Ada's Journal and Emma's Letters

Ada's Journal provides a window into history. Ada Louise Peck was a well-loved little girl who traveled back and forth between Mossy Creek, Tennessee and East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, starting in 1853. She experienced trials, health problems, and travel by railroad, steamboat, and stagecoach. Her grandpa Jacob was Tennessee Supreme Court Judge Jacob Peck, and her grandpa William Henderson ran one of the largest cotton plantations in the South. This journal, recorded from Ada's perspective by her mom Emma, records the first two years of her short life. Edited by Andy Peck, numerous photographs and historical references bring this true story to life in a powerful way. Journey with little Ada on a Mississippi River steamboat; keep your hands inside the train as you pass through the half-mile Cumberland Mountain Tunnel on the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad; and enjoy the mountain hospitality at the Wolf Creek Inn as Ada visits with Mrs. Emma Allen, Peck family friend and hostess to hundreds on the old drover's road by the French Broad River.

Emma's Letters chronicle friendship, heartache, longing for connection, and the intense feelings and opinions surrounding our nation's Civil War. With originals held by the University of Tennessee Knoxville in the "Wolf Creek Papers," Andy Peck has carefully transcribed these letters written by Emma Peck to her great friend Emma Allen. You will learn how the Peck family decided to build their mountain home in Wolf Creek called Glen Ada; mourn with them as they lose young family members to diseases like cholera and typhoid; and celebrate with them as they write about mid-1800s Christmas traditions including Santa Claus. Emma's brother-in-law was Confederate General William Raine Peck, known as the largest Civil War General. Learn of his request for a pardon from President Andrew Johnson, and his brother Col. Wiley Peck's acquittal after killing Charles Harris at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans with a bowie knife.

Ada's Journal and Emma's Letters is a part of The Pecks of Mossy Creek Series, highlighting the first family of Mossy Creek, Adam and Elizabeth Peck, and their ancestors and descendants.

A portion of the proceeds from each book sold will be donated to the Mossy Creek Foundation in its efforts to revitalize the Historic Mossy Creek District in Jefferson City, TN. Learn more about this great project by visiting mossycreekfoundation.org.