Someone once said, "If you start forgetting how things began, you stop beginning things." With undaunting energy and perseverance, Mike Lassiter spent six years traveling across the state of North Carolina, looking for the lifeblood of small towns, community icons and historic businesses--the beginnings of Tar Heel commerce, livelihoods, family enterprises. At first it was old storefronts and signage that captured his imagination; soon he became...