Finding His Path

Teacher Releases Book Based On History CD

GATE CITY, Va. – It’s a weekday on Jackson Street, and Danny Dixon is being mobbed by his fans.
For years, this grinning schoolteacher has been telling folks that he would have a book coming out – a paperback version of his “Pathfinders, Pioneers & Patriots” interactive, educational CD, released in 2001.
Now, on this busy weekday, folks are discovering that the book is finally out.
And they want one.
Dixon, an avid historian, smiles as he signs a few autographs at Clinch Mountain Merchant. He shakes more hands at the lunch tables of the Mustard Seed Cafe, seeing old friends.
A Nickelsville, Va. resident, Dixon, 58, is at home whenever he’s tooling around the rocky landscape of Southwest Virginia, often in search of the past – mainly, any long-lost tale of the 1700s.
Being in Gate City, on this day, his mind rewinds to the past, and Dixon begins talking about Big Moccasin Gap – the passageway through Clinch Mountain, marked by Daniel Boone in the 1700s to move from the valleys of the Holston River to eventually reach the Kentucky bluegrass, beyond Cumberland Gap.
Gate City takes its name from that gap, located just south of town.
Actually, some say this place name comes from being a “Gateway to the West,” while others call it the “Gateway to the South.”
Dixon, the director of the A. Linwood Holston Governor’s School in Abingdon, likes to share such stories. He also tells of centuries-old forts, the Clinch River and early settlers in his new, self-published work.
“It’s not a genealogy book,” Dixon said. “It’s more of a history book. It focuses on the history of our entire region – Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and part of North Carolina. As you know, our ancestors didn’t know where the state lines were in their day, much less where they might be drawn later on. The history and characters of this whole region were inextricably intertwined so that you literally can’t tell one history without the others.”
Dixon, who served 17 years as the director of instruction for Scott County Public Schools, is hoping his new book can inspire readers of all ages.
“It always distressed me that Southwest Virginia was left out of our history books,” Dixon said. “We have a rich heritage that people have every right to be proud of. And I hope this book will help them learn more about our amazing ancestors and that they’ll share it with their children.”

TO ORDER IT
Title: “Pathfinders, Pioneers & Patriots” book
Author: Danny Dixon
Price: $22.50
Available: Clinch Mountain Merchant, Gate City, Va.
E-mail:
Info: (276) 479-2325