Lauren Stepp

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Articles

Blue Ridge All-Stars

Dec 7, 2024 | blueridgeoutdoors.com | Eric Wallace |Lauren Stepp

By Eric WallaceThe sun had yet to rise when ultrarunner Canyon Woodward began to jog south on the Appalachian Trail from Tennessee’s Davenport Gap on a summer 2022, record-setting attempt at the Smokies Challenge Adventure Run (SCAR). The notorious 73-mile route passes through Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the spine of 6,000-plus-foot peaks and features a grueling 35,000 feet of elevation change. And Woodward was taking it on alone and unsupported.
Weaving a Legacy

Nov 1, 2024 | blueridgecountry.com | Lauren Stepp

How a Yale-educated missionary preserved a fast-fading tradition in the mountains of western North Carolina. Little Ivy Creek roared with icy water, threatening to spill over its banks. The torrent was moving faster than expected, but Frances Louisa Goodrich wasn’t turning back after traveling nearly 16 miles through the western North Carolina mountains in the dead of winter. “On we go,” she shouted to her pony, Cherokee, over the thunderous noise.
Holiday Travel in the Mountains: Santa-Approved Towns

Nov 1, 2024 | blueridgecountry.com | Lauren Stepp

With dazzling light displays, cheery train rides and other festive fêtes, these mountain destinations are brimming with holiday cheer. Santa Claus might be famous for his globe-trotting escapades on Christmas Eve, but his pre-season shenanigans are just as lively. It’s rumored that when he’s not busy training elves or tending to reindeer, Kris is roving the Southeast in search of jolly locales jam-packed with Yuletide fun. These four small towns made his nice list.
Lake Toxaway, North Carolina: Birth, Dearth, Rebirth

Jun 27, 2024 | blueridgecountry.com | Lauren Stepp

This water-birthed mountain town hosted some of the country’s wealthiest socialites before being washed away in a record-breaking but murkily documented flood, more than 100 years ago. Exactly what happened on August 13, 1916, in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, is still unclear. Some say that after days of driving rain, the lake’s dam exploded, letting loose a torrent so fantastically ferocious that its roar could be heard from miles away.
Finding Adventure in the City

May 31, 2024 | blueridgeoutdoors.com | Lauren Stepp

Exploring a lonely mountain trail is top-notch fun—there’s no denying that. But what if you’re among the 80 percent of the country that lives in urban areas? Is outdoor recreation accessible among the South’s skyscrapers and sidewalks? BRO decided to find out. So we packed our bags and traveled to five of the biggest, most bustling metros across the region. Here are some of our favorite adventures from each city.
Mountain Melodies

Mar 25, 2024 | smliv.com | Lauren Stepp

As James Christian Pfohl walked through an overgrown field in Brevard, North Carolina, briars tugged at his shirt sleeves and sweat dripped from his brow. It was 1943, and he was about to establish the Brevard Music Center—one of the country’s most award-winning summer training programs and music festivals. He just didn’t know it yet. “This is the spot,” the bespectacled 31-year-old said to his wife, Louise. She nodded in agreement, and the two paused to survey the 100 acres before them.
Seeking the Wild & Wonderful: Trading D.C. Honks for West Virginia Beep Beeps

Nov 6, 2023 | blueridgecountry.com | Lauren Stepp

Ascend West Virginia incentivizes remote workers to put down roots in the Mountain State. A Detroit native who moved to Washington, D.C., shortly after college, Michael Phillips is no stranger to traffic sounds. High-pitched car alarms, screeching brakes, whirring tires, clunking transmissions—it’s all white noise to his urbanite ears. But there is one sound Phillips isn’t all that accustomed to: the friendly honk.
Weird Appalachia: Brown Mountain Lights

Oct 22, 2023 | woodshed.life | Lauren Stepp

Ghosts? Aliens? Hissing balls of lightning? Everyone has a theory about Burke County, N.C.'s biggest mystery. It’s rare that Dr. Daniel B. Caton, an astronomy professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, sees something in the sky he can’t explain. But one evening a few decades ago, Daniel witnessed a phenomenon he’s still trying to wrap his head around.
Mountain Memories from 1988

Jul 6, 2023 | blueridgecountry.com | Lauren Stepp

Step into the time capsule for a glimpse of the Southern Appalachians during Blue Ridge Country’s first year. Thirty-five years ago, as the first issue of Blue Ridge Country was making its way into homes across the southern Appalachian region, lots of other things were going on as well.
Retracing the Banjo’s Not-So-Southern Roots

May 31, 2023 | blueridgeoutdoors.com | Lauren Stepp

Cover photo: The banjo remained a distinctly Black instrument until the 1830s. Photo courtesy of the American Banjo Museum. Riff in TimeWhen most people think ofthe banjo, they imagine a bearded, salt-of-the-earth man picking away in some lonesome holler. For good measure, their imagination may even embellish the scene with baying hounds, white lightning, and a mountain drawl thicker than honey. But here’s the thing: While the banjo may be an icon of Southern Appalachia today, it hasn’t always been.