The mountains of Western North Carolina have hidden secrets since time began. William Bartram found them in his Travels. The Civil War created historical rifts between the mountain people and flatlanders that exist even today. Every valley, every peak, every cove has a story all its own, so particular to that place that a mile apart, a seperate history exists entirely.
In my valley, the Swannanoa Valley, in Bee Tree Cove, there exists a place so special. Countless students have entered, emerging as farmers, electricians, environmentalsits, computer geeks, people. It is a place with its own culture, its own sense of purpose, its own history. I'm talking (talking in the writing sense, with regards to Sam Scoville) about a school that's more than a school, a haven for rednecks and hippies and all those in between, a throwback to olden times that is continually looking forward. An enigma, wrapped in a mystery, smothered in secret sauce. Where everyone graduates, but it seems that few walk across that stage and recieve a diploma, where heroes and gods are made out of everyday people. Where concepts like love, redemption, integrity and honor exist in days paralleled by such mundane activities as feeding pigs, changing lightbulbs, typing papers, and walking in the moonlight. It's there, waiting around the mountains and through the mist, as it has been since 1893. I have left it, but whenever the word "home" is used, my mind will fly back to a place, that place, my place, Warren Wilson College.
In this electronic forum, I will "node" every last little bit that I know, remember, think and feel about this place that I once and will again call home. I do this as a way to close this part of my past, but moreso to scribe all the legends of greatness, humility, and humanity that comprise Warren Wilson College. I want the world to know about Legends like Billy Edd Wheeler, Tim Fischer, Frank Kalinowski, Lara Lustig, Ben Holden, Bev Ohler, Moon Burton, and all the rest of my friends and heroes that the world should and will know about. I am Pete Connolly. These are my stories.