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Smoke to See By: Knowing Nature in Northern Appalachia
Smoke to See By is a collection of 21 essays and stories, many never before published, written by award-winning essayist and columnist Ben Moyer. The collection tracks the writer’s quest for intimate knowledge of, and personal connection to, the natural features of his home region, the foothills and ridges of Northern Appalachia. Readers will follow Moyer along mountain streams and through native woodlands to insightful encounters with rare salamanders, wild trout, rattlesnakes, bears, songbirds, and bobcats, through a hurricane that turned to a blizzard, and working with troubled adolescents in a therapeutic camping program. In this selection of works, ranging from lengthy to one succinct page, Moyer reveals the meaning, and connection to place, he finds in butchering a deer in a freezing garage or in gathering blackberries amid summer’s heat. He also laments the loss of some familiar parts of the living landscape, unnoticed by many, as the region’s ecology absorbs onslaughts from invasive species and responds subtly to climate in transition. But overall, Smoke to See By is a quietly joyous celebration of the ecological resilience and diversity of a region those without Moyer’s perception might categorize as “unspectacular,” yet which harbors its own marvelous natural wonders, offered to those who would know them up close. WHAT OTHERS ARE
Foremost Appalachian essayist Ben Moyer does not take for granted Emerson’s adage that for everything you gain, you lose something else. The sensuous prose here, in his finest writing on place—actually the finest literature on place in the northern Appalachian idiom—confronts us with how our losses exceed society’s yardstick for gain the more we tune out the miracles at work in this book’s simplest, lovingly evoked tasting the juicy lusciousness of a homegrown tomato; seeing the hourly theatrics of the ridges in our periphery; feeling the cycles of our earth through the bracing scratches of blackberry thorns, to name a few. Ben Moyer’s calling is to tune our senses to the gifts of people and places that are slipping irrevocably away. Recover them here, in these sacred pages...PJ Piccirillo, founding editor, the Northern Appalachia Review and author of The Indigo Scarf and Nunc A Ferry Tale
Foremost Appalachian essayist Ben Moyer does not take for granted Emerson’s adage that for everything you gain, you lose something else. The sensuous prose here, in his finest writing on place—actually the finest literature on place in the northern Appalachian idiom—confronts us with how our losses exceed society’s yardstick for gain the more we tune out the miracles at work in this book’s simplest, lovingly evoked tasting the juicy lusciousness of a homegrown tomato; seeing the hourly theatrics of the ridges in our periphery; feeling the cycles of our earth through the bracing scratches of blackberry thorns, to name a few. Ben Moyer’s calling is to tune our senses to the gifts of people and places that are slipping irrevocably away. Recover them here, in these sacred pages...PJ Piccirillo, founding editor, the Northern Appalachia Review and author of The Indigo Scarf and Nunc A Ferry Tale
163 pages, Paperback
Published March 8, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 12, 2023
The author reveals his keen love for Northern Appalachia through 21 poetic essays that make you feel you are hiking right beside him, encountering bobcats and bears, trekking through good weather and bad (a hurricane that morphs into a blizzard!) and assisting adolescents in a camping program that provides healing exposure to nature. A must-read for lovers of mountains, gorgeous writing, and the peace that comes through the unsullied outdoors.
January 31, 2024
This book came across my radar as a selection of the Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation's virtual book club. I love PPFF (they make the PA state part passport - IYKYK) and I love books and book clubs, so I decided to pick up a copy.
Moyer, writing from the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, offers a wonderful book of essays on a wide range of nature topics, from trees to snow to hunting to stream restoration, and more. I flagged many pages which offered keen insight or beautiful language.
The first essay, "Nothing Spectacular," talks about how the American West is usually described as "spectacular" while the East is not. (Don't you hate it when people air quote the word "mountains" when referring to the Appalachians, at least the ones in Pennsylvania? I love the Rockies, but there's no reason to be snobbish!) Moyer writes:
When I spend time in PA state parks and forests (which are truly lovely), I often muse on what the land has endured. Most of these places exist because resources (timber, coal, stone) were extracted at scale for commercial gain in centuries past, leaving the land ruined. The state stepped in to buy it for pennies on the dollar and commenced restoration and conservation. The work is helping, but we will never truly know what these woods looked like centuries ago. Indeed, what would North American look like if it had been settled mostly from the east?
Many of Moyer's essays focus on specific species of plant or animal, always mindful of the complicated ecology web in which they exist. For example, I appreciated his discussion of the emerald ash borer, which generally has a "bad guy," invasive species reputation. He points out that the ash borer only became a massive problem because the ash tree was so prominent. The ash tree grew in such large numbers because it is a "pioneer species" which thrives on cleared land. So many forests were cleared for farmland and later abandoned, and that's when ash numbers increased. So are we to blame the foreign ash borer for the demise of the ash trees, or past human behavior? It's complicated (76-77).
I learned a lot about hunting from this book. I'm not a hunter - I don't even eat meat - and my vegetarianism stems from environmental arguments. Even though it would be very weird for me to eat meat at this point in my life, I would have no qualms about consuming what comes from Moyer's freezer. Responsible hunters who honor the animal and the environment, and who take what is needed for human nourishment, are okay in my book.
I also learned a lot about fishing, another thing I have never done! "At the Heart of Hollows" is a love note to fishing. Here is just one paragraph:
In the final, titular essay, Moyer beautifully expresses something that I feel when I visit Pennsylvania's public lands:
Moyer, writing from the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, offers a wonderful book of essays on a wide range of nature topics, from trees to snow to hunting to stream restoration, and more. I flagged many pages which offered keen insight or beautiful language.
The first essay, "Nothing Spectacular," talks about how the American West is usually described as "spectacular" while the East is not. (Don't you hate it when people air quote the word "mountains" when referring to the Appalachians, at least the ones in Pennsylvania? I love the Rockies, but there's no reason to be snobbish!) Moyer writes:
The "spectacular" West, as we see it now, is an accident of history, resulting from Eastern North America's being "discovered," explored, settled, and subjugated earlier than the West, so that much of what we might have seen as spectacular here was gone before we knew to miss it.
Had the continent been settled in reverse, from west to east, and had a conservation ethic evolved before civilization reached the unequaled Appalachian hardwood forest, preserving vast tracts in their natural state in public ownership, we would today celebrate "spectacular" old-growth American chestnut, tulip poplar, and oak stands on Greene County hills in the same way we exalt the Grand Canyon itself. Our experience with woodland here cut over and regrown multiple times, scourged by invasive plants, does not prepare us even to imagine the forest that cloaked these hills, the forest they are capable of hosting. Were we somehow able to visit that native forest, to follow a trail into its depth, we would find ourselves awed, hushed within the native spectacle of this place." (4)
When I spend time in PA state parks and forests (which are truly lovely), I often muse on what the land has endured. Most of these places exist because resources (timber, coal, stone) were extracted at scale for commercial gain in centuries past, leaving the land ruined. The state stepped in to buy it for pennies on the dollar and commenced restoration and conservation. The work is helping, but we will never truly know what these woods looked like centuries ago. Indeed, what would North American look like if it had been settled mostly from the east?
Many of Moyer's essays focus on specific species of plant or animal, always mindful of the complicated ecology web in which they exist. For example, I appreciated his discussion of the emerald ash borer, which generally has a "bad guy," invasive species reputation. He points out that the ash borer only became a massive problem because the ash tree was so prominent. The ash tree grew in such large numbers because it is a "pioneer species" which thrives on cleared land. So many forests were cleared for farmland and later abandoned, and that's when ash numbers increased. So are we to blame the foreign ash borer for the demise of the ash trees, or past human behavior? It's complicated (76-77).
I learned a lot about hunting from this book. I'm not a hunter - I don't even eat meat - and my vegetarianism stems from environmental arguments. Even though it would be very weird for me to eat meat at this point in my life, I would have no qualms about consuming what comes from Moyer's freezer. Responsible hunters who honor the animal and the environment, and who take what is needed for human nourishment, are okay in my book.
I also learned a lot about fishing, another thing I have never done! "At the Heart of Hollows" is a love note to fishing. Here is just one paragraph:
If, as I believe, we fish to be immersed in a place, to sense its inherent, ambient heart, and are buoyed by that union, and then if beyond such attainment, we also feel the outright thrill of catching exceptional specimens of the quarry that lured us there, what success can surpass that in angling? I'm at a loss to imagine it. (109)
In the final, titular essay, Moyer beautifully expresses something that I feel when I visit Pennsylvania's public lands:
It is not what qualifies as spectacular country, but it is good country. Wild things and experiences linked to them are accessible here, near at hand. That which was spectacular here no living person has known - native forest with oak as broad as a bass boat, white pine worthy of ships' masts, hemlock and holly mingled along the streams. But a new forest is back now, reclaiming pastures and strip mines with a younger, scruffier growth that is the best we can have for now, and we'll take it. (127-128)Yes, we will take it, and hopefully we will continue to make choices that help the land heal. It is mighty resilient on its own, but sometimes needs a hand from its human relatives.
July 22, 2023
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Smoke to See By: Knowing Nature in Northern Appalachia is a collection of essays by outdoorsman and writer Ben Moyer. Released 8th March 2023 by Sunbury Press, it's 163 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.
The author writes well and deeply, about his home area in Northern Appalachia, and his deep and abiding feeling for the place. He's at home in nature and it shines through in his prose. He writes clearly and without embellishment and the result is effective and engaging.
Five stars. It's a short read but sincere and profound at points. Highly recommended for fans of nature writing and the outdoors.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Smoke to See By: Knowing Nature in Northern Appalachia is a collection of essays by outdoorsman and writer Ben Moyer. Released 8th March 2023 by Sunbury Press, it's 163 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.
The author writes well and deeply, about his home area in Northern Appalachia, and his deep and abiding feeling for the place. He's at home in nature and it shines through in his prose. He writes clearly and without embellishment and the result is effective and engaging.
Five stars. It's a short read but sincere and profound at points. Highly recommended for fans of nature writing and the outdoors.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
July 14, 2023
Loved this book! The author's love of the outdoors comes through in wonderful stories of his experiences over the years. He is a masterful writer! Reminds me so much of John McPhee, which is about the highest praise that one could receive. I read the entire book twice (so far). It took me away to places I have visited myself, and to places I hope to visit in the future. I sincerely recommend this book to everyone!
August 26, 2025
There were parts of this book I liked, certain sections, some whole chapters, and I do really like the premise of getting to know the outdoors and this author definitely does….but I really felt bogged down in ALL the description…it was a dense read for me and I love the outdoors. I also revel in the world he describes, but this book didn’t quite do it for me.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews