Connect With Us
Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube Instagram

Features

CURRENT Features

Smokies’ Discovery: First Lady of the Fireflies

Lynn Faust has devoted much of her life since childhood to North America’s synchronous fireflies. And she’s written the definitive guide to luminous bugs.

Non-Electronic Fun ‘n’ Games in the Mountains

Need a little extra help unplugging from the day-to-day? These destinations specialize in the relaxed and the non-electronic.

Photo Essay: Keeping The Old Ways Alive

Our contributing photographers present the mountains the way they used to be, and still are in spots.

2019 Travel Guide: Stories in and of the Mountains

Our 2019 travel guide explores our great region through its stories and the people who tell them.

Photo Essay: Feathers!

Matt Cuda lives in North Carolina and specializes in nature photography. See much more of his work at mattcuda.com.

Current Issue

This 25-second-exposure photo (bottom right) of a Honduran species of firefly shows the flashes — caused by irritation — of a female as she makes her way up an arm.

Smokies’ Discovery: First Lady of the Fireflies

Lynn Faust has devoted much of her life since childhood to North America’s synchronous fireflies. And she’s written the definitive guide to luminous bugs.
Mile-high Cataloochee Guest Ranch (North Carolina) welcomes guests to reconnect with nature on the peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Non-Electronic Fun ‘n’ Games in the Mountains

Need a little extra help unplugging from the day-to-day? These destinations specialize in the relaxed and the non-electronic.
The Old Mill at Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia, boasts a 42-foot-diameter iron hub that was moved to the site in the 1930s. The mechanism of the mill was restored to use in 1985 by college staff and students.

Photo Essay: Keeping The Old Ways Alive

Our contributing photographers present the mountains the way they used to be, and still are in spots.
Jennifer Webb stars in “all My Sons” at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina.

2019 Travel Guide: Stories in and of the Mountains

Our 2019 travel guide explores our great region through its stories and the people who tell them.
A loud humming sound is heard. The sound is close to that of a bumblebee but much deeper and stronger. Nearby, a tiny green bird is darting in an erratic manner from flower to flower. Stopping, backing up, moving side to side, the ruby-throated hummingbird finally stops and hovers near a petunia, before injecting his long tongue into the flower. In only a brief time, he laps up the nectar by using what amounts to a micro-pump tongue. He then retracts his tongue into a special groove, which wraps the tongue around his skull.

Photo Essay: Feathers!

Matt Cuda lives in North Carolina and specializes in nature photography. See much more of his work at mattcuda.com.
VIEW MORE

Departments

Vibrant Monarch butterfly clings to its translucent dew covered cocoon
Creature Feature

Monarch Mimickers

It’s easy to mistake other orange species for the king of fall butterflies.

August 26, 2026
At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

June 29, 2026
©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

June 29, 2026

CALENDAR OF EVENTS