Mountain Stirred Memories of Medicine

The Appalachian Mountains are at once awe-inspiring and serenely pastoral in their beauty. Viewed from a distance they appear a muted shade of deep blue that provides their description as the Blue Ridge Mountains. These mountains alone however, are not Appalachia. Appalachia is both region and culture molded by lives lived on its hillsides and beside its clear mountain rivers.

It was during one annual trip home to the place of her roots that the author experienced memories of family, childho...