Kathleen Nelson

The Royal Grant Kathleen Nelson

This short nonfiction story follows five generations of the Jones-Hart families, who owned property in the valley of Oil Camp Creek in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, from 1797 until 1957. This mountainous property was a Royal Grant Award to Thomas Jones for free bounty land for his service in the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. The story depicts events about these families during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II. This 160-year era of the Royal Grant property ended following the tragic death of Earle L. Hart, a Chicago businessman, an avid horseback rider, and the owner of a ranch he established in the valley during World War II, which gave life again to a deserted and desolate valley in Upstate South Carolina.