In 1987, Jesse Stuart’s youngest sister, Glennis Stuart Liles, called me at home one Sunday afternoon and announced that she had an idea for a new money-making project for the Jesse Stuart Foundation. “I want to do a cookbook.  I’ve wanted to do one for years, and all the family will participate!”

By 1989, the compilation of “The W-Hollow Cookbook” was complete, and the JSF published 2100 copies of the First Edition.  With the enthusiastic support of 178 family members who contributed to the book, more than 1000 copies had already been sold before the First Edition arrived at my office on December 7, 1989.

Within two months, two thousand copies had been sold. “The W-Hollow Cookbook,” which eventually went through four printings, has been out of print for more than twenty years.

Glennis later published two more cookbooks that are available at the JSF. “The W-Hollow Kitchen Adventure” by Glennis and her cousin Helen Shultz includes more than 600 recipes about cooking with herbs and hot peppers.

The “W-Hollow Holidays and Holiday Recipes” is a book we are promoting this year. In her Introduction, Glennis provided some historical background on Greenup and Greenup County and then she focused on her parents and her family.

“My parents, Martha and Mitchell Stuart, married at Plum Grove (Greenup County) and went to house keeping in W-Hollow just over the hill from the town of Greenup.  They lived there until they died in the early fifties. They, and their neighbors, grew their vegetables on the rocky hillsides, milked cows, and killed their own meat. Everyone was poor, but they did their best to make holidays special. The most important part of each holiday was the food.  It was served in the dining room, on a fancy tablecloth with cloth napkins and their best silverware and china. The recipes in this book are special to the people of W-Hollow.  They have been used over and over on special occasions – some for more than one-hundred-fifty years.”

Glennis’ cousin, the great Catlettsburg author Billy C. Clark, offered this praise: “The true magic to Glennis’ cookbook is that even the recipes themselves carry the heritage of a land and its people; the gems of narrative often preceding the recipes will be cherished by collectors of Appalachian folklore and devoted readers of Stuart books. For readers unfamiliar with her world, there is a mountain of magic long to be remembered.”

“W-Hollow Holidays and Holiday Recipes” is available at the JSF Bookstore at 4440 13th Street in Ashland and can be purchased on this website, or by calling 606.326.1667 or emailing jsf@jsfbooks.com.

Happy Holidays from the Jesse Stuart foundation!

By James M. Gifford
JSF CEO & Senior Editor

In 1987, Jesse Stuart’s youngest sister, Glennis Stuart Liles, called me at home one Sunday afternoon and announced that she had an idea for a new money-making project for the Jesse Stuart Foundation. “I want to do a cookbook.  I’ve wanted to do one for years, and all the family will participate!”

By 1989, the compilation of “The W-Hollow Cookbook” was complete, and the JSF published 2100 copies of the First Edition.  With the enthusiastic support of 178 family members who contributed to the book, more than 1000 copies had already been sold before the First Edition arrived at my office on December 7, 1989.

Within two months, two thousand copies had been sold. “The W-Hollow Cookbook,” which eventually went through four printings, has been out of print for more than twenty years.

Glennis later published two more cookbooks that are available at the JSF. “The W-Hollow Kitchen Adventure” by Glennis and her cousin Helen Shultz includes more than 600 recipes about cooking with herbs and hot peppers.

The “W-Hollow Holidays and Holiday Recipes” is a book we are promoting this year. In her Introduction, Glennis provided some historical background on Greenup and Greenup County and then she focused on her parents and her family.

“My parents, Martha and Mitchell Stuart, married at Plum Grove (Greenup County) and went to house keeping in W-Hollow just over the hill from the town of Greenup.  They lived there until they died in the early fifties. They, and their neighbors, grew their vegetables on the rocky hillsides, milked cows, and killed their own meat. Everyone was poor, but they did their best to make holidays special. The most important part of each holiday was the food.  It was served in the dining room, on a fancy tablecloth with cloth napkins and their best silverware and china. The recipes in this book are special to the people of W-Hollow.  They have been used over and over on special occasions – some for more than one-hundred-fifty years.”

Glennis’ cousin, the great Catlettsburg author Billy C. Clark, offered this praise: “The true magic to Glennis’ cookbook is that even the recipes themselves carry the heritage of a land and its people; the gems of narrative often preceding the recipes will be cherished by collectors of Appalachian folklore and devoted readers of Stuart books. For readers unfamiliar with her world, there is a mountain of magic long to be remembered.”

“W-Hollow Holidays and Holiday Recipes” is available at the JSF Bookstore at 4440 13th Street in Ashland and can be purchased on this website, or by calling 606.326.1667 or emailing jsf@jsfbooks.com.

Happy Holidays from the Jesse Stuart foundation!

By James M. Gifford
JSF CEO & Senior Editor