Last June, I wrote about The Art of Storytelling. Storytelling is defined as “the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a Story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.” As with everything we participate in, the more a person practices, the better they become.

As my good friend David Doan says, we “paint a picture in the minds of the listeners.” Like local artists Joe Kilday, David June or Caroline Blanks, we must choose the right brush, colors, texture, canvas, etc. However, it takes some natural talent to paint this picture anyway. I could argue that you just need to be able to perform in front of a group and have the desire to learn, and then go out and paint this picture for the audience. However, the devil is in the details.

Last May we were at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesboro. The National Park Service (NPS) and the Overmountain Victory Trail Association (OVTA) brought in renowned “art teacher” Darcy Tucker. Darcy is a longtime translator teacher in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

Her brochure says she “brings history to life by telling the stories of the people who lived it.” In addition to his duties in Colonial Williamsburg, he says: “Darcy speaks at schools, conferences and festivals. It trains teachers and museum workers. She portrays people from different eras of American history, and she literally wrote a book on how to portray historical people.”

This past weekend, NPS and OVTA invited Darcy Tucker back to the Southern Campaign Theater of the American Revolution to work with us aspiring storytellers. I am talking about myself, of course, because everyone else, especially the youth, in our group seems to have already mastered this craft.

The workshop for this session was held at the Gaffney, South Carolina Visitor Center. Gaffney is one of my favorites out of all those cute little towns in Carolina. I have been there so many times that I know the road as well as in Greenville.

I was fully prepared to join the seminar again, even though I am an outsider in terms of talent. I have been with the OVTA group for many years, so when we are together, you always feel like a family. Caroline Blanks came with me to be part of the learning process.

Since we were both working on a Friday, we didn’t arrive at the group’s chosen Sleep Inn until 8:00 pm, when Steve Reeker was standing outside in the freezing cold, acting as the official greeter. Daniels’ team soon arrived. When we were near Marshall, North Carolina, Melody wrote to me to see if we had left yet and to let me know that they, too, had just set off.

Since everyone had eaten but us, Caroline and I decided to go in search of dinner. We landed at Daddy Joe’s Beach House BBQ & Grill. As the name suggests, this was another one of those fun places in Carolina to stop in and enjoy great food. Brunswick stew, onion rings and smoked chicken salad are my favorites. Caroline went with the flounder and I mention the menu items because they were exceptionally good and the portions are huge!

Later we enjoyed a pleasant meeting with the Daniels team and Steve in the lobby of the hotel. Steve cut himself a little, and maybe I did too, well, we’ve all been. For Valentine’s Day, the lobby was decorated with a white Christmas tree, apparently left over from that very last holiday, about which I wrote several times. There were red lights and tinsel. Steve told us the OVT story as Carl Childers: “This guy, Patrick Ferguson, sent this threat over the mountain…” which made me roll on the floor.

What I found interesting was a large sign outside the reception that said “25 Cent Kissing Booth”. I told Steve that I need to check it out. I walked over to the table and asked the girl if the kissing booth was open? Steve told me to tell her that I had a pocket full of coins, which I did. An attractive young lady, who we later learned was from Colombia, told me that the girl who ran the kissing booth was out for the evening. She added, “It’s mono,” laughing.

Saturday morning we got up early and the hotel dining area looked like an East Tennessee family reunion. We had a good time catching up, enjoying coffee, sausage biscuits and gravy and some lovely bacon. All the things I shouldn’t eat. Darcy also stayed there and joined in the breakfast.

The excitement of the morning was when the manager dropped the pot of sausage sauce. I thought I would try to save it! Steve thought along the same lines and added, “If you get something crunchy, spit it out.”

I should add that our Sunday breakfast included more entertainment. A Colombian girl and a couple of others opened the outside doors, where it was cold and raining, and began to dance, waving towels over their heads. It was like one of those football games, or when a bird got into the house. Our Colombian friend told us that the kitchen was smoky from frying sausage and “if it causes an alarm, the fire brigade will come.” Instead of dancing in the morning, they were just trying to get some air.

Arriving at 9 am found us all relocated to the Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery. This is the 1913 Federal Post Office building designed by James Knox Taylor. The walls of the conference room are adorned with panels reflecting the region’s rich revolutionary heritage, events and people. Our host was Leanne King Moon, a longtime friend and supporter of the OVTA and local history.

The floor has always been one of my favorites, with a map of the county covering the entire floor, with cities, roads, and important events in alphabetical order. So, if you’re wondering what happened in “H”, then the key is also on the floor right outside the doors.

Darcy started the program by asking how many people were in the Jonesboro session. The group was roughly in half. She said she would start from the beginning, which for some of us would be an overview. She started by introducing three characters. The first was Lady Jane Walker, whose father died when she was 18 and left her the farm. She married a gentleman who slowly lost all his possessions, eventually losing his house. Then he goes to the army, and she, with children and without housing, becomes a follower of the army camp.

Her husband was wounded and died, leaving them unwilling to follow the army and homeless again. She was able to find work for herself and her children at a nearby boarding house. This one was not part of the Jonesboro presentation.

Darcy then removed a layer of clothing and changed her cap to become Elizabeth Thompson, a woman living in Charleston, South Carolina, whose husband was smeared with tar and feathers and fled the country for loyalty to the crown. She stayed to sell the store and merchandise before joining him in England.

Darya turned her back again as her skirt fell to the floor, a vest, hunting dress and hat were added to become a young man. It was not a young man at all, but Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself and joined the army as a man.

Darcy’s ability to transform into another character and tell his story in such a compelling and believable way is remarkable.

She asked if any of us would like to make a short presentation for evaluation by her and the group. Tom Vaughn went first with a follow-up to his Evan Shelby presentation a year ago. Tom always does a great job with this interpretation.

Tom mentioned “Wolf Hills”, to which one gentleman asked where is it? I knew, of course, that this was Abingdon, Virginia. Sometimes we forget that things that register with us may be foreign to the listener. So if someone says they’ve been to Buffalo, I know they’re talking about Johnson City. Long Island or Fort Patrick Henry is Kingsport. Kings Meadows or Fort Shelby is Bristol. Jonesboro, well, it’s always been Jonesboro, except when it was Jonesboro.

Others, including Marc Anthony, told other “side stories” about people associated with the 1780 King’s Mountain hike. Mark told how his ancestor found his son-in-law on the mountain, badly wounded. He said he told his brother-in-law “Let your friends take care of you now” and left him to bleed from a bullet wound.

When he came home, his wife asked if he had seen her brother, he told her, “Yes, and I left him to die.” Without a doubt, the Revolutionary War was indeed a “Civil War”. In any situation and family, there are many interesting side stories.

Ivan Daniels shared the story of 15-year-old James Sevier when he had to hold back his horses as the militia advanced towards Kings Mountain. James’ story included the false news that John Sevier, his father, had been killed and his uncle Robert wounded. James was driving Robert home when he died.

Cohen Daniels shared the experience of another young man who heard Samuel Doak’s famous sermon and prayer delivered to the People of the Highlands before they left Sycamore Shoals on their march to Kings Mountain. I am mesmerized by the fact that this young man can tell the whole story.

Darcy has gone through some vital stages of storytelling, including preparation-preparation-preparation. You must know your character inside and out, every detail. Even if your character is fictional, you need to know the era, the language, what prompted them to do this, and not otherwise. The three R’s above equal homework-homework-homework.

Darcy wrote a SCRIPT on the board and discussed each letter: Subject, Character, Research, Imagination, Preparation, Tell a story.

At the end of the Saturday sessions, Caroline and I headed to the antique shop I frequent in Gaffney. Caroline wanted to visit my favorite place nearby, the Liberty cigar and coffee shop. I tell you, there is nothing more heavenly on earth than the smell of expensive cigars and fresh coffee mixed together … trust me. Next, we all gathered at another local favorite, Pete’s, to have lunch together and chop some more. Caroline noticed that we are a fun bunch that loves to eat. In truth, we are much better fed than the original Highmountain Men, and we have a lot more fun.

Speaking of food, Leanne offered a variety of biscuits and lots of coffee in the morning. Both days she had lunch from the firehouse. So yes, Caroline, we eat a bunch. It takes a lot of calories to tell a story properly. Yes, we had two breakfasts every morning. I probably ate more salt in those two days than in the last year.

On Sunday, everyone had five minutes to tell a story, which was our assignment the day before. Darcy criticized everyone and allowed each of us to leave comments or questions. It was a chance to gain experience in an educational atmosphere with a master of his craft.

Darcy covered research sites as well as eighteenth century vocabulary. If you are going to walk, you must speak! Which brings us back to the beginning, practice-practice-practice, that is, after research-research-research and, of course, training-training-training.

One thing we didn’t cover since this was a storytelling workshop is that if you’re going to be walking around saying, well, dressing appropriately for your image’s era is key to a successful presentation. More importantly, properly dressed to match the character of your image.

Not only did we continue to learn and grow in the art of storytelling, Darcy got a good dose of revolutionary history from a Southern perspective. Yes, Darcy, there was a war in the south too. So let’s raise a stool and share some stories as we continue to explore the past together.

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