ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Appalachian packhorse librarians date back to the Great Depression, when women would deliver books on horses and mules to inaccessible regions of the Appalachian mountains. After Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina’s corner of Appalachia, one woman decided to bring the tradition back.
Kirsten Turner is the founder of 21st Century Packhorse Librarian, an initiative designed to replicate the Great Depression-era librarians by bringing literature to mountain folk in need.
At 4 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 14 at The Adventure Center of Asheville, Turner will be making one of her many stops in the region to offer books to anyone who wants one, all for free.
Since starting the project, Turner and her team have distributed over 7,000 new or like-new books at their events, which have been held in Hendersonville, Burnsville, Black Mountain and Swannanoa. After the stop in Asheville, Turner and the team will head to Saluda, Spruce Pine, Marion, Hot Springs and Marshall.
The books range from baby board books to adult literature.
“We do have a heavy focus on the classics, because that is what the original packhorse librarians were taking,” Turner said. “But we really take everything. We have it organized, each table that we set up, whether it is for small children, middle grade children, chapter books, adult books. It’s organized like that at the event.”
Turner was born and raised in Shelby, N.C., right in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and has since resettled with her husband in Simpsonville, South Carolina. On a trip up to visit family in Asheville after Hurricane Helene, Turner was rattled by the devastation she saw. She was determined to find a way she could help.
“I realized I cannot operate a chainsaw. I cannot operate heavy machinery,” Turner said. “I started thinking about the mental state of where people must be, seeing all this overwhelming projects ahead of them for such a long time, and thinking, what could I do to help? And what helps me when I feel like that?”
The answer came to her all at once.
“It was books,” Turner said.
During the pandemic, Turner read “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Kim Michele Richardson, a novel that depicted the packhorse librarian project during the Great Depression. After Helene, Turner felt she recognized the world Richardson had described.
“So many roads were closed, trees over roads, bridges washed out, that kind of thing and I was like, gosh, this kind of set us back in that time period,” Turner said. “So, I thought, let’s bring books. We just started bringing books on the back of my husband’s truck to different mountain towns on the weekends.”
While the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian uses a truck as her horse, it doesn’t mean animals are out of the picture entirely.
“We take so many that it’s definitely on a truck, but the Mountain Mule Packers are partnering with us in the spring and they are actually gonna take some books into the mountains, to some specific people on their horses,” Turner said.
Turner is able to plan for the spring because, to her, this project isn’t just a hurricane relief effort. Turner will be serving as a packhorse librarian as long as people need books.
“I plan to do this as long as God wants me to do this,” Turner said. “That has been the thing from the beginning. As long as there are people who are willing to donate and as long as people are still wanting to receive books, we will keep bringing books.”
To donate books to the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian cause, peruse their Amazon wishlist. For more information about future stops for the librarian, check out the organization’s Facebook group.