What a great time we had learning all about Dartmoor, the setting for Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles and the folklore and history that led up to its creation.
Emma Cunis, who is the founder of Dartmoor's Daughter was just a delight and a fount of information about all parts of the moor, and a lot about Conan Doyle as well. She was kind enough to stay up (very) late as Emma zoomed in from the U.K., in between tours and lectures on the moor. I was lucky enough to take a hike with her last June when I was there, and it was well worth it.
Conan Doyle had evidently been ill and had gone to Dartmoor to stay with a friend. During that time, and later visits, he walked up to 17 miles a day on the moor (not hard to do, I will say, as the space is vast) and learned much of the folklore of the area. There was a cruel and difficult lord who terrorized the local population in earlier centuries, he evidently had a big, black and cruel dog that he used to good effect.
The variable and difficult weather of the moor led to tales of witches with enchanted animals endangering the hapless people who might be out at night, or even taking revenge on those who wronged them - more fodder for the fairly terrifying events of the story. And of course, the prison, with its feared escapee is still there in Princetown, high on the moor, still in use, and still allowing for a famous escapee in the '60's.
The moor itself is so much a character in the story. Conan Doyle talks about the ancient peoples who created and left behind villages and memorials. Emma was able to show us some of the many remnants that still litter the landscape, beautiful in their way and wholly different than the even more ancient thors which are natural granite formations, carved by the wind and time itself, also mentioned in the story. The bogs were also a danger, along with the massive hound.
Emma just did a masterful job of showing us the actual places, the actual landscape in the context of the history, it just made it all so fun, thank you Emma! I cannot recommend a trip to Dartmoor enough (there are riding tours!) and when you go, make sure to call her for a tour.
All this was made possible by Maggie, who grew up going to the moor in the summers as her family had a home there, and in turn bringing her own children there. Thank you Maggie!!
And thank you to Karin for hosting in her beautiful home and thank you to Sally who worked on the technology challenges - we definitely need to import a 16 year old for night like this to reduce the whole stress level of high tech.
Karin also provided the idea for our next book - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I contacted Ann (or her publicist at least) to see if she would zoom in for a discussion. She turned me down flat so we will just have to struggle on without her. Can anyone volunteer to host? Our date should be Nov. 20. See you all then!
