I've been meaning to read this book for ages... It's supposed to be the quintessential study of the southern Appalachian people and places in the late 1800s / early 1900s. It was written by Horace Kephart who lived in the Smokies in the early 1900s and wrote about its people and places.
I'm only about a hundred pages in so far, but thus far I've been amazed. I expected a relatively dry narrative in history text-book format, but what I got was... beautiful! I was reading last night and this quote hit me:
"The foreground of such a landscape, in summer, is warm, soft, dreamy, caressing, habitable; beyond it are gentle and luring solitudes; the remote ranges are inexpressibly lonesome, isolated and mysterious; but everywhere the green forest mantle bespeaks a vital present; nowhere does cold, bare granite stand as the sepulchre of an immemorial past."
I'm looking forward to reading more, and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Smokies. The copy I'm reading now is one I borrowed from the library, but I fully intend to buy myself a copy. If you're interested you can get it here.
Happy Hiking!
ps - I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged about a hike, but it's been busy and rainy around here. hopefully I'll have a chance to get out and about again soon.
