CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 5 6 8 10 12 14 16 22 62 64 66 Letters/Contributors From the Editor Mill Creek Stories Creature Feature The Good Walk Our Blue Ridge Towns Festivals & Events Country Roads Flavors Singing in the Garden Guest Column F E AT U R E S 26 What's New in the Mountains? We've scoured the region and have come back with more than 100 entities you likely haven't visited yet. BY JOE TENNIS 34 Rails in the Woods: An Appreciation of Mountain Trains Our contributing photographers paint the picture. 38 Through the 'Tough Trough': Aboard the Potomac Eagle The people who conduct the train ride are a dedicated bunch. Ride along and visit with them as the train navigates the West Virginia mountains. BY JOE TENNIS 42 Backyard: Plant for Wildlife this Spring Narrowing your plantings to only native plants will help the bugs and the birds. BY ANGELA MINOR 51 Jimmy Cheers: Doesn't Everyone Love Fishing? Out on the river with a true enthusiast. BY NANCY HENDERSON 55 Rocky Fork: Celebrating a Preservation Some 10,000 acres of beautiful Tennessee mountain land were saved about a decade back. Part of it has become a state park. PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID RAMSEY AND JERRY GREER 59 Bringing a Passel of Change to the Mountains Elizabeth Catte and Josh Howard are dedicated to using the past toward building a positive future for our region. BY JOAN VANNORSDALL ON THE COVER Two of the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park's Shay steam locomotives make their way up Cass Hill with a load of passengers. Their destination, Bald Knob, is the third peak in the distance. Photo by Walter Scriptunas II PHOTO ON THIS PAGE: Photographer Jon Phillips braved the cold for over 2 1/2 hours to capture the January 20 blood moon eclipse at Spivey Falls in Erwin,Tennessee. The composite image required two different exposures, with the waterfalls shot on manual mode at F-22, ISO 2500 for 30 seconds EC set at 0 at 11mm with a Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 wide angle lens. Waterfalls was highlighted with a flashlight, and a car happened by and gave the woods and trees a firey burning effect. Moon was shot with 100-400mm zoom lens on manual mode at F-11, ISO 200 for 2 seconds , ec -1 at 340mm. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 3