“May at Grandfather Mountain” Debuts on Television Thursday

Native only to North Carolina, the pink-shell azalea grows in spruce forests at high elevations in three mountain counties. These delicate pink blossoms that appear in mid-May are featured in Jim Morton’s film. Photo by Jim Morton

One year ago Jim Morton had the first showing of his film “May at Grandfather Mountain” in the attraction’s theater and this Thursday, October 29, it makes its television debut on UNC-TV.

The film will air at 9:30 p.m. this Thursday and is featured on UNC-TV’s website as a locally-produced program.

“May at Grandfather Mountain” opens with a prologue featuring the words and voice of the late Charles Kuralt, whose 1995 book Charles Kuralt’s America recommended Grandfather Mountain as the perfect place to be in May.

To create this work, Morton took his high definition video camera out on Grandfather Mountain each day in the month of May 2008, missing only one day. He captured dozens of different species of wildflowers, a great variety of inspiring cloud formations, views of the mountain and views from the mountain.

This homemade production was shot, written and edited by Morton, whose personal relationship with Grandfather began during his 1950’s childhood. Merged with the visual splendor of May on the mountain is a powerful partnership of Morton’s rhyme poetry and acoustic music by High Point natives Tim and Danny Carter, who are joined by popular Nashville performers that include Tim O’Brien, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Jim Hurst, Matt Flinner, Alison Brown and Rob Ickes.

The 27-minute “May at Grandfather Mountain” will be available for purchase in early November at the Grandfather Mountain Museum Gift Shop. The film will also be aired on UNC-TV this Thursday, October 29, at 9:30 p.m.

“I was sure that the scenery of Grandfather Mountain would be enough to make a pretty video,” said Morton. “Once I included the music of Tim and Danny Carter it became a real pleasure to watch.”

Morton added, “Dave Carter did a great job with the narration. He has made my words sound better than I ever can.

All scenes in the video are presented in true chronological order, which allows the audience to follow the progress of the change of seasons from almost winter to almost summer.

“This is the first time one of my videos will be broadcast on television,” said Morton. “It’ll be exciting for sure.”

The 27-minute video is shown hourly in the Grandfather Mountain Nature Museum theater each day. Starting in early November the film will also be available for purchase on DVD or Blue-ray disc at the Museum Gift Shop.

For more information on Grandfather Mountain, click to www.grandfather.com.