Cabins in the Laurel - (Chapel Hill Books) by Muriel Earley Sheppard (Paperback)

About the Book

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC), an African American Pentecostal denomination founded in 1896, has become the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States today. In this first major study of the church, Anthea Butler examines the religious and social lives of the women in the COGIC Women's Department from its founding in 1911 through the mid-1960s. She finds that the sanctification, or spiritual purity, that these women sought earned them social power both in the church and in the black community.

Book Synopsis

In 1928 New York native Muriel Earley Sheppard moved with her mining engineer husband to the Toe River Valley--an isolated pocket in North Carolina between the Blue Ridge and Iron Mountains. Sheppard began visiting her neighbors and forming friendships in remote coves and rocky clearings, and in 1935 her account of life in the mountains--Cabins in the Laurel--was published. The book included 128 striking photographs by the well-known Chapel Hill photographer, Bayard Wootten, a frequent visitor to the area.

The early reviews of Cabins in the Laurel were overwhelmingly positive, but the mountain people--Sheppard's friends and subjects--initially felt that she had portrayed them as too old-fashioned, even backward. As novelist John Ehle shows in his foreword, though, fifty years have made a huge difference, and the people of the Toe River Valley have been among its most affectionate readers.

This new large-format edition, which makes use of many of Wootten's original negatives, will introduce Sheppard's words and Wootten's photography to a whole new generation of readers--in the Valley and beyond.

From the Back Cover

In 1928 New York native Muriel Earley Sheppard moved with her mining engineer husband to the Toe River Valley-an isolated pocket in North Carolina between the Blue Ridge and Iron mountains. Sheppard began visiting her neighbors and forming friendships in remote covers and rocky clearings, and in 1935 her account of life in the mountains-Cabins in the Laurel-was published. The book included 128 striking photographs by the well-known Chapel Hill photographer, Bayard Wootten, a frequent visitor to the area.

Review Quotes

"A thoroughly likable, instructive and entertaining book."--New York Times Book Review

"A treasure of insight into selected aspects of mountain life in the early 20th century."--CHOICE

"This work is an important contribution on Appalachian culture, and this new edition is very fine indeed."--Southern Folklore

About the Author

Muriel Earley Sheppard (1898-1951) was born in Andover, New York. She is also the author of Cloud by Day: A Story of Coal and Coke and People. Bayard Wootten (1875-1951) was an artist and photographer who maintained studios in Chapel Hill and New Bern, North Carolina. Her photographs appeared in a number of books, including Backwoods America.