​SOME APPALACHIAN FACTS
By Carol Guthrie Heilman
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Did you know?
 The name Appalachia originates from the Native American tribe called the Apalachee, who inhabited northwestern Florida in the 16th century. Spanish explorers and mapmakers transcribed their name as "Appalache" and later applied it to the mountain region north of Florida. 
The term "Appalachia" eventually came to refer to the Appalachian Mountains and the surrounding region, extending from southern Canada to northern Alabama. 
 You have probably heard of: THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL
My husband and I have walked up a grassy bald, Max Patch, which is included as a part of this North Carolina trail. The view from the top is worth the climb. After catching our breath, and resting a bit, we walked back down before strolling into Hot Springs for lunch and a cool drink. This small town is the only one bosting of the Appalachian Trail continuing down its Main Street. It’s a popular stopping place for serious hikers or people like us who can say our feet have touched the famous Trail.
When I was much younger, I considered hiking a good-sized portion. It stretches from Georgia to Maine, through fourteen states. To hike the entire trail takes from 5-7 months. One elderly woman accomplished what many of us only dream about.
Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. You will be amazed by her remarkable journey.
You can purchase this book on Amazon. I highly recommend it.



Thank you to everyone who has preordered Becoming Hattie Mae.
Here’s the link if you should need it:  www.blackrosewriting.com/books 
Until next time. . .
Carol

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Welcome to my blog.

Can you imagine your life without books?

​In Germany, Hitler ordered mounds of books burned. Many classic pieces of literature became nothing but smoke and ash.
In our own country, some books have been banned—including Gone With The Wind, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Charlotte’s Web.  

Events to destroy books make me sad.

When Hattie’s Pa flung her only book into the woods, Hattie was more than sad. She was devastated. What can she do? Not only does she have no books to call her own, her Pa has denied her any further education. Hattie’s world collapses. Her perilous journey to independence begins.

​Set in the hollers of Appalachia in 1929, it’s a coming-of-age story.  

I’m excited to explore Appalachia together. We will take a look at the region and the culture of the people who live or have lived there. Even though I grew up in the coal mining camps of Eastern Kentucky, and my daddy was a coal miner, I continue to learn things I never knew before I began research for my book, Becoming Hattie Mae.
 
Until next time . . . when I will share with you why I wrote
Becoming Hattie Mae, as well as a bit of interesting folklore.