By day, Jeff Delfield is the Librarian at Bryson City’s Marianna Black Library. And in his spare time, he’s a maker of unique hand-crafted musical instruments, filling requests from as far away as Australia.

Above, he’s putting the finishing touches on a tackhead banjo with a distinctive “patchwork quilt” design — a specific request of the buyer. To achieve the multicolored pattern, Jeff constructed the rim from eight different woods. And to fully display the beauty of the woodwork, he hid the head tensioning system on the inside of the rim, a technique he borrowed from the makers of Irish Bodhrán drums. The head is calfskin, the neck walnut and the fretboard is made of bloodwood.

Jeff makes just one instrument at a time, a process that usually takes about six weeks. You can see more of his hand-crafted folk instruments, including videos, on his Deep Creek Strings website.

Smoky Mountain Times reporter Aaron Morgan captured this image of yellow flowers, the Chamber of Commerce fountain and the Old Swain County Courthouse reflected in the Chamber window. The photo was taken around 9 p.m. in late May this year. Aaron used a tripod and flash at 18mm, f/14, 30 seconds, ISO 100.

An exhibit of Aaron’s photography will be on display at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City through the end of this month.

Ever try to throw a party an hour after the host has been murdered? That’s the dilemma facing the Wings Publishing Company in the mystery-comedy “It’s Murder in the Wings” now on stage at the Smoky Mountain Community Theatre in Bryson City. Remaining performance dates are Friday, July 24; Saturday, July 25; Sunday, July 26; and Monday, July 27.  All shows start at 7:30 PM.  Ticket prices are: $8.00 for adults, $5.00 for students ages 6 to 18, and free for children under six.

When artist and photographer Charles Heath first opened his Bryson City Gallery, he did not realize that his grandfather had once worked in the same building. Then he learned that the Depot Street structure had once been occupied by Slayden Flakes Distributors, the wholesale grocery company where his grandfather Charley Browning was employed.

Charles’ family has long been a part of Bryson City and Swain County, North Carolina. His great-grandfather Samuel R. Patterson (1928 photo below) served the county as Register of Deeds and later as Swain County Sheriff in the 30s and 40s. That’s his badge, below.

Each Saturday, Tim “The Storyteller” Hall broadcasts his 9 AM radio show live from The Station Restaurant in downtown Bryson City. Above, Tim reads one of writer John Parris’ classic tales of Appalachia while diners enjoy their bacon and eggs. The show “Crossroads The Radio Program” is broadcast locally on WBHN 1590 AM and simulcast worldwide on Live365.com.

Tim, who is currently renovating Bryson City’s historic Citizens Bank Building for The Storytelling Center of the Southern Appalachians at Bryson City, will broadcast a special edition of “Crossroads” during the town’s annual Christmas Parade at 1:30 PM on December 6. After the parade, there’ll be storytelling and singing on the porch of the Calhoun House on Everett Street until 7 PM when the town’s annual Spirit of Christmas event begins.

Most days he assists customers at the N.C. Clampitt Hardware Store on Main Street in Bryson City. But come mid-October, Frank O’Neil is transformed into his alter-ego — the award-winning pumpkin artist. Above, Frank shows off four of his ‘ghastly’ jack-o-lanterns on the front porch of the Charleston Station gift shop.

Today, handmade brooms and corn-shuck dolls are collectable crafts. But a century ago, in the Smoky Mountains of remote Appalachia, they were just two staples of everyday life – necessities for house-cleaning and entertaining the children.

Fortunately, such heritage crafts have not been lost over time. David Higgins, a Whittier broom maker, grows his own broom corn from heritage seeds. And he gives the corn silks to Annie Lee Bryson to use as hair on her handcrafted corn silk dolls. Above, David and Annie demonstrated their crafts at the 2008 Mountain Life Festival at the Mountain Farm Museum in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In Bryson City, their brooms and dolls are available at The Cottage Craftsman.

Founded by Clark Whittier in 1885, the town of Whittier, North Carolina once flourished as a lumber center before succumbing to the Great Depression. No longer incorporated, the quiet little community on the banks of the Tuckaseigee river is mostly residential.

If you’d like a glimpse of the original Whittier, stop by Gloria Nolan’s “Stuff’ & Such” consignment shop across from the Whittier Post Office. Working from old photos, Gloria has created a scale model of Whittier as it was in 1895. Above, Whittier resident Ann Hill studies the model, imagining her Smoky Mountains community the way it used to be.

Did Lizzie Borden kill her father and stepmother with an axe? Judge for yourself when the Smoky Mountain Community Theater presents the play “Lizzie Borden of Fall River”  July 25-28.

Upcoming performances this year include Neil Simon’s “I Oughta Be In Pictures” in October, and a holiday play “Three Wise Men and a Baby” in December. The Bryson City theatre group was organized in 1981 and moved into the town’s old Gem Theatre building in 1989.

On a recent visit to the Smokies, Susan Murphy spent the morning photographing daughters Alana (left) and Mary Caitlin with each of the sixteen colorfully painted bears that now grace Cherokee’s streets and plazas. Each bear was created by a local tribal artist as part of a public art program sponsored by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.