Mountains in the Mist: Impressions of the Great Smokies. Foreword by James A. Michener.

Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing, (1993). First Edition. Signed and inscribed by the Author. Quarto, blue cloth (hardcover), silver lettering, map illustrated endpapers, unpaginated. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: A stunning personal celebration of one of the most beautiful regions of the United States, Mountains in the Mist reflects the glories of the Great Smokies -- its people, its wildlife and flora, its way of life. Award-winning artist Roger Bansemer takes you through this breathtaking region and captures its many facets. Bansemer explores a vanishing way of life on the farms of the Smokies, revealing how the region’s early settlers withstood nature’s trials. Remnants of their lives linger, in quiet churchyards or abandoned mills. He meets the farmers and inhabitants who live there today and forge a new living with the spirit of the past. As James Michener says in his foreword, “It’s lucky he came along when he did and took the pains he did. Because ten years from now this record might be lost.” Bansemer brings to life the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, from the Pioneer Farmstead and its living history of the early pioneers to the spectacular natural vistas -- roaring waterfalls and hushed woods, cool, dusky streams and brilliant autumn-fired trees, dusty dirt roads and breathtaking gorges. And the wildlife: the black bear, the dangerous copperhead, red salamanders, great horned owl, rainbow trout, and deer. A wildflower gallery showcases some of the most beautiful flora of the Great Smokies, along with fascinating trivia about them: Joe Pye weed, bloodroot, yellow-fringed orchid, birdsfoot violet, creeping phlox, rhododendron, and more. Bansemer looks at the forest floor and the tiny lives there -- plants like mosses and ferns, animals like the vole -- and on to the mountains in the mist -- the Great Smokies -- that punctuate every scene. Tallulah Gorge. Looking Glass Falls. Fontana Village. Cades Cove. Little Pigeon River. These natural treasures and so many more endear millions of visitors to the Great Smokies each year. For those who’ve been to the Smokies, Mountains in the Mist is a fitting album of memories, and for those who haven’t, this is an irresistible invitation to go.