Smoky Mountain News

01/11/2025

"Splitting wood is a nostalgic practice for me. In high school, we had no fireplace, but my good friend Kerry’s folks did. Kerry was comfortable with a chainsaw — his father a contractor and builder — and so I learned my way around a chainsaw and we would cut and split for his parents. The time in the woods left an imprint on me. Now, after 30 years with a fireplace, I still look forward to working with trees that end up in our fireplace: cutting trees and logs, hauling them to a place flat enough for splitting, stacking and carrying the wood, building fires."

It’s Jan. 6, 2025, and my mind was on established routines and rituals. The warm frenzy of the holidays is now behind us. Time now for my wife, Lori, and me to re-establish some of that routine.  It’s a cold 27 degrees with a gusting wind. It was only 4:30 p.m. or thereabouts when l left th...

01/10/2025

Apprehension over the fate of a huge industrial parcel in the heart of Canton is now transitioning to cautious optimism.

Apprehension over the fate of a huge industrial parcel in the heart of Canton is now transitioning to cautious optimism. A press release issued Jan. 10 by the St. Louis-based developer who’s been pursuing the 185-acre plot upon which the shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton has sat dorm...

01/10/2025

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART) in Waynesville has announced the launch of its “Spring Semester Theatre Classes,” which will run Jan. 27 through April 4.

The workshops offered provide a diverse lineup of classes for students of all ages and skill levels. Hosted by the Academy at HART, these engaging courses are designed to inspire creativity, build confidence, and equip participants with essential performance skills.

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART) in Waynesville has announced the launch of its “Spring Semester Theatre Classes,” which will run Jan. 27 through April 4.  The workshops offered provide a diverse lineup of classes for students of all ages and skill levels. Hosted by the Academy at HART,...

01/10/2025

BREAKING: A press release just issued by the St. Louis-based developer who’s been pursuing the site of the shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton since last May says he’s successfully acquired the site.

A press release just issued by the St. Louis-based developer who’s been pursuing the site of the shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton since last May says he’s successfully acquired the site. “Our vision is to breathe new life into this dormant site, transforming it into a hub of ind...

01/09/2025

Jackson County Americana/rock ensemble Fuzzy Peppers will hit the stage at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Junction Pub in Sylva.

Fuzzy Peppers is a band formed by friends and friends-of-friends who worked together at downtown Sylva’s own Guadalupe Cafe. With dashes of influences ranging from the bayous of Louisiana, the high hills of Appalachia to the strip-malls of suburbia, this band offers up a truly eclectic sound onstage.

Jackson County Americana/rock ensemble Fuzzy Peppers will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10, at the Junction Pub in Sylva.  Fuzzy Peppers is a band formed by friends and friends-of-friends who worked together at downtown Sylva’s own Guadalupe Cafe. With dashes of influences ranging from...

01/09/2025

For the second meeting in a row, Jackson County Commissioners chose to table a routine appointment to the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority Board, leaving a board that has had difficulty filling seats in the past one member down with an applicant willing, ready and waiting in the wings.

For the second meeting in a row, Jackson County Commissioners chose to table a routine appointment to the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority Board, leaving a board that has had difficulty filling seats in the past one member down with an applicant willing, ready and waiting in the wings.&n...

01/09/2025

After months of drought, recent precipitation has returned the region to normal.

The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council continues to classify much of Eastern North Carolina as being in a moderate drought, but the entire western part of the state has returned to normal. In The Smoky Mountain News coverage area, only a small sliver in northern Haywood and Swain cou...

01/09/2025

Sunny sea-level Savannah, Georgia, is known for a lot of things — historic colonial beauty, low country cuisine and a wide-open bar culture that benefits from/endures one of the nation’s few open container laws — but it also has a rich musical legacy that locals are now using to help victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.

Sunny sea-level Savannah, Georgia, is known for a lot of things — historic colonial beauty, low country cuisine and a wide-open bar culture that benefits from/endures one of the nation’s few open container laws — but it also has a rich musical legacy that locals are now using to help victims o...

01/08/2025

In a turn of events for the volunteers and members of the public that have been showing up in an effort to preserve Macon County’s floodplain ordinances, the planning board has opposed the third and final recommended change up for consideration. The move comes after months of outspoken opposition to the measure and a two-month delay in addressing the proposed ordinance revision due to canceled meetings.

In a turn of events for the volunteers and members of the public that have been showing up in an effort to preserve Macon County’s floodplain ordinances, the planning board has opposed the third and final recommended change up for consideration. The move comes after months of outspoken opposition ...

01/08/2025

At the request of Gov. Josh Stein, FEMA has granted North Carolina an extension for local governments and certain types of non-profits to apply for public assistance until Feb. 6, 2025.

At the request of Gov. Josh Stein, FEMA has granted North Carolina an extension for local governments and certain types of non-profits to apply for public assistance until Feb. 6, 2025.  Public Assistance provides supplemental grants to units of government, as well as certain types of priv...

01/08/2025

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in The Smoky Mountain News in November 2018 following Politics Editor Cory Vaillancourt’s trip to Georgia to meet President Jimmy Carter. The former president died Dec. 29, 2024.

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in The Smoky Mountain News in November 2018 following Politics Editor Cory Vaillancourt’s trip to Georgia to meet President Jimmy Carter.  The former president died Dec. 29, 2024. There, in Sumter County, Georgia, not far from the Alabama line lies t...

01/08/2025

Ahead of the Blackberry Smoke frontman's solo performance tomorrow, A&E Editor Garret K. Woodward caught up with the southern rock icon.

Amid this modern era of rock music, Blackberry Smoke is the absolute epitome of what it means to plug in your guitar, crank the amplifier and tap into that sacred two-way interaction of sound and scope, energy and enthusiasm residing at the heart of live performance.  Led by front man Charlie S...

01/07/2025

"When I write eastern red-cedar and use the dash instead of making it all one word, I am trying to denote that it is not really a cedar. This is done with many common names that were misnomers. Mountain-ash (Sorbus americana) isn’t really an ash (Fraxinus spp.), and trout-lily (Erythronium spp.) is not in the Lilium genus, so it’s not truly a lily. And the eastern red-cedar isn’t truly a cedar."

When is a cedar not really a cedar? Well, in the case of the evergreen tree that most people know as eastern red-cedar (Juniperus virginiana), that answer is always. This cedar is not truly a cedar. Its common, or folk name is red-cedar, which I’ve also seen written as red cedar. And often people ...

01/07/2025

HCAC offers this after-school program for students in grades 4-12 to learn to play fiddle, banjo, and guitar in Appalachian styles from well-known musicians. The JAM is designed to acquaint area young people with their local cultural heritage through instruction in mountain music!

Students can choose from guitar, banjo, or fiddle. Classes occur every Tuesday from 3:30 – 5 pm.

Location: Folkmoot USA at 112 Virginia Ave. Waynesville, NC 28786.

Cost: $100 per semester. Each additional child is $80/household.

Eligibility: Open to all Haywood County students, 4 – 12th graders.

01/06/2025

The workshops offered provide a diverse lineup of classes for students of all ages and skill levels. Hosted by the Academy at HART, these engaging courses are designed to inspire creativity, build confidence, and equip participants with essential performance skills.

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART) in Waynesville has announced the launch of its “Spring Semester Theatre Classes,” which will run Jan. 27 through April 4.  The workshops offered provide a diverse lineup of classes for students of all ages and skill levels. Hosted by the Academy at HART,...

01/06/2025

For the first time in nearly three years, the trail to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s tallest waterfall is fully open — and following an intensive rehabilitation of its entire four-mile length, Ramsey Cascades Trail is in better shape than it’s been in decades.

For the first time in nearly three years, the trail to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s tallest waterfall is fully open — and following an intensive rehabilitation of its entire four-mile length, Ramsey Cascades Trail is in better shape than it’s been in decades.   “It’...

01/05/2025

When you’re a child, this time of year is full of magic and wonder. As you get older, the holidays can become more nostalgic than enchanting, with more sentiment than thrill. Finding that old spark isn’t impossible, but it’ll take more effort to revive it and perseverance to maintain it. “The Snow Child” (Back Bay Books, First Edition, 2012, 389 pages) by Eowyn Ivey is a story of two adults who do just that.

When you’re a child, this time of year is full of magic and wonder. As you get older, the holidays can become more nostalgic than enchanting, with more sentiment than thrill. Finding that old spark isn’t impossible, but it’ll take more effort to revive it and perseverance to maintain it. “Th...

01/05/2025

"In listening to the tributes regarding the death of President Jimmy Carter, a phrase from his inauguration speech struck a chord: '…. individual sacrifice for the common good.'

"Having spent nearly all my career working in community journalism, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some part in producing hundreds of feature stories and profiles about people who embody that spirit of public service that Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, displayed for more than 40 years after he left the White House in 1980."

In listening to the tributes regarding the death of President Jimmy Carter, a phrase from his inauguration speech struck a chord: “…. individual sacrifice for the common good.”  Having spent nearly all my career working in community journalism, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some pa...