About Christy

The Show and Novel

The name Christy is latin for ‘follower of Christ’. Before you close the website you should know many enjoy the series because it doesn’t come off as overly ‘preachy’. The TV series ‘Christy’ debuted on CBS in 1994, which is based upon the best selling novel by Catherine Marshall. Christy is a 19 year old young woman who was driven with great desire to leave Asheville, North Carolina to the East Tennessee mountains in 1912. She became a schoolteacher at a mission in a small cove.

Miss Alice is head of the local mission and a mentor to Christy. In simple terms she explains to a naive Christy the place is nothing like her safe and easy life in Asheville. You have to keep in mind this is in 1912 and in the backwoods of the Tennessee Appalachian mountains. Your basic mail is delivered by foot or horseback. The cove she arrived in lacked the basic necessities of life, such as reading and shoes in a rural poverty stricken area. Christy brings instruction and knowledge not only to her students but to the parents.

Preacher David Grantland tries to fulfill his mission not only as a minister but helping those in the cove such as tree clearing, adding non existing structures such as telephone poles and going to Knoxville, TN for basic supplies. Neil MacNeill is the area doctor who tries to help those with medical needs such as gunshot wounds to your basic fever. He is more experienced with the area than those from the mission. He understands the people there better. They don’t take charity because of their pride. They insist on working for it and won’t take hand outs. They are at times superstitious which can often lead to serious trouble.

Christy shares a friendship among the people, especially with Fairlight Spencer. She has a large family and like the others she cannot read. These are the facts of life in the mountains of East Tennessee in the early 1900s. No fashionable clothing, no electricity, no running water and most certainly no understanding of the outside world. However they did have family, and a strong knit community. There are quarrels and disputes, and some are even hostile to the newcomers such as Christy. Most however are a loving and welcoming people. One of the main components to the series and novel is the romantic appeal. Both Preacher David Grantland and Dr. Neil MacNell are quietly battling for Christy’s love.

Leonora Wood was the real life ‘Christy’ and she left Asheville for Tennessee in 1909 to the Ebenezer Mission. The novel is 90% true according to a family member. Some fiction was added to the novel including the doctor. If you want to know spoilers behind the romance finale and it’s true nature, you can find it on the FAQ page. If you’re new to ‘Christy’, I suggest you watch the TV series first, then read the novel. Only then I strongly suggest you look at the spoilers in the FAQ that you may have missed.

Leonora’s daughter Catherine was the novel’s author, of which took 9 years to complete. She compiled much information from her mother, resident Opal Myers’ documents of the cove, and those from and around the area. Opal dangerously saved the documents she had as a fire was engulfing her home. Catherine wrote several books such as ‘A Man Called Peter’ and ‘Beyond Our Selves’.

The mountain swept scenery, romance, schoolchildren, old fashioned ways, and more continue to allure readers and viewers alike to both the novel and TV series. While the age of the story is old, it’s something everyone can gain knowledge from. There’s an analogy of our lives of what we’re experiencing now. There’s a reason this story has been told and lives to this very today. After all … we are here to learn.

The Timeline