Asheville

Since settling in Asheville, she has focused on Good Hot Fish, which she describes as a “modern-day fish camp” celebrating Black ingenuity, fish fries, ancestral influences and the richness of regional food traditions.

Heavy rains accompanying Hurricane Helene in September caused flooding that reached heights in Asheville, North Carolina that prior flooding hadn’t reached since 1902.

Before moving, Ms Lahr researched extensively the most climate-resilient places to live, with Asheville ranking near the top because of its milder temperatures and inland location, shielding it from flooding.

It was a long-distance relationship at first: She would cook for him at the house I’d helped her buy outside of Asheville, and drive to Tennessee to go to church with him.

The water that flows into the North Fork Reservoir, which serves Asheville and the towns of Black Mountain and Swannanoa, always ran clear and clean from its headwaters high in Pisgah National Forest.