Book excerpt: Located in the area where North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee meet, Pond Mountain rises to over 4,000 feet. In its valley it holds the Pond Mountain community, a small area in Ashe County, North Carolina. Most of the families that live in the valley have been there for generations, farming the land. Here 31 Pond Mountain residents reflect on their childhoods, families, neighbors, customs and traditions, and the changes that have come to their mountain communities. What emerges is a unique look at a way of life that is rapidly being lost to history.