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Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 Roanoke Times News Article

Thank you to Michael Gangloff from the Roanoke Times for the interview Saturday while we were at the Salem Museum Book signing. His article about Ted and the Echoes From Catawba four Volume Series was in the Roanoke Times this morning. Books are available at the Salem Museum, The Emporium in New Castle or Echoesfromcatawba.com

Click below to read the article online:

Author on Catawba stories: People say ‘you’re making this up’

Ted Carroll

Any Reports Of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated!

By Ted Carroll

This was one of many quotes of a man named Will Rogers who was born in 1879 in what is now Oklahoma and died in an airplane crash in Alaska in 1935. He was a writer, actor, speaker as well as other endeavors but was well known for his many quotes. After an absence of several years from the public and family he offered up the above quote————which leads me to start this article to assure all my readers that I am alive and well. So, why the lengthy period of time without writing another book or news about Echoes From Catawba in general?

In 2021 the Covid pandemic had created havoc in America affecting everyone in schools, workplaces and homes. During that year I was engaged in writing the final book of Echoes From Catawba Volume four. I finished in late October and the book went to the printing company.

At that time, we were working with the fine folks at the Salem Museum who had graciously set up a major display in the main exhibit area to reflect life in the settling of Catawba Valley based on the four Echoes From Catawba books.  This exhibit was very popular. Garrett Channell, Director of Education, and Alex Burke, Museum Assistant Director upon request, they made a visit to Mason’s Cove Elementary School.  They spoke to students at each grade level about what it was like growing up in Catawba in the early 1900’s.  The program was so successful, they also made presentations to other Roanoke County schools.

In the meantime, I had right knee replacement just nineteen days prior to the hugely successful Volume 4 book launch on December 11, 2021.  Three months later on February 22, 2022, I had left knee replacement surgery which would require in-home and outpatient therapy lasting sixteen weeks.  In August I had a cancerous tumor removed and would be homebound for a few weeks.

October arrived with a colorful display of the majestic Great Smokey Mountains.  Tina and I went for a four-day visit to Gatlinburg. This trip was awe-inspiring and motivated me to restart the Echoes from Catawba effort.

Reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated!

Let’s get started with a BOOK REPORT

Back in the early years of our schooling, a standard assignment was to read a book and give a verbal report on it in class. I have definitely read the four book Collectors series and see fit to give an update on Echoes From Catawba.  Simply said, it was an effort to document the history of Catawba Valley, Virginia with a focus on its people, places and culture. These four books provide a collection of nonfiction articles appealing to folks who were born and raised in Catawba as well as folks who were unaware of the Appalachian lifestyle which impacted millions of people from Maine to Georgia. Rest assured, the culture in Catawba, Virginia (as well as throughout the Appalachian Mountains) will never be canceled nor forgotten due to this four-book series!

Changes to the marketing of this popular series

Over the past four years we have focused on the hardback version so buyers could have an attractive set of the four book Collectors Series. Only a certain number of these hardbacks have been printed, making the set of four a valuable collection. We only have a few hardback books left.  We will continue to offer softback books going forward.

Important: Here is the status of availability of hardbacks.

Echoes From Catawba Volume 2–Granny Taylor From Possum Holler Less than 20 copies left.

Echoes From Catawba Volume 1—Growing up in Catawba Valley  Less than 30 copies left.

Echoes From Catawba Volumes 3 and 4 Less than 80 copies left.

Remember: None of the four volumes will be reprinted in hardback form so all have increased value going forward!

We will be setting up for several meet and greets and book signings before Christmas.

Sat. Nov. 12 from 9-2 at the Holiday Craft Show at Botetourt High School

Sat. Nov. 19 from 10 – 2 at Salem Museum on Main St.

Sat. Dec. 3 from 9-2 at Catawba Holiday Market at the Catawba Community Center

We hope to see you there!

Books are also available at echoesfromcatawba.com, Amazon, Salem Museum Gift Shop on Main Street in Salem, and The Emporium in New Castle.

The Other Side of the Mountain: Life in the Catawba Valley Exhibit will run through Sat., April 9

The Salem Museum’s main exhibit, The Other Side of the Mountain: Life in the Catawba Valley will run through Sat., April 9. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the Salem Museum lately, now is a great time! The exhibit is based on my book series Echoes From Catawba. It explores everyday life beginning with the Virginia Indians who first settled in Catawba; the culture that developed in the largely agrarian community; the stunning scenery—Dragon’s Tooth and McAfee Knob; and the modern institutions that have formed there.
The exhibit has been very popular, not only has Garrett Channell, Director of Education, spoken to the Catawba Women’s Group but he and Alex Burke, Museum Assistant Director have taken the exhibit on the road. They were asked by Mason’s Cove Elementary to speak to the students about what it was like growing up in Catawba in the early 1900’s. They obliged by transporting part of the exhibit to the school and giving a presentation to each grade level. The program was so successful, that there are already requests from three more Roanoke County schools.
Be sure to visit the Museum soon, all four editions of Echoes From Catawba can be found in their gift shop. The Museum is open Tue.-Sat. 10-4.
Books are also available at echoesfromcatawba.com or amazon.

Echoes From Catawba Vol 4: The Other Side of the Mountain

Echoes From Catawba Vol 4

We are pleased to announce the release of Echoes From Catawba Volume 4.  The book launch will be held Saturday, December 11 at the Salem Museum located at 801 Main Street from 10 – 3.

Not only has the Salem Museum graciously agreed to host our book launch, but they have also created an amazing exhibit featuring The Other Side of the Mountain: Life in the Catawba Valley based on the Echoes From Catawba book series. The exhibit will continue through March 2022.  See the press release here and read all about it…

Volume 4 of Echoes From Catawba is the final book of the “Echoes” series portraying the people, places, and times of Catawba Valley. Volume four stays true to the format of the previous three. In this fourth book, there is a heartwarming story of a little girl spending her summers at Craig Healing Springs in what was a fairyland experience. The Great Wagon Road, how McAfee Knob got its name, and the first Boy Scout Troop are articles in Volume four. For the first time, Lower Catawba and its people will be featured. A profile of two of the 17 member Garman family will appear along with the second-largest family (Martins) to settle in Catawba. The back-story of the Homeplace Restaurant and the Wingate family promises to be of interest to many readers.

Echoes From Catawba Volume 4 will be available at the Salem Museum, The Emporium in New Castle, and echoesfromcatawba.com.

Copies of Volumes 1, 2, and 3 will also be available at the book signing.  There are a LIMITED NUMBER of Hardback books of Volumes one, two, and three.   Only sixty-five copies of Volume 1, thirty-two copies of Volume 2, and 110 copies of Volume 3.  Paperback copies will continue to be available through Amazon.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN

The Home Place, A tribute to the Wingate Family
The young reporter sent from the New York Times to cover the influx of Scotch-Irish settlers seemed perplexed at those people who looked strange, talked funny, and otherwise showed no semblance of manners or personality. Her mission was to characterize the people who were fast occupying land in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1800s, specifically, in a place called Catawba Valley, Virginia. The flustered reporter headed home without anything positive to say. She would tell her supervisor upon returning to the big city of New York, “there is no story there because they have no culture.” The NY Times would run a story portraying these immigrants as hillbillies, uneducated, shabbily dressed getting drunk on homemade spirits on Saturday night but going to church on Sunday. This description would label folks in Catawba and elsewhere in the Appalachians to this day.
I suppose when I was growing up in Catawba, folks in Salem, Roanoke, and any urban population were asking the question: “What is on the other side of the mountain?” Sadly, not that many people crossed over to find the answer. Those of us in Catawba were asking the same question from our mountain homes about the way of life in urban areas. I felt many years later that the impression of Catawba Valley as non-cultured people would go on forever.
The impression of Catawba was reversed in 1982 when The Homeplace Restaurant opened. It was in 1907 that Captain W. W. Brand sold the property to Jerry Morgan and his wife Mary. They built a home on the farm that was already steeped in history. The new home they built was called the Summit, and it would eventually become The Homeplace Restaurant seventy-five years later. The Homeplace was an icon for 38 years until it closed in May of 2021.
I had a close relationship with the Morgans, living nearby and working on the farm many times over a period of eleven years. I wrote about the farm and what it was before it became The Homeplace in a book called Echoes From Catawba Volume 1 released in 2019. However, this article is not about my book. It is a Tribute to the Harold Wingate Family.
The late Harold Wingate, his wife Millie, and his family took a leap of faith in making this restaurant possible in Catawba. There were some folks who thought this venture would not be a good one. Harold Wingate had few if any bad ideas. Featuring real country cooking by real country cooks would turn out to be a huge success. People came from near and far not only to eat but to experience that breathtaking view as they crested the mountain. And even more, as they stood outside of the Homeplace with a view of Catawba Creek and pasture fields carpeting the Valley floor. Once inside everyone experienced local servers bringing them delicious food and Catawba hospitality. The only thing missing was a NY Times reporter.
It is my opinion as a proud native that the Catawba Sanatorium put our Valley on the map, but the Harold Wingate Family made Catawba a Destination. Thank you, Wingate Family for introducing an amazing number of people to “The Other Side of the Mountain!”
Ted Carroll

Nonprofit Hobby Business Produces Great Wealth

It  was after we published our first book, “Echoes From Catawba Volume 1” in 2018 and while still residing in Greensboro, I experienced a situation that I chuckle about to this day. It was time for the pre-winter furnace check-up and  I had a favorite man from the service company that I always requested. He had been raised on a farm, liked gospel and country music, and he was a great technician that was sound in the mechanical sense and had common sense, in a day and time whereas common sense seems very uncommon. I always like to tip workers who made house calls for various purposes. So, I offered and he, unlike most others refused, saying he was paid a fair wage and a tip was not necessary.  I respected what he said but came up with an alternative. I went to my office and got a copy of Echoes Volume 1. I gave it to him as a gift and he graciously accepted. He thumbed through the book asking me if that was my life story. I said no but I would be writing a series of the book, one each year. He looked at me and said, “You are going to be a millionaire!”  The inside of me wanted to burst out laughing but I restrained myself while explaining that this would be a hobby and something I had been  planning for several years. I never forgot that moment.

In March of 2018 when wife Tina uttered those now famous words: “Just write about your Catawba growing up times.” She had heard many times those experiences, and I had said multiple times that I was going to write about life in my beloved Catawba.  I knew it would take time and money. I also knew that research showed that an individual writing a book could expect to sell at most 250 copies in that book’s lifetime. Most writers depend upon family and friends to buy their books. Furthermore, I was writing non-fiction books about history, real people, and cultures. To make big money one must get a publisher, write fiction, preferably about sex, murder, deceit, and somebody-did-somebody-wrong stories, and then your chances to make money are razor-thin. I enjoy reading certain fiction books but cannot write them. Note: My books about Appalachian life and times sound like fiction at times so maybe I get some cross-over readers.

Tina and I set our business up as “sole proprietors”, got a business license, own a website, own our trademark, pay appropriate taxes, etc. We knew we would have to provide our own money to fund this endeavor because we desired to keep the price of books reasonable. Which we have. The bottom line is that we own a “non-profit” business, right?

WRONG.

But Ted, you have painted a picture of a hobby business that cannot pay for itself, much less create an income stream and forget any idea of wealth????

I understand but there is an important thing yet to state: The rest of the story. Yes, we travel many miles, interview many people, spend hours writing, formatting, gathering pictures, proofreading, fact-checking, etc. Then we have to get the book out to the public and we speak to groups about our writings upon request.

So where is the wealth? Fair question. Keep reading.

The many people that contact us through different methods to comment positively on the book and share personally how our efforts link folks to loved ones living and deceased.

Doing interviews and video/audio taping allows us to share with folks we know and new people we meet. And there are many! To laugh and shed tears of joy while shutting out worldly noise.

For Tina and me to be enriched and uplifted in the presence and fellowship with God’s best.

To inform and educate folks who do not understand Catawba or Appalachian culture.

Preserving the treasures in these books will echo through the ages to future generations.

And recently hearing from Catawba folks in Lower Catawba rejoicing in hearing the stories about Upper Catawba people—-and vice/versa.

And so much more.

Folks, all the above, Tina and I count as riches that are flowing into our hearts as we pursue our writings. When we do interviews in your homes, we leave with a feeling of enrichment that can never be taken away or forgotten. The joy when we finish a book and receive the official “proof” is indescribable.

 

 

Remember the Furnace technician that I reference earlier who stated: “You are going to be a millionaire!”

HE WAS RIGHT——-thanks to all of you.

Tina, Marty Gochenhour, and Ted talking about Marty’s growing up years at Craig Healing Springs.
Ted visiting brothers Gordon and Arthur Crawford, gathering information about their grandmother Lillian Garman Crawford.
A trip to lower Catawba to interview Theresa and Alan Lee for Echoes Volume 4
Ted and Elva Sirry visiting about her grandmother Gertrude, the firstborn Garman child.

Everything Has It’s Time

I was tired, on that rainy October day of 2020 eight months into the pandemic laboring to finish up the Echoes From Catawba Volume three. Yes, I wanted to take advantage of being secluded in my home to write on Echoes three and possibly get started on Echoes four. I was in for a big surprise! My friends were saying, “I guess you are getting lots of writing done with being inside your home so much.” I understood the comment, but it was not accurate! With all that was going on and knowing not what to believe I found myself in an altered state of mind that stripped me of creative writing. I barely met the deadline to finish book three and get it to Tina for the publishing process.

The last article posed the question: Is this my last book? I knew with the state of America turning more worldly and less Godly, going into 2021 creativity could be side-tracked again. The obvious choice was to suspend my writing indefinitely and ask God to lead in the way I should go. I received blessed assurance from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes “To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven.” I had been there before to hear what King Solomon (alleged writer) had to say and found an answer in verse seven: A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Since speaking and writing are close kin, I felt this would be a good approach.

Having abandoned writing I began a season of rest, studying scripture and waiting on God. Things started to clear up like a veil of fog moving from a mountain revealing a new day and purpose. The clincher was when I received an email from Pat Carper in New Castle.  Having never met her, I did appreciate Pat reaching out with encouragement to be patient and the urge to write would return. Coming from an experienced writer her advice was well received. I made the decision to start on Echoes 4 this Spring and that is now about to happen as appointments for interviews and research are underway.

The obvious question is “what will be in volume four?” The starting point will be to write about what many folks (including me) call Lower Catawba, which extends into Botetourt County, but nonetheless is considered Catawba. After the Will and Louemma Garman family of 17 children there came an impactful family of Martins/Garman which had as its matriarch the firstborn of the Garman family, Gertrude Garman Damewood. It will be a story written along the lines of the Garman family in Echoes, volume one, my first book. For our Craig County neighbors, I will be doing a story on the Craig Healing Springs which features a girl who experienced this as a child growing up there. Two members of the Will and Louemma Garman family, John Garman and Lilian Garman will be featured.

Typically, we do 10-12 chapters and there will be several other stories about folks who have been on our list. We will reveal those in a later post on our website as we finalize interviews and research appointments.

Tina and I are excited about the continuation of writing and eventually, doing speaking engagements again. The response to our Catawba books has been great. Books can be purchased at our website: echoesfromcatawba.com,  The Emporium in New Castle which was recently re-stocked, The Salem Museum, and Amazon.com.

Latest from Echoes From Catawba

Check out what The Roanoker Magazine is saying about the release of Ted’s third book, “Echoes From Catawba: A Silent Killer Comes to Catawba and the Catawba Sanatorium is Born”. The March/April edition of The Roanoker will be available in stores soon. It is the premier Magazine for the Roanoke Valley. This award-winning bimonthly magazine is read by over 68,000 Roanoke Valley residents.
We are excited to share that Echoes From Catawba can now be found at Book No Further, an independent bookstore in downtown Roanoke. They have a wide variety of new and like-new books and feature books by local authors and books about the area. They are located at 112 Market Street, be sure to pay them a visit when you are downtown!
Thank you for being an Echoes From Catawba subscriber.

Christmas Greetings From Echoes From Catawba

God Gives us New Beginnings

A significant number of “Echoes” readers this past year have posed a similar question with regard to my book-writing focused on growing up in the Appalachian Mountains. “I guess being shut up at home in 2020 has allowed you to get a lot of writing done?, they said.” Certainly, a reasonable question with a surprising answer (at least to fans of the Echoes From Catawba series) who look forward to a book each year. My answer reflected on a year of difficulty with on-going drama of a Pandemic and Presidential Election occupying what was normally a creative mind. A thought to push Volume 3 into 2021 did pop up as an option. I had a notion to “hunker down” and get this year behind me, treating 2020 as a lost year. Was I wrong!

It came to pass as God reminded me, life is a journey filled with “new beginnings”, as tough times make for tough people. The Apostle Paul said it quite well as he faced adversity with an attitude of gratitude saying: “I take great joy in my sorrows!” Being humbled through challenges is a vey teachable experience as we welcome a new beginning to lead us forward. A New Year is always a great time to turn the pages of a year the likes of which we have never witnessed.

Tina and I wish you a Blessed, Merry Christmas rejoicing in the birth and life of Jesus; And follow Him into a New Beginning of this upcoming New Year.

 

Echoes From Catawba Volume 3: A Silent Killer Comes to Catawba and The Catawba Sanatorium Is Born

We hope to see you at the Volume 3 Book Launch at the Salem Museum on Sat. Nov. 21 from 10-2.  If you can’t make it to the book launch, books will be available at the Emporium in New Castle, the Salem Museum, and at our online shop.

Thank you for following Echoes From Catawba!

Ted & Tina