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CURRENT Features

Mollie’s Butt? Scratch Britches Mountain?

Yes, the Great Smokies are full of strange and curious place-names.

Coal Creek? Lake City? Rocky Top? What’s in a Name?

One Tennessee mountain town has a penchant for changing its name every few decades. And some folks tend to never give up on the old one(s).

Gone But Not Forgotten

The sad tale of 10-year-old Vannie Cook and her disappearance in the mountains lives on in the Smokies.

The Cabin in the Hotel

The long-held theory that a hotel had been built around a Trail 0f Tears-era cabin was finally verified as true in 2011. Since then, the cabin has been revealed to have been the home of a Cherokee man named Avery Vann, brother of Chief James

The Entire Mountain Town Sold at Auction

What could the 123-acre former U.S. Navy base become in its new life? A mountain resort? Movie studio? Monastery? Nudist colony? The new owner has not revealed his plans as we go to press.

Current Issue

e94ef394-d1fd-11e6-a8f3-0aea2a882f79-CuriosMollysButt

Mollie’s Butt? Scratch Britches Mountain?

Yes, the Great Smokies are full of strange and curious place-names.
b29fdc8c-d1fd-11e6-a5ad-0aea2a882f79-CuriosCoalCreek

Coal Creek? Lake City? Rocky Top? What’s in a Name?

One Tennessee mountain town has a penchant for changing its name every few decades. And some folks tend to never give up on the old one(s).
6b42fb3a-d1fd-11e6-8a8e-0aea2a882f79-CuriosVannieCook

Gone But Not Forgotten

The sad tale of 10-year-old Vannie Cook and her disappearance in the mountains lives on in the Smokies.
a32ab71e-d1fc-11e6-8aa8-0aea2a882f79-CuriosCabin

The Cabin in the Hotel

The long-held theory that a hotel had been built around a Trail 0f Tears-era cabin was finally verified as true in 2011. Since then, the cabin has been revealed to have been the home of a Cherokee man named Avery Vann, brother of Chief James Vann.
e62c8fa2-d1fb-11e6-8b4d-0aea2a882f79-CuriosMountainTown

The Entire Mountain Town Sold at Auction

What could the 123-acre former U.S. Navy base become in its new life? A mountain resort? Movie studio? Monastery? Nudist colony? The new owner has not revealed his plans as we go to press.
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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

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