Hot Springs in national spotlight as 'star of the show' in new PBS program

HOT SPRINGS - Many Western North Carolina outdoor enthusiasts know about the special allure of Hot Springs, but people throughout the country are getting a peek into the quaint, quirky little river town's magic, too.

A new PBS show, "America: The Land We Live In," spotlights a number of Hot Springs faces and places, and the show was created by Scott Varn, a Sylva resident.

The show is based on a more than 150-year old travel guide, Preserving a Picturesque America.

The News-Record & Sentinel spoke with Sophia Michelen and Scott "Doc" Varn in a Zoom meeting Feb. 27 prior to the show pilot's premiere on Feb. 28.

The pilot episode will be shown March 6 at 7 p.m. on PBS-NC and later that night/early morning, on March 7 at 12 a.m. It also will air at 5 p.m. March 9 and 2 p.m. March 10, both on PBS-NC, and 9:30 a.m. March 10 on the Explorer Channel.

Varn, who is originally from upstate South Carolina, said he has lived in Western North Carolina for many years, and spoke to The News-Record & Sentinel from his cabin in Sylva.

The project originated from Varn's nonprofit, Preserving a Picturesque America, which draws its title from the book of the same name that Varn discovered after realizing some photographs he purchased of the French Broad River online were taken from the book series.

"The purpose of so much of this with my nonprofit and the subtle underlying perspective of the entire show is that people need to get out there and find it in their own way — whether it's through art, or it's photography, or it's connecting to the people, or it's the food or the culture. We don't respect things until we experience them.

"Mark Twain is famous for saying, 'The enemy of prejudice in bias is travel. You can not grow vegetating in one small corner of the universe,'" Varn said. "And he's right. We want to encourage people to do that."

The serial book series was released in 48 parts in the late 1800s and eventually was bound into two large volumes, in which the authors implied progress without responsibility could destroy places unique to our country.

In Varn's view, these artists, poets and writers ignited a conservation movement without even knowing it.

"What encouraged us, is this publication, Picturesque America, that sent out people, specifically artists, poets and writers, in the late 1800s right after the Civil War. Everything had been torn apart, and they couldn't find anything to agree on. But one thing they did agree on was that this is an amazing country, and that it should be protected and it should be preserved."

"When everybody was reading this, they were getting touched in a new way."

The idea to make a show came from Asheville resident Alicia Albee, the show's producer, who runs World Life Productions.

Albee attended one of Varn's presentations on his nonprofit's mission.

Albee quote

According to Varn, the Preserving a Picturesque America team has found more than 300 of the original locations, and started to form conservation groups around the country to protect this historic and natural wonders.

There are more than 900 locations identified in the serial.

"But it all started in the heart of Western North Carolina along the Buncombe Turnpike," Varn said.

Varn, a woodcut artist and watercolor painter, and Michelen serve as co-hosts, and Varn said he and Michelen are "kindred spirits."

"A lot of other people will pick up a rock and go, 'Look at this. We've got to keep that,' while everybody else is going, 'What are you slowing down for?'" Varn said. "I'm still so grateful to Sophia because she encouraged me in a way that was not just me out here geeking out on history and the wild things and trying to protect them. Someone else gets it.

"She offers so much enthusiasm and connection beyond — obviously she's a geek like, about history and the things — but she's looking at it from a different perspective. I'm looking at it mostly from an artist perspective, and I'm saying, 'What is the artists take on this, from 150 years ago? How has it changed?' Where she's looking at it from a cultural aspect."

Michelen is originally from Troy, New York, near the Catskill mountains, and is a longtime photojournalist.

"I really love the cultural anthropology perspective, but also the viewpoint through my camera," Michelen said.

Together, Michelen and Varn connect with viewers to give them access to beautiful landscapes and entertaining characters.

"It's about the people. It's about preservation," Varn said.

Sarah Jones Decker is one of the people spotlighted in the pilot episode, which features Western North Carolina and the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Decker is a farmer, photographer and writer based in Marshall. She and her husband, Morgan, own Root Bottom Farm in the East Fork community, where they live with their daughter, Josephine. Decker has published multiple books, and her first book, "The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, Lean-tos, and Huts" was published in April 2020, and has received critical acclaim nationally.

Decker said she first heard about the project roughly two years through Varn, as the two have been friends for many years.

Michelen was effusive in her praise of Decker and said people like her make the show what it is.

"It's really about the journey. It's about the people we meet," Michelen said. "We get to know the culture around that area — be it water, natural resources, the historical culture. We go to Charleston a lot, so we bring in the food, the Gullah Geechee community, the sweet grass part of that community, and of Charleston, art and architecture.

"It's adventure, and it's about finding the spot. But the story really encapsulates the people we meet along the way."

Varn said the team spent roughly 18 days filming in Hot Springs.

Some of the other local celebrities featured in the show include seventh-generation ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams, who was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2013 as a National Heritage Fellow.

"She's one of the best storytellers on the planet," Varn said.

Wayne Crosby, owner of Bluff Mountain Outfitters, is also featured on the show.

"If you watch this show, you will more than likely recognize somebody on the screen," Decker said. "It's so cool to sit down and see. You will recognize somebody from Madison County in the show. There are a lot of people in the community that are in this pilot."

Michelen has visited more than 70 countries and is a first-generation immigrant as a French American.

But her trip to Madison County and to South Carolina marked her first time in the Carolinas.

While the beautiful scenery stood out to Michelen, her maiden voyage to The Jewel of the Blue Ridge was really about the people she met on her trip.

"The nature and the beauty, it just stands out. That's easy," Michelen said. "It's the people, honestly. So, it was my first time in South Carolina, and my first time in North Carolina, and definitely rafting in America, and going on the AT.

"So, these are poignant moments in my life, but it's the people. I can remember who I've met and the stories I've learned by where I was. It's the stories. It's the oral history. It's the history on the water with Sarah. It's the history with Sheila Kay singing. I was a city mouse in the wilderness."

Hot Springs: The 'star of the show'

But the real star of the show, according to Decker, is the town of Hot Springs.

"Hot Springs looks gorgeous in it," Decker said of the show.

"Hot Springs is the star of the show. It just shows how beautiful it is where we live. It's just really cool. It shows a lot of different characters in Hot Springs."

The serial book showcases the work of Harry Fenn, an English-American illustrator who served as the primary illustrator in the book.

"Harry Fenn just loved this area," Decker said. "A big part of the book is this area, which is cool. He was drawn to it 150 years ago, and here we are, still loving it as our backyard."

To aid in their quest to find some of the Hot Springs spots featured in the book, Varn and his team contracted the works of Taylor Barnhill, a local historian who currently works with the Appalachian Barn Alliance.

Barnhill said he met Varn through his work with the Appalachian Barn Alliance, and assisted Preserving a Picturesque America with the history of the French River drainage, as well as in the organization's quest to find the Harry Fenn sites.

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The local historian has been documenting Madison County and Hot Springs history for more than three decades.

"I’ve studied and written about Madison County and Hot Springs for over 30 years, hoping to fill the shoes of previous historians like Jackie Painter, who have died or retired," Barnhill said. "I knew the sites they were looking for and connected them to other resource people. Most of the history work and history tours, I do those as a volunteer. I do regular barn tours and photo workshops and meet with the media."

According to Barnhill, the work of Varn and the team is important, as it affords transplants and natives alike the opportunity to learn about Madison County's history.

"The history of Madison County is remarkable and was very significant in the late 1700s settlement era after the 'East Indian Boundary' was pushed farther west, opening the border areas to white settlement," Barnhill said. "Hot Springs has a deep and important history which I’m trying to restore. Very few local people know about this history, the people who did have long passed. PAPA’s work is a terrific project to reopen these histories."

At the time the town was featured in the book, the town was named "Warm Springs."

The filming process

Part of the filming process saw Decker take the entire film crew on the French Broad River in Hot Springs.

Barnhill said he was fascinated by the filmmaking process.

"The actual filming, the variability of the ever-changing 'plot,' and how well we 'actors' were able to ad-lib literally everything," Barnhill said. "Having done audio editing for radio, I could not imagine how the producer and director could take all those different shots and create a film with continuity, much less a good story. But they certainly did."

Echoing Decker, Barnhill said he was also totally in awe of the characters, as well as the crew, and how well they worked together, as well as their patience and humor with everyone despite the stress and unknowns.

With more than 30 years experiencing studying the county's history, Barnhill said he was thrilled about the opportunity to see the culture of Hot Springs be showcased throughout the country.

"I was also extremely glad that our regions’ remarkable history was on display," Barnhill said "When it was over, I had that melancholy feeling of having to leave summer camp and your new friends."

In the pilot episode, Barnhill takes the team to Lover's Leap, one of the Hot Springs places identified in the book, and Decker takes Varn and Michelen to two of the other places featured in the book, along the French Broad River.

"There's a lot of the art of the French Broad area in that book, which is cool," Decker said.

Ultimately, Varn said the goal is to travel to as many of the places identified in Preserving a Picturesque America, and to turn the project into an endeavor throughout many years.

"That's my life's goal. Preserving a Picturesque America does this," Varn said. "This is all we do. Our job is to find all 1,000 of these spots and protect each and every one of them if possible. But, over the years, we've discovered that some of them have already been lost. So, when we have an opportunity to do this on the show, we'll be able to show the good news and the bad news — where we've been good stewards and where we've failed."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hot Springs in national spotlight as 'star of show' in new PBS program