Blount County TNGenWeb

This post isn’t directly providing source material for the site, but I wanted to share my latest addition to my bookshelves.  This weekend, I purchased a copy of Durwood Dunn’s Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community 1818-1937. The book was published in 1988 and is highly regarded for its study of this unique small community and its ability to help in understanding mountain life in the region.  The author is a descendant of the first area settlers, John and Lucretia Oliver, and inherited family documents detailing their life in the Cove. He then used that material, plus other sources, to write the book.

I’ve been the county coordinator for the Blount County TNGenWeb site since 2007, adopting the site with no previous knowledge of the area. Since then, I’ve learned so much about the county, and had the pleasure of interacting with many area researchers. I made my first visit to Blount County in 2013, being sure to visit the Cove – it was beautiful! (my pictures)

I look forward to reading this book to learn more. I’m about 40 pages in already and have found it to be a great read. If you have family ancestry from the area, it is definitely worth reading!

I’ve posted the book index online, so if you have a quick question, I may be able to help with a lookup if you aren’t able to access it a library near you.