Appalachian Heritage

(photo by Amber Speight)

Most of my ancestors lived in the Appalachian Mountains. The majority came from Watauga County, North Carolina, but a few had pushed west into the Trade, Tennesee area.

Some of my branch of the Cole family lived in Meat Camp in northern Watauga County, and my father was born there in 1919. Late in the Depression, my grandfather had saved up enough money from his saw mill business to buy over 500 acres in eastern Wilkes County, when the bottom fell out of land prices. His sons moved also, including my father.

(My mother's parents, Chilo and Martha Hamby Greene)

My mother came from the Stony Fork section of eastern Watauga County. Her mother had died when my mom was eleven, and Mother worked keeping house for anyone who would have her. Some of her situations were good, and some weren't. As a teenager I learned that I was born         

on the same day as this grandmother I had never seen.  

My parents met and were married during World War II, when Dad was on leave. He served in the Pacific. 

I have some great memories of visiting or staying with relatives in the mountains. I grew up listening to family stories, especially from my mother and Grandma Cole. This may be where I caught my love of history and folk studies. 

Although my immediate family had moved to what we called "the foothills" by the time I was born, in many ways we still kept much of the culture and speech patterns of the mountains. I certainly drew from this background when I wrote Cleared for Planting and the other books in the Appalachian Roots Series.