Historical Appendix

The Tweetsie Railroad. All of the information about the East Tennesse and Western North Carolina Railroad (nicknamed the “Tweetsie”) given in Chapter 16 is accurate. The narrow- gauge railroad was chartered in 1866 by the TN General Assembly to connect Johnson City,...

The Spencer Company was formed sometime around 1927 and became famous for their Certified Corsetieres who would come to your home and do personalized fittings for ladies’ undergarments, as described in Chapter 13. I’ve taken poetic license with Fritzi’s “Individually...

The Panorama Extravaganza Vaudeville Troupe is a fictionalized version of what would have been known as a “small time” traveling show, most of which performed in tents. As vaudeville flourished from the early 1880’s until the early 1930’s, I’ve taken liberties with...

Mossie’s Stockyard Café is a fictionalized version of a typical stockyard café, loosely based on Betty’s Stockyard Café in Kingsport, TN. The information about stockyard cafes given in Chapter 11 is accurate; they’re well known for doing a lively business during...

The Gypsy Camp. When I lived in The High Country region of North Carolina, I frequently heard tales of gypsy bands who would come during the summers and camp out on the land of an agreeable farmer, as noted by my fictional historian Ross McKinney in Chapter 7. In 1935...

The Great Hurricane of Labor Day, 1935. I had already concocted the 1935 history-mystery with the need for a storm in the story of the disappearance of Fritzi Bright when, much to my amazement, I discovered there had actually been a hurricane on that very day. And...

Firestarter (’84), Dirty Dancing (’87), and The Last of the Mohicans (’92) were all at least partially filmed there, and The Esmeralda Inn once again hosted Hollywood stars who relished its history and charm. Little is left of the original Esmeralda Inn after it was...

The Esmerelda Artist Colony, nee The Esmerelda Inn is a composite of the many inns/boarding houses which inhabited The High Country during this time period. My fictional Esmerelda bears a slight resemblance to The Esmeralda Inn (note difference in spelling) which is...

The Elk River Falls is an actual waterfall on the Elk River, located in the Elk Falls Recreation Area of the Pisgah National Forest near Elk Park, NC. As described in Chapter 19, there’s a wide granite ledge at the top of the falls which makes it possible to walk...

Elk Station, North Carolina is loosely based on Elk Park, NC, a bustling Avery County mountain railway center prior to 1950, when the Tweetsie Railroad depot located in the town discontinued operations there. Situated near the Elk River on the border of North Carolina...

Join the adventure!The Bobby Pin was invented shortly after World War I by the cosmetics manufacturer Luis Marcus and became popular during the ensuing Flapper Era, when short “bob cut” or “bobbed hair” styles were all the rage. A similar hairpin was made by the...