For me, it is difficult to imagine life on the southern frontier between 1750-1780. Who were these immigrants who came into places like Charleston and Wilmington rather than the more typical points of entry such as Philadelphia and New York? Why did they come? What were they running to? Or from? Did they come of their own accord, or were they indentured or enslaved? How bad was life where they came from that they would risk everything and face the unknown in a land rich with promise but rife with danger?
And what of those who already lived on that land? Natives whose ancestors had been there forthousands of years? What did they make of these newcomers? And what part did they play in the white man’s war for independence?
These are the questions that motivated me to write the Freedom’s Edge trilogy. Having lived almost a quarter of a century in the mountains of Western North Carolina and worked as a history museum director and communications director for the Blue Ridge Nation Heritage Area, I became steeped in the unique history and culture of the Southern Appalachians. I learned much of the complexity of this mountain culture, a culture that was spawned with the approach of European immigrants to lands on which natives had lived for thousands of years. Freedom’s Edge is an imagining of what life might have been like for both immigrants and natives, caught up in not only the challenges of severe culture clash, but also of a fierce desire for freedom from British rule. It was a long, in-depth tale to tell, so I have broken it into three parts: Escaping Yesterday, Surviving the Now, and Fighting for Tomorrow. My hope is that readers will come away with a new understanding not only of those people, but also of the significant contributions Southerners made in securing America’s independence. It’s a story not taught in school.