Culture
Native Animals
Western North Carolina is home to many different species of Appalachian animals. Here is a small list of the animals that reside in the area. Photo courtesy of Mark Haskett Animal Life The Black Bear is found throughout the mountains of North Carolina and all along...
Brown Mountain Lights
Since the early 1700s, travelers have reported seeing the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights on clear, moonless nights. According to local folklore, the lights are actually the spirit of a slave searching for his lost master across ridges and through the valley....
Economy
Linville Falls Trails
Linville Falls is home to many beautiful, scenic trails. All offer a good hike and most also reward you with a spectacular view. Here are a list of trails in the Linville area. 0.3 miles one direction from Vistors' CenterDugger's Creek Trail is one of the...
Native Animals
Western North Carolina is home to many different species of Appalachian animals. Here is a small list of the animals that reside in the area. Photo courtesy of Mark Haskett Animal Life The Black Bear is found throughout the mountains of North Carolina and all along...
Land
Linville Falls
The Linville Falls area is located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Parkway Milepost 316.4. The Linville is a wild and scenic river and the massive gorge it has created is home to a variety of plants and animals. These extensive lands, which for the most...
Hanging Dog
The Hanging Dog community in Cherokee County got its colorful name when a Cherokee Indian’s hunting dog barely escaped getting hung up in a mass of jammed logs and vines in a flooded creek. Nearby, European settlers found important deposits of iron. . .
People
Jackson County Genealogical Society, 2012
Mountain Heritage Award Winner, 2012 Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Awards for 2012 were presented Saturday (Sept. 29) to Rob Tiger, a Hayesville community leader who has led numerous efforts to preserve that town’s historic and cultural heritage, and...
Rob Tiger, 2012
Rob Tiger (center) is congratulated by Susan Belcher, wife of WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher, and Scott Philyaw, director of WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center. Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Awards for 2012 were presented Saturday (Sept. 29) to...
Institutions
Oconaluftee Indian Village
In 1952, the Cherokee Historical Association opened the Oconaluftee Indian Village, a recreated Cherokee village set in the 1750s. . .
Junior Johnson
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, when moonshining was a means of survival in the mountains of Western North Carolina, a young man emerged who would go on to become one of NASCAR’s founding fathers. He reinforced the romanticized, cultural stereotype of a “noble rogue.” His name was Junior Johnson.