Magazine

“Beads are my passion.” It’s often difficult to turn an avocation into a vocation, but Barbara Carnes may have found the secret.
Appalachian courting practices through the years

Storytelling is an Appalachian art form. Before the Internet, before television, before telephones and radio, before even newspapers made the scene, storytelling was one of the best forms of entertainment. People huddled together on the front porch, around a wood stove, at the general store or anywhere a few people could congregate to hear someone tell a fresh tale.

Nevermind the local news weather forecast, his fans proclaim, Dr. Ray Russell and his team have a knack for predicting our crazy Southern Appalachian weather. Learn more about him here!

Gary Ray grew up in Weaverville, North Carolina, the son of a tobacco farmer and local builder. His daddy, Frederick Prince “Dan” Ray, had a hand in many of the buildings that grace the Appalachian city of Asheville. Gary was the middle son of three children who lived a stone’s throw away from his grandparents and spent weekends and holidays with a slew of relatives on both sides.

Zen masters tell their students: “Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.” Chopping and stacking wood, as well as carrying water, are acts that are at once both art and science.
An Exceptional Stay in a Vibrant Appalachian City!
Appalachian settlers either got their first taste of popcorn from their Native American neighbors or, more likely, they brought it with them from the east, where their ancestors first learned about the food from the first Indians they encountered on that long-ago first Thanksgiving.