Mountains, Marshes, and Memory: Exploring the Southeast’s National Parks

Stand ankle-deep in a cypress swamp as mist rises and something moves in the reeds — this episode opens in the thick, humming heart of the Southeast and pulls you into a landscape that feels alive and full of secrets. We hike the Great Smoky Mountains at sunrise, paddle the Everglades’ river of grass, creep along Congaree’s cathedral of trees, and visit the isolated ruins of Fort Jefferson. Along the way we meet Cherokee and Seminole histories, New Deal builders, displaced families, and the conservationists who fought to save these places — each story layered into the land like rings in a tree. Listen as the parks reveal their contradictions: refuge and removal, healing and memory. By the episode’s end you won’t just know these places — you’ll feel their echoes, their resilience, and the quiet that keeps telling time.