Hi, Folks! Growing up, one of the treats we experienced was traveling the nearly seven miles down Highways 212 to the intersection of Highway 208 and US 25-70, near Hot Springs. At that intersection stood a small café, The Old Mill Wheel. The chuck wagon sandwiches there were to die…
The day started as usual for the Spencer clan. Biscuits (at least one jammed full of homemade butter), sausage and sausage gravy, homemade wild strawberry preserves, and peanut butter and syrup with yet another biscuit. We finished up, Mom left for Sears, and Dad dropped us off at Maw and…
This article isn’t really about women of our region, but all people of our region. It is about the way we talk. The Southern Appalachian dialect, words and phrases have long been misunderstood. The way we pronounce words and the phrases we use, have long been the butt of many…
Sunday morning breaks across the Appalachian mountains. The sun makes the sky appear pink above the Blue Ridge. We awaken to the smell of fresh sausage frying downstairs on the stove. Mom has started breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits. The sound of a radio playing down in the kitchen…
I may be cheating a bit with this column, for loafering certainly isn’t unique to Appalachia. Indeed, you will likely find some form of loafering in just about every community the world over. It might be known by a different name, but after all, “what’s in a name? That which…
Hi, Folks. For those who have never visited Madison County, if you turn onto NC Highway 212 East and travel its entire length you will log about fourteen miles. You will have traveled right through the heart of a community known as Shelton Laurel. The majority of my life has…
The world was a very different place in 1920, especially in Ashe County, and the further you got from town, the rougher the country, and, sometimes, the people, too. Breece belonged in that category. He had just turned 18, and he did not let living with his parents and younger…
Hi, Folks! Last August, I was charged with an assignment to shoot some photos for Plough to Pantry, a local magazine. Although it didn’t pay anything, I was pretty excited to be given a chance in proving my photography skills and getting a little exposure. The shoot wound up being…
10:00 p.m.and I still had homework left in English for the next day. Sitting in Grandma Eller’s bed, propped up on what had been her pillows, fatigue prevented me from comprehending anything I read, and all I could think of was the alarm clock that would shake me awake at…
“Uncle Steven? Can you make sure no one blocks the driveway when they park”? I heard my niece Delilah pose that request from behind me. As I turned to tell her I would, my jaw gaped in stunned amazement. There she stood in a Mossy Oak camouflage jacket, blue jeans…
