Blue Ridge Parkway Overlook at Groundhog Mountain, Meadows of Dan, VA
August 2025: Vol 2, #8
This month at Blue Ridge Tales, we’re drawn to the quieter threads of Appalachian life—stories that don’t shout, but stay with you. A master luthier who still favors a pocketknife. A fruit that once fed homesteads but barely shows up in stores. A faith community choosing simplicity over speed. And a long-whispered tale of silver and secrecy along Chestnut Creek.
These aren’t just curiosities. They’re reminders of what endures when no one’s looking.
Before there was a workshop, there was a pocketknife. And before there was a years-long waitlist, there was a teenage boy on a porch in Grayson County, Virginia, scraping curls of wood off a slab of spruce. Wayne Henderson didn’t have a band saw or a luthier’s bench, just a pocket knife and good instincts. That turned out to be …
It’s native. It’s sweet. It grows along half the rivers in Appalachia. And still, most folks in pawpaw country have never tasted one. Maybe you’ve passed it a hundred times: growing low along a creek, hidden beneath the canopy. Or maybe you’ve caught a whiff in late September: something tropical and overripe, like banana pudding left in the sun. That …
The banks of Chestnut Creek have a way of rearranging themselves when no one's looking. One year, the bed is gravel. Next, it's mud and willow roots. Paths vanish. Stones shift. Try to mark a spot on the map, and nature will soon erase it. Maybe that's why no one else ever found the Chestnut Creek silver mine. But the …
You might not recognize the Mennonite family that lives a few blocks over. The clothes are modest, sure, but not old-fashioned. The car's parked in the driveway. The kids play outside after supper. Like other Mennonites in Appalachia, their lifestyle isn’t what sets them apart. Lifestyle is simply a reflection of their convictions. They've been part of this region for …
Well, that's it for this edition. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like me to cover a particular topic, drop me a line at the address below. And don't forget to "like" our Facebook page.
