After just under a year of hiatus in the Washington, DC, area, I am finally returning to the South. Effective September 15, 2011, I’ll be settling permanently in the Boone, NC, area and once again transferring my full-time historical consulting, writing, and art photography businesses there as well. As I have done for the past nine years, I will continue to serve as a researcher and consultant on numerous historic preservation projects throughout the southeast region, including the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia. My new location in western North Carolina will also open up new consulting possibilities in Tennessee.
Since last November, my wife and I have been living in Northern Virginia (NOVA) to assist my father with a residential transition. It was a tough year in many respects, in large part because the NOVA of 2011 is not the NOVA I grew up in during the 1970s, nor does it possess any of the essential characteristics that make a place feel like home to me. Boone, by contrast, is everything that I have been seeking in a hometown for many, many years. Boone is home to Appalachian State University, which gives the town access to top-notch research facilities and the cultural outlets that one normally associates with a university community, yet it is also still a small, southern, High Country town in many respects, a place where people say hello on the street, hold the door for others (whether they are ladies or gentlemen), and know what proper southern cooking is. It also features an ideal climate for someone like me who detests the heat of summer, breathes best in mountain air, and craves frequent cold, rainy days with the occasional burst of snow thrown in.
My wife Teresa and I are delighted to call Boone home, and we look forward to spending the rest of our lives in a deeply satisfying, soul-soothing place filled with kind, curious, and interesting folks. We look forward to seeing you around town.
