Free Daily Headlines

News

Set your text size: A A A

Historian, author to speak at Saluda Train Tales

SALUDA — Thomas D. “Tom” Perry, the author of more than 30 books on regional history and the Civil War, will be guest speaker at Saluda Train Tales at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17.

Born in Mount Airy, Perry grew up just over the border in Ararat, Patrick County, Virginia, which was also the home of Civil War General J.E.B. Stuart, the Rev. Bob Childress, “The Man Who Moved A Mountain”; and Orlean Hawks Puckett, a legendary midwife in the mountains who delivered more than 1,000 babies (at no charge), never losing a mother or newborn.

Perry’s latest book is Beyond Mayberry: A Memoir of Andy Griffith and Mount Airy, North Carolina. He is also the author of A Dinky Railroad: The Mount Airy and Eastern Railway. The narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mount Airy to Kibler Valley, Virginia, is the topic of his talk.