Economics

Cleaning Our Toes

Cleaning Our Toes

According to the Cherokee, a river is referred to as the Long Man with his head in the mountains and his feet in the sea. The North Toe River’s head is at Sugar Gap in the mountains of Avery County and the South Toe’s head is in the Black Mountains near the Blue Ridge...

Tragedy at Berry Gap

Tragedy at Berry Gap

The coming of the Clinchfield Railroad to the region in the early 1900s was a boon for the area and opened up the isolated mountain region to the outside world. The building of the railroad through the mountains was an arduous task and an engineering marvel that still...

Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Waightstill Avery Anderson was a Mitchell County revenue officer. Anderson married Nora Bowman, the daughter of J.W. Bowman and Mary Garland. Anderson had the reputation as a man who “possessed many enemies because he was active in running down the moonshiners who...