Jackson County commissioners have approved a sweeping new conservation framework designed to balance growth with preservation across some of the most ecologically significant lands in Western North Carolina, located in the southern part of the county. 

Clyde is a small town surrounded by bigger ambitions. Tucked between Canton and Waynesville, hemmed in by interstate lanes and the Pigeon River, it is both geographically and economically poised on the edge of growth — an edge that has never been sharper than it is now, in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction and amid mounting pressure to plan for a future that’s already arriving. 

Despite a decline in room occupancy tax revenue, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is celebrating a banner year for its signature winter event while doubling down on aggressive promotional campaigns and strategic long-term investments aimed at driving off-season traffic and insulating the county from mixed national trends in tourism spending. 

As I age and evolve, I realize more and more why it’s so important to be fully authentic, not only because it feels lighter but because it allows us to develop deep and true relationships, which ultimately is the most beautiful part of being human.

Consultants finally delivered to Haywood County commissioners a report on the results of a secretive, long-awaited “listening post exercise” meant to chart Haywood County’s economic development vision — revealing in the process that there was no input from average working-class residents, an omission that may prompt some to question the applicability of the report’s findings despite the project’s tagline of “stronger together.” 

Our culture tends to celebrate youth and youthfulness above all other life phases. Growth and vitality are venerated over age and wisdom. This wasn’t always the case.

Spring has fully sprung across Southern Appalachia, as we are awakened daily to birdsong and the bustling morning activity of bees and butterflies.

In springtime, all things are possible. Everything around you that is alive is imbued right now with the same hopeful energy.

If you have seen the movie The Miracle Worker about Anne Sullivan’s struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller to communicate, you will understand the power of the breakthrough moment of “WAHHH…!” It was the turning point in Helen’s life when she was able to suspend her sorrow and rage at living in an isolated world and connect through her newfound understanding of language with another human being.

In 2023, visitation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park grew 2.2% to reach its second-highest number ever — but the number of visits starting in the North Carolina side of the park fell 5.1% compared to 2022.