Salem Museum Speaker Series: Echoes from Catawba – January 20, 2020

In early 2018, Catawba native Ted Carroll began to write a series of non-fiction books about life in Catawba in the first half of the 1900s. On Monday, January 20 at 7 pm at the Salem Museum, Carroll will speak about the cultural heritage and history of this beautiful Appalachian community. In case of inclement weather, his talk will be postponed until January 27. Admission is free.

In 2018, Carroll published “Echoes From Catawba, Volume One:” Growing up in Catawba Valley Appalachia. This first book in the series is a compilation of a dozen stories featuring families and individuals, Keffer’s General Store, Morgan Farm/Homeplace Restaurant, and the history of Catawba’s one-room schools and the Catawba School (1928-1981).

“Echoes From Catawba, Volume Two: Granny Taylor of Possum Holler” is a biography of Winnie Earl Taylor. This extraordinary woman, Carroll’s aunt, chose to live a primitive lifestyle for 103 of her nearly 109 years. “Volume Three” is underway with a target release of November 2020.

Ted Carroll was born in Catawba, Virginia to a mother who was the seventeenth and last child of William and Luemma Garman who settled there in 1889. Carroll was milking a cow at a young age and worked on the Morgan farm through high school and college. He worked for 25 years as a member of the Virginia Tech Extension faculty and served four terms as the Mayor of the Town of Orange, Virginia. Answering a call to the Ministry, Carroll studied at the Southeastern Baptist Seminary Extension in North Carolina, became an ordained minister and pastored a church in North Carolina for 14 years. Carroll is a graduate of Andrew Lewis High School and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Virginia Tech.