MAP

The Southern Mountains are full of superlatives— the oldest mountains (the Appalachians), the highest town (Highlands), the oldest inn (Woodfield), one of the oldest rivers (the French Broad), and the largest house (Biltmore). You can see a replica of the size thirteen shoes of Thomas Wolfe, retrace the excesses of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Horace Kephart, imagine the giants of Cherokee lore — Judaculla, Tau-keet-ta— and stand humbly under the massive trees in Joyce Kilmer Forest. The scale and proportion of North Carolina’s westernmost mountains and the demands of surviving among them have prompted grand actions, tall tales, and large living.

Traveling by car over these roads that were once washboard trails, it is impossible not to be impressed by the small footprint of our human presence beside the swiftness of so many rivers, the enormous walls of rock, the thickets of laurel, the milky morning fog. That this land has such a rich storytelling tradition speaks to the extremes of living here — the hardships and the glories, too. Become familiar with the poetry and prose of the region and you will come to be a part of it.

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