Memoir Writing, Jacks River Falls, and Crooked River State Park

Plus, Arabia Mountain's ancient landscape

A handwritten account of how the author’s great-grandmother met her first husband (left) and her great-grandmother (right) before she was widowed at age 23.

This week, we’re in Georgia—home state of Backroad Portfolio co-founder Elizabeth Poland Shugg, who writes about the process of transcribing her Georgia-born great-grandmother’s memoirs and sharing them with family and friends. She also presents tips and platforms for how you can begin writing your own.

We also feature the beauty of Jacks River Falls Trail, Crooked River State Park, and Arabia Mountain.

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The author’s maternal ancestors

Share Your Story

Start writing your own memoirs

By Elizabeth Poland Shugg

We Southerners turn every decent memory into a blockbuster and every hardship into a footnote—yet those small, unvarnished truths stick with us longest.

For me, it’s 1980s Georgia soil under my bare feet as I scurry down the path to my grandparents’ creek. The taste of Southern-fried chicken, sweet tea, and coconut cake at a family gathering. The smell of oranges in my Christmas stocking and the pride I felt pinning a track medal on my letter jacket. My wedding day. The birth of my children …

We all suffer from selective memory. But cherished recollections help us make sense of our lives, pass on grains of wisdom, and affirm that our life matters in some way. The memories we hold onto are worth sharing—and reason enough to start writing our memoirs.

I recently learned the importance of passing memoirs down to future generations while reading my great-grandmother’s, which she wrote during the 1980s. She was born in 1896 and lived to be 101. I’m currently transcribing her “random notes” from a typewritten document and sharing them (for free) in a Substack series called Memoirs of a Southern Centenarian. Her everyday experiences are quite extraordinary.

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Photo courtesy of the Chattahoochee National Forest via Wikimedia Commons

Jacks River Falls Trail

Epworth, Georgia

This vast, remote wilderness in Chattahoochee National Forest offers one of Georgia’s most secluded backpacking experiences. The Jacks River cascades into a rocky, grassy riverbed surrounded by dense forests and abundant wildlife. Best for experienced hikers, the Jacks River Falls Trail is around 9 miles round trip, extending 4.5 miles through rugged wilderness before looping back. Portions of the trail along the river lie atop the roadbed of the old Conasauga Railroad, which was once used to bring out felled logs from timber camps in the mountains around. Click here for directions.

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Crooked River State Park Opens