Introduction Summary

The Foxfire Book is a compilation of articles written by high school students for a magazine called Foxfire. Originally started in 1968 by high school teacher Eliot Wigginton, Foxfire was created as an attempt to entice young high school students to learn the history of their society, as well as to preserve the knowledge and traditions of the people residing in the Appalachian mountains of Rabun Gap, North Carolina. The characters described within these stories live virtually unaided by modern society and often grow their own food, raise their own sources of meat, and use their skills, passed generation to generation, to make furniture, cure disease, hunt for provisions, and even build houses. Presented in the dialect of the people as told by the individuals themselves, this collection is not only a wealth of information about building cabins and furniture, creating home remedies, cooking...