Just as millennia of rain and wind and heat and cold have carved the physical shape of the mountains for which Appalachia is named, so have years of immigration and emigration and peace and war carved the human culture that covers them. Through the centuries, each of millions of lives — men and women, Cherokee and white, black and Hispanic — has added its own chapter to the story. 

It’s shaping up to be a big year for the Appalachian Women’s Museum in Dillsboro. The nonprofit is preparing for its second annual Airing of the Quilts event, will get an artistically designed storytelling installation on its grounds if a grant Western Carolina University is working on goes through, and hopes to start regularly opening its doors to the public during Saturdays summer. 

Macon County Schools will be setting up a school-based health center at South Macon Elementary School soon thanks to a $150,000 community health grant from the state Office of Rural Health. 

Hanging was the cause of death for a woman who died Jan. 18 while in custody of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, according to documents provided by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. 

Plans for a proposed housing development on South Painter Road in Cullowhee will proceed following the Jackson County Commissioners’ decision to accept a settlement agreement with Atlanta-based Mallory and Evans Development LLC.

The Jackson County Commissioners tabled a vote March 19 that would have given a nonprofit group in Cashiers the go-ahead to get sidewalks built in that community. 

In a mirror image of a vote taken seven months ago, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners has voted to reinstate independent boards to oversee its health and social services departments. 

Jackson County residents will likely be asked to participate in a survey this spring gauging their support for an indoor pool at the Cullowhee Recreation Center. 

Jackson County will likely be making some big changes to its health plan following the realization that it’s headed toward a $1.2 million deficit by June 30 if something doesn’t change.

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will likely hold yet another vote on potential changes to its health and human services departments during a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the Jackson County Administration Building in Sylva.