We took a drive around the area where I grew up looking for a glimpse into the past. Coal was discovered there in the 1880s. The Pocahontas Coalfield was producing about a thousand tons of coal per day by 1883.

During the drive I didn’t know it would be one of the last opportunities I’d have with my dad to hear him tell me all about what it was like when he grew up in southern West Virginia in the heart of coal country.

Today marks two years since I got to hang out with my dad and talk about the books we were writing based on his young life in the hills and hollers around Northfork and Keystone.

I miss my dad. Two years ago we drove around talking about how one day we would have his stories about growing up in McDowell County, WV written and published into a series of books called, Adventures in Cinder Bottom. I had sent him the unedited manuscript of the first book, Gone Missing, the day before.

Mom sat at the kitchen table with her iPad that evening and read the manuscript out loud to dad. He sat there listening intently. He would nod his head and grin every once in a while. We laughed and talked about how wild it was back when he was a kid running around with his friends.

It is an honor to be able to share the stories that our dad, Smokey, told us about life growing up in southern West Virginia. Leaving a legacy through these books and celebrating the life of dad and others who have called this area home fills my heart and soul.

-Steve Vannoy – Co-Author of the Adventure in Cinder Bottom Series