Madison, Eden, Reidsville, Yanceyville, Milton, Roxboro

The small-town life that flourishes in this part of the state made for interesting storytellers. Here in the Dan River basin, vestiges of the 19th- and 20th-century dependence on bright leaf tobacco and homestead farming are everywhere: countless tobacco barns built of hand-hewn logs with roofs of rusted tin; broad, undulating fields; crossroads stores where hoop cheese and soda crackers are still staples; ancient oaks with limbs astride white clapboard houses; and church yards with tumbledown tombstones. All of these elements made a great place for a writer to cultivate their talents.

Writers with a connection to this area: Sherwood Anderson, William Andrews, Daniel W. Barefoot, Jerry Bledsoe, Lisa Cantrell, P. T. Deutermann, R. S. Gwynn, Alex Haley, Larry Leon Hamlin, T. R. Pearson, Reynolds Price, Moses Roper, Dawn Shamp, David Spear, G. C. Waldrep and Manley Wade Wellman.

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