The Smokies Column That Started in Lockdown Is Now a Book, and It Reads Like a Field Guide to Your Backyard

By Jon Tharp, Broker  ·  September 10, 2026

A column that started because nobody was allowed inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park has turned into a book you can now buy in the park's own visitor centers. "Word from the Smokies: A Nature Reader" collects 24 of Frances Figart's favorite pieces from the column she launched in April 2020, when COVID closures had locked the gates on the most visited national park in the country. Six years later, the column reaches tens of thousands of readers each week, and it runs right here in Haywood County's Smoky Mountain News.

The book makes sense for anyone living along the park's North Carolina edge. From Asheville, the Oconaluftee entrance near Cherokee is about an hour west via I-40 and US-441, and Haywood County's Cataloochee Valley sits even closer. That proximity is the whole point. The stories in this collection are about the same bears, bobcats, box turtles, and owls that share the ridgelines with the rest of us.

How did Word from the Smokies get started?

The column came out of a brainstorming session between Figart, creative services director for the nonprofit Smokies Life (then called Great Smoky Mountains Association), and marketing coordinator Elly Wells. With the park closed, they wanted a way to keep people connected to it. At the time, naturalist George Ellison was still writing his Nature Journal column for the Asheville Citizen-Times from his cove west of Bryson City, but Parkinson's disease was making it hard for him to produce new material.

Wells suggested Smokies Life start its own column in the spirit of Ellison's regional storytelling. Figart agreed, and the first Word from the Smokies ran in the Citizen-Times on April 5, 2020. She has written more than 100 pieces since. The column has grown to include other writers and now appears in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, the Beacon Tribune, and Smoky Mountain News, along with the Smokies Life blog.

What is in the book?

Figart worked with her staff to narrow the nature-centered columns down to 24 chapters, then re-edited them for a more timeless feel. She updated facts and figures, and most chapters end with a short section pointing readers to resources for learning more or helping protect the featured species.

The topics read like a list of things WNC residents actually wonder about. Why are bobcats so rarely seen, and what happens to a box turtle when someone moves it? One chapter lays out the truth about venomous snakes. Another covers the least weasel, which pound-for-pound has the strongest jaws of any North American predator despite being the world's smallest carnivore. Owls, spiders, Russula mushrooms, and the comeback of the northern river otter all get their turn.

Two chapters will hit especially close to home on this side of the mountains. One explains the Cherokee tradition of harvesting sochan, the green-headed coneflower that shows up on tables across Jackson and Swain counties every spring. Another explores the growing effort to keep wildlife safe at road crossings in the Southern Appalachians, an issue anyone who drives I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge understands firsthand.

What to do in Waynesville NC when the elk are bugling?

One of the chapters is a reflection on the annual elk rut, and the timing of this release works out well. Late September through October is peak rut in Cataloochee Valley, the Haywood County side of the park reached by a winding gravel stretch of Cove Creek Road outside Waynesville. Bulls bugle across the meadows in the early morning and late evening, and the valley fills with locals carrying folding chairs and thermoses.

If you have never made the trip, the book is a good primer. Read the elk chapter first, then drive up on a weekday morning before the weekend crowds arrive.

Why does Figart's own backyard show up in the book?

Figart writes some of the best chapters in the first person. She lives with her husband, John Beaudet, on six acres of mountain property in East Tennessee, where the neighbors include owls, hawks, weasels, wild turkeys, bobcats, box turtles, and venomous snakes. Beaudet gets his own chapter for his wood carvings honoring black bears.

That voice traces back to Figart's childhood in eastern Kentucky, where her father printed a monthly newsletter on a Heidelberg press. She admired the authoritative first-person tone he used, and she says it took a few tries to find the right voice for the column, one that would bring the park into focus without competing with Ellison's work.

Anyone who has bought land near the park boundary will recognize the world she describes. Living here means sharing the property. The bears come through in the fall. The turkeys parade across the yard in spring. Every so often a bobcat crosses the driveway at dusk. Figart's stories work as a field guide to what is already outside your window.

Where can you buy Word from the Smokies: A Nature Reader?

The book retails for $14.99 and is available in park bookstores, including the Oconaluftee Visitor Center outside Cherokee, and online at smokieslife.org. Every sale supports the scientific, historical, and educational work of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Holly Kays, a byline longtime Smoky Mountain News readers will recognize, edited the book and now serves as the column's primary writer.

If reading about bobcats in the driveway has you wanting a driveway of your own near the park, Jon Tharp is always glad to talk about what is available in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain counties.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Word from the Smokies?

Word from the Smokies is a weekly nature and cultural history column produced by Smokies Life, the nonprofit partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Frances Figart started it in April 2020 after the pandemic closed the park, as a way to keep readers connected to the Smokies when they could not visit. She has written more than 100 pieces on topics ranging from bears and broad-winged hawks to grassy balds and river otters. The column now runs in the Asheville Citizen-Times, Smoky Mountain News, Knoxville News Sentinel, Beacon Tribune, and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, plus the Smokies Life blog. Holly Kays is now its primary writer.

Where can I buy Word from the Smokies: A Nature Reader?

The book retails for $14.99 and is sold in the bookstores inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee on the North Carolina side and Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg. It is also available online through Smokies Life at smokieslife.org. Every purchase supports the scientific, historical, and interpretive work of the park, since Smokies Life is the nonprofit that funds those programs through its retail sales. The book runs 24 chapters, each re-edited from the original column with updated facts and, in most cases, a short resource section for readers who want to learn more or help protect the featured species.

What to do in Waynesville NC in the fall?

Fall in Waynesville centers on two things: leaf color and elk. Cataloochee Valley, the Haywood County section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is the best place in North Carolina to watch the elk rut, which peaks in late September and October. Bulls bugle and spar in the meadows around dawn and dusk. The valley is reached by Cove Creek Road, a winding gravel route off US-276 near I-40 exit 20, about 40 minutes from downtown Waynesville. Back in town, Main Street offers galleries, restaurants, and the Apple Harvest Festival in October. Reading the elk chapter in Word from the Smokies before you go makes the trip more rewarding.

What animals are covered in the book?

The 24 chapters focus on the wildlife, plants, and fungi of the Smokies. Animals include black bears, bobcats, box turtles, elk, owls, hawks, wild turkeys, spiders, the northern river otter, venomous snakes, and the least weasel, which is the world's smallest carnivore but has the strongest jaws of any North American predator relative to its size. Plant and fungi chapters cover Russula mushrooms and sochan, the green-headed coneflower harvested each spring in Cherokee tradition. Several chapters draw on Figart's own six-acre property in East Tennessee, where many of these species are regular visitors. Another explores the effort to build safe wildlife crossings on Southern Appalachian roads.