Laurel Magazine

CLE | Intro to Wines at High Country Wine & Provisions
2025-06-10 10:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | High Country Wine & Provisions, 621 Franklin Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Whether you’re a casual wine lover or just starting your wine journey, this class is the perfect opportunity to explore the wonderful world of wine with Guy Davis of High Country Wine & Provisions. We’ll cover the fundamentals of wine styles, tasting techniques, and the art of food pairings, all while keeping it fun and relaxed. By the end, you’ll be equipped to confidently select a bottle, enjoy it alongside your favorite dish, and impress your friends with your newfound knowledge.

Kids Nature Series at The Village Green
2025-06-10 16:00 | The Village Green, 160 Frank Allen Road, Cashiers, NC, 28717, United States
Fungi Fanatics
Join Gina Patton of Balsam Mountain Trust to learn about the fantastic world of fungi!

Salamander Meander at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-10 20:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Join our Naturalists on a nighttime search for our secretive salamander friends!
Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.
We will meet in the amphitheater behind the Nature Center (930 Horse Cove Road).

Tinker Time for Tots at The Literacy and Learning Center
2025-06-11 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-18 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-25 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-09 11:00 - 12:00 | The Literacy & Learning Center, 675 S 4th Street, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
The Literacy & Learning Center is excited to bring back another season of engaging workshops tailored for preschoolers and their parents. The aim is to empower parents by demonstrating inventive ways to utilize everyday household items for their children’s educational benefit.
These sessions will showcase practical activities that parents can seamlessly incorporate into their daily routines, fostering a rich learning environment at home.

Tech Time at Hudson Library
2025-06-11 13:00 - 15:00, 2025-06-25 13:00 - 15:00, 2025-07-09 13:00 - 15:00 | Hudson Library, 554 Main St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Have you ever received the gift of a new digital device, like an iPad, smartphone or laptop, but had no idea how to use it? Hudson Library has the perfect solution-
Tech Time sessions offer one-on-one help on any personal digital device. Tech Time is a chance for residents of all ages to bring their devices and ask any questions. Learn how to set up an email account, mute your cell phone, back up and store files, and more.
Tech Times are free. No library card is required and no appointment is necessary. Services are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Summer Writing Workshop at Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library
2025-06-12 13:00, 2025-06-19 13:00, 2025-06-26 13:00, 2025-07-03 13:00, 2025-07-10 13:00 | Albert-Carlton Community Library, 249 Frank Allen Rd, Cashiers, NC, 28741, United States
Beginning on June 5 at 1:00 p.m. and continuing every Thursday until August 28, ACCCL staff member Michael Redman will lead a writing workshop that is free and open to everyone, regardless of previous writing experience.
The workshop will be a place to be introduced to techniques, perspectives, and exercises to help you develop your writing. It will also provide a safe,welcoming environment for you to share your own thoughts, ideas, and questions.

Zahner Lecture Series at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-12 18:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Healthy Land, Healthy People: Centering Indigenous Voices in Conservation with Bonnie Claxton (Chickasaw) Deputy Director, The Center for Native Health
The health of the land and the health of the people are deeply interconnected—a truth long understood by Indigenous communities. Yet, conservation efforts often overlook Native voices, traditional ecological knowledge, and Indigenous-led solutions. This talk will explore the importance of Indigenous leadership in environmental stewardship and offer practical ways for non-Indigenous allies to support and uplift these efforts. Through insights from the Center for Native Health’s Land & Wellness Program, we will discuss the role of land-based healing, policy, and community-driven solutions in restoring balance between people and place.
Sponsored by Diane Lennox & Paul Manos, Janet & Scott Clarke, Richard Yow, and Liz Sargent.
For more information highlandsbiological.org or call 828-526-2623.

Nature Center Nights | What Bat is That? at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Stretch your wings and tune into the sounds of the many special bats of the Highlands area! Join our Naturalists on a walk through the Botanical Garden to watch them in flight.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

CHS | Jan Wyatt Symposium at Chimney Pond Farm
2025-06-19 10:00 - 15:00 | Chimney Pond Farm, 240 Chimney Pond Rd, Glenville, NC, 28736, United States
Jan Wyatt Symposium: Campfires & the Embers of Youth: The History of Residential Summer Camps in Western North Carolina
This engaging topic allows us to explore the many ways summer camps have shaped the social, economic, and cultural history of western North Carolina.
The event will include a slate of speakers and presentations, round-table panel discussions, and a catered lunch.

Zahner Lecture Series 2 | Are You BearWise? at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-19 18:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Are you BearWise? with Tanya Poole, Conservation Initiatives Engagement Coordinator for NC Wildlife Resources Commission
It’s spring and you know what that means. Warmer temperatures, beautiful flowers, trees blooming, and people venturing out to enjoy it all. It turns out black bears are coming out in large numbers to enjoy some of the same things that humans enjoy. Learn about the conditions that contribute to the black bear population continuing to thrive in Western North Carolina in proximity to so many people. Tanya Poole, Conservation Initiatives Engagement Coordinator for NC Wildlife Resources Commission, discusses BearWise strategies recommended by wildlife experts that will help people better coexist with these amazing animals.

Nature Center Nights | Glowing Wonders at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-24 20:30 - 21:30 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Experience bugs + insects in a whole new light – moonlight! Learn about the unique and beautiful world of nocturnal insects and then search for fireflies, moths, and more in the Botanical Garden.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

Village Nature Series at The Village Green
2025-06-25 17:30 | The Village Green, 160 Frank Allen Road, Cashiers, NC, 28717, United States
A Tale of Three Watersheds
Learn what a watershed is and about the three watersheds that drain the Cashiers area and Highlands plateau. Where do the rivers go when they leave the plateau? Do they all contain the same species of fish and other aquatic life? This talk is meant to provide a basic understanding of streams and rivers in the Cashiers area, as well as threats to their quality and what we can do to protect them.

Zahner Lecture Series | Bats in Your Backyard at Highlands Nature Center
2025-06-26 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Featured Speaker: Rada Petric, Assistant Research Professor and Director of the UNC IE Highlands Field Site, UNC Institute for the Environment.
Urbanization, landscape modification and concomitant pollutants (sound, light, and chemical compounds) alter the natural landscape which in turn influences animal behavior, biology, and survival. Sound, light and microplastics are emerging contaminants of interest. Due to the increased detection of these emerging contaminants, most habitats have become threatened. Despite the documented record of their occurrence in literature, there remains a great deal of mystery surrounding their occurrence’s ecological consequence. Her primary research interest is understanding how anthropogenic disturbances are altering community composition and reshaping ecosystems. Here, we discuss several studies focused on understanding how bats and small mammals respond to human disturbances.
FREE | No registration required
Sponsored by Mary Todd & Jimmy Davis, Nancy & Lyle Nichols, and Miriam & Vernon Skiles.

Kids Zone at Hudson Library
2025-07-03 15:30, 2025-07-10 15:30 | Hudson Library, 554 Main St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Kids Zone features a variety of fun and interesting programs where kids can explore art, nature, science & more! Best for ages 5 and up.

Nature Center Nights | Hunters in the Sky at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-08 18:30 - 19:30 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Birds of Prey are fascinating, but are sometimes misperceived due to their predatory instincts. Meet some live raptors and learn about their day to day struggle to survive in our constantly changing world.
This program features Carlton Burke of Carolina Mountain Naturalists.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

Zahner Conservation Lecture Series | Cohabitate; Living with Nature at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-10 18:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Sonya Carpenter, Co-founder and President of Co-habitate Inc.
The Highlands Plateau is rich in biological diversity and appreciated for its natural beauty. Development pressure is increasing in Highlands, and threatens to have a negative impact on our natural resources. Therefore, neighbors must work together to ensure the natural resources we all appreciate such as clean air and water are protected. We as a community must create a culture in which native species are celebrated, encouraged, and harmoniously integrated into public and private landscapes. This is the vision for the new community-based organization, Co-habitate, which is dedicated to engaging and educating our neighbors on the intrinsic value of our ecosystem and seeking solutions to environmental degradation due to the pressures of development. Co-habitate co-founders Sonya Carpenter and Canty Worley have a vision for this work and hope to ensure that our plateau is a place where we can all reap the health benefits of nature. In this talk Sonya will introduce some of the activities, projects, and opportunities of this new initiative and offer ways that each of us can promote a healthier environment for humans and all of the other species who share the Highlands Plateau.
Sponsored by Jennie Stowers.
FREE | No registration required

The Collapse of Trust in News and How to Win It Back at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Trust in news is arguably at an all time low. Many Americans have lost confidence in the press, citing concerns about bias, sensationalism, exaggeration or even deception. It’s tempting to look back to the days of Walter Cronkite with nostalgia. But this lecture will argue that the postwar era (1945-Watergate) was actually a historical aberration, and that polarization in news today reflects older traditions in journalism including the hyper-partisan press of the early Republic, penny press and the yellow press. Looking forward, we’ll examine how trust in news has been lost and how serious, committed journalists can win it back.

Higher Education in the Political Cross Hairs? at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-15 10:00 - 14:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Until recently, a college degree was widely considered a reliable path to success in life. Higher education has now become a political and legal battlefield. To critics, colleges and universities do not educate; they indoctrinate. Among the most significant issues at stake: the role of the Department of Education; political interference in academic governance; defunding academic departments or programs; restricting curriculum content; political bias in hiring and promotion; elimination of tenure; elimination of affirmative action and related DEI initiatives; transgender participants in sports; free speech and cancel culture; and the need for more skills-based content in college curriculums. Is the value of a college education in serious need of reconsideration?
Our speakers have extensive experience as higher education leaders in both the private and public sectors. They will discuss how and why this debate emerged but also provide insight into the trajectory of the debate going forward.

Drawing for All at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-15 14:00 - 16:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Back by popular demand! Mary will teach you how to draw using the elements of art: line, shape, form, value, and texture. Graphite pencils, ebony pencils, Sharpies, etc., are your tools. Using these elements, we will create a value scale and simple drawings of still life and landscape. Bring a sketchbook or journal. This will be a “process over product” style of learning.
All participants will be supported in drawing ideas they would like to develop. All materials for this class are provided, and you will leave with a supply list for continuing your art exploration at home.

Nature Center Nights | Salamander Meander at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Join our Naturalists on a nighttime search for our secretive salamander friends.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)
