The heat is on.
Summer has certainly arrived in Tennessee. According to several almanac sources, the dog days of summer officially set in shortly after the first of July. I’m writing this a couple of weeks prior to that, but I’m confident in my prediction that by the time this edition of The Tennessee Magazine arrives in your mailbox, highs somewhere near 90 degrees are the daily norm.
Just thinking about it makes me want to reach for a back-of-the-refrigerator-cold can of Coke. I’ll dream of breathing in the cool air beside a flowing spring like this one captured by Robin Conover in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a few weeks ago.
I hope you’ll find a cool place near the air conditioner, under your favorite shade tree or beside a fan, and flip through the pages of this latest issue of our little magazine.
In May, a group of lineworkers from Middle Tennessee Electric and cooperatives in Alabama traveled to Guatemala to electrify the village of Las Peñas. Amber Weaver, our new writer and content creator, has done a great job telling their story. See page 16.
History columnist Bill Carey provides updates on several buildings found on the “Tennessee’s Endangered Historic Places” poster he produced in 2013 with the Tennessee Historical Commission. Some have been saved and renovated. Some, unfortunately, have been lost to development or time. A few are still waiting for their futures to be determined. Learn more beginning on page 12.
You thought they were gone, but the cicadas live on — for one more magazine issue, at least — in Antsy McClain’s latest dispatch. In all the noise and chaos of their “invasion,” Antsy found the silver lining and enlisted the cicadas to contribute to a new song. See page 10.
And in this month’s Taste of Tennessee food feature, we offer refreshing recipes featuring pineapple. Clip pages 32–34, and keep them handy for the next time you need a sweet, tropical cooldown.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Kirk
Editor, The Tennessee Magazine
