Seedtime on the Cumberland

Harriette Simpson Arnow

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781611860795
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628951134
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Harriette Arnow's roots ran deep into the Cumberland River country of Kentucky and Tennessee, and out of her closeness to that land and its people comes this remarkable history. The first of two companion volumes, Seedtime on the Cumberland captures the triumphs and tragedies of everyday life on the frontier, a place where the land both promised and demanded much. In the years between 1780 and 1803, this part of the country presented tremendous opportunity to those who endeavored to make a new life there. Drawing on an extensive body of primary sources—including family journals, court records, and personal inventories—Arnow paints a stirring portrait of these intrepid people. Like the midden at some ancient archaeological site, these accumulated items become a treasure awaiting the insight and organization of an interpreter. Arnow also draws on a medium she believed in unerringly—oral history, the rich tradition that shaped so much of her own family and regional experience. A classic study of the Old Southwest, Seedtime on the Cumberland documents with stirring perceptiveness the opening of the Appalachian frontier, the intersection of settlers and Native Americans, and the harsh conditions of life in the borderlands.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Old Boot
• Chapter 2. Rocks and Earth
• Chapter 3. The First Settlers
• Chapter 4. Rivière des Chauouanons
• Chapter 5. The Long Learning
• Chapter 6. The Illinois
• Chapter 7. The Shirttail Men
• Chapter 8. Attakullakulla
• Chapter 9. The Travelers
• Chapter 10. The Woodsmen
• Chapter 11. Indians
• Chapter 12. The Bare Essentials
• Chapter 13. Silk Handkerchiefs and Feather Beds
• Chapter 14. Around the Family Hearth
• Epilogue
• Author's Acknowledgments
• Explanation of Bibliographical References
• Notes
• Index