New York Times bestselling author, Sharyn McCrumb, to speak at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 3 pm during Overmountain Victory Trail Celebration weekend
The weekend of Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22 is always a very exciting weekend at Sycamore Shoals as we host the Overmountain Victory Trail Celebration and Muster. During the weekend a host of educational, family activities take place presented by the Washington County Regiment of North Carolina Militia.
This year we are honored to host New York Times bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb at 3 pm on Saturday, September 21st in the Visitor Center of Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area. Sharyn McCrumb will be joining us to speak about her newest book, “King”s Mountain,” and autograph copies as well!
McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian Ballad novels, including The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver. Now, with her latest book, KING’S MOUNTAIN, McCrumb has written her first Ballad novel about the American Revolution, focusing on the Overmountain militia men and the Battle of King’s Mountain, considered by many to have been the turning point of the war. McCrumb paints a vivid and compelling portrait of colonial America and fills her story with fascinating historical characters including one of her own real-life ancestors who fought in the battle.
John Sevier has not taken much interest in the American Revolution, because he’s too busy fighting Indians in the Carolinas and taming the wilderness. But when an arrogant British officer named Patrick Ferguson threatens his settlement—promising to burn the farms and beste online casino kill families—the war becomes personal. In response to Ferguson’s challenge, Sevier (who would later become the first governor of Tennessee) and a group of men, including Isaac Shelby (future first governor of Kentucky), William Campbell (brother-in-law of future VA governor Patrick Henry), and Davy Crockett’s father, John, raise an unpaid volunteer militia of 1,000 men. Bringing their own guns and their own horses, and wearing their civilian clothes, the Overmountain Men engage in a battle with the Tories at King’s Mountain, west of Charlotte. Although George Washington’s Continental Army had suffered a string of defeats in the north, the Overmountain Men with their civilian militia prove that the British forces can be stopped, and their victory at Kings’ Mountain inspires the colonies to fight on.
Expertly researched and written with an extraordinary sense of time and place, KING’S MOUNTAIN is filled with unforgettable characters and rich historical detail.
Please join us as we commemorate the re-enactment of the historic 1780 muster of the Overmountain Men to Kings Mountain by welcoming Sharyn McCrumb and her exciting new book, “King”s Mountain.”
About the Author:
SHARYN MCCRUMB’s books have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. She was named a “Virginia Woman of History” for Achievement in Literature and won the Appalachian Writer of the Year Award.
Copies of “King”s Mountain” will be available for sale in the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area Bookstore and Gift Shop
For additional information:
Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area
1651 W. Elk Avenue
Elizabethton, TN 37643
423-543-5808
www.tnstateparks.com/SycamoreShoals/
www.sycamoreshoalstn.org
