The Blue Ridge Tunnel

The Blue Ridge Tunnel
Author: Mary E. Lyons
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1625849524

The true story of the construction of the historic Crozet railroad tunnel—as seen through the eyes of three Irish immigrant families who helped build it. In one of the greatest engineering feats of the time, Claudius Crozet led the completion of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Tunnel in 1858. More than a century and a half later, the tunnel stands as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, but the stories and lives of those who built it are the true lasting triumph. Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Hunger poured into America resolved to find something to call their own. They would persevere through life in overcrowded shanties and years of blasting through rock to see the tunnel to completion. In this intriguing history, Mary E. Lyons follows three Irish families in their struggle to build Crozet’s famed tunnel—and their American dream. Includes photos and illustrations

Risky Rails!

Risky Rails!
Author: W. Awdry
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 26
Release: 2012
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0307976742

When a little engine is blamed for something he didn't do, Thomas becomes determined to clear his name. This full-color storybook, based on the new Thomas & Friends direct to DVD/Blue-ray movie Blue Mountain Mystery, is sure to thrill young boys ages 3-7.

The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad

The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad
Author: Mary E. Lyons
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2015-10-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 162585630X

In 1849, Virginia began a bold railroad expansion toward the Ohio River and its lucrative trade connections. The project's plan covered 423 miles and called for piercing two mountain chains with three railroads. The Blue Ridge Railroad was the shortest of these but crossed the most mountainous terrain. At times, hired slaves, who prepared the tracks, and Irish immigrants, who blasted the tunnels, faced challenges that seemed almost insurmountable. Many were killed by explosions and falling rock. Those deaths often resulted in labor strikes. The unrest slowed progress and haunted chief engineer Claudius Crozet for seven years. In this first full-length history of the Blue Ridge Railroad, award-winning author Mary E. Lyons uses a wealth of historical documents to describe construction on what Crozet called "dangerous ground."

Slave Labor on Virginia's Blue Ridge Railroad

Slave Labor on Virginia's Blue Ridge Railroad
Author: Mary E. Lyons
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467144908

Between 1849 and 1859, Virginia raced to pierce the Blue Ridge Mountains by rail and reach the Ohio River. At least 300 enslaved people labored involuntarily toward that goal, along with 1,500 Irish immigrants. The state leased the labor of enslaved Virginians from local slaveholders, including four connected with nearby University of Virginia. Blue Ridge Tunnel and Blue Ridge Railroad historian Mary E. Lyons explored hundreds of primary documents to write the first nonfiction book about slave labor on a specific antebellum railroad. She shares hundreds of enslaved people's names, traces where they toiled along the line and describes their backbreaking--and sometimes fatal--tasks.

Blue Ridge Folklife

Blue Ridge Folklife
Author: Ted Olson
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2010-02-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781604739022

An appreciation of the rich and distinctive folklife in one of the earliest settled regions in southern Appalachia

Rebel Correspondent

Rebel Correspondent
Author: Steve Procko
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9781737283409

Rebel Correspondent by Steve Procko is the true story of a young man who joined the Confederate army just days after his eighteenth birthday and served bravely for over two-and-a-half years until the war ended. Wounded twice, he emerged a changed person. But he wasn't just a returning veteran; he was also a writer. Thirty-six years later, he would tell the world about his experiences.At the beginning of the 20th century, Arba F. Shaw was a fifty-seven-year-old farmer and local writer for the Walker County Messenger, a weekly northwest Georgia newspaper published in the town of LaFayette. Shaw would become the Rebel Correspondent when on a chilly December day in 1901, he began putting pen to paper with the account of his memories as a Rebel private in the 4th Georgia Cavalry (Avery), CSA. He completed writing his account in February 1902. When finished, he had scratched out over 40,000 words. His local newspaper, The Walker County Messenger, published his account in a series of over 50 articles from 1901 to 1903. Then it was all but forgotten.Twenty years before Arba Shaw put pen to paper, another soldier, the 1st Tennessee's Infantry Regiment's Samuel Rush Watkins (1839-1901) wrote his account of his experiences in the Civil War. The Columbian Herald newspaper in Columbia, Tennessee, serialized Watkins' writings from 1881 to 1882, then published the account as a critically acclaimed book, Co. Aytch: Maury Grays First Tennessee Regiment or A Side Show of the Big Show, in late 1882. They predominately featured Watkins' eyewitness accounts in Ken Burns PBS documentary on the Civil War.Rebel Correspondent presents Arba F. Shaw's account word-for-word, as first published in the Walker County Messenger almost 120 years ago. Procko annotates Shaw's account with in-depth research, verifying it and uncovering the back story of his life and the lives of his Rebel comrades. Procko's research offers a historical perspective on the many places and events Shaw so richly described.

New Tracks for Thomas

New Tracks for Thomas
Author:
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 26
Release: 1994
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0679856994

After ignoring everyone's advice about learning the new route on his daily run, Thomas learns a valuable lesson about being overconfident after he gets himself lost. Original.

The Man Who Walked Through Time

The Man Who Walked Through Time
Author: Colin Fletcher
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2014-10-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0804152446

The remarkable classic of nature writing by the first man ever to have walked the entire length of the Grand Canyon.

The Railroad and the Art of Place

The Railroad and the Art of Place
Author: David Kahler
Publisher: Center for Railroad Photography & Arts
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2016
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 9780692748770

In the late 1980s, David Kahler was deeply inspired by seeing an exhibition of O. Winston Link photographs. He soon began making annual trips to the West Virginia and eastern Kentucky coalfields, destinations that strongly resonated with his own aesthetic of "place." Armed with a used Leica M6 and gritty Tri-X film, he and his wife made six week-long trips in the dead of winter to photograph trains along the Pocahontas Division of the Norfolk Southern Railway. Nearly one hundred images edited from this body of work form the core of The Railroad and the Art of Place, along with a selection of earlier Pennsylvania Railroad steam-era photographs that reflect Kahler's interest in the railroad landscape from an early age. Also included are three essays by Kahler, Scott Lothes, and Jeff Brouws, discussing the personal motivations, historical context, and aesthetic development behind the photography. With funding for printing provided by the Kahler Family Charitable Fund, all sales will go to support the Center's work.