Mike Fleming Photography

08/18/2026

**The Scent of Daybreak**

Nothing beats a summer sunrise in the Piedmont of North Carolina.

There is something about those early summer mornings that stays with you. Before the world wakes up, the countryside seems to hold its breath. The silence is almost complete, and in that quiet, everything seems more pronounced—the smell of freshly cut grass, damp earth, hay, and the faint sweetness of crops warming beneath the first light of day. Even the sounds of nature seem sharper: a distant bird, cattle stirring in a pasture, or the soft rustle of leaves in the morning breeze.

Maybe it is the silence that makes those smells and sounds so vivid. Without the noise of the day competing for our attention, you notice things that might otherwise pass unnoticed.

I was fortunate to grow up in Harnett County, North Carolina, where mornings like this were simply part of life. As a boy, I probably didn't realize how special they were. They were just summer mornings in the country.

Years later, I understand what a gift they were.

Every now and then, a sunrise like this brings it all back—the fields, the trees, the mist, the smell of the earth, and that peaceful feeling that only comes when a new day is just beginning.

This is a photo just south of Bunnlevel, North Carolina off of Hwy 401

08/14/2026

08/14/2026

So this happened today! Zelly had some puppies. Little golden retrievers 😊

08/13/2026

There are places where you watch the sunrise. And then there are places where you experience it.
Several summers ago, I found myself high in the mountains near Maggie Valley, North Carolina, watching the first light of day spill across layer after layer of the Blue Ridge. The valleys were still wrapped in morning haze, the mountains fading into the distance, and above it all, the sun slowly emerged from the horizon.

North Carolina is a unique state. From the salt air of the Coastal Plain, across the rolling fields and cities of the Piedmont, to the rugged peaks of the mountains, three very different landscapes somehow come together in one state. But there is something about sunrise in the mountains that is difficult to put into words.
For a few minutes, everything seems to stand still. The mountains don't hurry. The clouds don't hurry. The morning doesn't hurry.
And neither should you. You simply stand there and watch another day arrive.

This is one of the reasons I love photographing North Carolina. Sometimes a photograph isn't really about capturing a sunrise. It's about capturing the feeling of being there when the world wakes up.

Maggie Valley, North Carolina — several summers ago.

08/11/2026

Sometimes We Forget How Lucky We Are

There are places in this country where people will drive for hours, spend hundreds of dollars, and plan an entire vacation just to experience a view like this. We get to drive there on a Sunday afternoon.

This photograph was taken along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waterrock K**b, high above Haywood County. From up here, the mountains seem to go on forever—ridge after ridge fading into the distance, each one revealing another layer of the Southern Appalachians. Look closely at the photograph and you'll notice something remarkable: there isn't a famous building, a waterfall, a monument, or anything man-made demanding your attention.

It's simply mountains, sky, clouds, light and distance. And yet, somehow, that's enough.

The ridges in the foreground are sharply defined, while the mountains beyond gradually disappear into that beautiful blue Appalachian haze. The afternoon light moves across the slopes, creating enormous shadows that make the landscape look almost three-dimensional. Above it all, the clouds are constantly changing the scene—as if the mountains have their own ever-changing weather and lighting crew. This is one of the things I love about living in Haywood County.

We are surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery in the eastern United States, and the Blue Ridge Parkway puts much of it within easy reach. You can leave home, drive up the mountain, pull off at an overlook, and suddenly find yourself standing in a place that people travel thousands of miles to see.

And perhaps because it's so close, we sometimes take it for granted.

So the next time you're driving the Parkway, don't just look at the road ahead. Pull over. Get out of the car. Walk to the overlook. Take a breath.... and remind yourself: We live here.

Not everyone gets to say that.

📷 Mike Fleming Photography
Blue Ridge Parkway — near Waterrock K**b, Haywood County, North Carolina

08/11/2026

Ferguson Supply — A Fines Creek Landmark

If you've traveled NC 209 through Fines Creek, you've probably passed this old mountain landmark. Ferguson Supply has been part of the Fines Creek community for more than a century.

The story reaches back well before the store itself. Waterpower was an important part of early Fines Creek life, and small gristmills operated along the creeks as far back as the early 1800s. By the 1920s and 1930s, one of those mills stood near the convergence of Cove Creek and James Branch, at the location where Ferguson Supply stands today. Its millrace eventually fell into disrepair and the mill disappeared, but the site continued serving the community.

The business eventually passed into the Ferguson family, and James and Jerry Ferguson took over the store in 1961. Generations of the family continued the tradition, keeping the store an important gathering place for the people of Fines Creek.

For decades, Ferguson Supply has been more than a place to buy something. It has been a place to stop, talk, trade stories, get gas, grab a bite, pick up supplies and catch up with neighbors.

Today, with NC 209 known to riders as The Rattler, Ferguson Supply has become a familiar stop for travelers and motorcyclists from all over. But long before the motorcycles arrived, this little store was already anchoring the community.

More than 100 years later, the mountains are still here, the road still winds past the store, and Ferguson Supply still stands at the heart of Fines Creek — a living piece of the community's history rather than simply a reminder of it.

08/09/2026

Where the Mountains Remember

Standing quietly above the Fines Creek valley, Fines Creek Memorial Baptist Church is more than a country church—it is part of the history of the people who built this mountain community.

The congregation was established in 1888, and by 1889 a church building committee was already arranging construction. Families such as the Greens, Rogers, Fergusons, Jameses, Nolands, Kirkpatricks, Ledfords, Fishers, Prices, Rathbones, McCrarys, McCrackens and Justices were among the longstanding families of the Fines Creek community whose names became woven into the church and its cemetery.

For generations, these families farmed the valley, raised their children, worshipped together and buried their loved ones on the hillside overlooking the creek. The cemetery became, in many ways, a family tree written in stone, with the same names appearing across generations.

The church survived war, the Depression, changing times and the departure of many young families after World War II. Yet it remained a gathering place for the people who stayed—and a place to which many who left eventually returned.

In 1940, Rev. Jarvis Teague began his first pastorate here. Decades later, he would be buried in the church cemetery.

Today, the brick church and its white steeple still stand against the mountains, surrounded by the graves of generations who helped shape Fines Creek.

More than 135 years after its founding, Fines Creek Memorial Baptist Church is not simply a building. It is a living reminder of the families, faith and community that have called these mountains home.

08/09/2026

Lake Junaluska — More Than Just a Beautiful Lake

There are places in Western North Carolina that are beautiful because of what you see. And then there are places that become even more beautiful when you learn their story.

Lake Junaluska is one of those places.

Long before the lake existed, these mountains were part of the homeland of the Cherokee people. The lake eventually took its name from nearby Junaluska Mountain, honoring the Cherokee leader Junaluska.

In the early 1900s, Methodist leaders envisioned a place where people could come together for worship, education, fellowship and spiritual renewal. In 1909, that vision became the Southern Assembly, and construction soon began.

The lake itself was created by damming Richland Creek, and in 1913 the first major gathering was held here. The community quickly grew, with hotels, cottages, an auditorium and eventually a railroad depot bringing visitors from throughout the Southeast.

And then there is the Cross, standing above the lake. Dedicated in 1922, its lights once served as a beacon to passengers traveling the railroad on the opposite shore.

More than a century later, the lake still carries that history.

The mountains remain. The water still reflects them. The Cross still shines above the shoreline.

And the old buildings still tell the story of generations who came here to worship, learn, rest and find renewal.

Sometimes a photograph captures a view.
Sometimes it captures a little piece of history.

08/08/2026

A Little Church With a Remarkable Story

There are places in Western North Carolina that look ordinary at first glance, but if you stop and listen to their history, they have a story to tell.

This is Maple Grove United Methodist Church in Waynesville, North Carolina.

The story of this little church reaches back more than 200 years.

In the early 1780s, Edward Hyatt and his wife settled on this land. Not long afterward, Hyatt and his neighbors built one of the earliest churches in Haywood County here.

Then, in 1865, just as the Civil War was coming to an end, Captain John H. Turpin returned home to Haywood County after being captured at the Battle of Cumberland Gap. Believing the community needed a place to worship and educate its children, Turpin donated land for a church.

It became known as Turpin's Chapel.

For years, the little church served two purposes: on Sundays it was a place of worship, and during the week it served as a school.

Eventually the congregation became Methodist, and in 1910 a new church was built and given the name Maple Grove.

But the story took another turn in 1937, when the little white church was destroyed by fire.

The congregation rebuilt—and in 1938, the brick church you see in this photograph was completed for $8,200.

Look closely at that steeple.

It wasn't actually completed until 1995—more than 50 years after the church itself was built.

And behind this beautiful little church is something even older: Maple Grove Cemetery, also known as Turpin's Chapel Cemetery, considered the oldest church-affiliated cemetery in Haywood County.

Beneath those grounds are generations of people who lived, worked, worshipped and raised their families in this corner of the mountains. Some graves have beautiful monuments. Others are marked only by simple fieldstones. Archaeological work has identified hundreds of unmarked graves.

So when you look at this church, you're not simply looking at an old building.

You're looking at more than two centuries of Haywood County history—settlers, soldiers, teachers, farmers, families and generations of people who believed this little piece of ground was worth preserving.

A church. A cemetery. A community. And a story that is still being written.