Clayton Hensley

• Poinsettias big holiday business for area growers Published 12/16/2011 at 11:45 p.m.

  On a warm day in mid-November, Bob Pile and about half a dozen employees of Wolf River Valley Growers loaded a truck with more than 700 poinsettias.

• Local ice cream a hedge against double-dip recession Published 09/06/2011 at 4 a.m.

  While talk of a double-dip recession is growing, local frozen treat businesses are finding ways to survive in a sluggish economy.

• Waterfalls tall and wide pepper Middle Tennessee Published 08/27/2011 at 3 p.m.

  Cookeville, Tenn. — Back in 1793, the government gave Tom Burgess a tract of land near what decades later would become the city of Cookeville. It was a reward for his service in the Revolutionary War. The land ran along ...

• Boone, N.C., offers small-town charm amid mountain scenery Published 08/20/2011 at 1 p.m.

  Boone, N.C. — Rising up out of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a peak more than a mile high reminded the Cherokee of a hawk or an eagle. Later, when pioneers moved into the area, the rocky cliffs reminded them of ...

• There's lots to see along route of the World's Longest Yard Sale Published 07/30/2011 at 6 p.m.

  PALL MALL, Tenn. — When Sgt. Alvin C. York returned from World War I he probably never dreamed that some 90 years later thousands of bargain hunters would pass his front door. Sgt. York's home, the family grist mill and ...

• Summer surroundings: Chattanooga battlefields recall deadly conflicts of Civil War Published 07/23/2011 at 8:50 p.m.

  Ft. Oglethorpe, GA — A tractor sits in the edge of the field, resting from what has surely been a long day trimming the fields of one North Georgia field. Scattered within view are half-a-dozen monuments and replicas of cannons, ...

• Short trips in Tennessee and contiguous states: Asheville, NC Published 07/10/2011 at midnight

  Just minutes before the LaZoom tour bus pulls away from the French Broad Coop you know it is going to be an interesting ride. Dozens of people on board the old school bus start pouring their glasses of wine and ...

• Short trips in Tennessee and nearby states: Falling for Greenville Published 06/19/2011 at midnight

  GREENVILLE, S.C. - In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina, Callahan Mountain Road takes you deep inside a forest thick with rhododendrons, wildflowers and clear mountain streams. In the middle of all this stands a monument ...

• Short trips in Tennessee and contiguous states: West N.C. wonders Published 06/12/2011 at midnight

  The Whitewater River dramatically exits the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina as it makes its way toward the foothills.

• Short trips in Tennessee and contiguous states: Roan Mountain's rhododendrons Published 05/29/2011 at midnight

  In the late 19th century tourists began flocking to a 300-room hotel nestled high atop a 6,300-foot peak on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. The Cloudland Hotel offered guests a chance to take in clean mountain air, enjoy breathtaking views ...

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