Shenandoah Vestiges: What the Mountain People Left Behind

by Carolyn Reeder, Jack Reeder

Pictures and prose about farm sites, graves and artifacts left by the inhabitants.

Genres: Nonfiction

71 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Carolyn Reeder was an American writer best known for children's historical novels. She also wrote three non-fiction books about Shenandoah National Park for adults together with her husband. She won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

Reviews

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to rate this a two on a critical level but I just personally enjoyed it too much so I gave it an extra star lmao. Although, tbf, that may or may not have something to do with growing up in Appalachia so I'm super nostalgic for the mountains lol. The book is interesting but it's clear (and I think very nearly, if not entirely, stated?) that its the passion project of two loyal mountain trail hikers (not disparaging, its full of love, but has a distinct lack of expert information). It's absolutely not the most comprehensive guide to mountain people or mountain living, and although I hate the term, you could consider it a 'coffee table book' bc of its abundance of pictures and short descriptions.

It's a quick read, but I enjoyed it as a nice ease into studying traditional mountain life. My favorite touches were that they inserted paper slips in some of the chapters that remained in the book until I bought it (I got it from a used book store and it's over 40 years old so I was personally impressed they were still in there). Most of them were notices ab not disturbing the park but I still thought it was neat. Also there's a section on old mountain people cemeteries and I'm a sucker for final resting places lol, so that was definitely my favorite section. I thought it was neat and if it's cheap and you have a chance you should at least give it a good look

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting anecdotal look at some "mountain people" artifacts found and recorded by the authors on their hikes through Shenandoah National Park. Small prefaces are followed by several pages of black and white photos with descriptive captions.

An interesting little book.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting. Enjoyed the pictures, and it was a truer account of what really happened.

[Wiseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting!

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief, but interesting look at surviving structures on the Shenandoah Valley. Considering that this book is 46 years old now, I wonder how many of the wooden structures still remain.

[Catherine Richmond]

While hiking, the authors stumbled across evidence of those who'd lived in Shenandoah National Park. What was left behind tells a story.

[Katarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting information about the history of Shenandoah National Park. It's a short book with lots of black and white pictures.