These stories, chosen from the BRC archive that now goes back almost 32 years, recall some of the quirky, odd and even mystifying pieces from the magazine:
• Paper Dresses of the ‘60s: "The high point of the brief 1960s fad of paper dresses may have been the week after an October, 1968 edition of Parade magazine, which carried a full-page ad featuring a model wearing a paper dress and bright yellow tights." So begins Marla Hardee Milling’s recollection of a strange but brief fad, and of how a small Asheville, North Carolina business found itself overwhelmed with orders for non-washable fashion.
• The Land of Oz: In 1970, The Washington (DC) Daily News awarded the Most Outstanding Tourist Attraction of the Year to a place called the Land of Oz in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. "We have never seen a more beautiful natural setting nor a finer marriage of a place and an idea," the paper gushed. "It is truly an adventure, imaginative and unspoiled." But the honeymoon for the Yellow Brick Road and the other features on the 5,205-foot mountain was short-lived. The tale of how the fairy tale park ended is almost as fascinating as its namesake creation.
• Where’s the Lake? Documents over the decades and centuries chronicle well the strange tendency of Virginia’s Mountain Lake—one of only two natural lakes in the state—to rise and fall dramatically in water level. But when the lake disappears almost completely and a namesake resort—the site of some of the filming “Dirty Dancing”—thereby loses much of its identity, then people want answers, even if they’re geological in nature.
• Mary the Elephant: For the better part of a century, the East Tennessee town of Erwin could not quite live down a tragic event that had occurred—through no fault of its own—in its quiet town. The story of how Erwin turned its reputation around is almost as compelling—and far more noble—than the original horrific event of an elephant hanged in the street.
• Ridin’ that Train: When “scalded to death by the steam” becomes part of the national lexicon, you know there must have been a serious train wreck behind it. And the Wreck of Old 97 was just that. We track down the life of the mysterious conductor and his conduct on that day. And oh, hey, you ever hear about the train wreck caused by a 6-year-old? And about the unique punishment he got? That’s here too!
Please note, we’ve digitized these pieces just as they appeared in their original print form. Please remember that as a result, all quotes and references to “present day” things such as artifacts and other items are contemporaneous to the time of publication rather than the current time.
This is just the second in our ongoing HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS series. Our first one was Heroic Women of the Mountains. Coming soon: Famous and Infamous Crime Tragedies and Remembering the Mountains’ Favorite TV and Showbiz Stars.