It was just about four years ago when Jeremiah Chatham decided to put down the hammer and pick up a spatula.

It’s early Thursday afternoon, and though the Memorial Day Weekend summer kickoff is still a couple weeks away, the two-story taproom of Mountain Layers Brewing in downtown Bryson City is buzzing with locals and visitors alike. 

Atop a hill on the western edge of Bryson City, Sossamon Airfield has sat mostly unused for quite some time, but that may change over the next few years.

As crumbling infrastructure in small towns across the country becomes a more urgent issue, Bryson City has been saddled with improving an aging sewer system so old and dysfunctional that North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality has halted any large-scale developments in town that would need new sewer connections.

Bryson City Council approved premium pay for 32 employees during a Dec. 6 board of aldermen meeting. 

A restless autumn wind ripples through the valley, passing over green fields, across turned-up garden plots and through tall rows of dried corn stalks. Their raspy skeletons rustle in the breeze, which exits the field to send a few glimmering strands of gossamer sailing over the gravel path that leads past Kituwah Mound. 

“Living the dream” is what comes to mind after spending a couple of hours with the Perkins brothers and their construction crew on top of a mountain in Nantahala. 

Only 10% of Bryson City residents cast a ballot in this year’s municipal election, which is not unusual for the small town. 

Bryson City Olympian Evy Leibfarth will leave Tokyo without a medal, but the 17-year-old is already setting her sights on the 2024 games in Paris. 

Bryson City Olympian Evy Leibfarth , 17, came up short in her quest for an Olympic kayaking medal but will have another shot at the podium in Tokyo when she races in the first-ever Olympic women’s canoe slalom.