david-old

by David Cecelski This is the beginning of the walking trail at the JunaluskaMuseum and Gravesite in Robbinsville. The Snowbird community of Cherokees here in Graham County operates this little museum and walking trail at the gravesite of the 19th-century Cherokee leader Junaluska and his second wife, Nicie. I enjoyed the museum’s exhibits, but what really grabbed me was the… Read More →

by David Cecelski Last week we happened to be passing through Stecoah, inGraham County, on one of the two Friday nights each summer that the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center hosts a supper of Cherokee traditional foods. Located in a beautiful old stone schoolhouse, the Center is a non-profit community group dedicated to preserving Appalachian mountain heritage and supporting the local community…. Read More →

by David Cecelski When we were in the mountains last week, we found some lovely things at produce stands and farmers markets. We discovered these dried yellow-eyed peas at Duckett’s Produce Stand on US 19 in Maggie Valley, in Haywood County. Yellow-eyes are a variety of cowpea, like black-eyed peas, and are a mountain delicacy, rich and… Read More →

by David Cecelski This week, my family and I are taking classes at the John C.Campbell Folk School on the border of Cherokee and Clay County. I’m spending most of my time in the blacksmith shop with my son and daughter, but I’m also keeping an eye out for interesting, traditional foods from this part of the Southern Appalachians. Our first adventure… Read More →

by David Cecelski I’ve been eating at the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant in Morehead City all my life. My mother’s been eating at the Sanitary almost all her life—and she’s 82. She remembers when the restaurant first opened in 1938. At that time, the little waterfront café had only 12 stools and a two-burner kerosene stove. She had one… Read More →

by David Cecelski Late in the 19th century, the little rural community of Ridgeway, in Warren County, attracted immigrants from Germany,Switzerland, France, and the British Isles. They raised many kinds of fruits and berries, but Ridgeway gained a special fame for the sweetness of its cantaloupes. At its peak, Ridgeway’s farm cooperative was loading 14 railroad cars a day with cantaloupes…. Read More →

by David Cecelski Every evening this week, my children and I have picked wild blackberries by the creek in our city park. We have filled buckets with the sweet, sweet berries. They taste so summery and good, and are so fresh, that at first we just ate handfuls of them as we stood in the… Read More →

by David Cecelski When my daughter and I visited Durham’s Green Flea Market for the first time today, we were reminded of the lively, colorful, and exciting neighborhood mercados that you find in Mexico or El Salvador. More than a hundred mostly Latin American vendors were selling everything from CDs to baptismal gowns there. What enthralled us most, though, were the cafés,… Read More →

by David Cecelski Tonight my son and daughter baked Irish potatoes in the hot coals left from a fire we built earlier in the day. They wrapped the potatoes in tinfoil and cooked them with fresh onions and a little butter. When they pulled them out of the coals, the tender young potatoes had a… Read More →

by David Cecelski Today I took a friend who is a jazz lover to explore John Coltrane’s childhood world in High Point. The great jazz saxophonist and composer lived in the city from soon after his birth in 1926 until he graduated from high school in 1943. We visited his family’s old house on Underhill Street, his… Read More →