Historic Tales of Sylva and Jackson County

by Jim Buchanan

Overview

Before the coming of the four-lane, Jackson County was an insular community defined by geography-wedged in between the Great Smokies and Blue Ridge escarpment, bisected by thousands of miles of streams. The people who settled the area tended to be tough as pine knots but also tended to be salt-of-the-earth. This book offers tales of a time of transition in the area, when arguments over whether someone should opt to have an electric wire run to their home weren't far separated from quibbling over Internet service providers. Inside are tales from logging camps, fields, gardens and lonesome game trails and stories of challenges faced with the unique sense of mountain humor. Local columnist Jim Buchanan tells tales of bear hunts, cool springs and creatures great and small.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467145756
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/20/2020
Series:	American Chronicles
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Jim Buchanan is a Jackson County native with roots going back to long before it was a county at all. He's a Western Carolina University graduate and former editorial page editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times. Currently special projects editor for the Sylva Herald, he is a board member of the Western North Carolina Historical Association. He has multiple North Carolina Press Association Awards for editorial and column writing over a newspaper career spanning nearly four decades.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

1 A-Hunting We Will Go

Catch-22: Leave the Truck or Stay 17

The Plott Thickens 19

Slackness Vs. Stubbornness: A Breakin' Avoided 21

Once, Bullets Weren't Things to Waste 23

The Tracking Gift Was Something to Behold 25

The Tale of the Interstate Sandwich 28

2 A Walk Among the Flora and Fauna-But Mostly Snakes

The Dirt on Modern Lawns 31

The Fiercest Beast in the Mountains 33

A Bovine with Death on His Mind 34

A Bit of Horse Sense on the Economy 37

Nothing Divine About This Vine 39

Fresh Fish, Straight from the Box 41

The Dark Saga of the Republican Beans 43

Turtles, and History, on the Move 44

This Particular Possum Wasn't Playing 46

The Fine Art of Mountain Angling 47

Snakes Don't Take Off for Labor Day 49

Close Encounters of the Furred Kind 51

More Snakes Come Out of the Woodwork 53

3 Mountain Character, Mountain Characters

Technology Unwinds Some Old Traditions of Watch Pockets and Pocket Watches 57

Granny Was Up to Snuff When It Game to Bee Stings 58

Humor Gene Came from Some Special Ladies 60

Hillbilly Upbringing Has Its Pitfalls: An Inadvertent Lesson in Sensitivity Training 62

At One Logging Camp, a Near-Fatal Dose of Gravy 64

Explosive Tales and a One-of-a-Kind Hobby 68

Learning to Drive Involved Moments of Sheer Terror 70

Itching for a Visit from an Old Nemesis 71

A Time When Phones Were a Party 74

Patching Together a Look at Some Fashion No-Nos 75

When Disaster Strikes, Sometimes It's Best to Not Pick Up the Phone 77

Maybe It's Time to Bring Graft Back 78

Love of Sports Veered into Dangerous Territory 81

Signs of the (Forgotten) Times 83

A Cool Mountain Spot When the Heat Is On 85

Sharp Edges and Dull Minds 87

Maybe We Should Tackle Litter Differently: Sometimes the Better Angels of Our Nature Just Don't Show Up 89

A Winner in the "Sweep" Stakes 92

4 Moving Through the Year

Rewards of Rail-Splitting Were Elusive 95

Going Batty Over a Burst of Wild Onions 97

Plowing Time: From Tractor to Tiller to Mule 99

The Little Egg That Could…Lead to a Car Crash 101

Ramping Up for Easter; Ham and a Mountain Necessity 102

Putting Up Time Comes Again to the Mountains 103

Some Fundamental Shifts in the Culture: Who Knew Lightnin' Bugs Would Become an Economic Driver? 106

There's Something in the Air, so Beware 107

I Couldn't Stand the Heat, so I Did in Fact Get

I Out of the Kitchen 109

The Garden Ends, Mayhem Begins 111

The Season of Omens and Portents 112

It Slices, It Dices-No Wait, It Just Empties Your Bank Account 114

Yes, It's Cold, but It Still Beats the Heat 115

Tales of Turkey Terror 117

Coping (or Not) with the Snows of Old 119

Orange Memories with a Side of Rice 120

Cloak and Dagger Time Arrived with Christmas 122

The Powerful Pull of Mountain Home 124

About the Author 127