author
Robert Frank Jarrett
1864–1948
Best known for a 1916 book that blends story, history, and folklore, this North Carolina writer set out to keep Cherokee myths and traditions alive on the page. His work carries a strong sense of place, rooted in the mountains of his home state.
1 Audiobook
Occoneechee, the Maid of the Mystic Lake
by Robert Frank Jarrett
About the author
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, on July 21, 1864, Robert Frank Jarrett spent much of his life connected to the mountain South. In the brief biographical note published with his work, he is described as having lived in other places and traveled widely, while still making his principal home in North Carolina.
Jarrett is best known for Occoneechee, the Maid of the Mystic Lake (1916). In its preface, he explains that he wrote the book in hopes of preserving the memory, myths, legends, and traditions of the Cherokee. That gives his writing a clear purpose as well as a strong regional identity.
He died on September 10, 1948. Confirmed details about his wider career are limited in the sources reviewed, so the safest picture is of a North Carolina author remembered chiefly for a single ambitious work that mixes literary storytelling with an effort to record cultural tradition.