Peter Givens Role: Interpretive specialist for the Blue Ridge Parkway based in Vinton, he helped update and demythologize what visitors learn about Appalachian history while touring the 469-mile parkway from Virginia to North Carolina. Age: 61 Education: Undergraduate degree from…

Scott Arthur sits in the parlor of the Rankin House Inn, where the city’s first indoor Catholic services were held. Arthur has been posting listings for the traditional bed-and-breakfast on Airbnb, an online service that allows people to rent out…

Flat Rock artist Joan Covell won the National Episcopal Church’s first Christmas card competition with her depiction of the nativity scene, titled “Good Tidings of Great Joy.” The image can be downloaded in color online.(Photo: Special to the Citizen-Times) Email…

Buy Photo A conceptual rendering of The Performance Center in Asheville. The final design of the center would depend on site. The rendering was made by ARCA Design.(Photo: Special to Citizen-Times)Buy Photo For 10 years, the dream of a state-of-the-art…

The Serra Gaúcha region, in southern Brazil, is practically unknown abroad, but it’s popular with Brazilians. They flock here to enjoy the temperate, highland climate, so different from much of mostly tropical Brazil. (Serra, in fact, means “highlands.”) They come…

Every year, 600,000 people pay as much as $74 to tour Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion, gaping at animal skulls and stained-glass peacocks, lime-green shag carpet on the Jungle Room’s floor and lime-green shag carpet on its ceiling. Now a development…

In 45 states of this country, you can walk into the on-site taproom of your local brewery and buy a beer. In nearly as many, if you find something you like, you can pick up a six-pack or growler to…

Every year, 600,000 people pay as much as $74 to tour Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion, gaping at animal skulls and stained-glass peacocks, lime-green shag carpet on the Jungle Room’s floor and lime-green shag carpet on its ceiling. Now a development…

Every year, 600,000 people pay as much as $74 to tour Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion, gaping at animal skulls and stained-glass peacocks, lime-green shag carpet on the Jungle Room’s floor and lime-green shag carpet on its ceiling. Now a development…

Montford residents Elise Devries and Kevin Jackson walk their dogs Nina, left, and Sandy along the Reed Creek Greenway Tuesday.(Photo: Citizen-Times file photo) Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal: Question: I was wondering if…