Jon Elliston is news editor of the Mountain Xpress, western North Carolina’s most widely circulated independent weekly newspaper. He has won national awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and the Society of Professional Journalists for his investigative reporting in North Carolina. As a writing editor, Elliston continues to delve into little-known state and national history for several publications. He lives in Asheville.Kent Priestley is a staff writer at the Mountain Xpress. His writing and photography have appeared in the North Carolina magazines Our State, North Carolina Boating Lifestyle, and Carolina Country. Priestly spends his free time playing traditional music, hunting wild mushrooms, and exploring the region’s back roads. He lives in Asheville. Constance E. Richards is a freelance writer, journalist, and interpreter based in Asheville, North Carolina. She has written for Time, the London Daily Telegraph, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other national and international newspapers and magazines.