Imagine a place in the 21st Century that has remained only moderately fazed by the passing of time. In the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, such a place actually exists! A Sense of Place: My Life and Times on Roaring Creek explores the author’s connectedness to a fairly remote Southern Appalachian Highlands community called Roaring Creek.
The people and customs of the Roaring Creek Valley have always, and are still considered by many as being unique, even among fellow Avery Countians. Vacillating between the sublime, the ordinary, and the downright ridiculous, this work both embraces and celebrates that uniqueness.
A Sense of Place: My Life and Times on Roaring Creek is a coming-of-age memoir. The book touches on such varied themes as history, family dynamics, geography, dialect, food, customs, demographics, and religion. Woven throughout the book is an obvious thread of contemplative, Christian spirituality.
Parts of the book will move the reader to tears, some parts out-loud laughter, but hopefully all parts will spur personal reflection. The book both begins and ends on a passionate note of personal reflections. Even those sections of the book that are written in heavier tones, always conclude on positive, inspirational, major keys.
A Sense of Place consists of seventeen chapters, with a total page count of 172. Six representative chapter titles are: No Home Like Place; Thicker Than Water; And That's the Way We Were; That Roaring Creek Brogue; Gravy is My Favorite Beverage; The Face of the Deep.
In his stories, reflective essays, and brief historical summaries, the author illustrates how cultural context exerts such a powerful, impelling influence on all. He offers head-on critiques of his perspectives and life experiences that gave shape to his own story.
It is the author’s intention for his audience to understand the uniqueness of life in the Southern Appalachian Highlands, and how that uniqueness came about in the first place. Sharing some important stretches of his journey, the author anticipates that the readers may gain a better understanding of their own journey.