Yesterday in the Hills

by Charles Hubert Watkins and Floyd C. Watkins

Book Overview

Yesterday in the Hills recalls life in North Georgia from the 1890s until World War II and records vanished and vanishing folkways of the region. Here is folklore at its best -- seen from the inside and mediated through the heart. Yesterday in the Hills is built upon the bedrock of experience and memory, but its sharply drawn characters and beautifully proportioned narrative transcend reminiscence and realistically depict hill country life as it once...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820306231
• ISBN13: 9780820306230
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Details

"Yesterday in the Hills" provides in-depth details about the daily lives of individual poor North Georgia farmers and their families in the early twentieth century. The details are given in the form of stories about indiviual lives and events. Humor, courting, medical practices, farming, family life, poverty, loafing, hunting, gardening, childhood games, etc., are all described in detail. The book reads easily and the stories leave a lasting impression. A very good read.

A Look at the Past

These stories are the kinds of stories we should all be passing down in our families and communities. Through such stories young people find out who they are. The people in long ago Ballground, Georgia were poor, but in many ways they were richer than most of us now. Their daily lives had texture and provided a closer walk with the natural world. Just to survive required hard work, cooperation, and wisdom. Humor was a nice extra too and these stories have that extra in abundance. My mother's family lived right on the outskirts of Ballground, and many of her stories could fit right in this book. This is a great read!

A ROOTS for the poor White Man

"Yesterday In The Hills" is the story of the Ballground/Canton/North Georgia hill country settlements. It tells a story of people too poor to live and too proud to give up. I'm descended from these people, and I'm very proud of my roots. I'm white, yes. But these stories, anecdotes, and tall tales need to be preserved.This is before the depression. This is making a living before the "new deal." This is life before the urbanization of America. This is the story of when people lived on and off their land. This is the story of men and women who settled the land and found it good. This is the story of Georgia, and all the lands where work, industry, faithfulness, and hope were the by-words.Buy this book. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll remember when Momma's fried chicken, and pastor's sermon would keep you awake for days. But most of all, you'll remember a time passed, when things seemed simpler and the world was larger. . .but most of all when community meant just that. . .read THIS BOOK