Collection of essays originally published in the Asheville citizen-times.

In the good old days -- Molasses pulling -- The Whiskey Rebellion -- The Morris hearth-fire -- The gander-pulling -- The typical hill man in a myth -- Mountain idiom fading -- Persimmons, possums and politics -- Hot biscuits and sourwood honey -- The valley of independence -- Beau Sabreur of the frontier -- Tall tales about old ways -- Nathan Dempsey, fightin' man -- The first tourists -- Memories of Bone Valley -- The Brown Mountain lights -- An untamed jungle -- The gingerbread man -- The Madonna of the hills -- The French Broad is a gypsy -- The Drovers' road -- The axeman came first -- The whipping post and the branding iron -- Old Bill Williams, King of the Mountain Men -- The blockader's roost -- Majestic Old Man dominated regions -- Horn lured Dan'l Boone -- The eternal flame of friendship -- A story for Mother's Day -- A man with tales to tell -- The vanishing gristmill -- Other springs in other years -- The Ballad of Kidder Cole -- Frankie Silvers -- Post office is link to past -- The Apostle of Grandfather Mountain -- The first gold dollars -- Sir Alexander's swindle -- Readin', ritin, rithmetic -- There's nothing like cherry bounce -- Tom Wolfe's month -- The spool-thread banjo -- Minstrel of the Appalachians -- The old-time drummer -- An old-timer -- The corn shuckin' -- King of the sorghum makers -- Quiltin' woman -- The pioneer iron-makers -- Road of shattered illusions -- The fiddlin' ballad woman -- Bear-huntin' men know the feeling -- Origin of mountain county names -- Prophet of the long trail -- In Calvary churchyard -- Tinkle of bell team fades -- The legend of Tom Collins -- The sisters of loneliness -- The beef shoot -- The ballad of Tom Collins -- Chestnuts: only memories stand -- Yugwilu, the magic bait -- Frog hunting -- Old-timy recipes -- The fairy crosses -- Ghosts of yesterday -- Yellow-jacket soup -- Hog-killin' time -- Before Sutter's Mill -- The mountain dulcimer -- A Christmas long ago.