I am so pleased to showcase Heather this month. We met at a library book fair last year. Welcome!
Heather S. Cole is a public historian and writer living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She has worked in a variety of museum and archives, including as an interpreter for the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, VA. She currently works as a digital archivist for the Southern Foodways Alliance and recently launched a small book publishing venture, Rock Street Press, specializing in local history, travel and memoir. Virginia’s Presidents: A History & Guide is her third book for The History Press.
Where are you from? I grew up outside of Allentown, PA—which anyone over a certain age will recognize from the early ‘80s Billy Joel song of the same name.
When did you know you wanted to become a writer? I originally wanted to be a newspaper reporter but after college I couldn’t find a reporting job that paid enough to cover my student loans. Instead, I went to graduate school and then to work in museums and archives—fields that pay even less than journalism! All along I’ve had a regular side hustle of freelance writing… in hopes that one day I might be able to do it fulltime.
Where do you get your ideas from? I write non-fiction, so I get my ideas from the world around me.
What do you write? I write books on local and regional history. I also dabble in freelance travel and features writing for magazines.
Where do you find your photos? Many of the photos in my current book came from the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is a wealth of free information and resources, and their reading room in Washington, D.C. is one of my favorite places to write.
Have you always loved history? Not at all. In fact, my lowest grade as an undergraduate was in American history. I didn’t really become interested in history until my husband and I bought our first house. It was a 1901 antique colonial that we bought from the grandson of the original owners. We found some old family photos in the garage, and that prompted me to research the history of the house and the family who had lived there. That interest led me on a path that eventually resulted in a career detour and graduate school for a MA in American history.Tell us about your book(s): My latest book is Virginia’s Presidents: A History & Guide, published by The History Press in 2023. This book tells the stories of the eight US presidents who were born in Virginia and the historic sites that interpret their lives. The book is part-history, part-travel and includes profiles of each of the presidents and descriptions of the museums, historic sites and presidential homes that tell their stories and, by extension, the story of our nation.
I have written and/or edited four other books focusing on the history of Norwood, MA, a small town south of Boston. I also have a new book on the seven Ohio-born US presidents—Ohio’s Presidents: A History & Guide—coming out in May.
Tell us about your publishing experience. Four of my books have been published by The History Press, a small publisher focused on local and regional history. They have been great to work with, especially when I was a new author.
I also self-published two of my local history books and have recently taken the steps to officially launch a small book publishing company: Rock Street Press (www.rockstreetpress.com). We’ll be publishing our third book in February: Wish You Were Here: Vintage Postcards of Norwood, Massachusetts by Patricia J. Fanning.
What is next for you? My next book—Ohio’s Presidents: A History & Guide—will be published by The History Press in May and I expect to spend much of the summer giving talks to promote that book. I’m also editing a travelogue about a couple who took a cross-country tandem bicycle trip in 1908 that Rock Street Press will publish later this year. After that… we’ll see. Stay tuned!
Heather one last question, tell us something that no one knows—something about you that isn’t posted anywhere on your website or social media.
When I need to get in the zone to write, I put on my headphones and crank up the Yacht Rock station on Spotify. Under normal circumstances I am a devoted NPR listener, but when I need to focus, it is all about Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers.
Provide your contact information.
Heather Cole
1016 Ridgemont Drive, Staunton, VA 24401
617-216-4978
Website: HeatherSCole.com
Amazon page (https://www.amazon.com/stores/Heather-S.-Cole/author/B0BK2WQPX5) or my website (https://HeatherSCole.com).
Heather, Thank you for the interview. Best wishes!
February Free Giveaway, Marge Haataja from Minnesota, has won Heather’s book, Virginia’s Presidents!
Leslie Eva Tayloe 