north carolina

Chris Knight's avatar

Whenever I post anything new about the legendary moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, traffic to this blog flies off the chain.  It has been a pleasure to write about him and chronicle his life and times during the past several years and Lord willing, I’ll get to continue to do so for a long, long time to come.  It’ll always be one of my bigger regrets that I never got to meet him personally but it has been a tremendous honor to have come to know those he was closest to, including Popcorn’s widow Mrs. Pam Sutton.

Photo Credit: Jamey Grosser via Facebook

Before his passing four years ago Popcorn was well into plans to legalize his famed likker.  Last year Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey – made with Popcorn’s original recipe – went on sale in Tennessee.  And demand for it exploded!  At one point the moonshine – originally ...

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Earlier this morning I first read about this and ever since I’ve been trying to find a measure of absurd purpose or mad brilliance in this legislation… but if it’s there I can’t find it.

Two members of this state’s House of Representatives have filed House Bill 494, which if passed would allow for an official religion to be imposed upon North Carolina.

It’s not a late April Fools joke.  Representatives Harry Warren and Carl Ford (each of Rowan County) want an official state religion which would circumvent judicial rulings on prayer at government functions within North Carolina.  Presumably this would be in response to courts which have struck down prayers at county commissioner meetings, school board hearings and the like.  Eleven other representatives so far have backed the proposal.

“The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal

...
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The talk of the area since yesterday morning has been this billboard on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro (North Carolina). In big bold letters on a wrathful red field it reads thusly: “Michael- GPS Tracker – $250, Nikon Camera with zoom lens – $1600, Catching my LYING HUSBAND and buying this billboard with our investment account – Priceless. Tell Jessica you’re moving in! – Jennifer”.

That LED billboard has caused at least one car wreck (was his name Michael?!).  Some have said the photos are fake but it’s really been on display.

Battleground Avenue, Greensboro, North Carolina, billboard, Jennifer, Jessica, Michael, cheating, cheater, infidelity, wine, Yodaddy's, Yo Daddy's
(Photo credit: Fox 8 WGHP)

Now there is evidence that the entire thing has perhaps been, rather than a jilted wife airing her husband’s dirty laundry on Battleground Avenue, a marketing ploy by a restaurant instead.

At right you see the new message that showed up on the same billboard today.  It’s now alternating with the original ...

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Please note: I am not a beer drinker.  In fact, it’s very rare that I’ll drink alcohol at all.  There’s nothing I hold against those who enjoy it (in moderation ‘course).  And I know next to nothing about what makes a good beer.  The first time I tried drinking any, it was in Belgium in 1993.  To this day I still cannot adequately describe how dark that stuff was…

North Carolina Beers, blog, Eric Smith

Even so, lacking knowledge and experience hasn’t been an impediment toward enjoying Eric Smith‘s new blog North Carolina Beers!  A home-brewer for well over a decade, Eric’s new site is “dedicated to North Carolina Beers and Breweries. Over
the next year or two I plan on visiting every brewery in NC and writing
a review on each of them. I will write about as many beers as I can
and there may be some beer specific post as well.”  ...

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Eustace Conway, mountain man, mountain men, Bob Buckley, Buckley Report, Fox 8, WGHP, government

If there had been Watauga County bureaucrats running the country following the Revolutionary War, the United States would have never expanded past the Appalachians.  It’s a wonder we survived before the advent of indoor plumbing…

Eustace Conway, a resident of Boone, North Carolina who’s been featured recently on the History Channel’s series Mountain Men, is now facing the prospect of his land being condemned and control of it taken from him by the local government.  Watauga County officials are insisting that the nature school on Conway’s land isn’t up to code and is in violation of numerous health and safety regulations.  Conway believes that he’s being targeted because he advocates a more traditional “back to nature” approach to living, one which is at odds with “modern” culture and its trappings of collective expectation.  He cites that his property has been the way it is for the past 26 ...

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The message went out loud and clear last night from citizens and their elected representatives alike: “Mayor Festerman, tear down this tree!”

Confederate Soldiers Monument in downtown
Reidsville, North Carolina prior to the
May 2011 accident

Lots of friends who went to yesterday evening’s meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners conveyed the good news: that by unanimous vote, all five board members passed a resolution calling for the return of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in downtown Reidsville.

And what’s more, there was not one person at the near-capacity public hearing in Wentworth who spoke against restoring the monument.

Let that lil’ detail sink in, friends and neighbors. During a two-plus hour public meeting that had been announced and advertised well in advance, nobody came to the podium to insist or remotely suggest that the monument remain absent from the town’s landscape. That alone indicates the overwhelming belief ...

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When it comes to North Carolina architecture, there is no more ubiquitous an example than the humble tobacco barn. You can barely drive half a mile in the rural farming areas without seeing at least one or two dotting the landscape. With some of them dating back a century and more, they once exemplified this state’s agricultural acumen like nothing else could.

And it is not without some sadness that in the modern era, most of them have fallen into disuse. Once they hummed with hard work and a handsome payoff. Now, no more. But the barns still stand: a testimony to times gone by and a tradition that many families maintained for generations.

For those reasons and more (not the least of which is the gorgeous cinematography and editing by Stewart Pittman) I can’t recommend enough that y’all check out this Buckley Report story by WGHP Fox 8 reporter ...

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How does one begin to describe Reida Drum?

Nothing I could possibly write would ever come close to encapsulating her feisty nature, her high-minded priciples… and her personality resplendent with color and charm.

(Reida once told me that she liked how I described her as “resplendent” in a blog post. She said that was one of her favorite words.)

Reida was many things: an educator, an actress, an investigator, an administrator, and always ever a woman of raucous style and a spirit to match.

Reida was a woman of many hats… literally! To say nothing of the plethora of feather boas that she was often seen wearing. Many times over the years she would don hat and boa and come to the libraries of elementary schools throughout Rockingham County and read to the children, who knew her as “the Feather Lady”.

She taught English at the old Bethany High ...

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It started as one evening’s tribute in music and song of the memory of legendary moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton. Last year it became a full-blown event that had to be moved to the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds, practically at the last minute because there was so much interest.

And this year, it’s gonna be even bigger!

The 3rd Annual Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam kicks off this afternoon at 4 p.m. in Maggie Valley, North Carolina (about 40 minutes west of Asheville). At least fifteen bands will be performing country, bluegrass, a bit of everything in between. There will be tons of food and drink (“…but will there be moonshine?!”), merchandise for sale, loads more.

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this year’s festivities because of something else that I have to attend to this weekend. But I was at last year’s Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam and ...

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