Before he died last year, Tom Weber spent close to two decades collecting stories about the people who lived in what was once Umstead State Park. A new book called "Stories in Stone" (The Umstead Coalition/2011) collects these oral histories, pictures and maps to paint a picture of what life was like for those who lived along the banks of Crabtree Creek long before the coming of Interstate 40 or Raleigh Durham International Airport. Host Frank Stasio talks with Jean Spooner, chair of The Umstead Coaltion; Erik Nygard, a district superintendent for the N.C. State Parks system; and Joe Grissam, a former resident of what is today Umstead State Park.
Amber Nimocks came to The State of Things in January 2009. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a survivor of 15 years in the newspaper business. As a reporter and editor, her posts have included such exotic locales as her hometown of Fayetteville, Robeson County, Wilmington, Raleigh and Fort Worth, Texas.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.