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HISTORY BOOKSWestern North Carolina History - The Civil War - WWII - Memoirs |
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WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY |
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 A Picture of the Past: A Memoirby Taylor Reese © 2007, 232pp., ISBN: 1-933251-38-7, Softcover, $19.95. A Picture of the Past is a memoir of a North Carolina farm boy who rose to become the president of a national trade association. In these pages, Taylor Reese, a well-known North Carolina author, describes his life from graduation from high school in Eastern North Carolina to retirement in 1989, including service in World War II, three decades of court reporting, and his adventures along the way. This is memoir of days gone by. Taylor Reese is now retired, lives in western North Carolina and continues to write. |
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 Wheels and Dealsin the Yadkin Valley by Roger F. Brown © 2006, 136pp., ISBN: 1887905-42-1, Softcover, $14.95. Wheels and Deals in the Yadkin Valley highlights development of roads and transportation system in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The book delves into the springing up of auto dealerships, which were founded by entrepreneurial businessmen who built their struggling car dealerships into sound businesses at the beginning of World War II and survived the war despite having no new cars to sell. In addition, Wheels and Deals tells the story of the oldest Ford dealership in North Carolina, founded in 1915, in North Wilkesboro. The dealership is still in existence under the leadership of the founding family. Roger F. Brown started out in the car business as a technician at Yadkin Valley Motor Company forty years ago after graduating from Nashville Auto-Diesel College in Nashville Tennessee. He has worked for several of the dealerships described in the book. He been an Automotive Instructor at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC. He is a graduate of Western Carolina University with a degree in Occupational Education. |
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 My C.C.C. Daysby Frank C. Davis © 2006, ISBN: 1-933251-23-9, Softcover, $12.00. It was 1934 and jobs were scarce. With so few prospects, Frank Davis joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) at age 18. For the next two years he worked in western North Carolina. Along with hundreds of other young men his age, he built hiking trails, roads, overlooks, and walls in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In these pages, he records his experiences as he matured, learned a trade, and made lasting friendships. |
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 The Angel of Happy HollowThe Story of Mary Elizabeth "Toddy" Collins by Ann Goode Cooper © 2006, ISBN: 1-933251-27-1, Hardcover, $29.95. Miss Mary Elizabeth "Toddy" Collins came from Cambridgeshire, England to the United States with her father and her four siblings after the death of her mother in 1875. The Collins family settled in Crab Point, North Carolina, where Miss Collins remained until she heard the calling of the Lord to become a Missionary. After attending Missionary School in Nyack, New York, in 1905, Miss Collins went to Roda, Virginia, where she remained until her death in December 1947. Miss Collins acquired the name of Miss Toddy, "The Angel of Happy Hollow." |
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 Just Call Me Mickeyby Wint Capel © 2006, ISBN: 1-933251-18-2, Hardcover, $24.95. Just Call Me Mickey is the biography of Michael C. Blackwell, the president of North Carolina Baptist Children’s Homes, located in Thomasville, N.C. |
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 Charley Craft: The Life and Times of a North CarolinianTurned Oklahoma Homesteader, 1872-1934 by Neal Lineback © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-14-X, Softcover, $19.95. Charley Craft was a hardworking, but simple man of strong moral conviction and intensely loved by his family and friends. Ostracized in the late 1800s in the North Carolina piedmont community that raised him, he sought success first in Indiana where he married Martha Newby. With no money and few resources, Charlie, Martha, and their two young children homesteaded 120 acres of raw, dusty prairie in the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1905. It was a difficult place to raise a family of six children as tornadoes, droughts, hailstorms, and blizzards made their lives more difficult. The author, Neal G. Lineback, is the author of more than 750 columns in a newspaper and internet series called Geography in the News, published by Maps.com, and subscribed to by 6,000 public and private schools around the world. He served as Chair of Geography and Planning Department, Appalachian State University. |
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 Mines, Miners, and Minerals of Western North Carolinaby Lowell Presnell © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-05-0, Softcover, $19.95. Mining in Western North Carolina played an important economic role in the lives of its people and the state's history, but little has been recorded about the industry, especially the day-to-day trials and triumphs of the individual miner. Lowell Presnell, a descendent of a mining family, recorded the tales of old-timers as they talked about discovering huge books of mica, outrunning muck cars, and finding out in the nick of time that a mine has bad air. He tells about Conrad Reed, who found an interesting-looking rock that turned out to be a seventeen-pound gold nugget and Dr. George Kunz, vice president of Tiffany's, who searched for hiddenite, but had to settle for gem-quality emeralds instead. |
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 Highland Handcraftersby Michael Joslin © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-08-5, Softcover, $19.95. The earliest settlers of the Appalachian Mountains depended upon their quick minds and skillful hands to survive in a beautiful but challenging land. They learned to make their own tools, clothes, homes, weapons, utensils, and dishes. This self-reliance has persisted throughout the years as mountain men and women have used God-given gifts rather than cash to survive and thrive. Joining these folks in their handcrafting is the relatively recent influx of professional artisans and craftspeople. This book profiles a number of high country craftspeople. Michael Joslin teaches at Lees-McRae College and is the author of a number of books. |
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 Mountain Echoes: Beech Mountain,Whaley, Beech Creek, North Carolina by Dosi Elaine Cook Stanberry © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-15-8, Softcover, $24.95 Reeling from the sudden death of husband and father, this Beech Mountain, North Carolina family overcomes all obstacles in its path. The strong-willed mother travels many miles each day by horseback for work to support her children. The oldest of the four children, the author of this book, was 12 years old at the time of the story. Their experiences will warm your heart; some will bring tears, and others will make you laugh. Through this family, their friends, and relatives, see the strength and courage of mountain families in the early 1900s. The author, Dr. Dosi Elaine Cook Stanberry, a native of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, is a retired professor of English, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, North Dakota. She retired to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and published several books of poetry, three plays, and a book. Mountain Echoes is, in her own words, the most rewarding and important of her writings. At age 94, she is now a resident of Burlington Manor, Burlington, North Carolina. |
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 A Short History of Watauga Countyby Michael Hardy © 2006, ISBN: 1-933251-26-3, Hardcover, $24.95 Michael Hardy brings the history of Watauga County to modern times by updating the two previously published books by John Preston Arthur in 1915 and by Daniel J. Whitener in 1949. |
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 Orville Hicks: Mountain Stories, Mountain Rootsby Julia Taylor Ebel © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-02-6, Hardcover, $19.95 © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-03-4, Softcover, $14.95 Orville Hicks: Mountain Stories, Mountain Roots is the storyteller’s own story as told to the author Julia Taylor Ebel. The book, Orville Hicks, takes readers back to Orville’s childhood, back to the farm in the hollow where the shy mountain boy picked huckleberries, dug potatoes, played with a homemade ball and bat, and rode on a farm sled. Orville reflects on his entry into public storytelling and tells us about herb gathering, ghosts on the mountain, childhood plays, and the gut bucket, also known as the string bass. Orville even gives us his recipe for squirrel stew. Orville Hicks: Mountain Stories, Mountain Roots includes three short tales told by Orville and old family photographs that offer glimpses of mountain life. Julia Taylor Ebel’s writing reflects her appreciation of family stories, cultural history and her love of nature. She is the author of Addie Clawson, Appalachian Mail Carrier (Parkway Publishers), and a picture book, Walking Ribbon (Viewpoint Press). |
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 They went into the Fight Cheering!by Walter Hilderman III © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-25-5, Softcover, $24.95 America ’s first nationwide compulsory military service law was enacted by the Confederacy in 1862.Compulsory military service, known as conscription, quickly became the most hated law in North Carolina and the rest of the South. They Went into Fight Cheering! explores the issue of conscription and describes its day-to-day operation, the people who were charged with its enforcement, the impact of conscription on civilians, and how conscription affected the course of the war. They Went into Fight Cheering! skillfully intertwines the lives and letters of North Carolinians with the Confederacy’s progressively desperate measures intended to sustain its armies. Conscription generated intense political and social conflict throughout the South. Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee, Zebulon Baird Vance, and Braxton Bragg were drawn into the controversy, often on opposite sides. They Went Into the Fight Cheering! fills a void in North Carolina and Confederate history with well documented, yet sympathetic treatment of men and women who were caught up in the great American tragedy. Walter Hilderman, the author, is a retired Charlotte, North Carolina police captain. He and his wife, Pat, live in an 1840 plantation house near Eutaw Springs, South Carolina. |
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 River of Cliffs: A Linville Gorge Readerby Christopher Blake, editor © 2005, ISBN: 1-933251-04-2, Softcover, $19.95 The popular Linville Falls and the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area have been described dozens of times. Both fictional and historical accounts abound, and we have records of this wild and spectacular place that reflect the interest of botanists, geologists, preservationists, outdoors educators, students of pioneer culture, hikers and climbers, and historians. No less valuable have been the creative interpretations of poets, painters, novelists, and photographers. This book offers you a rich and representative sampling of these varied perspectives, familiarity with which, it is hoped, will deepen your experiences of this exceptional place. |
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 Summer Visits to Buckhead, Georgia and Swords, Georgiaby John W. Wright © 2005, ISBN: 1887905-43-X, Hardcover, $20.00 - OUT OF PRINT This book consists of recollections of the author’s summer visits in the 1930s and early 40s to the rural Morgan County communities of Buckhead and Swords, Georgia. Here, John Walter Wright shares with the readers the flavor of times past, but not forgotten. John Wright was born in 1932 in Wilmington, North Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1955 from Guilford College and a Master of Theology degree in 1958 from Southern Methodist University. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He served as Director of the Wesley Foundation at Rutgers University. He walked with Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama in support of voting rights for minorities. Mr. Wright resides with his wife, Susan, in Bridgewater, New Jersey. |
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 Blue Ridge HeritageAn Informal History of Three Generations of the Family of John Nicholson Idol by John Lane Idol, Jr. © 2005, ISBN: 1-887905-41-3, Softcover, $24.95 A native of the Piedmont area of North Carolina, John Nicholson Idol, a Confederate Sharpshooter, looking for a way to make a life for himself in the Reconstruction South, comes to Deep Gap, meets and marries a daughter of pioneer settler Solomon Greene, and begins to adapt to Blue Ridge ways of working and living. How he and two generations of his descendents became absorbed into Blue Ridge culture is the story told in this book. It is a story drawing on family letters, oral history, and personal experience. The author is the fourth generation native of the Blue Ridge and taught English literature for over thirty years at Clemson University. He is now settled in Hillsborough, North Carolina. |
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 One Woman's Century:The Remarkable Story of Angela Marsh Peterson by Kevin Todeschi © 2004, ISBN: 1-887905-38-3, Softcover, $19.95 Angela Marsh Peterson was an extraordinary individual who encountered nearly every experience available to a twentieth century woman: marriage, motherhood, divorce, death of a child, running a business, and teaching school. She watched Haley’s comet with her mother in 1910 and heard about the tragedy of the Titanic. She experienced the Depression and both World Wars. The daughter of a state senator, she would grow to survive rape, a nervous breakdown, and a crippling illness. In time, she would serve in the military, organize a travel company, create one of the first senior citizen centers in the country, and found the Angela Peterson Doll and Miniature Museum in High Point, North Carolina. This is Angela’s remarkable life story. |
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 Standing in the Shadows of Greatnessby Henry J. Pankey © 2004, 156 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-94-4, Softcover, $14.95 This is the dramatic story of a farm boy's rise from the poverty-stricken cotton fields of North Carolina to New York City's most violent schools and the national stage. Henry Pankey, a principal with uncompromising principles, used tough love to restore order, pride, dignity, self-respect and student achievement in some of America's failing schools. Henry Pankey is a nationally acclaimed educator and is highly respected as one of the nation's most brilliant, innovative and effective principals. Pankey, who was born and raised in Pankey Town community in North Carolina, has received over 100 awards for his work as an administrator, teacher, professor, actor, published writer, and karate champion. He was one of the chief architects of the nationally accliamed Dress for Success programs at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, New York. Pankey is a school improvement consultant and a motivational speaker. |
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 Lawyer Will:The Story of an Appalachian Lawyer by Ann Goode Cooper and Diana Jessee © 2004, 36 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-90-1, Softcover, $12.95 Lawyer Will is the story of William Harrison Bowlin, teacher, lawyer, professor, judge, lecturer, and member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. Bowlin, who was born on a farm in Virginia, through his determination, earned a number of credentials. He earned law degrees, practiced law, became member of the bars of Tennessee, of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and the United States District and Circuit Courts, and taught law at Grant University. Lawyer Will, written by his niece, is the story of this remarkable man. |
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 Shuffletown, USA: A Multi-Voice Memoirby Judy Rozzelle © 2004, 160 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-85-5, Softcover, $19.95 This is the story of Shuffletown, North Carolina. It is an Ode to all small American communities for they are all vanishing. And to live in these small places taught us all we ever needed to know about life and living. Places such as Shuffletown and the people who grew up in these places made America great. Shuffletown, USA is a memoir told in many voices. However, do keep in mind, writers do jumble and exaggerate events. The only thing that is totally true in this book is that the author grew up in an oddly wonderful place, in a special time, raised by hardy, resilient folks and neighbors who had known my family for generations. People just are not that lucky anymore. Judy Rozzelle has been a freelance writer since 1971. She sold the first article she ever wrote to Reader’s Digest and has since published in several national magazines. She was a winner in the 1986 Guideposts Writer’s Contest. She was senior editor for Charlotte Magazine. Ms. Rozzelle wrote this book in an effort to redeem herself in Shuffletown. She also felt bad because she never completed the history of the church in time for its centennial celebration in 1991. |
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 Until He Is Deadby Tom Rusher © 2003. ISBN: 1-887905-73-1, Hardcover, $29.95 Until He is Dead is a fascinating account of the administration of death penalty during 1900s in the western North Carolina mountain counties. Rusher presents the evolution of the application of death penalty from hangings to electrocution to the injection of lethal gas. Rusher chronicles rape cases in Mitchell and Madison counties and murder cases in Avery and Watauga counties. While two of these condemned men were hanged, the other two successfully fought off the death penalty. James Thomas Rusher is a native of Salisbury, North Carolina and was elected District Attorney in the 24th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina in 1982, and was re-elected four times. Rusher retired from public office at the end of 2002. |
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 Back on Nowhere Roadby Frances Henson VanLandingham © 2003. ISBN: 1-887905-74-X, 180 pp., Softcover, $14.95 Frances VanLandingham grew up on Nowhere Road in Poga Community near Tennessee and North Carolina state line. VanLandingham recounts her life - she was graduated from High School despite her father’s belief that an young woman did not need an education; she earned a college degree, worked for FBI and taught school in Georgia. She returned to her community to retire. |
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 Gathering Up Memoriesby Ann Goode Cooper © 2003. ISBN: 1-887905-70-7, Softcover, $14.95. Gathering up Memories is a collection of Appalachian stories and anecdotes such as old-fashioned remedies, Appalachian games, Appalachian superstitions and sayings, and how places and people got their names. There are chapters on people such as Rev. T. R. Carter, Rev. Mike Johns, the Carter family, and an outlaw named Kennie Wagner. Another chapter is about Elizabeth "Toddy" Collins, a missionary from England. Collins spent her life serving the folks in the Southwest Virginia coalfields. She opened the first church and school in the coal camps of Roda, Virginia. |
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 Orlean PuckettThe Life of a Mountain Midwife 1844 - 1939 by Karen Cecil Smith © 2003. ISBN: 1-887905-72-3, Softcover, $14.95. The name of Orlean Puckett is known to the millions of visitors who stop at the Puckett cabin on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Carroll County, Virginia. A sign erected in front of the cabin, at Milepost 189.9 along Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway, by the National Park Service provides a brief glimpse of the legendary midwife’s life. "Aunt" Orlean took to midwifery in her mid-forties. She is famous for having successfully delivered over a thousand babies in the Virginia counties of Carroll, Patrick, and Floyd. Ironically, none of Aunt Orlean’s own 24 babies lived past infancy. During her 49-year career, the midwife traveled on horse or by foot to homes of expectant mothers. She never failed to make her way to a birthing. When ice covered the mountain paths, she hammered nails in the soles of her shoes to assure proper footing. At the age of 94, Aunt Orlean caught her last baby. One year later, construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway forced her from her home. Three weeks after the move, she died. |
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 Addie Clawson:Appalachian Mail Carrier by Julia Taylor Ebel © 2003. ISBN: 1-887905-67-7, Softcover, $9.95 Never mind that Addie Clawson didn't own a car. She didn't even know how to drive one when the U.S. Postal Service hired her to deliver the mail through the mountains in Boone, North Carolina. That was on Friday. By Monday, she had a plan. Never mind that in 1936 only men delivered the mail, and women didn't do that sort of work. Never mind that the rough roads, blizzards, and floods made the life of rural mail carriers difficult. Against all odds, Miss Addie was determined to deliver the mail. For 30 years, that's just what she did. Here is the story of one pioneering woman's courage, dedication, and kindness. |
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 Mountain Born, Mountain Moldedby Larry G. Morgan © 2002. ISBN: 1-887905-69-3, Softcover. $14.95. The author, Larry G. Morgan, grew up in Nantahala region of western North Carolina. This is his tongue-in-cheek description of his life during 1945-55 period when he was a little boy. Morgan depicts his family life with love, nostalgia, and humor. Mountain Born, Mountain Molded depicts how people in western North Carolina made their living, their clothes, houses, household furnishings, education, and their medical care. The book describes mountaineers' religious beliefs and practices and how they celebrated their holidays. The little boy, who tells the story, didn't know he was poor, didn't have expensive toys but found hours of entertainment in the mountains and woods. |
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 A Place for Miracles:Baptists Children's Homes of North Carolina by Michael C. Blackwell © 2002. ISBN: 1-887905-49-9, Softcover. $14.95. © 2002. ISBN: 1-887905-50-2, Hardcover. $19.95. A Place for Miracles details the history of the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina; its early struggles to overcome opposition to orphanage, find suitable land for construction, and secure enough money to begin operation. This book pinpoints the elements that made the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina what it is today: its values, mission, people, actions and results. |
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 Keeper of the Storiesby Heidi Hartwiger © 2002. ISBN: 1-887905-59-6, Softcover. $19.95. This is a conversational how-to-book about construction and writing family stories when very little concrete information exists. It is oriented to beginning adult writers who want to write stories loosely based on events involving family members. Keeper of the Stories shares storytelling tools/techniques and writing models in an anecdotal manner. |
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 Wade Edward Brown:Recollections and Reflections by Wade E. Brown © 1997, 150 pp., Photographs and Index. ISBN: 1-887905-06-5, Hardcover. $20.00. Wade Brown was born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in 1907. He was educated in the one-room Silver Lake School, completed Mars Hill Junior College, and received his law degree from Wake Forest College. He passed his bar examination before he graduated from the law school and opened his law practice in Boone in 1931. He was a three-term Mayor of Boone, served in North Carolina House and Senate, and chaired the Parole Board. In his Recollections and Reflections, he recounts delightful stories of his childhood, college education, law practice, community service, and the people he knew, including mayors of Boone and sheriffs of Watauga County. |
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 A Mansion in the Mountains:The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and their Blowing Rock Manor by Philip T. Noblitt © 1996, xiv, 216 pp., Illustrations, Bibliography, Index, ISBN: 1-887905-02-2, Softcover. $19.95. Moses Cone, the eldest son of a first generation German immigrant, rose to be a textile magnate and was known as a "Denim King." He and his wife built Flat Top Manor, a colonial mansion, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. After Moses died, Bertha ran Flat Top Manor until her death. She fought the National Park Service to prevent it from building the Blue Ridge Parkway through her estate. After her death, National Park Service took control of the property and turned Flat Top Manor into a craft shop. Noblitt, a staff interpretive specialist for the Blue Ridge Parkway, weaves an engrossing story about the Cones, their mansion, and the National Park Service. |
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 MeeMa's Memory QuiltTreasured Stories of Watauga County History by Jane Wilson and Michaele Haas © 1999, 32 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-18-9, Hardcover. $16.95. While visiting his grandmother, a young boy learns about the 150-year history of Watauga County, North Carolina, from a quilt that has squares depicting its people and events. MeeMa's Memory Quilt is illustrated by Watauga County school children. It covers the history of the mountain region of North Carolina and thus fits well into North Carolina's fourth grade curriculum. |
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 Ballad of Tom Dulaby John Foster West © 2002, 212 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-55-3. $19.95. This is a documented story behind the murder of Laura Foster and the trials and execution of Tom Dula. The murder, which took place over a century ago in Wilkes County, North Carolina, gave rise to a number of folk tales and ballads. John Foster West examines the newspaper reports and court records to ascertain what really happened. John Foster West is the author of acclaimed novels such as Time Was and The Summer People. |
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THE CIVIL WAR |
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 Across the Dark RiverThe Odyssey of the 56th N.C. Infantry in the American Civil War by Clyde Ray © 1996, 250 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-04-9, Paperback, OUT OF PRINT. This is the story of the 56th North Carolina Infantry in the Civil War. It was raised in different parts of North Carolina and was stationed in the Virginia and North Carolina areas until 1864, when it was permanently assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. During the last months of the war, the regiment was virtually annihilated in the battles around Petersburg and Richmond. The author recreates a period of American history in the words and experiences of the men and women who lived it. Almost every character actually existed; almost every incident in the novel actually occurred. In a very real sense, they tell the story. Clyde Ray, a teacher, was born in Waynesville, North Carolina and lives in Sylva, North Carolina. |
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MEMOIRS |
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 From Here To ThereA Boy's Tale by Taylor Reese © 2004, 185 pp., ISBN: 1-887905-34-0. $12.95. A memoir is an intimate and personal window into a life. The history into a time and place can be illuminating but sometimes dry. A memoir, on the other hand, can take you back in time in a way that makes you feel that you are actually there--a memoir can give you the genuine flavor of the time. From Here To There opens a window on the first seventeen years of the life of a farm boy from eastern North Carolina. The story pulls back the lid on a time long gone when cotton was harvested by hand and when Cloverine Salve was the balm for all burns, scrapes, hurts and stings that boys--and not a few girls--are prone to. This story makes you remember walking in the rain and the feel of mud squishing through your toes. You may not have experienced an era when we had teachers instead of educators; you may not have had discipline as a necessary part of the ABCs, but you can be there with a boy who knew those days. Taylor Reese lived on a farm where the work was so backbreaking that out of six brothers not one stayed on the acreage to follow his father’s footsteps. You may not be able to live such days anymore but you can go there as you read From Here To There. |
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