by Liza Roberts photographs by Nick Pironio Meg Lowman believes in a lot of things: The sanctity of the treetops. The importance of insects, curiosity, resilience, and adventure. She believes in “no child left indoors” and “the power of one.” And kismet. “I find…
photographs by Nick Pironio In 1959, when Capitol Broadcasting Company founder A.J. Fletcher opened a lush and expansive azalea garden to the public on five West Raleigh acres surrounding WRAL-TV studios, he said he did it to pay “a tribute…
by Scott Huler photographs by Lissa Gotwals Danielle Centeno tastes in shapes. Centeno, head chocolatier of Escazu Artisan Chocolate on North Blount Street, has synesthesia – a conflation of two senses – that causes her, when she eats, to experience not just taste…
photographs by Tim Lytveninko The history of public pools here is a rich one, spanning more than a century, and reflecting all of the social and economic changes of the times. In 1891, Richard Stanhope Pullen built Raleigh’s first public…
by Amber Nimocks photographs by Juli Leonard You scan the surrounding trees and spot other chairs likewise suspended, their rungs seeming to run through the trunks, at various heights and angles throughout the small, sparse clump of forest. It takes…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Missy McLamb There’s nothing fancy about the windowless Teen Center Club gymnasium that sits in the shadow of Wake Med’s mega-campus on New Bern Avenue. Most days, it smells like sweat and sounds like basketball. But to…
by Charles Upchurch photographs by Robert Willett David Brooks sits astride his favorite polo pony on a banner day at Crooked Creek Farm, his home in northern Orange County. In a royal-blue jersey, polo helmet and knee boots, mallet and…
by Ann Brooke Raynal photographs by Mark Petko There’s a house in North Raleigh that is haunted by happiness. Haunted by ghosts, possibly, but certainly haunted by the happiness of its owners. Built in 1890, the Lassiter Farm House has seen births…
by Jesma Reynolds photograph by Missy Mclamb It’s not every day that a man in tails and gloves shows up to deliver an elegantly scripted invitation on a silver tray. But that’s exactly what happened to Raleigh resident Nancy Brenneman this past…
by Todd Cohen photographs by Nick Pironio Dexter Hebert has devoted his adult life to giving kids who need it the kind of loving support he got from his own father. “Not having a father in the home is a huge…
by Tracy Davis photographs by Juli Leonard In days of yore, traveling minstrels made their way from one town to the next, sharing their tunes on the village green. Today, many minstrel types have set aside lutes and lyres in…
by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson At one time or another, most gardeners have grown African violets, or saintpaulia hybrids. Back in the disco era, we of a certain age also indulged in trying to grow their more challenging…
by Allie Higgins photographs by Geoff Wood John McHugh never imagined he would drive the train at Pullen Park; he was too busy clowning around. That started early, at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, back in 1978….
by Betty Adcock Sacred Harp Singers, Georgia, 1930s If their voices were visible entities flying from the deep south’s fading churches, startled from the throats of an earlier century by hope revived, they would be birds. Ordinary starlings. Or swifts…