We’re pleased to present the 14th edition of THE HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS, Blue Ridge Country’s bimonthly digital issue. This edition collects stories about the Unique Characters of the Mountains.
These stories, chosen from the BRC archive that now goes back 34 years, recall some of the most memorable and most-sought-out pieces in the magazine’s history:
• Ray Hicks, Storyteller Supreme. Hicks (1922-2003) lived in a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, and said his tall tales “just come natural.” The 6’7” Hicks had a presence as early as the 1960s, when he organized a telling at an elementary school. He went on to become the star and best-known name at the Jonesborough Storytelling Festival, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this fall.
• Ray Russell, Weatherman. Well, the North Carolina man has also been a computer science professor at Appalachian State (Dr. Ray) and a man who lost 68 pounds by taking up marathons (Runner Ray), but he is best known for his Ray’s Weather Station, a detailed online guide to weather all over the Southern Appalachians.
• Hugh Rakes, Con man. Hugh Namon Rakes (1899-1995) was 95 when he talked to the magazine about his shady past involving moonshine, forged bank notes, jury payoffs and his time in the penitentiary. His rakish, abrupt behaviors were still alive and functioning when writer Joan Vannorsdall was commanded to get in his old Dodge Dart for a ride to the post office.
• Mary Breckinridge, Mountain Angel. Mary Carson Breckinridge (1881-1965) was born into a prominent Southern family. But she spent much of her adult life in rugged eastern Kentucky, providing nursing and other health care services to people who otherwise would have had none, setting up clinics. Her life of service led to a series of Mary Breckinridge Health Care Clinics. In 1997 the U.S. Postal Service honored her with a postage stamp.
• Joe Ray, Liniment Man. A son recalls his father’s combining of camphor, kerosene, mountain tea oil and who knows what else, in the creation of Ray’s Rheumatic Liniment, a purported cure for everything from arthritis to lumbago and much more. The outcome of an attempt to sell it to drug stores was a sad surprise.
• Edith Maxwell, Murderess? In 1935, Edith Maxwell, a 21-year-old school teacher in Wise County, Virginia, was accused of killing her domineering and hard-drinking father. She became an instant celebrity, to the point that the Washington Post set up a fund for her legal expenses.
Please note, we’ve digitized these pieces just as they appeared in their original print form. Please remember that as a result, all quotes and references to “present day” things such as artifacts and other items are contemporaneous to the time of publication rather than the current time.
This is the 14th in our ongoing HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS series. If you have not already, we invite you to enjoy the rest of the series and more in our digital archives found here.