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And thank you, LiveLoveLaugh for your kind words.. you got me to thinking.... perhaps I should find an outlet and write some articles about the mountains that I knew as a child and my family that managed to eak out a living in these harsh mountains for nearly 300 years. I have them all written in my head already. I would start with the heartbreak I felt when I discovered that the road through the family land in Swain had been paved over.
If anyone has any ideas as to where I would find an outlet for such articles please let me know. I would love to do it!
I would suggest contacting the local news papers about doing a piece every couple of weeks. I know that Asheville Citizen Times was soliciting writers earlier this year.
Bob Terrell, Sylva born, though hired as the 'sports editor', he also wrote of mountain life and the heritage of the area for decades until his retirement, and published many books along the way.
LOL, yeah I tried to reply to that post as well, but just to say that I understand the pain of finding out the family lands in Swain were paved over. As beautiful as the views are from the Cherohala Skyway, I'm not exactly crazy about it going right around my ancestor's lands and gravesite. That might be selfish, but I liked Stratton Meadows/Bald/Ridge kinda being a local secret.
I tell what I will do.. I will put together a small piece about something or other and check back in.
Thank you for your suggestions.. my husband gets sick of me talking about the good old days, but I need to get it out of and through my system sometimes. It remains such a part of who I am and what I do (farmer) and I feel the influence of the old granny women in my family everytime I touch my hand to soil or wipe the sweat from my brow over a hot canner.
I tell what I will do.. I will put together a small piece about something or other and check back in.
Thank you for your suggestions.. my husband gets sick of me talking about the good old days, but I need to get it out of and through my system sometimes. It remains such a part of who I am and what I do (farmer) and I feel the influence of the old granny women in my family everytime I touch my hand to soil or wipe the sweat from my brow over a hot canner.
Thats what I miss most about my mamaw; she always had a basement full of canned fruits and vegetables. We used to make special camping trips up near Hooper Bald to go pick berries for her to can.
I tell what I will do.. I will put together a small piece about something or other and check back in.
Thank you for your suggestions.. my husband gets sick of me talking about the good old days, but I need to get it out of and through my system sometimes. It remains such a part of who I am and what I do (farmer) and I feel the influence of the old granny women in my family everytime I touch my hand to soil or wipe the sweat from my brow over a hot canner.
Chickenista, I want you to become the next Laura Ingalls Wilder!!--and I'm not kidding about that.
Your family history, culture, traditions, values--(especially the values!!)--your own personal experience and perspectives--all of this set within the context of "Life in Madison County--I Remember Granny," could be just as complex, interesting, vivid, entertaining, and worthy of archiving as the books that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her "Little House on the Prairie" (brought to us for years on TV and now in DVD format).
If you don't feel comfortable with or have the time for all that writing, you could collaborate with someone like... well... me! I've always wanted to write a book on a worthy subject, and I think you have a priceless story to tell--a piece of Americana worth sharing with future generations. If you're interested and need help, pm me, but in any case, please consider that book.
I can think offhand of several people on this forum--you know who you are (grin)--who have moved or are moving into Madison County who would stand in line to pick up the first copies of "Life in Madison County," chickenista!
I don't know if I would tackle Madison County! I only lived in that county for a few short years and even an old mountain gal such as myself was blown away by it. It is the most rugged place I have ever lived. It was harsh living, but I did live kinda high up. It spat snow at least once a week, but usually several days a week. I couldn't take it and sold the land on the river and moved away. (that and all the new development coming in was just crazy)
Did you know that Shelton Laurel (a valley community so far back in the ruggedness of Madison that you almost can't get there) is responsible for more heritage bean varieties than anywhere in the US? And that Marshall was the den of eniquity for the mountains what with drinking and whoring on the courthouse steps on the days the Circuit Judge came to town.. it is one serious and intense mountain county that almost scared me in it's fierceness.
And for those that love the mountains and the old ways may I suggest "The Face of Appalachia" by Tim Barnwell as the most perfect photographic collection I have ever seen. I wish I owned a copy! A lot of his shots are in Madison County and even though they were taken in the 80's you would never know it. They could have been from one hundred years ago and look the same. The people are amazing in those shots. There is one picture of an old front porch that reminds me so much of my Great Aunts' in Swain County. Covered in stuff.. leather britches hanging and tons of plants in old soup cans and broken handled pots and old glassware.
And "The French Broad" by the late Wilma Dykeman. When I bought property on the river I wanted to learn more and got that book from the library. I learned towns that I never knew about the drove road that ran where the train tracks are now. Just how the farmers did it.. driving livestock from Tennessee to Charleston! They would walk for the whole way with thousands of head of every creature from pigs to chickens.
If you walk the tracks from Marshall you can see the old stone walls are still there.
But I digress...
I would be afraid to tackle a project in the context of Madison County. Even as an old mountain family member I was never accepted in Madison. I wasn't from there. But something in the more general mountain experience would be interesting. My family is from Swain since forever, but I grew up in several counties.
I have oft thought of of a work of fiction that intertwined some memories and some new ideas as well.
I have thought of one character that amuses me... an old, old man who starts his day Monday through Friday with a bran muffin and a cup of coffee on his tractor... driving down a windy two-lane at about 5 miles an hour just to hold up all the new comers rushing desperately to work in the mornings. giggle>snort
I have also written a bit of a book that is a fantasy book for older children set in these mountains instead of far away lands. I actually believe in the Thunder Birds, or the possibility that they did exist and it is a book dealing with the lore of the giant birds...I know that makes me sound a bit off, but they could have existed.
But perhaps I should hush up and just PM you.
Jen
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