Crosby helps to inspire “A Search for Safe Passage”
Legendary singer-songwriter David Crosby passed away at the age of 81 on January 19, 2023. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. David Crosby’s music influenced creative director Frances Figart in writing GSMA’s award-winning title A Search for Safe Passage, geared for […]
Inaugural Daisy Town Day shows that Elkmont is not a ghost town
If you’ve been to the Elkmont Historic District of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you’ve probably come across a gathering of vacant buildings—many with wide porches, stone chimneys, and wooden shutters. Some of the buildings are slowly returning to nature, their leftover stonework an enduring declaration that they were once here. But many others are […]
Finding and embracing the magicalness within
Just say, “Yes.” As the 2022 Steve Kemp Writer in Residence, that’s been my philosophy whenever opportunities have been presented for a new experience in Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
New issue of “Smokies Life” celebrates trees and their stories
Have you ever tried to count the number of branches on a tree? One limb leads to many appendages from which grow several more, each with its own shape, size, and direction…
A wild awakening: An interview with David Brill part 1
Longtime readers of Smokies Life will recognize the name David Brill like that of an old friend. Starting with the first issue in 2007, Brill has published upwards of 20 stories in the magazine’s pages…
Anderson Design Group interviews GSMA’s CEP Laurel Rematore
Anderson Design Group, a family-owned business based in Nashville, TN, creates poster art to document the wonder of America’s 63 national parks.
Smokies volunteers chase butterflies for science
Every fall, Great Smoky Mountains National Park plays host to what might best be described as a moving miracle.
Moonshining in and around the Great Smokies: Part 1—The economics
In the not-too-distant past, moonshiners were common in the Smoky Mountains and throughout the Southern Appalachians. They were mountaineers who made part of their living manufacturing spirits by moonlight in the hidden coves and caves in order to evade taxes levied by the United States government. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed into law a tax […]
Lessons in misreading a Smokies map
In my history classes, I try to teach my students that, as much as maps can reveal about a place, they can also obscure other important information. For example, a political map of Europe just prior to World War I can help us understand…
Of big views and big bears
I’m a sucker for ‘big’ views. So when Steve Kemp, GSMA’s former creative services director and the namesake for my writing residency, suggested a hike to Andrews Bald, I was psyched—especially because it was yet another trail that would be new to me…
