John and Catherine: A Brutal Love Story

To come into the life of John and Catherine, one has to enter the misty mountains of Tennessee. The setting is the Cumberland Mountains above Huntland. The story of a brutal marriage of poverty, love, sorrow and sacrifice. Catherine is the young redheaded valley girl, John Watson, a moonshiner, brought to his beloved Tally Top. She in turn brought six children into the world for him, some in his whiskey cave. She wasn’t your traditional mountain girl. She carried water, lots of water, to make whisky. Her babies were taught quietness, and love, never fighting. She taught them to read, do numbers, and watch the eagles soar over the canyon. Then, disaster, John was caught moonshining. She stayed on his mountain, dug and sold ginseng, berries, and nuts to exist. She ate bullfrogs and rabbits. Then John came home, but her brutal life continued. She did what she could to survive and she never complained. A book of love in Appalachia.