Here is a touching rendition of old time memories of a family of 10, including mom and dad, who moved to Ellijay, NC by sled, where the children walked, helping to carry all their belongings to a small 2-room house with no windows or door. Told by a 90-year-old true mountain woman, Bessie Gertrude Coggins Stiwinter Crawford.

Bessie Crawford

Stories of Mountain Folk explore the nature and significance of oral history and storytelling to advance the understanding of the cultures of Western North Carolina. Featuring interviews, memories, discussions and stories from Caucasian, African-American, and Cherokee people living in the Great Smoky Mountains, the Interviewers actually go into the homes of the people to assure them a “safe” place to tell their stories. With a goal to save the heritage of the area and preserve its “sense of place,” Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, a nonprofit organization, is now in its eighth year of producing the contents of this podcast. Awarded the Mountain Heritage Award (2013) through Western Carolina University, the program has now produced the largest oral history collection in Western North Carolina.

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Bessie Crawford

Bessie Crawford