles. This marks the 52nd column that I have written for The Smoky Mountain News, with one running every couple of weeks for the last two years or so. That’s one for each week in the year. One for every card in a deck.  

Bethel Rural Community Organization rededicates historic marker

Nearly three years after a historic marker on Haywood County’s oldest continuously operating farm was damaged by Tropical Storm Fred, the Bethel Rural Community Organization has replaced it — this time, adding language that acknowledges the sacrifice of the enslaved people who kept the farm in operation until their 1865 emancipation. 

Film looks at the disappearing American Chestnut

On Monday, Aug. 19, the series “Where We Live: History, Nature, and Culture,” will present a screening of the film, “Clear Day Thunder: Rescuing the American Chestnut.” 

Carry this together: Zoe and Cloyd

With their latest album, “Songs of Our Grandfathers,” rising Asheville Americana/folk duo Zoe & Cloyd decided to take a different approach to this most recent musical endeavor. 

Trail volunteers visit Japan for exchange

This July, the Carolina Mountain Club (CMC) is embarking on a landmark journey to Japan, marking a momentous step in the club’s history.

Cherokee legends, lore at Macon Library

A program on Cherokee culture will be presented at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 17, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Mural celebrates past, present and future of Pigeon Center

A visually stunning amalgamation of images — both historic and aspirational — now adorns Waynesville’s Pigeon Community Multicultural Development center, breathing new life into an old neighborhood and commemorating the important role of the structure in regional Black history. 

American democracy’s last stand

I was raised in a rural, conservative-leaning county with two working parents and six busy kids. My mother was a nurse and public heath educator and my father worked in insurance and real estate before serving three terms as our Republican State House representative and later as a lawyer and court judge.

N.C was crucial to independence

To the Editor:

On April 12, 1776, North Carolina was the first state to call for independence from Great Britain. Her Provincial Congress, meeting at Halifax, North Carolina, passed a resolution that has come to be known as the “Halifax Resolves.” 

Paddling ahead: Nantahala Outdoor Center enters new chapter

It’s not lost on Colin McBeath how unique and cherished the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) is to locals and visitors alike. 

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