Michael C. Hardy has a passion for North Carolina history. He's written about battles, pirates and mountains in books, blog posts and articles. His ancestors lived in Surry and Wilkes Counties, marching with Colonel Benjamin Cleveland to fight at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Since 1995, Michael has called the High Country home. He is a former board member of both the Yancey History Association and the Avery County Historical Museum, and in 2010, he was named Historian of the Year. When not researching and writing, he volunteers as an interpreter at historic sites.