highlands-nc-dining-hummingbird-lounge-dining-room
A Cozy Respite
Hummingbird Lounge

Hummingbird Lounge at Old Edwards Inn is a throwback to a more languid, gentle age when a clever menu was paired with a wise bar and an absolutely

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-highlands-performing-arts-center
PAC’S 2023 Season

There’s plenty to get excited about when the Highlands Performing Arts Center unveils its 2023 Concert Season. For tickets or more information,

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-cover-ryan-karcher-purple-view
The Drone Guy: Ryan Karcher

Ryan Karcher’s eagle-eyed view of the Plateau brings another dimension to his art.

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-highlands-nature-center-Resize
A Trio of Trails

Rejuvenation and a renewed reverence for nature pops up along a trio of strolls in Highlands and Cashiers.

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-horse-cove-waterfall
Beneath the Peaks
Highlands Cashiers Land Trust

A biological and geological treasure, Horse Cove thrives under the protection afforded by Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust.

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-bear-shadow-summit-sound
Music and More
Bear Shadow Music Festival

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-motoring-festival-charity
Highlands NC Motoring Festival Gives Back

The high performance stakes of The 2022 Highlands Motoring Festival deliver generous grants for three local causes.

READ FEATURED ARTICLE
highlands-nc-bear-shadow-spoon
The Bear & the Bands

The talent’s already lining up for the third incarnation of the Bear Shadow Music Festival, set for April 28-30. For ticketing and more information

READ FEATURED ARTICLE

Search Articles

There are so many great articles in the pages of The Laurel Magazine, sometimes you want to read them again. You won’t miss a thing. Use these helpful search parameters and find just what you’re looking for about Highlands, NC and Cashiers, NC.

Author

Category

Magazine Issue

CLEAR

A Tapestry of Green and Sun

The Village Green is a 12.5 acre park in the heart of Cashiers, attracting thousands of visitors each year.  The park is designed to be a free, public space to enhance the community’s mountain lifestyle. People come to enjoy the large lawns, gardens, amazing public art, woodland and wetland trails and the large children’s playground. Dogs and their owners especially …

Eat Breakfast, Lose weight

If you’re like most Americans, you eat a high-carb breakfast packed with cereals, bagels, muffins, and fruit smoothies, or you don’t eat breakfast at all either because you’re too busy or you want to lose weight.  You are sabotaging your weight loss goals by destabilizing blood glucose and insulin after the night’s fast. Breakfast is exactly what it sounds like …

Kaboom Boy

I had an English Bulldog named Bentley.   And like his automobile namesake, he passed gas from intake to exhaust.  Once he was soundly snoring at my feet and expelled a methane cloud that nearly set my hair and the curtains on fire.  It was so loud it woke him.  He jumped up, stared at his butt, and then barked at …


Oh, the Stories CHS Can Tell

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Cashiers Historical Society.  It was kicked off with a $100-a-plate brunch held at the historic Hanks House with about 40 guests in attendance.  Since that time, so much new information has been learned about the early days in Cashiers Valley and so much valuable historic preservation has been accomplished.  Alan …

Botanical Explorers & Early Settlers

This is the second in a series of three articles saluting the Botanical History of the Highlands Plateau, based upon research of the Laurel Garden Club’s Land Stewards and Ran Shaffner. The pamphlet and video accompanying the research were winners of the N. C. Society of Historians’ Paul Green Multimedia Award in 2015. In the 18th century, botanical explorers introduced …

Getting Our Bearings

Bears are beautiful and fascinating creatures.  While many people are frustrated with bears getting into their birdfeeders, trash or even homes, most feel a sense of awe and respect for them.  Leaving aside the challenges of living in bear country for a moment, here are some interesting facts: • Black bears are found only in North America: Canada, 42 of …


Black and White Warbler

This migrant from Mexico and the Gulf states summers widely in eastern North America. It feeds on insects in tree bark and has a song described by Sibley as a high-pitched series of two-syllable phrases with 5 to 10 repetitions: weesa weesa weesa, weesa, weesa, weetee weetee weetee weetee weet weet weet. Its call is a rattling, hissing fssss.   …

About Trout

While Powell Wheeler’s job with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission focuses on anything that relates to fishing in public rivers, ponds, lakes, and streams, he has a special place in his heart for the out-of-the-way places where native brook trout dwell.     Sometimes these populations are very isolated, which plays havoc with genetic diversity.  These isolated streams are frequently …

Spring Peeper

The spring peeper’s most distinctive trait is the dark cross or X-shaped blotch that usually is found on its back. In fact, the species name “crucifer” means “cross bearing.” The spring peeper can be tan, gray, yellowish, orange or pinkish. It is a small frog with small toe pads. Spring peepers inhabit woodlands and swamps, preferring areas of thick, brushy …


A Fading Golden Opportunity

Early spring in Appalachia brings the return of some of our most beautiful and precious songbirds, the warblers.  Soon our trees and bushes will be decorated with members of this large avian family sporting such descriptive and geographic names as Yellow-throated, Hooded, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Kentucky, Chestnut-sided, Canada, Black-throated Blue, Black-and-white and Black-throated Green. The rarest of these small, colorful birds …

Narcissist, and Proud of It

Narcissus – what a name.  These flowers have every right to be a little narcissist – after all, they’ve got the guts to stick their neck out on a cold Spring day while other flowers are still getting their beauty sleep.  In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, and couldn’t tear …

Cliffside, Nature’s Getaway

As spring begins here in the mountains, the landscape transforms from a dull brown speckled with evergreen trees into a lush and vibrant mixture of colors, scents, and sounds that dazzle the senses any time you step outside.   To best experience the wonders of nature one must venture out of town and into the wild.  For those with a …