Running on Red Dog Road: And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood
Drema Hall Berkheimer grew up in the heart of Appalachia during World War II. With her father killed in the West Virginia coal mines and her mother forced to work far away in a wartime factory, Drema was raised by her Pentecostal grandparents. Always testing the strict moral authority of her preacher grandfather, Drema’s curious spirit led her to all kinds of adventures and discoveries.
Woven with a rich and meandering family history — and threaded through with the occasional anecdote about haints or snake handlers — Running on Red Dog Road is a charming memoir of a childhood touched by both tragedy and wonder.
Quote:
“Fourth Avenue was a red dog road. Red dog is burned out trash coal. If the coal had too much slate, it was piled in a slag heap and burned. The coal burned up, but the slate didn’t. The heat turned it every shade of red and orange and lavender you could imagine. When the red dog on our road got buried under rutted dirt or mud, dump trucks poured new loads of the sharp-edged rock. My best friend Sissy and I followed along after the truck, looking for fossils. We found ferns and shells and snails, and once I found the perfect imprint of a four-leaf clover.”
Author:
Drema Hall Berkeimer is an American writer of both fiction and nonfiction, including her memoir Running on Red Dog Road. Born and raised in West Virginia, she now lives in Dallas, Texas.
Published: 2016
Length: 208 pages
Set in: West Virginia, U.S.