Our Southern Highlanders

"Author, who has lived for several years in the southern Appalachian region, writes entertainingly and sympathetically with many anecdotes and conversations, of the characteristics of the mountaineer inhabitants - their dialect, feuds, moonshining, etc., as well as his own experiences in camping and hunting." -New York State Library Annual Report

"A very valuable addition to our literature of the southern mountaineers. It has a broader outlook than is true of much that has been written by missionaries about that corner of the world. The writer, too, is a philosopher and is corrected grounded in the historical antecedents which go so far to explain the condition in the 'Lane of Do Without,' as he dubs the region described. The introductory four chapters describe the country occupied by these highlanders....Then follow four enlightening chapters on the general subject, stills and revenue officers, in which Mr. Kephart shows that a study of the history of the excise tax proves that the production of illicit whisky has varied through the years as the tax on the article has been raised or lowered. He repeats the ominous statement that the sweep of the prohibition movement over the South has already resulted in an enormous increase in illicit production. The relationship of the Old World struggles against excise officers on the part of the ancestors of the present highlanders has not been brought out so forcefully by any other writer....Valuable chapters on dialects and their origins, the feuds of the mountaineers, and the future of this long-belated, quarter-civilized, royal-hearted people, conclude a book, which...will be a genuine inspiration to every reader whether he be a specialist or layman." -The Mississippi Valley Historical Review

"A faithful and readable account of a highly interesting people. For a century and more these mountaineers have needed a pen which should tell their story plainly....Mr.Kephart's book is virtually a journal of his several years' stay in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The highlanders - a name unknown to them - are a people of a century ago, both in manners and customs. But it must also be remembered that they are perhaps the most self-reliant of any group of people in this country, are hardy, and have many virtues. Their 'blood-guiltiness' and their violence with rifle or pistol have been overdone in the popular mind. In reality, they are an easy people to get along with, if one does not offend their dignity and self-respect: and a traveler stopping with them is absolutely safe. They are hospitable, and, if the questioner is honest in his inquiry, they are frank. Mr. Kephart brings out all these points, and makes clear, as well, the entertaining quaintness of their talk and life. The reviewer knows of no better story-tellers in the world than these mountaineers, especially when recounting a hunt, like the account given by Mr. Kephart. The larger part of the book is devoted to the anecdotal description." -The Nation

CONTENTS

I. “Something Hidden; Go and Find It”

II. “The Back of Beyond”

III. The Great Smoky Mountains

IV. A Bear Hunt in the Smokies

V. Moonshine Land

VI. Ways That Are Dark

VII. A Leaf from the Past

VIII. “Blockaders” and “The Revenue”

IX. The Outlander and the Native

X. The People of the Hills

XI. The Land of Do Without

XII. Home Folks and Neighbor People

XIII. The Mountain Dialect

XIV. The Law of the Wilderness

XV. The Blood-Feud

XVI. Who Are the Mountaineers?

XVII. “When the Sleeper Wakes”