Award-winning Southern author Sharyn McCrumb will discuss the award-winning novel, “King's Mountain” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Tusculum College. (Photograph by Randy Joyner)
Esteemed Southern author Sharyn McCrumb will discuss her novel “King’s Mountain” and the use of history and folklore in her work during a presentation Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Tusculum College.
The presentation will be at 7 p.m. in the Behan Arena Theatre in the lower level (side entrance) of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on the Tusculum campus. This is the fourth time that the popular author has been a part of Tusculum Arts Outreach’s annual Acts, Arts, Academia Performance and Lecture Series.
McCrumb will be discussing her novel, “King’s Mountain,” which received the Patricia Winn Award for Southern Fiction presented by the Clarksville Writers Conference and has been honored by the Edward Buncombe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Asheville, N.C. The novel chronicles the events surrounding the 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain during the American Revolution. While George Washington’s forces were struggling in the North, the victory for the Americans at King’s Mountain renewed optimism among the colonists for the cause. Thomas Jefferson described it as the turning point for the war.
“King’s Moutain” is told from the points of view of Patriot leader John Sevier and Tory camp follower Virginia Sal and brings to life the people and events in the southern front of the Revolution. Sevier was one of the Overmountain Men, unpaid volunteers who gathered to fight for the American cause west of Charlotte, N.C. The Overmountain Men were a who’s who of the colonial frontier. In addition to Sevier, they included Isaac Shelby, first governor of Kentucky; William Campbell, brother-in-law of Virginia governor Patrick Henry; John Crockett, father of frontiersman Davy Crockett; David Vance, grandfather of North Carolina’s Civil War governor Zebulon B. Vance, and Light-Horse Harry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee.
The Rev. Samuel Doak, who co-founded Tusculum College with his son, is also featured in the novel. Rev. Doak prayed for the troops as they mustered at Sycamore Shoals before crossing the mountains into North Carolina.
McCrumb will also discuss the use of history and folklore in her work. The author is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, which weave together the legends, natural wonders and contemporary issues of Appalachia. Her novels include New York Times best sellers, “She Walks These Hills” and “The Rosewood Casket” that deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness; “The Ballad of Frankie Silver,” the story of the first woman hanged for murder in North Carolina; “The Songcatcher,” a genealogy in music, and “Ghost Riders,” an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians. More recent novels are “The Devil Amongst the Lawyers” which examines the media stereotyping of rural areas, and “The Ballad of Tom Dooley,” that brings to light new evidence in the true story behind the famous mountain ballad.
McCrumb’s great-grandfathers were circuit preachers in the North Carolina Smoky Mountains a hundred years ago, riding horseback over the ridges to preach in a different community each week. It is from these men that McCrumb says she gets her regard for books, her gift of storytelling and public speaking and her love of the Appalachian Mountains.
Admission to the presentation is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors over the age of 60 and $5 for children 12 years of age and under. Tickets may be reserved or purchased at the door, beginning at 6 p.m. the evening of the event. For more information about the program or to reserve tickets, call Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620 or email jhollowell@tusculum.edu.