Courtney Davis

1 month ago | spectrumlocalnews.com | Courtney Davis

TODD, N.C. — When Kelly McCoy started RiverGirl Fishing Company in 2006, she had no idea nearly 20 years later she’d still be out throwing lines and guiding rafting tours each day. “Running an outfitter is a lot of work,” McCoy said. “With lifting the boats and the kayaks. And when you take people fishing, long days on the water of throwing that fly in there.

2 months ago | spectrumlocalnews.com | Courtney Davis

BOONE, N.C. — With its famous winding roads and unbelievable overlook views, it’s easy to see why the Blue Ridge Parkway is known as "America’s Favorite Drive."But when Helene went through western North Carolina, the heavy rains and winds caused trees to topple and sent entire mountainsides sliding, causing not only catastrophic damage to the road but to the tourism industry across western North Carolina. “It was a devastating time for it to hit in North Carolina,” Wit Tuttell said.

2 months ago | spectrumlocalnews.com | Courtney Davis

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — For Micah Usher, photography is more than just a passion. It’s a way to process how he envisions the world. “You can see, like, the elements of these and how it sort of breaks, breaks down like. It's a study of what it is that draws me to the mountains,” Usher said. The St. Louis native moved to Asheville after COVID-19 to spend more time outside documenting the Blue Ridge Mountains.

2 months ago | spectrumlocalnews.com | Courtney Davis

NEWLAND, N.C. — Since the moment Helene hit western North Carolina, country music star Eric Church says he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about his neighbors in the mountains and the help they need. “After a disaster in this country, we're pretty good at the 911 part, the water diapers,” Church said. “But we don't do as good a job almost a year later, and it was important to me that we keep the people in the community because that's what the community's about.

2 months ago | spectrumlocalnews.com | Courtney Davis

BURNSVILLE, N.C. - For the past six months, Eugene Hensley has spent time almost every day trying to make temporary fixes to his family's country road. Hensley says his family has lived on and owned the property in the woods in Yancey County for generations. But Hurricane Helene caused more damage than the family has ever seen.