A Collaboration for the SensesWinter’s DelightsCelebrating 150!Our Laurel Wordsmiths
A Collaboration for the Senses

Let’s raise a glass to the generosity of vintner Guy Davis and the vivid imagination of artist Leah Grace Craig.

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Winter’s Delights

The Plateau is home to a raft of activities that’ll get your heart pumping and invigorate your outlook. (In the words of Highlands’ unofficial

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Celebrating 150!

Though we can pause to look back at Highlands’ last 150 years, a commitment to preservation demands that we keep our eyes on the future.

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Our Laurel Wordsmiths

A remembrance of writerly flourishes in our Laurel magazine.

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A Lot Like Eden

Four new unique properties will be conserved with Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust in 2015 – they protect water, wildlife habitat and public views.  Your land trust has been conserving our most treasured places here locally since 1909 and thanks to our supporters, we are able to protect the quality of the air you breathe, the water you drink, and a healthy …

Little Feet. Big Steps.

As the new Program Coordinator, I’m not asking you for just a donation, but rather an investment in a child’s future. By supporting BBBS, you are making our community stronger. Studies show that mentors outside the family often play a critical role in helping a child develop his/her full potential. BBBS is a well-respected organization started over 103 years ago …

A Romance with Reading

Has this ever happened to you?  You’re standing in line and a lovely platinum-haired woman comes up and asks what your favorite book might be No?  Well, if it does, you can bet that woman is Celeste Bittner, a volunteer at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library.  Celeste has been giving her time to the library for 10 years and doesn’t …


Christ Anglican Church

Compared to many of the other Christian churches in the Highlands-Cashiers area, the Christ Anglican Church, which meets at 464 U.S. Highway 64 East in Cashiers, is a youngster, having been organized in 2004.   The congregation is led by Father Jim Murphy who migrated to our area in 2009.  This family of God is part and parcel to the …

Hell, Fire, and Stumpy Cigars

My granddad had a trademark – a half-smoked cigar dangling from the corner of his mouth.  It was always there, a stubby thumb of a thing.  It was rarely lit, though ash burns in his ties and suits told the real tale. He was superintendent of the Piedmont and Northern Railroad in the Carolinas.  A bear of a man, he …

A Stay and Play Chalet

Do you remember as a child rushing down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought you?  Along with the gifts that you had told Santa about, there’d be a couple of surprises that made your eyes twinkle with delight. This month’s Home of Distinction is a surprise – not one of the larger, estate homes of …


Cornelius Zepher Neal Zachary

The October issue of The Laurel contained an article about Neal Zachary’s tombstone in the Upper Zachary Cemetery in Cashiers which was lacking his date of death and a plea was made for help in learning that death date.  Just a few days after the October 1 publication hit the new-stands, a reader phoned and provided an answer which will …

A Twenty-Five Cent Fine

It’s almost New Year’s Day, 2016.  Roll back to New Year’s Day, 1884, when a new city ordinance went into effect. It was one of many as Highlands transitioned from a “boysterose” town, as one resident put it, to a lawful municipality. The ordinance read: “That any hogs found at large in the town of Highlands on or after the …

Winged Reminders

During the winter months our resident avian friends – the Titmice, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and Carolina Chickadees that live around and amongst us – become more easily seen and appreciated.  With branches bare from the fall, they are more visible in the trees.  If you have a bird feeder they become frequent visitors.  Suet attracts woodpeckers of all sorts; sunflower seeds …


Above All, Bee Kind

In the November issue we reported on the alarming disappearance of honeybees.  In this issue we take a first-hand look at what’s happening to bees in our own back yards. Geared up in overalls, gloves, hats, and veils, bee farmers Kenny and Kathy Hayes, Laurel Managing Partner Marjorie Christiansen and I set out for the Hayes’ apiary (the bee yard).  …

Male Northern Cardinal

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a fairly large songbird, rare in the Western U.S., which neither migrates nor changes color by molding. The male is a commanding red, the female dull brown with red highlights. Both are crested with black faces and red beaks. They are common on bird feeders offering sunflower seeds. The song is varied and the …

Research and Education

For the past 88 years the Highlands Biological Station has fostered research and education focused here in Highlands.  Each summer hundreds of students come to Highlands to learn more about this rich and diverse environment.  Here are a few of the many excellent projects that were funded by the Highlands Biological Foundation and conducted here in Highlands this summer: Damien …