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Borrowed Ground
Paperback
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Publisher: Jerry Buchanan
Published: Feb 20 2026
Pages: 102
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.24 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
In the coal-rich mountains of Southwest Virginia, the ground beneath one's feet has always come with a quiet clause. Borrowed Ground is a historical and narrative exploration of St. Charles, Virginia-a town defined by the split-estate. Here, families owned their homes and gardens, but corporations owned the mineral rights beneath them. This book investigates the unique psychological and social reality of building a permanent legacy on a temporary lease.
The Narrative Arc
What begins as a tribute to a modest, generations-old schoolhouse expands into a broader reckoning with the American dream in coal country. The book follows the thread of the school to reveal a town built on a legal technicality: if the land ceased to serve its surface purpose, it could revert to the coal companies.
Buchanan documents how the community responded not with fragility, but with Appalachian Grace-planting roots, building churches, and raising families in soil they never truly owned.
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