Dave Tabler, Author at Appalachian History

man with 2 rabbits and squirrel hung on a post, 1946

December 22, 2020 Christmas traditions / Tennessee

Christmas Time on Newman’s Ridge

He cut two of the frozen rabbits down and handed them to one of the Maxey boys. One of the boys said “Oh Lordy, we’ll live good now!”

Christmas Heartbreak

He immediately noticed, at the bottom of his stocking, a tell-tale bulge in the shape of a pocket knife. It was a pocket knife…of sorts.

December 18, 2020 Christmas traditions / North Carolina / Storytelling

Mountain Christmas

All of us was thinking Santy was dead. I kept picturing him in my mind all frozen somewhere on the mountain. Mama said how sorry she was.

December 17, 2020 Christmas traditions / West Virginia

Extended Family

Mom passes me an ornament with a family of black bears on it. I spin it around to find the words Gatlinburg, TN painted along its base. “From our vacation?”

December 16, 2020 Ginseng / North Carolina / Wild foraging

A novel to set the record straight on ginseng

For three centuries, ginseng held an important but understated role in our export economy with Asia, gathered wild, shipped by the ‘tun.’

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