About JR Collins

​

JR Collins is a multi-award-winning author and native to the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

A true mountain man, he has lived in his beloved mountain home all his life. His ancestral

heritage is deeply rooted in the families of those early mountain settlers who crossed the great

oceans to settle a wilderness full of resources one can only imagine. A task accomplished

through determination, grit, courage and faith. As a boy, he traveled the back-roads, ridges,

hollows, and trails with his family, to spend time with those his father called grandfather,

grandmother, great uncle and aunt. These “old timers”, who still lived on their original family

farms, shared wisdom from the porch rockers. They told how folks lived when they were young.

How they helped each other to survive. How to be proper and respectful in the eyes of their

fellow man. These elders shared knowledge with the young boy, who would one day turn their

ways into legend.

The exaggerations and added memories of these story telling ancestors left a lasting impression

on JR Collins. It also brought to light the changes the mountains were facing. New peoples from

all over, learning to enjoy the peace and freedom of Appalachia, brought an end to the way of

life the elder settlers had called freedom. Mr. Collins lived through this change. Saw the

freedoms he himself enjoyed, end. A painful time when the old timers he loved died off not

understanding the why of how people were changing their mountain home. Through his writings,

JR has sought to capture these times in stories everyone can enjoy, understand, and hopefully

learn from. A way to honor those he learned so much from while growing up in his simple

mountain home. A genius people that are now gone. A time that is no more. Legends that now

only live in lore.