Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021 - 19

COUNTRY ROADS
30 Years Ago in Blue Ridge Country
" Not Black nor Indian nor Caucasian, the Melungeons
spoke an Elizabethan dialect with a mountain cadence.
Coveting the fertile bottom land, the pioneeers pushed the
Melungeon settlers high atop Newman's Ridge, running 25
miles from Hancock, Tennessee up into Virginia's Lee and
Scott counties, where they stayed largely to themselves for
several hundred years. "
-Joan Vannorsdall, in the opening to her ground-breaking piece,
" In Search of the Melungeons, " in the July/August '91 issue.
BOOK NOTE
Lisa Creech Bledsoe. 'Appalachian
Ground.' 2019. 114 pp.
came across Lisa Bledsoe's poetry collection
on a list of recommended Appalachian
reading.
I
In the Swing of Things in Kentucky
Clay County's collection of swinging bridges-some with ties to past
centuries-is well worth the tour.
C
lay County, Kentucky has much to love: beautiful vistas, rich history
and even its own petroglyph. In the spring, it's known as " the Redbud
Capital of the World. " But, year-round, it's also known as " The Land of
Swinging Bridges. "
Inexpensive to build and mostly immune to high water, swinging bridges
were among the earliest means of connecting river-divided communities in the
Appalachians. The Clay County bridges range in style from a " relic of times gone
by " to a unique arched design that soars over Goose Creek. There's also a bridge
located on the route travelled by Daniel Boone in 1769.
The swinging bridges of
Clay County, Kentucky
are relics of another
time, but unlike some
more modern crossings,
are largely immune to
high water.
Many of the bridges can be accessed by the
public. All of them are near either beautiful vistas
or historic attractions.
So if you are looking for a good excuse for a
beautiful drive, swing by the visitor's center in
Manchester or find driving directions here: claycountykentucky.org/swinging-bridges-and-barns.
-GINNY
NEIL
DANNY FINLEY
And I'm very glad I did. Her verbal
grounding in the mountains of North Carolina
is deep, true and beautiful.
And this is the perfect time to read
Bledsoe's celebratory poems, these summer
months. If you're not
already outside, this
book will remind you
to be outside-and,
well, to be.
Sometimes there are
hints of Emily Dickinson
in Bledsoe's lines,
sprinkled with dashes
and a touch breathless.
And a word picture like
" the mountains wreathed in leagues of silk "
is vintage visual Dickinson.
And sometimes you're reminded of the
late Mary Oliver, whose ability to blend the
mundane and the profound brought her
many readers.
But Bledsoe is a fine poet in her own
right. She's fond of addressing the reader-
You-and you can't not pay attention. In
" Song of the Spring Beauties, " she pays
homage to the early wildflower:
" Seven years
it takes for each bloom to rise
from seed to rousing chorale,
ripened beauty
I went warm-wrapped with bucket and trowel
but gazing out, became rooted:
an antiphon in celebration of this
slow mastery and small wild praise
You and I need them here-all of them!-
feeding the psalm of the world "
The last line in this collection is one to
carry with you, a gentle and reassuring gift:
" Take your time, this is a test. This is how
you will begin again. "
Promise-wherever you're sitting when
you read these poems, you'll be transported
to a better place...to begin again.
-JOAN VANNORSDALL
JULY/AUGUST 2021 19

Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021