February 27

Dr. Dan Pierce, professor at UNCA and contributor to Moonshine & Motorsports Trail, will discuss the history of moonshining in North Carolina and greater Appalachia and how that birthed the multi-billion-dollar industry of stock car racing that we know today.

March 8th

Dr. David Moore, former Archaeology Professor and Director of the Cherokee Archaeology Field School for Warren Wilson College will lead us on a tour of central campus, the farm, and the garden. We will also learn about the indigenous people who first inhabited the land. Dr. Moore has directed the excavation and preservation of the site of the former Cherokee Site on the Warren Wilson Campus and the Berry Site (the location of the Cherokee Settlement Joara and the Spanish Fort San Juan dating to the 1560’s) near Morganton. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about the history of the college and the indigenous people that inhabited its lands.

March 15

The hike to Weatherford Heights explores the history and geography of Y.M.C.A. Blue Ridge Assembly. The hike follows the original boundary line of the conference center’s grounds, surveyed by educator, author, and religious leader Willis Duke Weatherford in 1906. Weatherford sought a permanent location for student training sessions he arranged. When he reached the present site of Blue Ridge Assembly, between two steep forested ridges of the Swannanoa Mountains two miles from Black Mountain, he exclaimed, “Eureka, we have found it!”

Difficulty: Strenuous, 6
Elevation Gain: 2,710 feet

March 20th

On the first day of Spring, history comes alive at a special gala dinner to benefit
the Swannanoa Valley Museum hosted by Hell or High Water, Black Mountain’s
newest restaurant. Enjoy a specially curated four course pre fixe dinner and hear the
story of Black Mountain from locals with strong ties to the past. Choose one of two
seatings and mingle with newcomers and old friends of the Museum in community seating arrangements. Tickets for non-members of the Museum will include a complimentary one-year membership valued
at $35. Drinks are excluded from the ticketed price.

March 28th

March 29th

This 8.8-mile moderate to strenuous point to point hike with approximately 1900 feet of elevation gain will take us from Yellow Gap Road near Pink Beds to The Pisgah Inn. We will pass Barnett Branch Falls before taking the MTS for the rest of journey to the Inn. From the Inn, we will follow the Thompson Creek Trail down to Yellow Gap Road while passing the upper and lower Thompson Creek Falls. We will pre-drop vehicles, so we have transportation back to the start of the hike.

Due to the difficulty of the hike, all hikers must be preapproved.

Meet: 9:00 am – Pisgah Forest Walmart – Forest Gate Drive, Pisgah Forest.

Estimated Return Time to Cars: 4:30 pm