Furnace Mountain · or the Day President Roosevelt Came to Town

**In the Great Depression, the town of Furnace Mountain thought the president was coming to save them but, in the process of preparing for his arrival, ended up saving themselves.** ****

A coming of age tale about courage, friendship, and community in the tradition of *Anne of Green Gables*, *My Antonia*, Billie Letts, and Thomas Wolfe. A retelling of "Stone Soup" for the Great Depression.

** *Dear Mr. Roosevelt...* **

Furnace Mountain, Kentucky is dying. It's 1936 and the Great Depression has found the sleepy little railroad town and wreaked its havoc. With the bank taking businesses and farms, it feels like there are more boarded-up storefronts than there are people left. Sidewalks are empty, the formerly grand train depot has caved in, front doors are being locked at night, and even the annual Gingerroot Festival has been canceled. Morale in the area that the rest of the country has forgotten about is at an all-time low. When 9-year-old Sam writes a letter to President Roosevelt and invites him to visit his one-room schoolhouse, nobody but Sam expected a reply-much less an acceptance.

Now, the town will have to come together and pull their limited resources to prepare for the president’s impending arrival at the end of summer. They have only three months to rebuild and restore their Main Street for the ensuing national attention they're about to receive and to remind themselves of what they once were. In the end, nobody in this historical fantasy was ready for what would happen on the day President Roosevelt came to town.