Tag Archives: Moonshining

Payne Erskine. A Girl of the Blue Ridge. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1915.

Lurry Bab’s future is bleak, almost Dickensian. When Lurry’s mother dies from her husband’s violence and neglect, Lurry takes her infant brother and runs away from home. Daniel McEwen, an old hermit who rescues Lurry, had a history with Lurry’s … Continue reading

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1915, Coast, Erskine, Payne, Mountains, Novels to Read Online

Waldron Baily. June Gold. New York: W. J. Watt & Co., 1922.

It’s rare to find a novel about the illegal liquor trade in North Carolina that isn’t set in the mountains. This is that rare novel. It’s a prohibition era romance set around Bogue Banks. When one of their friends is … Continue reading

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Filed under 1920-1929, 1922, Baily, Waldron, Carteret, Coast, Novels to Read Online, Onslow, Romance/Relationship

Susan Whitfield. Just North of Luck. West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity Publishing, 2007.

In Just North of Luck, the second book in the Logan Hunter mystery series, new SBI agent Logan trades the beach for the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her first assignment is to expose a moonshine ring in fictional Moss County, but … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Madison, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Whitfield, Susan

J. G. Clinkscales. How Zach Came to College. Spartanburg, SC: W. F. Barnes, 1903.

Zach Whetsone, a lad from Rutherford County, happens to be selling his produce in Spartanburg, South Carolina one spring day when the commencement exercises at Wofford College are taking place. Zach is inspired by the event and later returns to … Continue reading

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Filed under 1900-1909, 1903, Clinkscales, J. G., Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Rutherford

Ethel and James Dorrance. Flames of the Blue Ridge. New York: Macaulay Co., 1919.

Calvin Parker is a New York artist who likes his drink–too much. A friend, Spencer Pope, tries to save Parker by sending him to dry out in the North Carolina mountains. It’s a little unbelievable that Pope, an internal revenue … Continue reading

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1919, Dorrance, Ethel and James, Mountains, Novels to Read Online

David Smith Hubbell. Flat Rock Harvest. Chapel Hill, NC: Chapel Hill Press, 2006.

For Doug, a medical student from Durham, finding a summer job during the depression years is a difficult task. He travels west and eventually finds a position at a pharmacy in Hendersonville, where he pours sodas and sells tonics. As … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2006, Henderson, Historical, Hubbell, David Smith, Mountains

Herbert Carter. The Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge, or, Marooned among the Moonshiners. New York: A.L. Burt Co., 1913.

Eight Boy Scouts from the North spend the summer hiking and camping in the North Carolina mountains. They encounter moonshiners, rescue two captives, and reform the area’s most notorious bootlegger. During the course of the book, a good bit of … Continue reading

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1913, Carter, Herbert, Mountains, Novels to Read Online

Clarence Monroe Wallin. Gena of the Appalachians. New York: Cochrane Publishing, 1910.

Gena Filson’s life is hard after her parents die and her brothers move west. She becomes the hired girl in the household of Jase Dillenburger were she works from sunup to sundown. When old Jase is arrested for moonshining, Gena’s … Continue reading

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Filed under 1910, 1910-1919, Children & Young Adults, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Wallin, Clarence Monroe

Waldron Baily. Heart of the Blue Ridge. New York: W. J. Watt & Co., 1915.

Making moonshine is part of the mountain culture in this novel set in Wilkes County. Zeke Higgins made the mistake of helping a revenue agent, earning the wrath of many people, including Dick Siddon, the guardian of Zeke’s sweetheart, Plutina. … Continue reading

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1915, Baily, Waldron, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Wilkes

Charles Price. The Cock’s Spur. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2002.

In the mountains of western North Carolina in the 1880s, moonshining and cockfighting are a regular part of the rough-and-tumble life. Webb Darling, the self-proclaimed king of the moonshiners, rules the region from his hilltop cabin. In contrast to the … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Coast, Historical, Mountains, Piedmont, Price, Charles