When the deacons at Mark Beaver’s Bible Belt church cue up an evangelical horror flick aimed at dramatizing Hell, he figures he'd better get right with God, and soon. Convinced he could die at age sev
Nick Wolf is a “public research specialist” for NorthAm Oil Company, but he likes to think of himself as the company storyteller. Nick, who believes in the old-fashioned integrity of the people who
A century ago, a modestly successful Raleigh portrait and landscape painter named Jacques Busbee arrived by train in Seagrove, North Carolina, not knowing that his future, and the history of pottery-m
When deaths from the Civil War exceeded the burial capacity of the Washington, D.C area, the quartermaster general for the Union army was tasked with locating a site for a singular national cemetery l
Since its creation in 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has become the most heavily visited of all our national parks, with yearly visitation sometimes surpassing 10 million people.To many
Although legal spirits in the Tar Heel state only go back about ten years, making liquor in North Carolina is not new. Wilkes County, which was once dubbed the “Moonshine Capital of the World,” was th
According to archivists at the Library of Congress, South Carolina is richer in folklore than any other state. After traveling almost every back road in several South Carolina counties, Nancy Rhyne wh
Nearly every time he visits the Outer Banks, the author hears a new tale or another version of an old one and gets "that itch" to write it down for everyone to enjoy. That itch produced the seventeen
Bushwhackers recounts hundreds of incidents that brought the Civil War home to the mountains of the Old North State. Some are violent, some humorous; some are heroic, some shameful. From the opening s
Shenandoah—most often translated as "Daughter of the Stars"—is one of the loveliest names in the language. Backroads travelers will find that it fits the Valley perfectly. Most people know the Shenand
In Home is Where, Kwame Dawes compiles the work of more than two dozen African-American poets from the Carolinas, showcasing a vast array of original voices writing on subjects ranging from Jim Crow t
When Wilbur and Orville Wright arrived on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in the year 1900, they were unknown bicycle mechanics who dreamed of powered flight. Even after they achieved the first heavier-t
"Ellen Weiss breaks important new ground in her remarkable monograph on Robert R. Taylor. This volume is by far the most detailed account we have of an African American architect. Weiss vividly convey
"December 1, 1955. Floodgates are poised to slam shut on a concrete dam straddling the Oogasula River, creating a lake that will submerge a forgotten crossroads and thousands of acres of woodlands in
The 1950s were simple times to grow up. For Lewis Grizzard and his buddies, gallivanting meant hanging out at the local store, eating Zagnut candy bars and drinking "Big Orange bellywashers." About th
Welcome to the South as only Kirk H. Neely can describe it. In Banjos, Barbecue, and Boiled Peanuts, Neely uses his precise eye, keen ear, and down-home voice to capture small truths of life in the So
Rooted in places like Watauga County, Goshen Creek, and Dismal Mountain, the poems in Ron Rash’s fourth collection, Waking, electrify dry counties and tobacco fields until they sparkle with the ritual
During the past century Spartanburg has produced an abundance of world-class artists and dispersed them across the world. At the same time, the city has become a magnet for painters, sculptors, cerami
