I love exploring cemeteries and the mountains are full of them. Sometimes, one or two straggling graves off to themselves, sometimes quite large enclosures. Often I wander by to our community cemetery to visit, as it is full of memories and stories. Some known and some unknown. I always talk…
If you can get your hands on a good relief map of the central Appalachian region, and in our particular case the Winston-Salem quadrangle at the 1:250,000 scale, you can get a sense of the magnitude of the awesome array of mountains and valleys we call home. This is a…
Hi, Folks! I decided to venture on something a little different this week, departing from my normal story telling. Anyone who visits Madison County, North Carolina usually has Max Patch near the top of their lists as a place to see. What is Max Patch you ask? At 4,629 feet…
Hi, Folks! I hope ya’all have been doing well and that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It’s great to be back after a little hiatus from writing. When I started out on this story, I was excited to be highlighting the traditional Appalachian cultural practice of Ginseng hunting. I thought…
The Appalachian region of our country has a unique and storied past. This is an area of exploration, settlement, abandonment and re-settlement that today is becoming popular with the folks wanting to ‘get back to the land’, either by retiring here or visiting in a semi-permanent fashion, with summer homes…
If you grew up in a small community, like those in the Appalachian mountains, then you probably remember some individuals that made a lasting impression on your memory. One of those, for me, was Ms. Hattie. Now, that is not her real name as I didn’t want to feel like…
I had an editor tell me “Times have changed”. Maybe so. With what we each perceive as different from what came before, and with the benefit of 61 years on the planet, I believe there are two things that have not changed: Guns are still guns and dogs are still…
With a firm smack to her bottom, a tiny baby girl came to a family not unlike so many other mountain families. A close-knit group, they held her close and shared their lives with her as they taught her all the important things from their lives that they thought she…
July descended on the mountains, and Dog Days set in hot and dry. Still, we enjoyed cool, crisp mornings that slipped through our open windows during the night and woke us with bright rays of sunshine that cut through the dark. Those first few moments of consciousness on these mornings…
The Spinster by Steve Tweed July 18, 2017 “Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.” – Louisa May Alcott Hi, folks! Much has been said over the years about a woman’s determination: Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn; A woman’s prerogative; the list goes on and on. Appalachian…
