Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

 Around and following the first decades of the 20th century, the logging industry acquired timber rights and almost totally clear cut the mountains of Western North Carolina. Even the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1934) was an attempt to restore land that had been virtually destroyed by lumbering.

In 1936 a 3,800 acre virgin forest located in Graham County, North Carolina, was set aside as public land and named in memory of Joyce Kilmer, the poet whose work includes the poem, “Trees.” Kilmer was killed in action in 1918 in WW I.

To visit this forest is to see what all of our mountains would have been like had the forest industry not wreaked havoc and to hope for a return of such beauty in future generations.

On our way back from Alabama, Trish and I stopped in Andrews, North Carolina, where I did an evening of storytelling in the church that I served fifty years ago as a young pastor.  The next day, we spent much of the day hiking in the Joyce Kilmer Forest.

The Forest is located a few miles outside of Robbinsville, North Carolina, and is a worthy goal of any trip in that area.

We have never seen trees this size outside of sequoias and some redwoods.  There were all kinds of hardwoods, the biggest seemed to be mostly tulip poplars and gray birches.

It was hard to imaging what our forests might look like had so many thousands of acres not been cut.  It is gratifying to imagine our descendants visiting the Smokies in another two hundred years and seeing those forests once again filled with these giants.

 

Athens, Alabama

 Trish and I have just come from a wonderful week as I told for the eighteenth year at the Athens, Alabama, Storytelling Festival.

The lineup of tellers this year was spectacular. I was joined by Carol Cain in the school days and by Josh Goforth, Michael Reno Harrell, Tim Lowry, and Rev. Robert Jones for the full festival.

On Monday I had a dinner with area teachers followed by a workshop with them. 

Tuesday through Thursday we told to more than 5,000 students from grades three through high school. They were a marvelous audience! When they come every year, they grow in an amazing way!

The full festival followed all day Friday and Saturday.

This festival has a strong student component. On Tuesday evening we had fourteen student tellers for an evening for everyone. Then, throughout the week, there were students who told mixed with the featured tellers. The student audiences loved hearing from their peers and were wonderfully supportive of them.

An extra plus was having Michael Reno Harrell and Josh Goforth here at the same time. In addition to their individual sets, on occasion they combined their time and performed together. This was a special treat that the audience loved.

This is a lovely festival in Athens, Alabama. You should plan to come sometime on the fourth weekend of October each year on the campus of Athens State.

Storytellers Giving Back

 On Saturday evening a group of us gathered for the first event held in the newly restored Jackson Theatre in Jonesborough, Tennessee.  The purpose of our gathering was to hold a Hurricane relief benefit on what would have been the Saturday evening of the storm cancelled National Storytelling Festival.

The show was preceded by music by the Jonesborough Novelty Band.  When we arrived for our sound check at 5:30, there was already a very long line waiting for the 7:00 pm show.  When the doors opened later, we had a totally full house.

Barbara McBride-Smith, who now lives in Jonesborough, was our emcee.  She did a wonderful job throughout the evening, beginning with presenting Bil Lepp as our opening storyteller.

All of the stories were both entertaining and poignant, focusing on the reason we were there. Hurricane Helene wrought disaster a week earlier and we were determined to make a difference.

After telling separately, Andy Offutt Erwin and Paul Strickland played together.

Sheila Arnold and I finished off the telling.

To close the evening, all the tellers came on state and joined Ed Stivender in his classic storytelling hymn, “Yankee Come Home.”

When the offering buckets were call counted up, we brought in $12,021 on sight and $14,020 came in on line during the show for a total of  $26,041 for direct hurricane relief.

Thanks goes to all of you who supported this event.  It was an honor to work with these fine people in this effort!

Saturday Benefit

 Several of us will be present a benefit concert for Hurricane Helene aid this Saturday evening at 7:00 pm.  

The event will be held in Jonesborough, Tennessee, at the newly restored Jackson Theatre on Main Street.

Barbara McBride-Smith will be the MC and I will be joined by Bil Lepp, Shiela Arnold, Andy Offutt Erwin, and Paul Strickland.  

There will be no admission charge, just donations.  The donations go to the Jonesborough Community Chest which is coordinating relief aid to Washington and Unicoi Counties.

Go to any of our Facebook pages for all the details.

The event will be streamed and online contributions can be made.

We hope to see you live or virtually!

National Festival Update

 Because the Town of Jonesborough and the surrounding region are highly dependent on income from the National Festival weekend, every effort was made to find a way to have the Festival following the destruction of Hurricane Helene.  However, other facts have made this impossible.

Washington County (Jonesborough) and surrounding counties have now been officially declared a Federal Disaster Area.  This means that all resources, including hotel rooms, rental cars, emergency officials, sheriff’s personnel, and others are prioritized directly for the recovery of those who have lost homes and other resources.

It is not possible to envisage going forward with the Festival in this climate of need and recovery.  This is a sad and costly decision and will take a lot of recovery in itself.

I am already in town and will still be the Teller in Residence this week.  We are working at using this program as a way to contribute to storm recovery and more information about this will come later.

Please remain aware of the work being done here and continue your prayers and efforts to contribute help.  We will continue to update plans.

Helene

 Trish and I came on to Jonesborough, Tennessee, on Thursday and got ahead of the Hurricane.  If we had not come, we would not be able to get here. Both I26 and I40 are closed between here and North Carolina. Power is back on here and water is also working. 

We hope that you are safe where you are.  Hold fast, offer prayers and concrete help, and, we will all be working to move forward through this hard time.  People are amazingly resilient creatures!

Quick Trip Home

 From the Grand Canyon we drove to Mountain City, Tennessee, where I had a performance at Heritage Hall on Saturday, then we drove home on Sunday for three days. It is time to collect mail, pay bills, do laundry, and repack for the National Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. 

When we got out of the car and walked around the house, we were met with a surprise.  Another one of our banana plants was in bloom! 

We now have two bunches of bananas maturing side by side!

The first bunch is fattening up and we are watching then carefully.

Also, when we were back in the Tetons, Trish had admired some moose antlers and said she would like some.  I found an Alaska pair on eBay and couldn’t resist.  Now she has to figure out what to do with them!

Now we are repacked and on our way to Jonesborough.  We are going a bit early so I can practice with the Novelty Band and get ready for my time as Teller in Residence next week.  It is all fun!