Phoenix rising: Anakeesta

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Boyhood home before & after.

And now a personal note, although all writers from Melville to Dickens to Matthiessen write from a deeply personal mindset. You live it, feel it, bleed it, write it. 

Almost two years ago my hometown of Gatlinburg was ravaged by a fast moving wildfire. Most of what I knew and loved—childhood home, neighboring houses, pretty much everything along my natal waters of Baskins Creek and the mountainsides up to the ridges above this watershed were destroyed in a matter of minutes. I have only been back one time to walk the road I traveled so often. It's much too unbelievable. Surreal. Tears form as I write these words. 

But that was the past, my past and now my hometown is recovering. As a nature writer, I full well know that change and regrowth is the driving force in all the natural world. And the same ridge I climbed so often has been reborn, the burned sections cut away, a Phoenix has risen. 

I am so pleased by the work of my friends, Karen, Bob, Bryce Bentz and Michele Canney, and proud of the long hours it has taken to create Anakeesta, a Cherokee word that means "place of the balsams" or a place of high ground. 

Please visit them soon and rejoice in the rebirth. 

And when you do, stop by Pearl's Pie in the Sky for some ice cream. The eatery honors my grandmother Pearl Bales, one of the very first truly independent mountain women to own her own businesses (yes, two) in Gatlinburg. She was born roughly two miles upstream on that same Baskins Creek. Her maiden name was Ogle. Inside of Pearl's place you will find a photo of Pearl and her grumpy grandson (that would be me) in bib overalls. Grumpy, if I recall, because I did not have a pencil to "mark with." 

For more news about happenings at Anakeesta click: Cliff Top.  

Bless you all.

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