Like many boys born in the 60’s, my heroes were often frontiersmen. I grew up watching the Daniel Boone television series, with Fess Parker. (I can hear the theme song in my head as I type.) I watched the Disney production of Davy Crockett, and had a comic book of the same. I never missed a chance to watch John Wayne die on the walls of the Alamo (also as Davy Crockett). I could go on and on about my favorite movies, like Jeremiah Johnson or Little Big Man.
Later I learned to love the writings of Allan Eckert, a historical novelist who wrote about the Westward expansion, with much of his book ‘The Frontiersman’ homage to Simon Kenton, a fierce hunter, scout, explorer, settler and fighter of the Appalachians, particularly the area where my family came from. Any man who could, reputedly, load a Kentucky Rifle on the run was a man I admired. As a child I was ever looking for trails in the woods, wondering which were game trails and which were the remains of old trails left by explorers or Shawnee raiding parties. The echoes of the frontier were always there for me.
While I later learned more about that time in history, and learned that the television shows and movies got a lot of things wrong, I remained fascinated. And I remain so. To this day I walk through the wood scanning the ground for arrowheads, looking for pottery shards or signs of anything from times gone by.
Today I am working in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Driving to my locums shift at Tiny Memorial Hospital, I passed a historical marker along the side of the road. I had always wanted to stop, and I had extra time. Along the upper Chattooga River is an old farmstead, The Russell Farm, where a vibrant and industrious family farmed and had a rest-station for stage coaches going up into the mountains in the 19th century. The main house was burnt almost 30 years ago, but the footings remain, and the barn, cellar and other buildings. I lingered there in the cold, the river and its feeding streams rippling, muffled by the wind of an impending winter storm. (The Southern Appalachians are blistering in the summer and bitter in the winter…it’s why the people are so irascible.)
Just beyond the homestead, across the river, had been a Cherokee town, once recorded in a British census in the 18th century. I didn’t have time to walk around the site, but I will one day.
I climbed back into my truck, that same childhood sense of history swirling all around me. Not ghosts, but ghostly. I drove on up the mountains to my job. And I realized that sometimes, our jobs in medicine are on the frontier. Tiny Memorial is perched 4000 feet up in the Blue Ridge, and sees only 5000 patients per year. In winter it is very quiet. But it has to be staffed. The outpost has to be manned. I thought about that sense of driving into the ‘middle of nowhere.’ My big truck, stocked with blanket, brush knife, first-aid kit, food, water, lighter, pistol in the glove-box. The same stuff I have almost everywhere I go, but in the mountains it seems more appropriate, far from the comforts of quick 911 response times. Even on the way to work I might end up at some crash scene or who knows what. I might be the crash scene and spend a cold night in the woods. One never knows. But then, that’s the joy of being the ‘scout,’ the explorer, the one willing to go out there.
In truth, and to my sorrow, I’m only a tolerable outdoorsman. I’ll never be a Simon Kenton, a Daniel Boone. But now and then, in rural places, on blustery days, I still understand the joy of solitude, uncertainty and challenge. The physical challenge of getting to those places, the medical challenge of identifying and stabilizing whatever comes in, far from the hallowed halls of academic trauma centers.
Out here medicine, life, is still a little on the edge. And as I drive over cold rivers, or look out the window at the freezing fog on stark bare trees, as I check for deer and bear on the side of the road, I think I understand why those men and women of old went out where they did.
Challenge and uncertainty, even danger, make us feel alive.
And maybe too much certainty, too much safety, simply allow us to die bored and too soon.
and richard widmark as jim bowie… its funny how we take the seeds and experiences of our past, and allow them to infuse our present. i “grew up” with the same shows and characters, and perhaps that is why i was in a special place when i drove my old ford 150 truck and then my chevy avalanche to Alvira and elimsport and over gap road exploring the old logging trails and mountains. the dogs (4) and i were rarely so happy (well at least i was). after nearly 29 years of ER, i have seen large and small; all… Read more »
Diane Lane
7 years ago
Thank you for the message. I too grew up with the characters you mentioned and miss those quiet fun days of the Iowa farming communities. I was a nurse for 47 years and loved doing it. I have retired from the corporate world of medicine and have kept my license hoping I can do what you are doing.
Teri Reisser
7 years ago
I love your explanation of why the people are so irascible. LOL
Art Jordan
7 years ago
My wife says I spend far too much time watching the western channel on TV. Where the good guys win and evil is defeated.
Funny, I love the mountains and my pickup has many of the same pieces of equipment you carry. It is a different world up there , quieter and kinder. Snow makes it even more enjoyable..maybe a chance to use 4WD or my winch on some quiet out of the way dirt road.
Your column supplies a dose of wisdom and nostalgia. Keep up the good work.
Kathy Purdessy
7 years ago
I could feel just as you described. You painted a fascinating picture of the pioneer (days gone past and current). Makes my think of survival. Basic survival tactics. Not only in the wild but in wild places. Like Emergistan! Will be joing you soon brother! Thanks for the post!
Linda Haller
7 years ago
I spent my childhood summers in exactly the place you wrote about except closer to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Western NC is exactly just that–all mountains, few people. It has remained mostly unchanged for the last 40 years.
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https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/58.1-439.22
Is this idea a solution to the problems of ACA?
I’ve often thought so!
and richard widmark as jim bowie… its funny how we take the seeds and experiences of our past, and allow them to infuse our present. i “grew up” with the same shows and characters, and perhaps that is why i was in a special place when i drove my old ford 150 truck and then my chevy avalanche to Alvira and elimsport and over gap road exploring the old logging trails and mountains. the dogs (4) and i were rarely so happy (well at least i was). after nearly 29 years of ER, i have seen large and small; all… Read more »
Thank you for the message. I too grew up with the characters you mentioned and miss those quiet fun days of the Iowa farming communities. I was a nurse for 47 years and loved doing it. I have retired from the corporate world of medicine and have kept my license hoping I can do what you are doing.
I love your explanation of why the people are so irascible. LOL
My wife says I spend far too much time watching the western channel on TV. Where the good guys win and evil is defeated.
Funny, I love the mountains and my pickup has many of the same pieces of equipment you carry. It is a different world up there , quieter and kinder. Snow makes it even more enjoyable..maybe a chance to use 4WD or my winch on some quiet out of the way dirt road.
Your column supplies a dose of wisdom and nostalgia. Keep up the good work.
I could feel just as you described. You painted a fascinating picture of the pioneer (days gone past and current). Makes my think of survival. Basic survival tactics. Not only in the wild but in wild places. Like Emergistan! Will be joing you soon brother! Thanks for the post!
I spent my childhood summers in exactly the place you wrote about except closer to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Western NC is exactly just that–all mountains, few people. It has remained mostly unchanged for the last 40 years.