Our contributing photographers capture the drama and splendor of mountain excursions.Two of West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad State Park’s Shay steam locomotives sit by the water tower at sunset. The recently restored Norfolk & Western #611 rolls through Blue Ridge, Virginia, pulling an excursion sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Great Smoky Mountain Railroad’s 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive leads the westbound Nantahala Gorge excursion along the banks of the Nantahala River near Wesser, North Carolina. The Cheat Mountain Salamander arrives at Spruce, West Virginia, from Elkins, amid some of the state’s most beautiful fall colors. Blue Ridge Scenic Railway is headquartered in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and makes its way along the Toccoa River. Locomotive 106 of The Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns takes visitors on a picturesque 14-mile trip through the Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. The ride makes a stop at Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp, a National Park Service outdoor interpretive site, which houses the largest interpretive collection of historic coal mining in America. The family-owned Locust Heights & Western Railroad’s Mason Climax locomotive operates on a short stretch of track on Wednesdays, June through October, in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
When it officially opened in 1940 — in the depths of the Jim Crow era — Green Pastures was likely the first U.S. Forest Service recreation area in the nation constructed for African Americans.
Veteran forester John Scrivani dedicated his career to restoring American chestnut trees — and helped lay the groundwork for the effort’s next generation.
With the likes of Douglas Fairbanks, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong performing live, the little city with the highest per capita income in the U.S. was a national hotspot for entertainment.
