Hazel Creek author Daniel Pierce details community’­s convoluted past

Hazel Creek: The Life and Death of an Iconic Mountain Community, by UNC Asheville history professor Daniel Pierce, explores the complex history of the so-called “Road to Nowhere” and the people it was meant to serve. Released in April, the book details the multifaceted and often overlooked story of the ill-fated town of Proctor and its inhabitants.

Meadows and Shuler team up to push for ‘Road to Nowhere’ money

The effort to secure compensation for Swain County from the federal government for a road it never completed has been a long and twisted tale, full of contentious political debate among Western North Carolina congressmen both old and new. The issue is now back in the news, as current GOP Rep. Mark Meadows has joined […]

National Park Service to recommend cash settlement in lieu of “Road to Nowhere”

Good things come to those who wait—but sometimes they have to wait almost 60 years. Last week, Dale Ditmanson, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, announced that the National Park Service will recommend paying a cash settlement to Swain County instead of building the so-called Road to Nowhere in the southwestern corner of […]