Germanton, Danbury, Pilot Mountain, Mount Airy, Dobson, Rockford, Elkin

Climb Pilot Mountain, explore the Yadkin River, sample N.C. wines and find a scenic spot to read about the valley’s colorful history through writers past and present.

Writers with a connection to this area: Frances Casstevens, Martin Clark, Bill Griffin, Harold Hayes, Maria Ingram-Braucht, Jack London, Helen Losse, Stephen Knauth, Joseph Mills, Michael Renegar, Mark Slouka, Trudy J. Smith, Hardin E.Taliaferro, Mark Twain, Amy Wallace, Irving Wallace and Lynn York.

This tour features a somewhat odd assortment of storied sites that have led to a number of works of popular fiction and prizewinning nonfiction. Writers in this region have been inspired by colorful characters from the countryside and by a wealth of ghost tales and freakish incidents of murder. The tales range from a surreptitious visit to the area by the likes of notorious bank robber John Dillinger to the curious story of “the original Siamese twins,” Chang and Eng in Mount Airy.

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