MAP
The literature of the northern mountains and foothills of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge includes the voices of longtime residents and observant newcomers. Between them, the tensions of insider and outsider are writ large. The outsider’s perspective is, however, a significant part of the literature here, along with the authentic local voices of Bandana poet Hilda Downer, Rutherford County novelist Tony Earley, and North Carolina’s one-time poet laureate, James Larkin Pearson, of Moravian Falls, among many others. The cadence and twang of mountain speech in their writing is as musical as the tunes played here for generations on fiddle and banjo.
This region of North Carolina is also a place where tall tales of the mysterious and grotesque are still manufactured in abundance, just as moonshine once was. From the storytelling tradition among the Hicks family of Beech Mountain to contemporary mystery writers Sharyn McCrumb (whose family comes from Mitchell County), Rutherford County’s Kay Hooper, Polk County transplant and cat fanatic Lillian Braun, and Boone novelist Scott Nicholson, these authors have produced dozens of cliff hangers (and high sales figures) that have brought national attention to the region.
Tours:
11 Burnsville, Micaville, Celo, Mount Mitchell
12 Old Fort, Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Tryon
13 Rutherfordton, Spindale, Forest City, Shelby
14 Lincolnton, Hickory, Moravian Falls
15 Wilkesboro, Happy Valley, Blowing Rock, Linville Falls, Morganton
16 Marion, Little Switzerland, Spruce Pine, Penland, Bandana, Kona,
Bakersville, Roan Mountain, Banner Elk
17 Grandfather Mountain, Crossnore, Valle Crucis, Vilas, Boone
18 Todd, West Jefferson, Jefferson, Crumpler, Sparta, Roaring Gap
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