Living near the Great Smoky Mountains, I look forward to the wildflowers blooming every year. When J.L. and I were working on our hiking guidebook, we were on the trails often through all seasons, always seeing new flowers along the way. But April was always the prettiest month of the year for enjoying the wildflowers. It’s also in April when the wildflower pilgrimages and wildflower walks around the mountain areas are held. There are more than 1,500 kinds of flowering plants in the Smokies, more than in any other national park, so there are always many varieties and types of wildflowers to discover.
On our hikes and walks in the mountains, we have taken many photos of wildflowers, like the photo of us at the beginning of this post with several varieties of trillium, an early Smokies wildflower. However photographer fans and friends of ours, that we’ve met on the “writer’s road,” take far more spectacular and beautiful photos than we do, so I’ve spotlighted some of their work in this blog post. Raven Pat Smith’s photos above show a glorious white trillium, an early purple violet and wild bluebells.
Other early wildflowers in the mountains include white rue anemone, bloodroot, and pink spring beauty as in Pam Mullinix’s photos. Pam’s other shots are of flowering quince and dwarf blue larkspur.
Daffodils, brought to the Smoky Mountains by the settlers, are common in early spring, especially in areas like Cades Cove where many settlers once lived. Dogwood trees were also planted by early settlers and later spread, as did other non-native flowering trees and shrubs. 
We often discover daffodils, flowering shrubs, and non-native plants around the crumbling walls, foundations, and chimneys of old homesteads—the flowers living on long after the people and farms are gone. Marie Burchett Merritt’s photos on the right show dogwoods in bloom, yellow trillium, and wild dwarf iris—that I always love spotting on the trail.
.L. and I have many favorite “Wildflower Trails” we love to return to every April, knowing we will find a wide variety of wildflowers there. One of these is the Chestnut Top Trail near the Townsend Wye where forty species of wildflowers can be found on the first mile alone.
Another trail we love is the Porters Creek Trail in the Greenbrier area where we have seen trillium, blue and yellow violets, and trout lily like in Jim Bennett’s photo. Along the roadsides and in other park areas you will find purple ironweed and orange butterfly weed, also in Jim’s photos, which the bees and butterflies love. We were delighted to spot our first pink ladies slippers on a quiet side pathway off the Porters Creek Trail, too. Another treat in the spring further up the Porters Creek are the white fringed phacelia which spread across the ground like a delightful carpet along both sides of the trailside.
After you explore the mountains trails for many years, you learn where certain flowers can be found most readily … like flame azalea in late April and May on Gregory Bald, mountain laurel on the Smokemont Loop and Chestnut Top Trail in early summer, and later rosebay rhododendron on the Alum Cave and Finley Cane trails. 
Vibrant pink Catawba rhododendron, like in Kristina Plaas’s photo, grow in the higher elevations like on Andrews Bald or near the Chimney Tops Trailhead. Many wildflowers we simply run into along a trail … stopping to delight in our “finds.” Special wildflowers, always a treat to discover, are white dutchman’s britches, yellow lady’s slippers, and red Indian paintbrush, also in Kristina Plaas’s photo above.
We tried to mention in our hiking guide The Afternoon Hiker trails especially known for wildflowers but flowers in the mountains often show up in unexpected places, and there are flowers of different types to see from early spring into the late fall. But April is still the best time to see the most wildflower varieties in the mountains. If you ever come to the Smokies in April the show of wildflowers will delight you and give you lovely memories to carry home. But remember that anytime you explore the woods, parks, and fields near your own hometown in the warmer seasons that you will find wildflowers, too. This month, I hope you will head outdoors—and get out of your car and walk up a trail—to enjoy the beauty you will find at every turn.
I have a new Mountain Home Book coming out March 16th titled SHOP ON THE CORNER. I enjoy writing all my books, set around the mountains and at the coast … but this book was especially fun for me to write. I got really attached to all the characters in the story and had so much fun creating their adventures. I also loved revisiting, on several trips, the Waynesville, North Carolina, area to work on this book, walking the downtown streets, stopping in all the charming stores, eating in the cute local restaurants. Each visit reminded me again how much I like this picturesque and engaging North Carolina town.
As you may guess, that change takes her to Waynesville, North Carolina, to an empty shop for sale right on a corner near Waynesville’s main street. It’s a big move for Laura, who has never been to Waynesville before, but she soon finds the change to be a good one. This is due in part to meeting Mitchell Quinlan who owns Quinlan Staffing Services across the street from Laura’s shop. There is definitely a little sizzle of attraction when they first meet. However, both have a host of life problems and responsibilities going on … and they soon get drawn into other problems and issues around the town of Waynesville … as you will, too!
A special pleasure in working on this book was creating two very unique businesses, Laura’s upholstery shop and Mitchell’s family staffing business. I did a lot of research for both businesses to make them as accurate as possible. Years ago, I actually did a short-term temp job in a staffing services office here in Knoxville, TN, and in a past sales job, I often visited with a favorite sales client, Bob Cable, at his upholstery store, Ledford’s Upholstery, in downtown Elizabethton, TN. I so enjoy creating businesses like these. One of the pleasures of being an author to me is “trying” out a host of occupations and careers through my book characters!
You’ll see the pictures here of how I imagined that my four main story characters might look…. Laura O’Dell and her sister Georgina, Mitchell Quinlan and his mother Evelyn, an area artist and art instructor. Each of these individuals had distinct personalities and you’ll come to know each well in the book, along with a wide host of enjoyable side characters I truly loved spending time with in my mind. These include friends and work associates, Mitchell’s niece and nephew, Mackenzie and Charlie, and Mitchell’s other relatives—especially his grandmothers, Nannie V and Mimi—and all the wonderful Barlow family. You’re in for a treat with this rich southern story, along with the extra addition of a running local mystery to follow.
Those of you who read my books know that I set all my stories in “real” places and try to use as many real streets, shops, restaurants, and tourist sites around the area as I can so readers will feel like they have actually visited in the settings of my books. Besides getting to know Waynesville … you’ll also enjoy sitting on Main Street with my main characters to watch the annual Folkmoot International Festival Parade wind its colorful way down the street. I’ve been in Waynesville to enjoy this parade in July … and it is stunning to see.
A short distance from Waynesville, too, is the beautiful Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, a lovely place set around a picturesque lake with a walking trail all around it. You’ll get to take a nice walk on that trail with Mitchell, Laura, the kids, and the family dog Zoey at one point. I’ve stayed at Junaluska in past and also signed books at the retreat center’s bookstore. Junaluska is especially beautiful when the 200 roses bloom on the lakeside Rose Walk.
Waynesville is also near many well-known tourist attractions. One is the Biltmore House, Gardens, and Estate. Biltmore is the historic home and property built by George Vanderbilt, still owned by his descendants and covering over 8,000 acres. It is a major tourist attraction and draws over a million visitors a year to tour the historic home and the beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens. At one point in the book, you’ll get to visit Biltmore with Mitchell and Laura … and learn more about it.
Additionally, you’ll get to take a hike in the Cataloochee area of the Smoky Mountains with Mitchell and Laura. … A fan once told me that one of her favorite things about my books was that I always put a hike in every book. I went back to check and it’s basically true. I like to show readers what a pleasure a “walk” or hike in the mountains can be. In this book you’ll get to hike and learn more about the Little Cataloochee Trail and the Cataloochee Valley, once the home of many settlers. Cataloochee is as beautiful as Cades Cove—but less crowded.
Through books, readers get the joy of living many lives and visiting a multitude of new places. I hope you’ll enjoy meeting the rich array of characters I’ve created for SHOP ON THE CORNER and that you’ll love visiting this colorful small town. As the back of the book reads: “Sometimes life’s unexpected hardships force you to consider drastic changes you’d never have dreamed of but lead in time to some sweet and unexpected joys.”
On March 16th I have a new book coming out in the Lighthouse Sisters series. This third title in the series is called LIGHT IN THE DARK. It follows Celeste’s story, who grew up at her family’s inn by the Deveaux Lighthouse on the South Carolina coast. As the back of the book reads in brief: “In this third novel in the beloved Lighthouse Sisters series, Celeste Deveaux struggles to find her way back to joy, love, and meaning after a painful relationship almost shatters her life.” I hope you’ll enjoy Celeste’s journey in this new novel with a little romance, a touch of suspense, and rich scenes on the coast at Edisto and in downtown Charleston.
For me, most all of my book story ideas come from thoughts or mental pictures that slip into my mind while visiting the places I write about. My home and heart live here in the mountains of Tennessee, but our favorite vacation spot is Edisto Beach, that we first visited when our children were small in the 1980s. Edisto is a quieter and less commercially developed place than busier beaches like Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head nearby. We loved this aspect of the island, enjoying the easy beach access, the peace and calm of this laid-back coastal community.
One summer at the end of the 1990s, when J.L. and I were vacationing at Edisto, we visited Hunting Island State Park and the big lighthouse there. The idea began to play around in my mind, wondering what it might have been like for four sisters to grow up on a windswept island beside a lighthouse. I soon began to envision these sisters, each different and distinct, raised in the family’s big bed-and-breakfast for tourists that had once been the lighthouse keeper’s home. Ideas began to drift in more and more and I was soon excited about this new book idea.
Once I get an overall concept and loose plan for a book, I begin to visualize the main characters for the books. For this four-book series, each book focuses on one of the four sisters. The first book LIGHT THE WAY introduced fictitious Watch Island on Edisto’s north end, plus the Deveaux Inn, Lighthouse, and the Deveaux family. The head of the family, Lloyd Deveaux has died unexpectedly, bringing sorrow and more work load to his wife Etta and to her daughter Burke. The oldest sister, Burke, has always loved the life at the island and never left as her sisters have. LIGHT THE WAY Is Burke’s story … and it becomes Waylon Jenkins’ story, too, when he retires from the Navy to come back to his family home on Edisto. Waylon and Burke grew up together, and it is sweet how they reconnect in this story. Lila, the youngest sister, has recently returned home, too, and before the book ends, the other two sisters also return, each running from personal problems. Gwen returns home with her three children, hurt over a betrayal with her husband. Not long after that, Burke and Gwen go to Nashville to bring home Celeste, and it is Celeste’s story you will read in LIGHT IN THE DARK.
Even though I have always visited the places where I set my books, I return to those settings again to explore as I begin to work on a new book set there. I pick up brochures, take photos, talk to people, learn historic facts, and gather story ideas. As I am researching and creating the settings for a book, I also develop and flesh out all the secondary and side characters. The sisters’ parents, Lloyd and Etta Deveaux, had to come to life, as did a diversity of neighbors and friends. Additionally, I spent months developing the Deveaux Inn, lighthouse, gift shop, and the entire 500-acre lighthouse station. I had to find out how a lighthouse works and to design the interior and operations of the inn and lighthouse. I also spent time learning about and creating the cottages, outbuildings, harbors, marina, and creeks around the island, and developing the employees who would help the Deveaux family run the inn. I studied extensively, too, to gain more knowledge about the South Carolina coast, the tides, ocean, climate, about the island, the lighthouse’s history, Edisto’s marshes, creeks, birds and animals, seashells, and a million other small things that might play into the stories.
To make each story more unique, I varied the setting focus of each book. LIGHT THE WAY focuses its story and setting on the lighthouse island at Edisto. LIGHTEN MY HEART branches out to take readers to scenes around Beaufort and Port Royal. This third book, LIGHT IN THE DARK, centers much of its story in downtown Charleston. I researched and learned about the city’s history, studied maps and articles, and my husband J.L. and I explored all over the downtown streets where scenes in the book would take place. We discovered so many spots we’d never visited before on these explorations, finding quiet gardens tucked away between gracious historic buildings, sleepy cemeteries, little museums, and cute restaurants and shops. I spent extensive time around King Street where many scenes in my story take place, bringing me wonderful ideas to help enrich Celeste’s story.
As an author, I always create an “Inspiration Collage Board” for my books … and here you can see my board for the Lighthouse Sisters books. The four books have a rich array of characters you will meet along the way. All their lives have problems and challenges… and they often little mysteries to unravel. In LIGHT THE WAY, a series of murders are going on around the coastal area that Burke and Waylon get swept into. In LIGHTEN MY HEART Alex’s family’s restaurant gets troubled, as do other Beaufort businesses, by a counterfeiter. And in LIGHT THE WAY, Celeste and Reid work their way through their own set of problems you will soon read about and get caught up in.
I hope you’ll curl up in a comfy chair in your house, or out on the porch in a favorite rocker, and settle in to enjoy this new Lighthouse Sisters book.
READ MORE IN 2024
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” [ Joseph Addison, 17th Century English writer]
“Reading makes the mind grow.” – [Kacey Riel]
“Reading helps us gain insight into our own lives and the lives of others.” [Diana Raab, PhD, Psychology Today]
“The seeds of dreams are often found in books.” [Dolly Parton]
“When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain off further happiness.” [Jules Renard]
Up close, some tree leaves are “Smooth Edged” or entire, around their sides, while others are zig-zagged or “Tooth Edged.” Dogwood trees and Crabapple trees, familiar to most, are good examples of “smooth-edged” trees, although the Crabapples do have tiny teeth around their edges. Beech trees are a more obvious example of “tooth-edged” trees. There are several different types of Beech trees but the American Beech is particularly stately and beautiful, often growing into a tall, giant of a tree. Elm trees, too, are “tooth-edged” trees and the well-known American Elm is often a large shade tree with wide spreading branches. The elms and beech in our neighborhood turn a golden yellow and then brown.
After you begin to study more about tree leaves, you will find that many are recognizable in the fall not only by their color but by their shape. Also, some trees have different shaped leaves on different varieties, like on Sassafras trees. In our neighborhood is a giant red-leafed Sassafras with long simple leaves with no lobes. It turns crimson red in the fall. Also in the neighborhood is a Sassafras tree with three-lobed simple leaves. This shorter sycamore tree’s leaves turn a rich yellow in the fall. I often think these sycamore leaves look sort of like mittens in shape and often the leaves only have two lobes instead of three, looking even more like a mitten.
Often you can recognize trees not only by their leaves but by their nuts, seeds, or berries. The Sweetgum tree is one of those. Its pointed lobed and toothed leaves are somewhat star-shaped. Sweetgum leaves turn red and purplish-red in fall and you can often find the tree’s round, spiny “sweet gum balls” nearby, the tree’s fruit, containing the seed. Young Sweetgum trees don’t produce Sweetgum balls at first but the trees start producing them later as they age.
The Chestnut tree not only has distinctive leaves, easy to identify, but it produces sticky “Chestnut Burrs” in fall. The leaves on a Chestnut tree are often big, too, like magnolia leaves. My neighbor has a big Chestnut tree in her back yard and it’s her hand you see in the photo holding one of the tree’s burrs.
Two less common trees to watch for in the fall landscape are the yellow Gingko tree, with its green leaves gradually turning a vibrant yellow and the Red Dawn tree, sometimes called the Dawn Redwood tree, a deciduous tree with leaves that look much like an evergreen Christmas tree. The Ginkgo tree, also native to East Asia, is one of the oldest known living tree species in the world. The leaves have a distinctive “fan” shape, making it easily recognizable. I remember several beautiful Gingko trees on the University of Tennessee campus and we are blessed to have a lovely Gingko in our neighborhood, a beauty of yellow color right now. Another very old tree, you might spot because of its unique leaflets, is the Dawn Redwood. My neighbor has one in her yard and as fall wanes it turns a gorgeous orange. This tree is actually now an endangered species and like many redwoods can grow to a great height.
As you look out across the hillsides at the fall colors, when you’re stopped along the way or driving, many of the yellow trees you see are most likely to be beech, birch, and yellow tulip poplars, while the lush rich orange and yellow-orange trees you spot are probably sugar maples, oaks and sweetgums. The reds scattered and clumped on the hillsides may be mainly maples, dogwoods, sassafras, and oaks. The colors of fall are always a delight and I love knowing that I’ll know more now about what kind of tree I’m seeing as I enjoy them. To learn more about the trees near your home, pick up a “tree guidebook” to help you identify the trees you see, read about identifying trees on the internet, and possibly download one of the “tree identification” apps to help you learn more about the trees in your fall landscape….And enjoy the fall!
Lin Stepp 