Traveling Companions: Trail Books
A Faithful Companion: If you need a tour guide as you drive the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, don’t forget your North Carolina Arts Council guidebooks. Three books offer something for everyone.
Book lovers may want to start with “Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains” edited by Georgann Eubanks. (University of North Carolina Press, $35 for hardcover, and $18.95 paperback)
The book directs curious travelers to the sites where more than 170 Tar Heel authors past and present have made their home including Carl Sandburg, Thomas Wolfe, and Charles Frazier. The book is organized geographically through a series of eighteen half-day and day-long tours in the western part of the state.
For those who love the sound of traditional music, you will need a copy of the “Blue Ridge Music Trails” by Fred C. Fussell. (University of North Carolina Press, $16.95)
This traveler’s guide lists 160 events and venues featuring old-time and bluegrass music and dance throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. All of the places described are within 25 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The book includes interviews and profiles of performers, descriptions of different performance styles, and a brief history of Blue Ridge music. Organized by county, it includes driving directions, maps, and a calendar of annual events related to traditional music and dance.
And for those who long to know more about the history and culture, the “Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook” is a must-have. (University of North Carolina Press, $16.95)
Authors Barbara R. Duncan and Brett H. Riggs tell a story more fascinating than any fiction of the largest Native American population east of the Mississippi. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is celebrated in the Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook, an essential guide to the stories, ceremonies, dances and customs practiced throughout the Cherokee homeland in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and north Georgia. Maps, directions and beautiful color photographs contained in this 384-page traveler’s guide tell only part of the story. It’s the land, the Cherokee voices, and the people themselves who give you unforgettable insights into Cherokee ways of seeing the world.
Companion Web sites for all three books are available at www.ncarts.org.
This release is provided courtesy of the North Carolina Arts Council.
Contact
Bridgette Lacy
919-807-6520
bridgette.lacy@ncdcr.gov
