NC Cultural Resources Newsroom

ASHEVILLE – Since time immemorial, people have celebrated holidays by telling stories, singing songs and making music passed down from generation to generation.   Noted balladeer and storyteller Sheila Kay Adams will present “Christmas on the Mountain,” an evening of Southern Appalachian Mountains Christmas stories, traditional ballads and music at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site in Asheville on Saturday Dec. 22, at 5 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for “Christmas on the Mountain,” which draws on Adams’ own holiday childhood experiences and memories of growing up in Madison County, are $5 general admission, and are available at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial’s visitor center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.  Seating is limited.

Born and brought up in the small mountain community of Sodom, Adams is from a family that for seven generations has passed down the English, Scottish and Irish ballads and stories that came over with their ancestors in the early 1700s.  She learned these traditions from her older relatives, primarily from her great-aunt, Dellie Chandler Norton and cousin, Cas Wallin.

Audiences love to hear Adams tell stories about her childhood and the community where she grew up.  Her stories, old love songs and music recall a simpler time and place where people were still connected to the land, one another and a way of life now all but vanished.  Adams has the unique ability to reach deep inside, touch your heart with a gentle hand, and reawaken long stored and precious memories.  Come prepared to laugh, do a little toe-tapping, maybe even shed a tear or two.

Thomas Wolfe himself was reared on the stories handed down for generations through his mother Julia’s family, many rooted in Old European folklore and balladry.  Many critics think his Appalachian heritage and his mother’s oft retelling of the old tall tales inspired his famous storytelling gift.

A recipient of the prestigious N.C. Folklore Society’s Brown-Hudson Award for valuable contributions to the study and preservation of the state’s folk heritage, Sheila Kay Adams has also received the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award for significant contributions to traditional Appalachian music.  In 2003, Mars Hill College named her its alumna of the year.

Adams is the author of “Come Go Home With Me,” a book of short stories, which the N.C. Historical Society recognized with its historical fiction award, and a novel, “My Old True Love,” which was a finalist for the Southeastern Booksellers Association’s 2004 book of the year award.

Thomas Wolfe spent a decade growing up in his mother’s ramshackle boardinghouse, his childhood played out against the backdrop of intrusive boarders, small town provincialism and his colorful but sometimes unhappy family.

The goal of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site is to preserve and interpret the history of author Thomas Wolfe and his mother’s boardinghouse as depicted in his novel “Look Homeward Angel”. It is located at 52 N. Market Street in downtown Asheville.  For more information about this program, contact the Thomas Wolfe Memorial at (828) 253-8304, or email contactus@wolfememorial.com.

The Wolfe Memorial is part of the Division of State Historic Sites, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture through such programs as “History Happens Here,” a yearlong celebration of North Carolina’s stories of struggle and freedom, memorable characters and colorful daily life.  For more information, visit www.ncculture.com or call (919) 807-7385.