ASHEVILLE – Noted balladeer and storyteller Sheila Kay Adams will present an evening of Southern Appalachian mountain Christmas stories, traditional ballads and music in two shows at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site in Asheville on Saturday, Dec. 19.
“Christmas on the Mountain,” drawn from Adams’ own holiday childhood experiences growing up in Madison County, will be presented at 6 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for 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.
“Audiences love to hear Sheila tell stories about her childhood and the community where she grew up,” said Wolfe Memorial staffer Chris Morton. “Her stories, 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.”
Born and raised 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 her cousin Cas Wallin.
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, 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 the short-story collection “Come Go Home With Me,” which received the N.C. Historical Society’s historical fiction award, and the novel “My Old True Love,” which was a finalist for the Southeastern Booksellers Association’s 2004 book of the year award.
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.
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 Thomas Wolfe Memorial is part of the Division of N.C. Historic Sites and Properties within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.