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Past Issue Features

Perfect Summer Weekends—Your Travel Guide to the Mountain South

Stop watching the grass grow. We’ve scoured the Mountain South in search of summer fun, divvied up some of the region’s hottest attractions and activities, and packaged them neatly into half a dozen recommended experiences for 10 discriminating “personalities” commonly found among Marquee Mountain South readers. Some recommended experiences could fill an entire weekend, while others are designed to be just a fun break in your week. Here is a double handful of online bonus weekends to get you started. So pick a destination and get out there; you have no excuse for being bored!

• Art Smart Destination: Churches of the Frescoes.
Trained under painter Maestro Pietro Annigoni of Italy, North Carolina native Ben Long is renowned for his frescoes. The paintings that are arguably his best work are located in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in West Jefferson, N.C., and at Holy Trinity Episcopal in Glendale Springs, N.C. Both sites are worth the trip for an art-loving soul.

• Connoisseur Destination: Play through.
Golf Digest rated Tri-Cities Tenn./Va. as the second best place in the United States to live and golf in 2007, ranking it tops for weather, value, and access to and quality of golf. TriitiesGolfGuide.com and WesternNCattractions.com offer good lists of area courses, so it’s easy to find fine new places to play for those who look for only the best.

• Family Destination: Old-school goodies.
Whether you’re a Baby Boomer or Gen X-er, it is possible to share your favorite childhood treats with everyone while on a family outing. Mast General Store has locations in Knoxville, Tenn., Asheville, N.C., Waynesville, N.C., Hendersonville, N.C., Boone, N.C. and Banner Elk, N.C.—though the very best location is undoubtedly the original store and annex in Valle Crucis, N.C. These nostalgic hotspots provide the chance to enjoy old-school treats like soft drinks in glass bottles, more than 500 old-fashioned candies and even wooden folk toys.
 
• Hipster Destination: Classic Gatlinburg kitsch.
In Gatlinburg, Tenn., there is more diversity to the shopping and tourism experience than ever before, with upscale shops right alongside classic Gatlinburg companies. It’s still all in good fun, and perfect for a lover of quirk. You can book a “Sleep with the Sharks” overnight party for a dozen friends at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, for example. Or go all out—take a carload of friends and see how many samples of fudge you can eat. Compete to see who can get the most innovative item airbrushed with a wacky design. Rock an old-school tintype photo. This is the prime place to make a hipster dream happen.

• History Buff Destination: African American Heritage.
Find out more about the hidden history of the Mountain South. The Appalachian African-American Cultural Center is located on Leona Street in Pennington Gap; you can visit by appointment. It’s in a building that once served as a one-room schoolhouse and the only primary school for African Americans in Lee County, a 437-square mile, tobacco and mining-dependent county named for the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The center houses historic photos, documents, artifacts and oral histories of life as a black resident of Appalachia.

• Music Lover Destination: Downtown Knoxville.
Throughout the summer, downtown Knoxville, Tenn., hosts live concerts on Thursday nights through the “Sundown in the City “ series and Friday night concerts at the Knoxville Museum of Art through the “Alive After Five” series. The Thursday series has been known to draw up to 10,000 attendees and host popular groups like the Gin Blossoms and George Thorogood. Meanwhile, the Knoxville Museum of Art’s series has swing, reggae, Latin jazz and eclectic musical guests along with two cash bars.

• Outdoor Enthusiast Destination: Mile High Swinging Bridge.
At Grandfather Mountain in the North Carolina High Country, there’s a huge draw to the Mile High Swinging Bridge, a 228-foot long suspension bridge located 5,305 feet above sea level at Linville Peak. You might feel the bridge shift a bit on windy days. On a clear day, some visitors have been able to photograph the Charlotte, N.C., skyline from nearly 100 miles away. While you’re there, visit the Nature Center to see films by Hugh Morton, the park’s patriarch; displays of model plants and animals as well as real gem and mineral samples; and the outdoor animal habitats for the cougar, bears, eagles and otters.

• Shopping Diva Destination: Tri-Cities Downtowns.
Many downtowns in the region offer specialized shopping encounters. Downtown Elizabethton, Tenn., offers high-end furnishings at Park Avenue Fine Furniture and Accessories, as well as a handful of boutiques and shops specializing in country antiques. Downtown Kingsport, Tenn., and Bristol, Tenn./Va., offer more entertaining mixtures of dining destinations and specialty shops. Downtown Johnson City offers Massengill’s elegant clothing, Atlantis’s ethnic tunics and accessories, funky splurges at Razzle Me Dazzles, and gorgeous locally-made jewelry at Beadworks.

• The Literati Destination: Thomas Wolfe House and the Montford Area
The childhood home of Thomas Wolfe, author of Look Homeward, Angel; Of Time and the River; The Web and the Rock; and You Can’t Go Home Again, is located in downtown Asheville and maintained as a North Carolina State Historic Site. Make it a full day of literary adventures by heading to the Montford Area Historic District, to the Riverside Cemetery and the simple graves marking the final resting place of both Thomas Wolfe and William Sydney Porter (known as O. Henry), and to Zillicoa Street, the site of the old Highland Hospital. Now occupied by commercial businesses, it’s where Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald and herself an author of Save Me the Waltz and a play, Scandalabra, died during a 1948 fire at this former mental institution.

• Thrill Seeker Destination: Outdoor Adventures of the Smokies.
Located on the Parkway, Outdoor Adventures of the Smokies is open seven days a week. For $10 to $20—depending on whether you want to ride in the front or the truck bed—you can take a Monster Truck ride around its dirt track. The company also offers ATV rentals, white water rafting, and hot air balloon, helicopter and horseback rides of varying lengths and distances. It’s one of the few truly one-stop adventure experience shops in the region.

For the complete story, please read the Summer 2008 issue of Marquee Mountain South.

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Front Row Seats: Music on the Square

To many people in the Mountain South, a summer without music is like a rhododendron without a bloom, like biscuits without gravy, like a fiddle without a bow. And so, on any given summer Friday, locals and visitors to Jonesborough, Tenn., gather to enjoy Music on the Square, a free concert series hosted by the city and held outdoors in Courthouse Square.
Some notable upcoming performances through September 26:

July 11: Jeff and Vida / Biscuit Burners
July 18: Lost Mountain String Band / Ed Snodderly
July 25: Jay Clark / Robinella
August 8: Tennessee Skyline / Tomahawk
August 22: Rough Edges / Sol Drive Train
September 12: Forget Me Nots / Sigean
September 26: Johnny Possum

For the complete story, please read the Summer 2008 issue of Marquee Mountain South.

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Transformed: The Inn at Crestwood

When renowned architect Claus Moberg and his interior-designer wife, Jean, went looking for a spot to build a summer home on for their family, they found a partial apple orchard between Boone and Blowing Rock, N.C., with an amazing 180-degree view. It was perfect. In 1948, they purchased 30 acres for a total of $750 and began drawing plans for a gorgeous summer getaway.
The original home—along with son Steve’s architectural renovations aimed at preserving the original character of his father’s vision while respectfully enhancing its modern potential—opened to the public in 2004 as the Inn at Crestwood.

For the complete story, please read the Summer 2008 issue of Marquee Mountain South.

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Kingsport – Off the Beaten Path

From its rushing river to its vibrant downtown heart and the majestic mountains surrounding it, Kingsport, Tenn., boasts a multitude of amenities compressed neatly into three distinct areas of the city. Each area pairs historic substance with modern style that is well worth discovering and exploring.

Evidences of “King’s Port’s” early history are forever stamped along the banks of the Holston River, where sacred Cherokee land was ceded to settlers in the 1770s Treaty of Lochaber. Overlooking the Holston, the Netherland Inn House Museum and Boatyard Complex serves as a reminder of that frontier spirit, where pioneer travelers could embark on either an overland journey on the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail or a river voyage down the Tennessee Valley. Modern-day Kingsport also continues to appreciate and rely on its precious river frontage.

For the complete story, please read the Summer 2008 issue of Marquee Mountain South.

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Sexy, Successful Singles

Every year, Marquee Mountain South selects 14 exceptional individuals from
the outpouring of nominations, sent in by people from all over the Mountain
South region. It’s always tough to choose-there is an amazing array of
brilliant, vibrant folks here (who just happen to be single), working hard
for the region’s growth and prosperity. 

Jan Hendren Parsley, 46
Not your ordinary girl-next-door, Erwin, Tenn., native Jan
Hendren Parsley has seen the world, committed great acts of civic duty,
helped kick the family business up several notches, and still finds time for
entertaining friends, traveling and raising two stellar kids. 

Dr. Dan Snider, 43
From the flats of Dayton, Ohio, to the hills of East Tennessee,
Dr. Daniel Snider has found a rewarding home in Johnson City. He appreciates
the slow grace of our area’s distinct seasons and long, winding country
roads-and balances them with the fast pace of a demanding ICU as a critical
care physician at Johnson City Medical Center.

Prentice McKibben, 57
Prentice McKibben knows the value of hard-earned rewards. From
Mississippi State to a successful climb up corporate ladders to his current
position as Eastman’s VP of corporate development and strategic planning,
McKibben reflects on a 20-year career that brought continual challenges and
continual rewards-and wouldn’t change much at all. 

Allen Gregory, 38
“Everyone has a personal saga of dreams and determination,”
states Abingdon, Va., native Allen Gregory. “They simply need a voice.” As a
passionate writer for the Bristol Herald-Courier as well as Marquee Mountain
South, Gregory gives just such a voice to a fascinating variety of
people-from high school athlete underdogs to all manner of artists to
everyday people in the community. 

Sara Fields, 26
To say she’s dynamic is an understatement. Sara Fields-a rare
Asheville, N.C., native come home to roost-is so brimming with energy and
ideas that it’s a confounding challenge to guess what she might be up to
next.
Since her unexpected Asheville homecoming, Fields has been keeping busy with
her day job as marketing coordinator for Market Connections, her work on the
boards of two non-profit organizations, her own artistic efforts in
playwriting and blogging for Asheville’s Citizen-Times.com.    

Erin Eberhart, 23
There are many proverbs that boil down to this: “Who teaches,
learns,” and Erin Eberhart is one beautiful example of it. “I absolutely
love my job,” exclaims Eberhart, enthusiastic about her first year as a
kindergarten teacher for Hamblen County Schools. “There isn’t a day that
goes by where I don’t question who is learning more-me or my students!” 

Christy Dunlap, 36
An interior designer by training and trade, Burnsville, N.C.,
resident Christy Dunlap instinctively surrounds herself with beauty. Not
only with her choice of location (”Western North Carolina’s one of the most
beautiful places in the world,” declares Dunlap) but also with finely
crafted wares and the grace of common goodwill.

Jim McGill, 57
It comes as no surprise that Sevierville, Tenn., is Jim McGill’s
favorite town. As membership coordinator for Sevierville’s Chamber of
Commerce, McGill gets to harness his love for his hometown to his love of
working with the public, hitching them together with his organizational
expertise to boost the Chamber’s attendance successfully 

Aurora Moldovanyi, 30
“Even at a young age, I had a strong sense of attachment to the
pleasures that arrive from wild places,” explains Aurora Moldovanyi of her
lifelong love of the natural world-culminating in her current profession as
a recreation ecologist and planner for the Tennessee Valley Authority.  

Elva Marie, 51   
As longtime mid-day radio announcer for Kingsport’s 98.5 WTFM
and evening host of the station’s “Love Notes” show, Elva Marie (as she is
known to her fans) has been a welcomed friend in thousands of homes and cars
all across our region. Based in Southwestern Virginia, Elva Marie
appreciates the area for its many benefits. “Our community leaders really
care, and so many things impact our community in a positive way,” she says.

Vik Vatrana, 26
The Johnson City restaurateur’s Indian cuisine restaurant,
Sahib, has a reputation that rests solidly on delicious, merit-based
success: excellent food and excellent customer service. And Vatrana serves
as the proud front man to the quality establishment, always taking some time
to check on visitors personally, solicit feedback and offer a smile.  

Cory Lewis, 26
Upon meeting Cory Lewis of TC Lewis & Co, you get the distinct
feeling that this guy could talk to anyone, about anything, and make a
friend just about anywhere he goes. His easy affability and self-confidence
project all the strength of a self-made man.

Robin Lynch, 40
It might be hard to find someone more locally committed than
Unicoi, Tenn., native Robin Lynch. Since grade school, Lynch has been
helping his family with their Unicoi farm, transforming it into what is now
known as Farmhouse Gallery & Gardens, a beautiful spot that’s become a
popular gathering place for reunions, weddings and retreats.        

Senitria Goodman, 27
If attorney Senitria Goodman has collected a long honors list,
it’s just testimony to her determination and distinction in her chosen
profession. An associate at Hunter, Smith & Davis since 2004, Goodman takes
on a broad range of clients in corporate transactions and commercial
litigation matters and seems to relish the variety. 

Our singles may be reached at singles@marqueemagazine.com.  Please be sure to identify which single you are trying to reach and we will forward your message to that person.

Emily Katt is publishing assistant for Marquee Mountain South.

For the complete story please read the Winter issue of Marquee Mountain
South.

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