Delaware from Railways to Freeways / First State, Second Phase by Dave Tabler
Delaware from Railways to Freeways covers eye-opening information about the region and its residents from 1800 to 1907. Laying out a captivating journey through pictures and offering up little-known anecdotes, entertainingly educational stories, and a comprehensive deep dive, Tabler gives insightful commentary on inventions, contributors to society, and transformative technology. History lovers of all ages will immensely enjoy this trove of 19th-century lore.
Q. There are
many books out there about....What makes yours different?
A. I try to
bridge two audiences with my Delaware history book series. Traditional history
books tend toward an academic slant. Lots of footnotes and references. Heavy on
dates, treaties, battles. Light on illustration/photography. Traditional travel
guides are lushly photographed, but typically skim the surface of the stories
and history behind the places shown. I try to marry the two approaches in my
work.
Q. How long
have you been writing?
A. I’m a late
bloomer. I got heavily involved editing my dad’s memoir when I was 40. He’s a
West Virginia native. I fully expected he would discuss things like feuds and
moonshine in his memoir, but he shied away from those topics, feeling they just
piled on to the already widespread hillbilly stereotypes. I, on the other hand,
feel the way to dispel those stereotypes is to tackle them head-on. And so I
started up AppalachianHistory.net in 2006. The site currently gets about 1,000
visitors a day, and has for a while now.
Q. What is your
writing schedule?
A. I love to
get an early start. And I do mean early. I get up at 4 a.m. and write about 2
hours uninterrupted. When I mention this to most people, they’re kind of taken
aback. Why on earth get up so early if no one’s pressing you to do so? Chalk it
up to circadian rhythms I suppose. I’ve done it for years. The thing about this
approach is that I’m fresh. The phone isn’t ringing, texts and emails aren’t
screaming to be dealt with. I’ve also found the old saw about solving a writing
block by “sleeping on it” to be quite accurate. I take a break to walk dogs,
have some breakfast. Then usually back to it till noon. After that it’s touch
& go. I might get back to writing in the afternoon, or it might be a chore-running
kind of day.
Q. If there
is one thing you want readers to remember about you, what would it be?
A. Integrity.
Both in my writing and in my dealings with people. I was taught that reputation
is the most precious treasure we own. One can lose worldly material gains, but a
good reputation can build it all back up again. I strive not to be a polemical
author. Writing about history is slippery. Readers frequently expect a writer
to take sides. The bigger challenge is to present the story from multiple
points of view. I think that’s the fairest approach.
Q. Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?
A. Of course. I doubt there’s a writer alive that hasn’t hit a
wall at some point. I think having a regular writing schedule is key.
Non-writers often think authors sit around waiting for the muse to strike. In
my experience, however, the muse “helps them that help themselves.” When I get
stuck on something, I make a list of ideas that might work. Usually, 9 out of
10 things on the list don’t stick, but it only takes that one idea to turn the
workflow around and get back on track. I’ve started using ChatGPT this year to
bounce ideas around. I might instruct it, for example, to list 5 pieces of sailing
folklore that arose in Delaware between the years 1850-1900. It’s quite an
amazing idea generator. I always have to doublecheck anything ChatGPT presents
as fact, though. Anyone who’s used the program can attest that it hallucinates
from time to time. The spooky thing is that it will present complete nonsense
with great authority. Easy to get into trouble using it!
Ten year old Dave Tabler decided he was going to read the ‘R’ volume from the family’s World Book Encyclopedia set over summer vacation. He never made it from beginning to end. He did, however, become interested in Norman Rockwell, rare-earth elements, and Run for the Roses.
Tabler’s father encouraged him to try his hand at taking pictures with the family camera. With visions of Rockwell dancing in his head, Tabler press-ganged his younger brother into wearing a straw hat and sitting next to a stream barefoot with a homemade fishing pole in his hand. The resulting image was terrible.
Dave Tabler went on to earn degrees in art history and photojournalism despite being told he needed a ‘Plan B.'
Fresh out of college, Tabler contributed the photography for The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics, which taught him how to work with museum curators, collectors, and white cotton gloves. He met a man in the Shenandoah Valley who played the musical saw, a Knoxville fellow who specialized in collecting barbed wire, and Tom Dickey, brother of the man who wrote ‘Deliverance.’
In 2006 Tabler circled back to these earlier encounters with Appalachian culture as an idea for a blog. AppalachianHistory.net today reaches 375,000 readers a year.
Dave Tabler moved to Delaware in 2010 and became smitten with its rich past. He no longer copies Norman Rockwell, but his experience working with curators and collectors came in handy when he got the urge to photograph a love letter to Delaware’s early heritage. This may be the start of something.
connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ pinterest ~ instagram ~ goodreads
This looks like an interesting and informative read.
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