Blue Ridge Born The Story of Aunt Orlean Puckett

On a quiet ridge high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small, determined woman changed the lives of generations. Born in the early 1830s and shaped by hardship, loss, and the rugged world around her, Aunt Orlean Puckett became one of Appalachia's most revered midwives. Though she never raised a child of her own, she delivered more than a thousand babies across Patrick and Carroll Counties; walking miles through snowstorms, darkness, and wilderness with nothing but a lantern, her shawl, and an unshakable sense of duty. From her humble cabin on Puckett Ridge, Orlean served mothers for more than seven decades, comforting the fearful, guiding the laboring, and offering the strength of someone who understood sorrow deeply and compassion even more. She never accepted payment, never turned away a call, and never lost a mother under her care. In her final winter, nearly a century old, she set out on one last journey; walking through bitter cold to help another woman bring life into the world. She never reached the cabin where she was needed, but her legacy lived on in every child she delivered, every family she touched, and every story whispered along the mountain trails she walked. Rich with mountain history, intimate storytelling, and the quiet heroism of a forgotten era, this biography honors a woman whose courage, resilience, and service shaped the Blue Ridge for generations. Aunt Orlean did not seek recognition; but time has remembered her anyway.