Our Blue Ridge Towns

CURRENT Our Blue Ridge Towns

The Rugby School is now a museum.

Rugby, Tennessee Lives on and Lives up to its Goals

Planned as a utopian settlement—a place where upper-class English second-born sons could live hard-working, honest lives—tiny Rugby is a lesson in perseverance.
The Masonic Amphitheatre was built in partnership with Virginia Tech students.

If Not Now, When? Reimagining Your Life in a Small Town

The mountains are full of population-5,000ish towns that offer the promise of, well, genuine small-town charm and welcome.
Prestonsburg, Kentucky’s tidy Court Street is emblematic of towns on the rise.

A New Normal for Blue Ridge Towns?

The pandemic has caused havoc. Can our small mountain towns survive in its wake?
Overlooking the town of Murphy, The Hunter Pyramid memorializes the area’s first white settler.

Our Blue Ridge Towns: We Love Murphy, N.C.

A Valentine’s Day Visit to a North Carolina Town. Our columnist found a lot to love about this small town in the southwest corner of the state.
Paddle Fest takes place on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, and is held on the fourth Saturday of each month, May through September.

Our Blue Ridge Towns: Prestonsburg – The Star City of Eastern Kentucky

One key to a city on the rise: “A lot of really good people doing really good things.”

Departments

Much of the Oklawaha Greenway is lined with trees.
The Good Walk

Walking Oklawaha Greenway

Located just minutes from downtown Hendersonville, North Carolina, this 3.25-mile scenic pathway winds through forests and wetlands.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS