Ronni Lundy photograph by Derek Diluzio
About five years ago, Ronni Lundy was digging through the bin of donated books at the Yancey County Public Library. She took note of what she saw: titles that showed Burnsville was a town of people who loved good books.
Lundy, the revered author of the James Beard award-winning Victuals: an Appalachian Journey, With Recipes, was pleased to find thought-provoking books. Titles like The Black Obelisk, Erich Maria Remarque’s novel on Germany after World War I, and essay collections by activist writer Rebecca Solnit.
A native of southern Appalachia, Lundy retired in 2013 and moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to Burnsville to be closer to her daughter’s family. But she was restless, and the book world was still calling her. Her library finds inspired her to open Plott Hound Books in 2022. The name of the store is a bit of word play: a nod to both the North Carolina state dog and readers in search of a good book.
The Plott hound is a fitting mascot for Ronni Lundy’s bookstore. photograph by Derek Diluzio
While Lundy is best known as a food writer — she’s authored 10 books — Plott Hound isn’t a cookbook store. There are certainly books about food, and an entire section on her beloved Appalachia (with a handy sign on the correct way to say it: “App-uh-latch-uh”), but there’s also poetry, arts and music titles, novels, and beloved classics.
Starting a new career as a bookseller in her 70s feels right to Lundy. Her encyclopedic knowledge of mountain food traditions, an irrepressible sense of humor, and a strong desire to support writers she believes in make her the right fit for launching an independent bookstore in a mountain town. Running the shop, she says, is her version of “sitting in a rocking chair on a porch with a good book.”
Plott Hound Books
102 West Main Street
Burnsville, NC 28714
(828) 536-5175
plotthoundbooks.com
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