Chestnut Tops, where Lesley's property is located, boasts an abundance of hemlock, white and red oak, white and black pine, american chestnut, hickory, maple, and poplar trees – many of them old growth species.

You can also find rhododendron, mountain laurel, galax, morel mushrooms, pinksters, ladies slipper orchids, trillium...and much more!

Oh, and did I mention black bear, squirrels and chipmunks, woodchucks, birds of all kinds, oppossums, bats, appalachian cottontail, beaver, fox, coyote, red wolf, raccoons, weasel, river otter, bobcats, deer and elk?

The list of interesting amphibians in the Great Smoky Mountains is even longer. One could spend a lifetime cataloguing it all.