These days our summer recreation and relaxation might involve kayaking or canoeing on the river or cooking hamburgers and hotdogs on a gas grill.  However, the 2 photos from the 1950s in this week’s Looking Back show that Mitchell County residents have long enjoyed recreation available in our beautiful surroundings.  One photo shows friends in a flatboat poling down Toe River, while the other reveals a picnic at Carver’s Gap, where the “cookout” involved frying up some chicken and steak on a makeshift grill!