Abstract:
“The Bard of Ottary,†Shepherd M. Dugger, wrote several books about courting in Watauga County in colonial days. Although the author insisted his stories were true, there is no doubt they were embellished. In one story, for example, a girl chooses whom to marry based on how many rattlesnakes each suitor has killed; in another, a girl's mother tells her suitor to kiss her daughter and then to kiss the boils on her back. Dugger was portraying the backwoods humor of the period. In his book, WAR TRAILS OF THE BLUE RIDGE, Dugger describes courting as one of his greatest pleasures.