Wilkes County NC makes New York Times! (Charlotte, Winston-Salem: homes, live)

[JoeTarheel]

A horribly negative editorial about the decline of Wilkes County appeared in the NYT recently and I thought someone here might find this New Yorker's perspective interesting. I'm sure what the author describes really exists, but he fails to mention all of the positives and beautiful scenery found throughout the county. It seems like he spent close to 100% of his time in an e-cigarette shop and based his perception on little else: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/us...tter.html?_r=1


He does make some valid points, but to leave out anything positive that exists just destroys his credibility. I don't think an e-cig store is ever the place to look for an area's culture. A few positive points that he missed about Wilkes County:

1. The beautiful Yadkin Valley Wine Region with several picturesque vineyards that look straight out of Tuscany
2. The scenic Blue Ridge Mountains and foothills. Enough said.
3. The huge music festival Merlefest with annual attendance of 85,000
4. The Brushy Mountain Apple Festival, an arts and craft festival that attracts 160,000 annually
5. Many big NASCAR drivers live there, as did Daniel Boone for part of his life; NASCAR rose out of running moonshine as Wilkes was once known as "The Moonshine Capital of the World" and the birthplace of NASCAR
5. The economy has experienced the decline of tobacco, textiles, and furniture but thousands still work for Lowe's offices (even though the HQ moved to Charlotte), Tyson Foods, and other large companies
6. Several historic sites, homes, and downtown historic districts
7. The Blue Ridge Parkway, beautiful Moravian Falls, and Stone Mountain State Park

[roadpony]

Already posted : https://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ilkesboro.html

[JoeTarheel]

Okay...I looked for it but didn't see it. I could have just posted my comments there.

[Francois]

The whole thread would probably get more attention in the Western NC forum, anyway...

[NCN]

I saw this on Facebook and I cared about as much for it on there as I do here. It has already been answered by the Winston-Salem Journal so case closed and another ignorant newspaper reporter has been put in place. Bottom line is "who cares what the New York Times has to say about a county they know nothing about."

Best thing to do about this New York Times article is "ignore it." Anybody who can go into a beautiful county like Wilkes and come out with only pictures in the article has no eye for beauty.