Lisa Carter | In Search of . . . Story

I’m a great believer in treasure hunts. When my husband and I went to Ireland, I searched high and low for obscure Celtic crosses—often found in the middle of a pasture filled with grazing cows. And yes, I climbed over barbed wire fences to get my photographs. Much to the amusement of Irish farmers, who laughed and shook their red Irish heads at the antics of those crazy Americans.

Then there was last summer when I—read family—researched BEYOND THE CHEROKEE TRAIL. In 1838, the United States government forced the Cherokee to leave their ancestral homeland and marched the Cherokee from Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to what was then called the Indian Territory. Imagine hundreds of souls trudging through these rugged mountains in what today is still one of America’s last wilderness regions. Six thousand men, women and children would die before reaching modern-day Oklahoma.

One of the best things about writing is that often I get to visit the actual places where I’ve set my stories. Up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway, across the Great Smokies and Nantahala National Forest, we hiked in search of the perfect waterfall. I believe I became a bit obsessed with finding the waterfall under which the Snowbird Cherokee of North Carolina hid during the roundup for what became the Trail of Tears—aka Last of the Mohicans, be still my heart—and successfully eluded the U.S. army.

Obsessed because after a four-hour hike of finding nothing, crossing knee-deep streams of rushing water, scrambling over rocky outcroppings perched precariously over river torrents, I had to be dragged off Snowbird Mountain. A mountain still so remote and isolated, it doesn’t surprise me that the Cherokee evaded capture. In this age of satellites and reconnaissance planes, I feel sure most of the modern-day Cherokee Nation could hide out there and be never found again.

We traipsed over hill and dale without sighting another human being across ten miles of rugged terrain—I’m not talking Park Service marked pathways, either. No, we had to bushwhack our way through. I even went one foot in front of the other across a moss- covered log suspended over a ravine—Indiana Jones style.

‘Cause I don’t just write the adventure, I live the adventure.

I’d retreated temporarily to the gravel parking lot at the base of the mountain to rehydrate and formulate my next foray onto the mountain when a vacationing family stopped and mentioned spotting a black bear. That—not my husband’s pleas— convinced me not to return to the mountain. So I left and did the next best thing—I went shopping. Another great thing about writing stories is the people I meet along the way. And at a small Cherokee handicraft store, another adventure awaited. Or as my husband declares, only I could go to the Snowbird to research a book on the Cherokee and meet America’s top moonshiner, Jim Tom, from the Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners. But that is a story for another day.

A Cherokee cultural historian told me of a place deep in the woods where portions of the Tatham Gap Road along which the Cherokee were force-marched yet remained. There, underneath the bracken and overgrowth of 180 years, we found the deep gouge marks made by the wagon spokes. The ruts are still visible. The trees haven't quite grown back together even after all this time. Birds trilled in this peaceful forest setting. Through the tree canopy, sunlight dappled the path. We felt an almost holy hush. It was a beautiful, yet slightly haunted place as if the earth itself remembered the pain and agony once perpetrated here.

The year 2018 will mark the 180th anniversary of the Trail of Tears. I hope this special place in the mountains of North Carolina and the Snowbird people will capture your imagination and grip your heart as they did mine. Though the characters in this story are fictional, the historic events recounted are not. May we never forget.

Giveaway

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About Lisa Carter

Blending romance and suspense, Native American and Southern fiction, SWEET TEA WITH A SLICE OF MURDER author Lisa Carter is also a teacher and vocalist. She was always the child who made up epic tales involving prairie schooners or interplanetary voyages for the neighborhood kids to re-enact during summer vacation. Now, she and her husband, David, have two daughters and make their home in North Carolina. When she isn't writing, Lisa enjoys traveling to romantic locales, teaching writing workshops, and researching her next exotic adventure.

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About BEYOND THE CHEROKEE TRAIL

When Linden Birchfield arrives in the Snowbird Cherokee community to organize the 180th commemoration of the Trail of Tears, she runs head on—literally—into arrogant former army sniper Walker Crowe. A descendant of the Cherokee who evaded deportation by hiding in the rugged Snowbird Mountains, Walker believes no good can result from stirring up the animosity with the white Appalachian residents whose ancestors looted the tribal lands so long ago.

Though at odds over the commemoration, Linden and Walker must unite against an unseen threat to derail the festival. Together they face an enemy whose implacable hatred can be traced to the events of the Trail, a dark chapter in America’s westward expansion. When called to resurrect his sniper abilities, Walker must thwart the enemy who threatens the modern-day inhabitants of tiny Cartridge Cove—and targets the woman who has captured his heart.