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586 Search Results for "george ellison"
Charlie’s Bunion and early history of the park
Published: 2011-07-27 14:50:17(Editor’s note: This column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in July 2005.) Are you by chance looking for a high-elevation day-hike that embodies quite a bit of the region’s human history? If so, try the moderate to steep portion of the Appa...
Read MoreConstructing your own coffin
Published: 2011-07-20 14:37:27A portion of this Back Then column appeared in SMN in August 2004 as “A Box to Call Your Own.” It has been rewritten and expanded. The notes regarding ancient (pre-Cherokee) burial practices can be found online: www.handsontheland.org/HistoryExplorat...
Read More‘Big Ice’ links flora and fauna here and in Asia
Published: 2011-07-13 12:56:55When walking a trail in the Smokies (or Nantahalas or Great Balsams or wherever) here in the southern Blue Ridge, I sometimes pause to observe the landscapes and flora and imagine that I’m in the mountains of northern Japan or eastern China. Botanists ...
Read MoreThe mystery of mountain ferns
Published: 2011-07-06 11:37:37Identifying ferns is an entirely different process than, say, identifying wildflowers or trees. They don't display flowers, showy fruits, or bark patterns. What they do display are myriad leaf (frond) forms and highly distinctive, if minute, spore cases....
Read MorePlant life distinct to the southern Blue Ridge
Published: 2011-06-28 19:57:06The elevations of the southern Blue Ridge province above 4,000 feet can be thought of as a peninsula of northern terrain extending into the southeastern United States, where typical flora and fauna of northeastern and southeastern North America interming...
Read MoreBlundering upon a Smokies icon
Published: 2011-06-22 14:15:37I’ve always been interested in the processes by which we discover things. Being a naturalist, I’m most interested in the processes by which entities like birds, plants, special places, etc., are located. I’m a firm believer that preparation general...
Read MoreCommon ash tree deserves more attention
Published: 2011-06-15 13:26:12“How many thousand-thousand of untold white ash trees are the respected companions of our doorways, kindliest trees in the clearing beyond the cabin? No one can say. But this is a tree whose grave and lofty character makes it a lifelong friend. White a...
Read MoreTasty right off the shrub
Published: 2011-06-07 20:41:45ELDERBERRY WINE There’s a fly in the window A dog in the yard And a year since I saw you … Feeling fine on elderberry wine. Those were the days We’d lay in the haze Forget depressive times Round a tree in the summer A fire in the fall … The bottl...
Read MoreA voice heard in the distance
Published: 2011-05-31 20:15:47Rural residents know the yellow-billed cuckoo as the “rain crow” or “storm crow” because its guttural “ka-ka-kow-kow-kowlp-kowlp-kowlp” seems to be sounded just prior to a late evening thunderstorm. (The distinctive “kowlp-kowlp-kowlp” po...
Read MoreSerpents elicit mixed responses among humankind
Published: 2011-05-25 04:53:55Serpents are among the world’s most storied creatures. We are at once attracted to and repelled by them. Many view them as the “personification” of evil. The ancient Cherokees portrayed the close relationship of good and evil in several of their my...
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