Also See:

• Index of Articles (through July/August '05)

Mountain Curios
by Joe Tennis, Jeanne Mozier and Su Clauson-Wicker (Jan/Feb 2008)

Taking The High Roads
by Marla Hardee Milling (Nov/Dec 2007)

The Time of Our Life:"Dirty Dancing" Turns 20
by Joe Tennis(May/June 2007)

SAVE OUR HEMLOCKS
by Elizabeth Hunter (Mar/Apr 2007)

Weekend Getaway: Greenville, SC
By Marlee Hardee Milling (Mar/Apr 2007)

Tom Dooley: Bound to Die
By Sharyn McCrumb (Jan/Feb 2007)

Celebrate Christmas in Lights
By Marla Hardee Milling (Nov/Dec 2006)

The Melungeons: A New Journey Home
By Kurt Rheinheimer (Sept/Oct 2006)

The Blue Ridge's Heritage Apples: Interesting Histories, Underrated Varieties and Neat Names
By Bruce Ingram (Web Exclusive, Sept/Oct 2006)

Outside for Summer: Climb a Tree
By Sam Boykin (July/August 2006)

Weekend Getaway: Asheville and the North Carolina Mountains
By Marla Hardee Milling (May/June 2006)

Did Edith Maxwell Murder Her Father in 1935?
By Joe Tennis (March/April 2006)

Appalachian Images: The Photography of Jack Jeffers
Interview By Mikel Chavers (Jan./Feb. 2006)

Popular Forest: The Timeline

A Century in the Life of the Forest
By Liza Field (Nov./Dec. 2005)

The American Chestnut: Is There Hope?
By Gwen S. Clarke (Sept./Oct. 2005)

Q&A:Sally Mann
By Cara Ellen Modisett (Sept./Oct 2005)

Shenandoah Wine Tour
Spend three days at the wineries and scenic spots of Virginia's historic valley. by Richard Marcis (May/June 2005)


Miss Hannah's Portrait
Remembering a young woman, a century later. by Patsy Harrelson Johnston (March/April 2005)

Meadow River Lumber Company
The little town of Rainelle came into being as the result of the world’s largest hardwood mill, run by the Brothers Raine. Gone now for more than three decades, Meadow River Lumber lives only in the memories of older members of its former home. by Ben Crookshanks (January/February 2005)

Preserving the Blue Ridge Parkway's Farming Scene
Agricultural easements are saving the parkway's rural heritage. by Elizabeth Hunter (November/December 2004)


Tragedy in the Making? Sudden Oak Death Looms
A forest disaster on the scale of the Chestnut Blight may lurk in the Southern Appalachians' future. by Elizabeth Hunter (September/October 2004)


Shenandoah, A Three-Day Journey
The Shenandoah Valley has become an eclectic mix of history and industry, heritage and hip, traditional and commercial, as rural, small-town ways of life find ways to survive in the 21st century. byCara Ellen Modisett (March/April 2004)


Roseanna, Don't You Cry: The Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Back around the Civil War, along the Tug Fork River that separates the rougher parts of Kentucky and West Virginia, their was a story of love, intrigue, murder and . . . a pig. by Norma Lugar (March/April 1996)

A Hyphenated Life: Siamese Twins Eng and Chang Bunker
Born in Siam, the connected brothers came to live, flourish, marry and die in the North Carolina mountains. by Page Chichester (November/December 1995)

First Union: The Melungeons Revisited
In 1991, writer Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder spent time in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee investigating the Melungeons, a group of people who'd been an enigma in Appalachian history for centuries. Back then -- in our July/August '91 issue -- she found more questions than answers, with guesswork about the best that was available regarding the origins and identity of the Melungeon people.

Mary Draper Ingles
An Extraordinary Woman, And Equal To Any Emergency: Mary Draper Ingles' Return To Virginia's New River Valley Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder (March/April 1998)

The Day They Hanged an Elephant in East Tennessee
In 1916, America was changing fast. Mary the Elephant was in a way a victim of her times. Joan Schroeder (May/June 1997)

"Best Of The Blue Ridge" Awards
We asked the readers of Blue Ridge Country magazine to help us recognize the best of the Blue Ridge region. Our congratulations to the winners, and our thanks to all those who completed and returned ballots. (The coverage area for the magazine includes the mountain regions of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina. In categories where there are not three winners, vote totals warranted only those awards presented.) (July/August 2003)

The Insider's Guide To Wildflower Viewing In The Smokies
The warm sun plays against the morning chill; that sort of sweet-and-sour effect that occurs only on a perfect spring morning. Take your time enjoying the beautiful days and the scattered groups of spring flowers along the trails and drives of the Smokies. Nye Simmons (March/April 2001)

The Man Who Struck Out Everybody: The Ron Necciai Story
A baseball giant no lesser than Branch Rickey -- the man who broke baseball's color line by bringing Jackie Robinson to the major leagues in 1947 -- called him "one of the three greatest pitchers I've ever seen." What earned Ron Necciai a mention in the same breath with hall of famers Christy Mathewson and Dizzy Dean was a right arm that allowed him to do something no other man has ever done in 150 years of professional baseball. He did it in 1952, in Bristol, Va. Thomas K. Perry (March/April 99)

RVing The Blue Ridge Parkway
One couple - former tent campers - took the big step to the big vehicle. The result: a great ride, along with good rest, gourmet meals and a supremely comfortable parkway experience.  Lynn Seldon (September/October 2000)

Retiring In The Mountains
If you're looking for white picket fences and close-knit neighborhoods, we've collected eight small towns, though eight more southern cities retain that small-town flavor and warmth, while offering the benefits of urban living. Wanting to spend hours swinging a golf club? Here are seven towns dedicated to the sport, many with course-side resort living options. Been wanting to brush up on your comparative literature or anthropology? Pick a college town and be a student again. This is just a sampling, of course a cross-section of communities throughout the Blue Ridge region.

Gypsy: A Family Recollection
Remembering the time when an automobile was part of the family. Elizabeth Clay Garlichs (November/December1996)

Bouncing Bertha: The Girl They Couldn't Hold Still
Back in the winter of '38 in the Virginia mountains, something very odd occurred in Bertha Sybert's bedroom. Amy C. Clark (January/February 1997)

Sheep Tales: They're Far Smarter Than We Think
Sheep never forget. Shepherds might, now and again, but their flocks will remind them every time. And that's just one of their tricks.
(May/June 2002)

Coming Soon To A Hemlock Near You
That sucking sound? Well, you can’t hear it at all, but the massive scale of the woolly adelgid’s work on the hemlock trees of the mountains of the South is carried out by tiny insects via even tinier sucking tubes. Elizabeth Hunter (September/October 2002)

Frankie & Charlie Silver
The tragic events in the North Carolina mountains on the night of December 22, 1831 revolve around a 19-year-old husband murdered, an 18-year-old wife charged with the crime and an infant daughter left without parents. Speculation about what really happened and why it did has gradually given way to commemoration and healing around the little community of Kona in Mitchell County.

Damascus, Va.: The Day The A.T. Hikers All Come To Town
The little town of 900 swells to about 15,000 over three days in May. Sandra Downs, Teresa Gereaux (May/June 99)

Pockets of Paradise: Great Walks In Great Blue Ridge Towns
Hikers are accustomed to directions that read "continue along the river through new-growth forest." But add instructions like, "from Main Street descend to the waterfall," and even the most seasoned hikers might wonder where they are. They are lost all right, in the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge that knows no limits, not even city limits. Many cities scattered throughout the region have maintained pockets of paradise near or in the heart of town. Lynda McDaniel
(July/August 99)

How The Birthplace Of Country Music Lost Out To Nashville
The roots are deep and strong. Country music's first stars -- Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family -- both recorded in Bristol as early as 1927. So how come Bristol isn't Nashville? Joe Tennis (September/October 1998)

Living In The Shadow Of The Atomic City
The formerly top secret area is today the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a research institution that works with business, universities and the federal government. Dennis L. Peterson (May/June 1998)

The Cherohala Skyway
A road through beauty. This turn in the Cherohala Skyway is near the Santeetlah Overlook. Vicki Rozema (September/October 1997)

Heritage Apples On The Parkway
The brother-and-sister team has rescued some 275 parkway-straddling acres and brought them back to apple-bearing life. Frank Elliott (September/October 1997)

Discovering Big South Fork
The national river and recreation area offers a wealth of outdoor excitement. Russ Manning (November/December 1996)

Land Of The Millionaires: Visiting Bramwell, W.Va.
In the late 1880s, the coal veins attracted entrepreneurs who built grand houses that still stand today. by Helen Barranger (September/October 1996)

Up On Grandfather: World's Only Private Biosphere
Owner Hugh Morton has made a life out of the North Carolina peak. by Elizabeth Hunter (January/February 1996)

Hensley Settlement: Misty Echoes Of The Early 1900s
Why did a family move away to isolation in 1903? And what happened to them? by Joan Schroeder (May/June 1996)

The Blue Ridge Parkway Turns 60
The writer of the book "Painting With a Comet's Tail" looks back on the beginnings of the Blue Ridge Parkway. by Harley Jolley (September/October 1995)