Mountains & Valleys
Click a title below to read the story.
Picking Wild Strawberries
This morning, when I sat down to drink my coffee, I noticed the wild strawberry design on the... Read More
Old Barns & Barnyards
Almost everyone loves old barns, I know I do. Quite a few of them still stand over the... Read More
Old Bonnie & Me
Horses are beautiful animals. Some of them have a grace and form that is striking. I love to... Read More
Finding Our Fortunes
Winter had passed and school was out for summer vacation. One day I was up at my friend... Read More
Telling Our Fortunes
One summer my Great Aunt Charity Ann had a visitor. She was a distant relative who claimed she... Read More
Following Dad to the Mountain
It was a chilly spring morning in May. A brand new day full of possibilities. After breakfast, Dad... Read More
The Blacksmith Shop
My dad’s blacksmith shop set at the lower end of our meadow beside the dirt road. It was... Read More
The Old Wood Stove
The old wood cook stove looked huge compared to the other furnishings in our little kitchen. Just inside... Read More
From Cellar to Kitchen to Table
As a little girl, I loved to go with my Mom to our old cellar. It had been... Read More
The Sentinel
The last surviving apple tree on our farm stood sentinel for over eighty years. It grew at the... Read More
Mountain Springs and Spring Houses
Whether we were walking along a country road or following a mountain trail, a fresh little spring was... Read More
My Room, My Retreat
My little bedroom was my retreat when I was sick or feeling bad. But most of the time... Read More
Home Sweet Home
Mom and Dad were married for twenty three years before I was born. At first, they lived in... Read More
Freedom Is Not Free
In the 1991 my husband, his uncle and I were in Johnson City, TN at the VA Hospital.... Read More
Springtime in the Appalachian Mountains
It’s springtime in the Appalachian Mountains. The deep snows of winter have melted. Budding trees show their splendor... Read More
The Big Christmas Tree, The Sheep & Me
The year was 1987. It was just three days until Christmas and we didn’t have a tree. The... Read More
Fishing in Helton Creek
The brooks, branches, creeks and rivers are a sight to behold as they wind their way through these... Read More
The Iron Workhorse & The Devil
The Virginia Creeper Train was a real iron workhorse. It came into Ashe County in 1915 hauling lumber,... Read More
The Church Dinner & The Snake Handler
The summer I was 16 years old a man in our community was asking for folks to work... Read More
The Candy Man
My great uncle Jim was a jovial man, a pleasure to be around. He lived in a small... Read More
Two Scared Girls
It was a pleasant fall afternoon. The air was crisp and the leaves were beginning to change color.... Read More
The Old Milk Truck
In the 1930’s, ‘40’s and ‘50’s the milk truck and its faithful driver were an important part of... Read More
The Hospital
They were beautiful. The old timey cherry trees on our farm were in full bloom. To me, a... Read More
Memories of Helton School
Everyone was excited about my first day of school except me. In the fall of 1945 I began... Read More
The 1940 Flood
AUGUST 1940. ASHE COUNTY, NC. – The ground was already soaked with water when another storm hit. A... Read More
Little Lula Belle
In 1916, when my Mom and Dad were married, her father gave her twenty acres of land. A... Read More