Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023 - 70

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" Always...Patsy
Cline " debuted
. . . in Texas!
Caesars Head
State Park
launched its
Hawk Watch.
Lee Smith
published the
novel " Fair and
Tender Ladies. "
in the late 1800s, the branch
line brought new ideas and conveniences
to the landlocked
hills. But carving a railway grade
through the Great Balsam Mountains,
a range with 6,000-foot
peaks and dramatic ravines, was
no easy task. Many incarcerated
workers-95 percent of whom
were Black-died while building
the railway.
Lee Smith publishes " Fair and
Tender Ladies. " Writer Lee Smith
grew up in Grundy, Virginia, a
coal-mining town situated on the
Levisa Fork River. As Smith reveals
in her memoir, " Dimestore, "
Grundy was a rugged, isolated
place where children were raised
to leave. Smith did just that, going
on to study English at Hollins College
and later teach in places like
Nashville, Tennessee, and Durham,
North Carolina. But Smith's
heart
never left Grundy. That
much is evidenced by her 1988
book, " Fair and Tender Ladies, "
winner of the Weatherford Award
from Berea College. Set in Virginia's
coal-mining country, the epistolary
novel chronicles the hardscrabble
existence of a mountain
woman named Ivy Rowe and her
long, winding path to liberation.
Caesars Head State Park takes
flight. Each September, something
strange happens at Caesars
Head State Park in South Carolina.
There, where the Blue Ridge
Mountains plunge to the rolling
foothills, thousands of migrating
hawks flock to updrafts generated
by wind currents. Naturalist
70 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Irvin Pitts first noticed this phenomenon
(which is known as kettling,
but looks like a scene from
Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror
film " The Birds " ) in the 1980s. A
self-described " wing nut, " Pitts
quickly organized a group of amateur
ornithologists to conduct an
annual bird count. In 1988, Caesar's
Head Hawk Watch program
reported its first official yearly
count to the Hawk Migration Association
of North America and to
Cornell University's Laboratory of
Ornithology.
Bluestone National Scenic
River established. Designated as
a Wild and Scenic River in 1988,
this 10.5-mile stretch of West Virginia's
Bluestone River affords unspoiled
beauty. But experiencing
that unspoiled beauty takes some
work. To access the river's edge,
you have three options: navigate a
treacherously narrow gravel road,
hop aboard an aerial tram or lace
up your hiking boots. No matter
your route of choice, you'll be rewarded
with emerald water, sandstone
cliffs and lush woodlands
teeming with wildlife.
The Dog Days leave Paintsville
panting. Kentucky summers can
be downright sweltering, but August
1988 was a particular scorcher
in Paintsville, where temperatures
hit an all-time high of 105
degrees. Locals tried their best to
escape the oppressive heat, cranking
their air conditioners up to
full blast. Those without AC had
to get inventive and seek refuge
in Paint Creek, glass bottles of Dr.
Pepper and bags of ice from the
corner market.
Lawrence " The Legend " Dye
begins his 192,400-mile ride. In
1988, Dye began cycling sections
of the in-progress Virginia Creeper
Trail. At the time, he was working
as a state auditor and needed
to burn off energy after eight
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Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country July/August 2023
