The Eclipse in The Great Smoky Mountains

“How many stills are there in Haywood County?” I ask, sipping another shot of peach pie moonshine.  Dave Angel, proprietor of Elevated Distilling, leans over the bar and replies, “Just three distilleries, but (pausing for dramatic effect) … many more stills.” It was a wink-wink moment letting me know that for all the urban revival going on in this little nook of North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains, some traditions never die.

Dark Skies

The Great American Eclipse and the path of totality is why I’m here, and let there be no doubt, “Astronomical Travel” might define a niche market, but far and away it’s a dedicated one. When I found out a full year before the eclipse that the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park was directly in the path of totality, the three-minute sweet spot when the moon entirely covers the sun, I grabbed the phone. Guess what? Most of the hotels were already booked solid. Upon landing a glamping experience at the Twinbrook Resort in Maggie Valley and a mountaintop viewing party at the Cataloochee Ranch, practically surrounded by the park, I considered myself VERY lucky. Eclipses might be predictable, hotel availability isn’t.

At Cataloochee, the plan was to observe three minutes of silence as the moon passed over the sun. With the Blue Ridge Mountains silhouetted against a 360° dawn, it was all about cosmic quietude. Until, of course, a patchwork of clouds rolled in at precisely the wrong moment and obscured the eclipse. So when somebody yelled “There it is!, we scrambled for our cameras and that moment of silence went to the showers. Even the horses stampeded. Eclipse chasers are a passionate bunch.

Mountain High

Full disclosure: Eclipse-chaser I may be, but even I’ll admit the idea of traveling thousands of miles for a four-hour event, of which only three minutes are the “good part,” then immediately packing-up is ridiculous. The Great Smoky Mountains, home of the stunningly scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, is the most popular national park in the country and one of the best outdoor destinations in the world.

The mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway are synonymous in these parts, and for good reason. Summer haze settling in the valleys looks like diffused smoke, and as the ranges recede into the distance, they turn blue. From the lookouts dotting the Parkway — Yellowface, Thunder Struck Ridge, Mile High, Waterrock Knob — or any of the other 72 lookouts in Haywood, it’s like you’re gazing off the planet into the ether. See a vista you like and there’s no lookout? Just pull over on the shoulder. Happens all the time.

But I did things hardcore, throwing on a pair of sturdy boots and hitting the trails; 15 miles from county seat Waynesville, and nearly 4,700 feet up Purchase Knob, is the one-room Ferguson Cabin, built by mountain man John Ferguson in 1875 as the family homestead. Rustic and weather beaten and at the highest elevation in the Smokies, it has “Instagram” over every clapboarded inch. Along the way were ancient trees, wildflowers in mountain meadows, and tons of clean fresh air (I’m a New Yorker; that last one is a big deal). Alas, I did not catch sight of the elusive Boojum, the legendary Sasquatch-like lurker haunting streams looking for pretty rocks.

Valley Low

But people-eaters be damned, I clung to the ridges and peaks until sunset, and if you saw a “gen-yoo-ine” Smokies twilight, you’d stay late, too. They are breathtaking, unmarred by any trace of civilization, thanks to the untouched forests of the park. I felt a world away from, well, everything.

But after sunset, and a lot of hiking, it was time to kick back. And if tales of an Appalachia blighted by urban decay spring to mind, think again: Towns like Maggie Valley, Canton, and Waynesville are mountain communities that have reinvented themselves, thanks to gentrification in nearby Asheville and the accompanying sky high property prices. Fed-up entrepreneurial types are taking to the hinterlands of Haywood (all of 30 minutes west), bringing their business acumen with them. Derelict buildings are being refurbished, industries invented, and a deep sense of mountain pride embraced. And yes, that also includes moonshining.

Moonshiners knew for years Haywood’s water was the best around, and a big part of the regional upswing is thanks to them and a trendy Millennial crowd following them. Elevated Distilling is joined by craft breweries: Boojum, BearWaters, and Frog Level Brewing (and a herd of hipsters trailing behind). It’s not to say Haywood is the next Hamptons with some hootch thrown in for local color, but a stroll along Main St. in Waynesville — a town made for the word “stroll” — is surprisingly upscale so long as flannels and fleeces are your thing, along with artisanal teas and Cherokee art. Remember, in the mountains it gets cool quick.

And then there was quiet. At night I was serenaded by the perfect duet: crickets and the brook babbling outside my camper. The total eclipse is what brought me here … that is, the celestial led me to appreciate the terrestrial. The eclipse was the tip off to majestic mountains, fields full of flowers, and sunsets that set the standard. Next time I get stuck on the NYC subway in rush hour, that’s what I’ll remember.

*Although it’s up-and-coming, Haywood County is still rural. You have to fly to Asheville Regional Airport then drive to communities like Maggie Valley, Waynesville, or Canton.

The area code for Haywood County is 828.