The Old Ways, superstitions, and healing came along with our foremothers on the ships from Ireland, Scotland and Northern England and drifted down on the mountains where they settled. Some beliefs were borrowed from the Native Americans living among them. These beliefs made their way down through the decades. Our…
The last person to touch this stone tool, thousands of years before I found it, on a gravel bar at the headwaters of a Grayson County creek, was a hunter and a warrior. We can speculate until the cows come home exactly why is was here, in this place, but…
Tom and I met our very first day at Emory & Henry College where we were assigned to the same orientation group. Over the next four years, we had several mutual friends, and we occasionally ended up in the same class or at the same table for lunch. I would…
REVELATIONS Luke 12:2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Hi, Folks. As many of you know, I did a story last month on my mamaw, Edna Holt Shetley. The story revolved around her father killing her mom in 1932…
Great-great aunt Ida was very different from all the other young ladies that lived in the early part of the nineteen hundreds in the mountains of western North Carolina. She wore pearl earrings in her pierced ears and was known to dip snuff and use the juice from elderberries to…
It seems that according to the mainstream media today, just the mention of the word ‘gun’ is enough to send folks screaming for cover. This has been especially perplexing to me since I am the 9th generation of my family to call the Appalachian region home; we have been, and…
No one ever wrote a song about her—but that doesn’t really matter, I suppose. I don’t know how these things are decided but for some reason my family was blessed to find her, and make our lives beside her at a time when our country was new and full of…
“A protective or decorative garment worn over the front of one’s clothes to protect the wearer’s clothing and tied at the back.” This is the definition of an apron. If you were raised in this mountain range, it is likely that you had an older woman in your life who…
There is a place I know that no one else knows. Plenty of others know about the physical place and where it is, but I’m the only one who knows about the spiritual and tranquil place it once was. Sadly, everyone who knew about that place — my mom, my…
There is a place I know that no one else knows. Plenty of others know about the physical place and where it is, but I’m the only one who knows about the spiritual and tranquil place it once was. Sadly, everyone who knew about that place — my mom, my…
