New Book - Just Released

Folks - I am happy to announce the release of my eighth book - Remembering Avery County: Old Tales from North Carolina’s Youngest County, published by the History Press of Charleston, South Carolina.

Remembering Avery County picks up where my Avery County pictorial history, released in 2005, left off. When one puts together a pictorial history, one is confined to a small amount of words for each photograph. So many of those people in those photographs have amazing stories and that is what this book does - tells stories. There are twenty-five essays in this book (along with forty plus photos) that tell the story of Avery County’s past, like biographical information on the county’s namesakes - Waightstill Avery and William C. Newland, Jr. You can find information on Howard C. Marmon, designer of the car that won the first Indy 500 and who lived in Pineola; Lulu Bell and Scotty, who were national radio personalities and helped preserve mountain music; Keith and Malinda Blalock, who ran an underground railroad through the area in the 1860s. There are also essays on mining, railroading, Grandfather Mountain, and the Land of Oz.

The book has also gotten its first good review. Check out what Scott Nicholson wrote in the Mountain Times at http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2007/0628/hardy.php3

I am taking orders - you can obtain a signed copy of Remembering North Carolina’s Confederates for just $22.00. Checks or money orders can be sent to PO Box 393, Crossnore, NC 28616. I will also be doing some local book signings in the very near future. I hope to see many of you at an upcoming event!