Hurricane Helene: Appalachian History

Discover Burke County's exciting past, from Patriots of the American Revolution to the heartbreak of the Civil War, along with tales of the Great Gold Rush, moonshiners, floods and Waldensian immigrants from Italy. All are gathered here, in an engaging collection of facts, legends and Burke County lore. Author and historian Larry R. Clark presents both history and myth--stories of the fascinating people, places and events that have shaped modern-day Burke County.

Author and county historian Eddie Walker has long chronicled the history of beautiful Cocke County, tucked away in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. He has made it his vocation to gather the scraps of the county's past and stitch them into articles written for all who call Cocke County home. Published together for the first time, this collection of favorite Walker articles--which first appeared in the Newport Plain Talk from 1996 to 2001--offers an intimate look at a picturesque East Tennessee community. From the first railroads and telephones to favorite haunts and local celebrities, discover the history and intriguing past of Cocke County.

Amid the rocky crags and misty hollows of North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountainsgrew a generation of hardy, fascinating characters became the stuff of legend.

This entertaining collection of biographical portraits captures the essence of the historic figures of the Smokies. Discover the tale of the bold Captain Kennedy and his ragtag band of Mohican and British comrades, who became French and Indian Warheroes; how Henry Von Plott became a renowned bear hunter and breeder of the world's premier hunting dog; and the story of Yonaguska, considered to be the last truly great chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Join Von Plott's great-nephew and prolific local author Bob Plott as he weaves the lively stories of these vibrant characters and their lasting legacy on the people who will always call the area home.

Henderson County is known for its country inns, houses of worship and picturesque landscapes.

Behind all the beautiful scenery is a colorful history that runs deeper than any creek or holler. Revel in the family and farming heritage of Edneyville, Clear Creek, Green River Township, Hoopers Creek and Fruitland. Relive the resort era when the region boomed as a tourist destination. Learn how the wee population center of Goodluck came by its name, and inhale the sweet fragrance of apple blossoms that bloom every springtime. Drawing from interviews, documents and a gallery of both contemporary and time-honored photography, author and researcher Terry Ruscin renders his adopted Henderson County in vivid detail.

Beloved storyteller and chronicler of Henderson County heritage Louise Howe Bailey (1915, 2009) lives on through her edifying anecdotes.

This new collection of Bailey's ruminations maintains her work of preserving earlier Henderson County history with its abundant assortment of characters, landmarks and natural wonders. Discover why Hendersonville was called the ""dancingest"" town in America and how a troop of young rapscallions rubbed a bar of Octagon soap on the railroad tracks so trains couldn't climb from Melrose to Saluda. Bring your pickaxe up to the top of Glassy Mountain to unearth the buried treasure hidden during the Civil War, and experience the hummingbirds, katydids, Carolina wrens and bullfrogs of the North Carolina countryside as you meander through Bailey's magnetic prose.

In this charming account, North Carolina historian Jane Gibson Nardy recounts a treasure-trove of true stories from her beloved Blue Ridge community, Cashiers.

In addition to several generations of family memorabilia from her personal library, Nardy has also culled the area's public records--deeds, wills, marriage registers and even tombstones--all of which help to create a vivid picture of mountain life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some of the tales will amuse and some will sadden, but all will educate you about the wonderful heritage of Cashiers.

Helen Hill Norris grew up in Horse Cove, perched high in the Southern Appalachians outside Highlands, North Carolina. For a decade starting in 1958, she wrote a weekly column for the Highlander called "Looking Backward." Drawing on her childhood and the tales her elders would tell around the fireplace, Norris conjures a bygone frontier world of covered wagons, gold miners, traveling peddlers and headstrong shopkeepers. Witness a harrowing Civil War encounter with the notorious Kirk's Raiders. Come along as a six-mule wagon carries a Steinway grand piano across the treacherous Chattooga River. Watch two uncles go to extremes to settle an argument over whether moles have teeth. Evocative, richly detailed and often laugh-out-loud funny, these stories reveal Norris to be one of the finest unsung storytellers of the American South.

Before the coming of the four-lane, Jackson County was an insular community defined by geography-wedged in between the Great Smokies and Blue Ridge escarpment, bisected by thousands of miles of streams. The people who settled the area tended to be tough as pine knots but also tended to be salt-of-the-earth. This book offers tales of a time of transition in the area, when arguments over whether someone should opt to have an electric wire run to their home weren't far separated from quibbling over Internet service providers. Inside are tales from logging camps, fields, gardens and lonesome game trails and stories of challenges faced with the unique sense of mountain humor. Local columnist Jim Buchanan tells tales of bear hunts, cool springs and creatures great and small.

The ancient hills of Western North Carolina have cradled a culture that encompasses Cherokee heritage, pioneer legacies and urban visions.

For those who visit and those who make the region their home, there is something captivating about the mountains of Western North Carolina. We meet Lillian Exum Clement, the first female legislator in the South; and Nina Simone, the African American singing prodigy from Tryon. We get to view controversial elements of the Civil War in Western North Carolina from multiple points of view and draw our own conclusions. We comprehend the variety of people who have created the region as it exists now--alive with traditions, contradictions and promise.

Instead of merely reciting historical fact, and with a warm, accessible style, Asheville Citizen Times writer Rob Neufeld helps readers understand the history of the mountains by allowing us to walk in the shoes of the Native Americans, farmers, soldiers and others who preceded us. More than an enlightening read, this book illuminates the progression of frontier life that we have come to know as Western North Carolina history. By linking the lives and experiences of the land's various inhabitants, Neufeld captures the spirit of Appalachia within this volume.

Having written for almost forty years on the cultural heritage that Henderson County holds so dear, Louise Bailey has progressed elegantly from being a valued preservationist of mountain history and lore to becoming something of a local treasure herself.

This special selection of essays offers the best of Bailey's work along with some new stories that together offer readers, whether "old-timers" or newcomers to the area, a warm and informative perspective on the history and folklore of the county.

We meet a delightful cast of characters whose stories--many of them told in a unique dialect and some dating back as far as the Civil War--tell of a truly independent way of life and of a fierce pride in their traditions. Silas Stepp's letters home from Confederate battlegrounds; Gran'dad Owenby's stories of logging and life in his log cabin; anecdotes from blind, old Elzie Floyd and from Clem the moonshiner; tales of granny-women and the old-time "yarb" doctors: these are just some of the stories that bring the history of this unique county to life.

Highlands, North Carolina, is not just home to cool mountain breezes, breathtaking views and world-class shopping and restaurants, it also boasts a rich and vibrant history. What started as the dream of two developers in 1875 has grown from a tiny hamlet into a beloved home and home-away-from-home for many. Join sixth-generation Highlands native Isabel Hall Chambers and her husband, Overton Chambers, as they share charming tales of old Highlands, from lazy summer days playing "town ball" to ice-skating and celebrating Christmas. Woven into this collection of articles from the Laurel are true stories of some of the area's grand old homes, its traditions and an array of interesting residents and visitors through the years, as told by fathers and grandfathers, old postcards, letters, deeds and even tombstones. Everyone who loves this unique mountain community will delight in Remembering Highlands.

?It would be difficult to find an individual more qualified to document the history of the Old Pendleton District than Hurley E. Badders.? Rodger D. Stroup, Director of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History Nestled in the Northeastern foothills of South Carolina, the Old Pendleton District holds many stories that span the entire scope of the Palmetto State's history. Made up of three present-day counties, Anderson, Pickens and Oconee, this area has been the setting to historical events that have not only shaped the area's past, but the entire state of South Carolina. Drawing on his impressive tenure as Executive Director of the Pendleton District Historical, Recreational and Tourism Commission, author Hurley E. Badders recounts a wide variety of backcountry history that brings to light a number of fascinating episodes in the Old Pendleton District's past. Badders tells the story of the Cherokee and their undeniable influence on the area through their folklore as well as the names they bestowed on rivers and hills. With his warm, casual style, Hurley reveals these stories and many more, taking readers on a journey through the generations in one of South Carolina's most vibrant areas.

Can you call yourself a self-respecting North Carolinian if you don't know that Babe Ruth hit his first home run in the Tar Heel State? That Annie Oakley gave shooting lessons in Pinehurst? That renowned Siamese twins Chang and Eng lived in Surry County? Or that unrepenting bootleggers hid out in Rutherford County?

Father-daughter team K. Randell and Caitlin D. Jones think not, and to cure your curiosity, to supply you with clever quips at cocktail parties or to convince your teachers that you really have studied, they have gathered a wonderful collection of stories originally written by lauded North Carolina historian Dr. H.G. Jones for his long-standing "In Light of History" series.

This revised and updated edition contains ten additional accounts of Tar Heel history, accompanied by archival images from the lifetime collection of Dr. Jones and a map highlighting each story's geographic interest area.

From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, African Americans have had a gigantic impact on the Palmetto State. Unfortunately, their stories are often overshadowed. Collected here for the first time, this selection of essays by historian Damon L. Fordham brings these stories to light. Rediscover the tales of Samuel Smalls, the James Island beggar who inspired DuBose Heyward's Porgy, and Denmark Vesey, the architect of the great would-be slave rebellion of 1822. Learn about the blacks who lived and worked at what is now Mepkin Abbey, the Spartanburg woman who took part in a sit-in at the age of eleven and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit to Charleston in 1967. These articles are well-researched and provide an enlightening glimpse at the overlooked contributors to South Carolina's past.