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Local writer Nan Chase gets cover
story billing for “Jewel of the High Country”
By Jeff Eason
 Last
weekend many visitors to Waldenbooks in Boone Mall did a double-take
as they passed by the magazine rack. There, on the cover of
the November issue of Our State magazine was a sight familiar
to residents of the High Country: an old rural barn surrounded
by rolling mountains covered with trees at the height of their
autumn color.
Sure enough, the cover photograph featured a
landscape from the Beech Mountain area, taken by area professional
photographer Todd Bush. The cover invited readers to take in
a feature story on our area titled “Watauga County: Jewel
of the High Country.”
Boone journalist and author Nan Chase wrote the
piece for Our State. Her cover story lets the rest of the country
in on many of the attractions that most of us already know about
such as Tweetsie Railroad, the Mast General Store and Appalachian
State University. It also contains information on features of
our county that you might not be aware of such as the wind energy
turbine experiment on Beech Mountain and our growing grape and
wine industry.
Chase, who has lived in the High Country since
1983, has written several articles for Our State in the past
on topics such as Gilded Age eating at the Biltmore Estate and
the old black cherry tree at Daniel Boone Native Gardens.
“I love writing for the magazine because
the editors are so respectful of their writers and because the
readers are so interested in and responsive to the contents,”
said Chase. “It’s been wonderful to watch the magazine
grow in importance over the year.”
The cover article is also something of a feather
in Chase’s writing cap as it is featured in one of Our
State’s commemorative 75th anniversary issues.
“I didn’t realize in advance that the
magazine would have a 75th anniversary cover,” said Chase.
“I just got lucky with the editor, and happened to call
to chat just when she was looking for a writer for her Watauga
story. Although I have lived in Boone for 25 years, I had to
approach the story with fresh eyes, so I took a half-day drive
with landscape artist Lowell Hayes, who has a great eye for
details, and we criss-crossed the county by car, on the back
roads, admiring the gorgeous views and marveling at how the
residents of Watauga County are anything but isolated these
days.”
Although the cover photograph is by Todd Bush,
Our State sent one of their own photographers to the area for
the inside shots. Alan Watson complements Chase’s article
with photographs of downtown Boone, Railroad Grade Road in Todd,
the Mast Store in Valle Crucis, Ewing’s “choose and
cut” tree farm in Vilas and other area sights.
It’s been a busy year for Chase, writing-wise.
Earlier this year she co-authored the book Bark House Style:
Sustainable Designs from Nature with Chris McMurry. With text
and beautiful photographs, the book shows the diverse applications
of bark siding on mountain houses.
Chase is also the author of Asheville: A History
and numerous magazine articles.
The November issue of Our State magazine is available
at area bookstores, some grocery stores and at Wal-Mart.
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