CMT Blog: Archive

As if Dolly Parton doesn't have enough going on. Now she has taken on the role of ambassador for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And on top of that, she's written all about growing up in the Smokies for Guideposts. She says the Smokies touch her soul, and after reading this entire story, I have to say I feel an attachment to them, too. I know she had a rough raisin' (she was one of 12 kids of a sharecropper and his wife), but read this story and let Parton's memories fill your heart like only she can.

On homemade playthings: "I remember tying June bugs to a string to make what we called 'lectric kites." And "My sisters and I played house with moss. We'd use it to cover stumps and pretend they were upholstered chairs ... ."

On really living green: "Everyone's into living green now -- for good reason -- but that was the only way we knew how to live back then in the mountains. Daddy planted beans, corn, potatoes and turnips. He hunted, so we'd have meat -- bear, turtle, rabbit, squirrel, groundhog."

On all-natural tattoos: "We painted our skin with pokeberry juice so that it looked like we were wearing bracelets or wristwatches."

On the joys of winter: "We'd bring in fresh snow and mix it with vanilla, milk and sugar to make snow cream, the closest we ever got to ice cream."

On surviving the recession, mountain-style: "Even today, in these hard economic times, I think, well, if the worst happens and I lose everything, I can always go home to the mountains, plant a vegetable garden, maybe raise a few chickens."