Appalachian History

“One of boyhood’s traditional toys has come of age. Jim Gasque, North Carolina sportsman, has proved that the ordinary slingshot, when properly made and used, can be an adult weapon of deadly accuracy at distances up to 30’ — a range sufficient for stalking small game. He shoots regular No. 0 buckshot. “His slingshots are [...]

The following article by Danny Bernstein ran on April 12, 2011 on the National Parks Traveler site. I did not realize how dark and small the old Oconaluftee Visitor Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park was until I walked into the airy, spacious new one. The 6,300-square-foot visitor center and history museum, located two [...]

Please welcome guest writer Arthur McDade. McDade recently retired from Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a park ranger. He is the author of ‘Old Smoky Mountain Days’ and ‘The Natural Arches of the Big South Fork,’ and a contributor to ‘The Encyclopedia of Appalachia.’ He’s also written many magazine articles about the cultural and [...]

Kephart: “People up North, and in the lowlands of the South as well, have a notion that there is little or nothing going on in these mountains except feuds and moonshining. They think that a stranger traveling here alone is in danger of being potted by a bullet from almost any laurel thicket that he [...]

Please welcome guest blogger Dylan Thuras. Thuras is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer. The following post ran originally on Boing Boing. Happening right now, and for the next few days, the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee will light [...]