Webster’s post office disappears. A town loses its center.
It was always more than just a place to pick up the mail. Long before asphalt and electronic highways reduced time and space to mere trivialities, a quieter system stitched scattered settlements together. The tiny Jackson County municipality of Webster grew up around that system, bringing residents together, creating a sense of identity and promising them that even remote mountain towns belonged to a wider republic.
Word from the Smokies: Curious kids keep the letter writers busy
What do rangers eat for lunch? How did the Great Smoky Mountains get their name? Do rangers have to feed the bears? Are there alligators in the park? What about moose? Dolphins?
“The kids really want to know,” said Scott Young, a volunteer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park who, together with his wife Jayne, has answered every letter kids from across the country send to the national park since they first took on the task in 2021.
