I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
The tenth story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is about a dog and the woman who befriends him.
I have loved dogs all my life, so I wanted to include a dog in at least one of the stories in my book. I thought about the noble Plott Hound – the State Dog of North Carolina.
Henry Plott, the son of immigrant from Germany, Johannes Plott, bred this particular hound dog to hunt black bears in the mountains in western North Carolina. Mr. Plott immigrated to North Carolina in 1750. The hound he developed is descended from the “Hanover hound” of Germany.
Mr. Plott was so successful that the Plott Hound was registered with the United Kennel Club in 1946, was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 2006, and was exhibited for the first time at the Westminster Show in 2008. It was named the official State Dog of North Carolina in 1989.
I know two of the descendants of Johannes Plott, so I have a special interest in this. Writing this story gave me an excuse to learn a little more about the Plott Hound. I hope you dog lovers will enjoy the story I wrote about “Buddy” and Lois, the retired teacher who took him in.
Thank you for supporting my writing. Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is available from Amazon or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore. It is available to libraries and bookstores through IngramSpark.
It can be ordered through my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, by clicking on the Bookshop.org button. If you order the book via my website, as a Bookshop.org affiliate, I will get a small commission.
If you live in the Harrisburg area, ask for it at Second Look Books.
The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina by Janet Morrison
I indicated that all the answers could be found in the vintage postcard book I wrote, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. These trivia questions (and the answers supplied in today’s blog post) are my way of celebrating the fifth anniversary of the publication of the book by Arcadia Publishing on August 25, 2014.
Here are the questions and answers
1. Why was Grandfather Mountain named a member
of the international network of Biosphere Reserves in 1992? Because it supported 42 rare and endangered
species. Just on that one mountain!
2. What does
Linville Falls in North Carolina have in common with Niagara Falls? They are both caprock waterfalls, meaning the
top layer of rock is harder that the underlying stone. Erosion causes the
waterfall to migrate upstream over time. It is believed that Linville Falls was
once 12 miles downstream from its present location.
3. How did Edwin Wiley Grove make his fortune
which enabled him to build the Grove Park Inn in Ashevile, North Carolina? He sold Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic.
4. What part did the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) play in the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway during The Great
Depression? The men who were members of
the CCC assisted with the paving and landscaping of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
What a magnificent gift they left us!
5. When George W. Vanderbilt purchased Mt.
Pisgah in 1897, what grand plan did the mountain become part of
temporarily? The 125,000-acre Biltmore
Estate. (It’s no longer part of the estate.)
6. What groups of people were housed at Assembly
Inn in Montreat, North Carolina in 1942?
290 Japanese and German internees.
7. Jerome Freeman bought 400 acres of land in
Rutherford County, North Carolina that included the Chimney Rock around 1870
for $25. How much did the State of North Carolina pay for Chimney Rock Park in
2007? $24 million.
8. What new breed of hunting dog was developed
by a German pioneer family in the late 1700s in the Plott Balsams subrange of
the Blue Ridge Mountains? The Plott
Hound, which just happens to be the official State Dog of North Carolina.
9. What is an early 20th century feat
of engineering on the Newfound Gap Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
The road crosses over itself. This
example of a helix is called “The Loop.”
10. How fast can a black bear run? 30 to 35 miles per hour.
11. It is illegal in Great Smoky Mountains
National Park to willfully get within how many feet of a black bear? 150 feet.
12. What is the name of the 57,000 acres of land
purchased by the Cherokee in the 1800s and held in trust by the United States
Government? Qualla Boundary
13. Is Qualla Boundary technically a reservation?
No, a reservation is land that the United States Government gives to an
American Indian tribe. The Cherokees purchased their land.
14. Did the Cherokee people lived in tipis in the
1700s and 1800s? No, they lived in
houses.
15. What forest contains one of the largest
groves of old-growth trees in the Eastern United States? Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
16. What hydroelectric dam was used in the 1993
Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive? The Cheoah Dam
17. What is the tallest dam east of the Rocky
Mountains in the United States? Fontana
Dam.
18. One of the oldest postcards in my book is of
Cullowhee Normal School in the mid- to late-1920s. What is the name of that
school today? Western Carolina
University.
19. Started in 1935, the Blue Ridge Parkway’s
“missing link” was completed in 1987. What is the connecting one-fourth-mile
long piece that filled the “missing link” called? The Linn Cove Viaduct.
How did you do?
How many of the 19 questions did you answer correctly? I hope you enjoyed trying to answer the questions and seeing the answers today. If you want to learn more about the mountains of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, please ask for The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, by Janet Morrison, at your local bookstore, online at Amazon.com, or purchase it directly from the publisher at https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/. It’s available in paperback and as an ebook.
The contract
I signed with Arcadia Publishing was for five years, so you’d better get a copy
of the book while it’s still being published. I don’t know if my contract will
be extended.
Since my last blog post
I’ve finally gotten into a rhythm for writing the scene outline according to C.S. Lakin’s template. It sounds backward to be writing the scene outline after writing the book, but the questions asked in the template, along with five questions I added after reading a couple of articles by Janice Hardy, are making every scene in the book stronger. It’s slow going, but well worth the time and effort.
Due to technical problems, I was unable to include images of any of the postcards from my book in today’s blog post.
Until my next blog post
If you’d like to follow me on Twitter, @janetmorrisonbk. If you’d like to follow my business page on Facebook, it’s Janet Morrison, Writer.
I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead and still listening to Resistance Women, by Jennifer Chiaverini.
If you’re a writer, I hope you
have quality writing time.
Thank you for taking the time to
read my blog. You could have spent the last few minutes doing something else,
but you chose to read my blog.
Let’s continue the conversation
Feel free to
let me know in the comments section below or on Twitter or Facebook how you did
on the trivia questions. If you have any other comments or questions for me
about the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, I’ll welcome and try to answer them.
Janet's Writing Blog 