Kindred Faces and Quaint Places & Bear Crossing by Edna Perrow ~ Shenandoah Valley ~ Strasburg, Virginia ~ Local Lore ~ Genealogy

Title: Kindred Faces and Quaint Places: A Saga of Memorabilia [&] Bear Crossing: A Back-Road Heritage

Author: Edna Perrow

Description: Two volumes, both signed by author. Hardcovers in seafoam-green and blue cloth, respectively, with gilt lettering. Published in 1969 and 1975. Bear Crossing with dust jacket, which shows a couple small spots of soiling, in an archival mylar sleeve. Non-authorial gift inscription on ffep of Kindred Faces. 168 [&] 162 pages.

In Kindred Faces, the author documents her family history, including extended family, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, and describes throughout the way of life and folk customs in these rural communities. She includes many interesting historical capsules, including accounts of her Pifer family grandparents, who lived in the Funkhouser homestead, (near Fisher's Hill, used as a hospital during the Civil War). She also describes summers at Mt. Olive, where her uncle operated a store, moving to Strasburg when she was ten, life in and the citizenry of Rustburg (Campbell County), her home and life in the ''Rock House'' located near Gladys in the 1940s, the character and persons of other nearby Campbell County communities, and summering in Minneola, Florida. Peppered throughout are Perrow's poems, which are evocative of this milieu in the Shenandoah Valley.

The second volume, Bear Crossing, is a short novel, mostly in the form of dialogue. She states that it is based on reality, and pictures ''a way of life that is passing away, and a part of America that is in danger.'' In her foreword, she writes, ''In the name of progress, much has been done without counting the cost. Much has been gained, but much has been lost. Storm clouds hover over our land... The spirit of '76 lives on, and nowhere is it manifested to a greater degree than in the out-of-the-way places. Mountain people, especially, exhibit the pioneer spirit.''

Edna Romaine (nee Baker) Perrow (1902-1983) grew up near in the Shenandoah Valley and lived on a farm, which was later to become the 1000+ acre property known as Waverly Stock Farm, owned by her sister and brother-in-law, G. Louis Stickley. She married and lived for many years in Campbell County, in the vicinity of Strasburg.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good (Bear Crossing)

Publisher: [privately published] [Citrus Printers, Inverness, Florida]
Year: 1969

Keywords: Shenandoah Valley, Strasburg, Virginia, Shenandoah County, mountain people, Louis Stickley, Waverly Stock Farm, Funkhouser, history, genealogy, Fisher's Hill, Campbell County, Baker family, Pifer,