Nellie's Hill

NELLIE'S HILL begins in the forested hills of the New York State Interior in 1919. Fast forward: Nellie glances at a photo from her rocking chair in Florida in 1998 and states, "This was the old textile mill my mother worked at after arriving from England. You could always tell what color wool they were working on by the color of water in the Oriskany Creek." During the abyss of Nellie Elizabeth's final years, forty-four letters were written "into the future," as she put it -- about untold events in her life of firsts beginning with the influenza of 1918, electricity coming to the hill, the party line experience, the first radio sounds, a model-T chugging up the driveway instead of a horse drawn carriage and, that dark cloud of Tuberculosis that introduced her young life to the loss of loved ones. In uncovering the layers of Nellie's early life, some intriguing historical surprises emerged. Later, watching John Glenn launch from KSC in FL. at age seventy-seven was one of the highlights of Nellie's retirement years in FL...that and meeting Pres. Jimmy Carter in Orlando at a book signing. Nellie's first cross-country road trip included several "photo hopping" adventures for LAST CHANCE ALASKA and one repeat photo of the Lower Falls at Yellowstone Nat'l Park that only appears in NELLIE'S HILL.