March 2026

Several bridges help hikers make their way over the stream.

Kentucky’s Bad Branch Falls: A (Fairly) Tame Trek Through the Forest

You’ll know the impressive 60-foot cascade is near when the path turns rugged.
This painting, inspired by Psalm 23, is one of the frescoes on display at Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Ben Long Frescoes Saved

Two thought-to-be-lost works by the acclaimed painter have been acquired by a church in Blowing Rock.
Mia Hall: Executive Director of Penland School for Craft

The Mountain Q&A – Mia Hall: Executive Director of Penland School for Craft

She came from Sweden to America as an international student, and now leads one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious art schools.
A May apple in bloom in Southwest Virginia.

March’s Wild Edible: May Apple

Sometime this month in the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of these highlands’ signature spring plants will ease from the soil … the May apple (Podophyllum peltatum).
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March’s Mountain Wildflower: Rue Anemone

A member of the buttercup family and found in the open woodlands, rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) has long, thin stems that tremble in the slightest of winds—prompting its other common name, windflower.

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Behind Blue Ridge Country

Even More Sweet Virginia Breezes

Casually cruising to Claytor Lake in southwest Virginia, I felt like I had come home – back to where it

CALENDAR OF EVENTS