I first read “Fahrenheit 451” around 1953 when we were dealing with the McCarthy era. This country was in the grips of a politician who preached a dangerous message. He said that America was being invaded by communism and he urged everyone to assist him in seeking out and removing anyone who had joined this dangerous movement.

By 1818, despite a growing number of settlers in the region west of the Balsams and along the Little Tennessee River, much of the land continued to be identified as “Cherokee land.”  

Back in the late 1880s, two remarkable men, Wilbur Zeigler and Ben Grosscup, visited Western North Carolina for the express purpose of developing a comprehensive profile of the region’s resources. 

Back in the 1980s, when I was telling stories in the Cope Crest Conference Center in Tiger, Georgia, I heard about Eliott Wigginton, who was teaching English in the Rayburn County school system.

I remember a day in March when I was in the seventh grade. We were on the second floor of the old Sylva Elementary building, and we had a kind of ritual that involved the pencil sharpener.