Memories of a Mountaineer

Sterling Spencer was a celebrated figure in his hometown of Richwood, West Virginia. His life bridged the rough and tumble wilderness hunting and subsistence farming experience that typified that of Appalachian mountain people during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and the increasingly global experiences that were imposed upon the men and women who fought WWII. Here in this book are more than 20 high fidelity recorded commentaries by Sterling in his captivating, "Appalachian" style of speech that total more than an hour on topics ranging from bare knuckle fighting, hunting turkeys, bobcats and bears, teaching himself to carve prize winning likenesses of the animals he hunted, and the importance of family and nature. Included are dozens of professional and family album photos of Sterling carving, hunting and in the coal mines of Nicholas County. This book brings the man and the world that he inhabited to vivid life. It's an entertaining and informative time machine that should interest all students of Appalachian (West Virginia in particular) history, woods lore, and homespun storytelling. The combination of broadcast quality interviews, vivid photographs and content-rich captions establish a new model for the presentation of oral histories.