For four decades, John Parris (1914-1999) wrote about the old ways of life in the mountains of western North Carolina. After Parris’ columns appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times, many of the columns appeared again in five books. Roaming the Mountains with John Parris (copyright 1955, Citizen-Times Publishing, 246 pp.) was the first of these books.
I have never lived in western North Carolina. But both sides of my family live there and I’ve visited almost every summer of my life. So, western N.C. feels like home. My mother has all five of Parris’ books and she let me borrow Roaming the Mountains. So far, I’m enjoying it.
Parris wrote the material that appears in Roaming the Mountains approximately 70 years ago. But even then he was writing about “the old days.” The columns heavily focus on the vanished ways of life from the late-1800s and early-1900s. Certainly, it’s given me a new appreciation of my ancestors, who lived “…in a land of do it yourself or do without” (p. 1).
Though I consider myself to be reasonably knowledgeable about the Blue Ridge, I’m getting a real geography lesson from Parris. He mentions tiny communities (e.g., Green Creek Cove and Cartoogechaye) that don’t appear on any maps. The isolation faced by residents in times past, made life a real challenge.
While I’m enjoying this one, it’s not a home run. My main interest is learning about western N.C.’s people. Parris delves a bit too heavily into writing about the natural environment. Also, his nostalgic tone is inevitably wistful; he pines for the old times and places. One typical passage reads “Now and then the old man returns to the hills of youth and when he does, his memory walks familiar paths and gives voices to times past” (p. 15).
Parris’ deep knowledge of and love for the mountains is apparent on every page. In the Preface, he asserts that “This book grew out of a thousand nights around the hearth fire and a thousand days among a people whose heritage is as old as the hills.” In a world that seems in a hurry to forget its past, Parris reminds us of all of what we have left behind.
So far, I gave Roaming the Mountains with John Parris a 7 out of 10.
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