Jennifer Culberson Wood

Writer | Lover of words, rivers, the sea, and NC

North Carolina

Regional culture, events and festivals, parks and nature, art and music, fashion and retail, food, farming, and gardening—plus all the creators, doers, makers, shakers, and artisans behind the work—are at the center of my writing career.

Jennifer Culberson Wood

Writer | Lover of words, rivers, the sea, and NC

North Carolina

Featured
What Reminds You of Home?
*Guest Editor, Fall 2018 issue of the North Carolina Museum of History Tarheel Junior Historian Magazine When I was a little girl, my grandfather had a vine beside his house that grew great, big, juicy scuppernong grapes. I would watch in steady anticipation until the end of August, when the fruit was ready for us to gather. It took just about all my little girl willpower to wait it out.
NC Museum of History
Featured
The healing power of a horse
When the world of a young person is shattered and trust in other people eroded, the peace of a walk in a vast field whispering problems and secret dreams to a horse has powerful results. Horses are herd animals, and when they are with us they watch diligently in order to find the bond and form a relationship.
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Brave Hearts-Vets to Vets
When Durham native Dr. Terry Morris, D.V.M., Ph.D. looked at her life in 2012 she realized it was not serving her because she was not serving others. Morris was at a crossroads in her career, coming off of a research position she prayed and asked God to place the right career in her path. "I happened to be watching television and there was a documentary on about rescue dogs helping veterans," said Morris.
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Timeless tradition in the grove
Lighting O' the Grove at Saint Mary's School in Raleigh during their 175th anniversary.
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Oh, North Carolina Christmas tree
Every family has their own traditions and customs they hang onto during the holiday season, and the tree often holds some of our most powerful memories. Whatever your memories are, the smell of a real North Carolina Christmas tree has the effect of shuffling them up to the surface. Whether you are singing "Oh, Tannenbaum" or "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," odds are time stands still just a little bit as you toss that tinsel.
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NC Christmas trees continued
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Gifts of the Spirit
The giving of time and talent are abuzz all around you when you enter the new addition at Christ Church in downtown Raleigh. The annual greenery sale is less than a month away and volunteers can be seen in the kitchen and the halls. But the preparation and planning poured into these events by the teams of people organizing them began far ahead of fall.
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Gifts of the spirit continued
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The art and nature of engaging a community at the NC Museum of Art
Art is meant to be experienced. When an artist sets out to create they have a plan for their finished work and what they want an audience to feel when they come in contact with their composition. That artistic level of intent is mirrored in the newly expanded North Carolina Museum of Art Park.
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Friendships forged through agriculture
Cows, kids, and country music bumping behind impromptu line dancing in the stalls at the Jim Graham building are the order of business on Friday night. These youth livestock exhibitors are here to compete in their Super Bowl of market shows and sales. "These kids have worked hard to get here," said Shannon Vanhoy, Catawba County FFA Advisor at Bandy's High School.
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A meal steeped in tradition
A fresh new year brings plenty of possibility. There's just something about a clean slate to work with that has us all ready to take on the world. In the South we like to make sure we hedge our bets via our stomachs. Why not plan for a precipitous year by consuming just the right food? Even folks averse to resolutions have been known to eat this chosen meal to ensure a year of luck, health, and money. *I cooked the food and styled the table for the shoot in this article.
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NYD Meal continued
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Spoonflower remains focused on creativity and community
Spoonflower was the first web-based custom fabric design service in the world when it was founded in 2008. The birth of the company came when Stephen Fraser's creative wife was looking for a specific fabric for a home decorating project. After the search turned up nothing online Fraser reached out to his friend Gart Davis, a known internet entrepreneurial expert, explaining he believed he had found a unique void in the marketplace.
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Spoonflower continued
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Raleigh Greek Festival represents a community of generational giving
The first thing that hits you when you enter the wide open parish hall of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on a festival cooking day is the wall of intoxicating smell, and whether or not you have just eaten matters not, hunger will overwhelm you. The smiles on the faces of the focused women here to prepare the baked goods for the 35th Annual Raleigh Greek Festival are just as contagious, and their happiness and sense of community has a way of sweeping over you as well.
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Greek Festival continued
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About

Jennifer Culberson Wood

I’m an Alamance County native who grew up in Raleigh, married a man from Edenton, and raised a son with footprints across the Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal regions of North Carolina.

North Carolina culture is the focus of my freelance writing career and I am currently finishing my first novel while drawing up blueprints for a front yard little free library ... in case I have to just give it away.

Faithful dogs, winding rivers, bluegrass, barbecue, baiting your own hook, annual autumn oyster roasts, a good story told well, and a warm welcome for every neighbor -- rank high on my list of life necessities.

My home is the flawless orange glimmer of October light on my father’s Alamance County farm, the crisp aroma of a Chowan County field freshly cut to greet the day, the 30,000 square-foot horticultural palette of produce and plants at the State Farmers Market on Agricultural Street, the cobalt meeting place of heaven and asphalt across the Blue Ridge, the top of Jockey’s Ridge at hushed fading light, the still and storied Cape Fear River, bustling Uptown Charlotte, humming Downtown Raleigh, and Friday night fiddlin’ at Priddy’s General Store.

North Carolina is my home.

I am a storyteller and I can help you tell yours.