Living & Visiting

Life in these North Carolina mountains is changing.

The once-remote region is still rural, but it is much easier to access, and is dotted with small towns and communities that sometimes seem idyllic.

Here at the Reader we’re mostly interested in a geographic space that roughly encompasses the Little Tennessee River basin. It’s a large, four-county area that ranges from the Blue Ridge escarpment in the south, where the towns of Cashiers and Highlands and their second-home enclaves hold sway, to the central area, where most economic engines, including a mid-major university, two good-sized hospitals and the Qualla Boundary are located, to the northern reaches, which consist heavily of federal lands (including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) with interspersed rural communities.

The landscape, which was roughed-up a century ago by a succession of heavy-handed industries, remains breathtaking. Tourism and outdoor activities are a major draw. Many who visit the mountains want to stay, but that’s the trick: making a living requires resourcefulness.

The Scots-Irish families that settled the region are independent-minded (though generally not in the stereotypical ways we’ve become familiar with), and disinterested in having their ways of life re-shaped by newcomers. This reticence serves well in some cases, as skepticism usually does, and not so well in others; change is reshaping the mountains quickly whether or not the “natives” choose to deal with it in a positive way.

The Cherokee, who were here first, were a broad and strong nation known for their own independence and for adapting only the most sensible European ways. Many were forcibly removed to Oklahoma in 1831, but the ancestors of those who hid deep in the mountains remain, and now form the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Gaming came to Cherokee during the past decade, and the tribe leveraged that funding into economic and political strength very quickly.

Our loosely-organized structure includes these pages under “Living and Visiting”:

Downtown Smalltown: News and notes from our traditional town centers
Mountain Community: News and notes from our rural communities
Southern Highlanders: Profiles of people who live here
Food, farm and garden: Restaurants, food production, markets and so forth
Overviews: In which we try to get our arms around broader issues and ideas
Places: Places to stay, places to visit, places we miss
History, heritage and geography
Performing arts: Theater and so forth
Fine arts: Galleries and so forth
Sports: Team sports, primarily. Adventure sports can be found under “outdoors”
Film: A movie section with a general focus–though not exclusive–on the southern mountains
Music: Of music, musicians and performances
Outdoors: Outdoor adventure, places and topics
Writing and Books: There’s a rich literary tradition and a vital literary scene in the mountains