In the 1700s, Palatinates were driven out of their native German-Swiss regions by war, famine, and dwindling land options. Several of the author's ancestors were part of this immigration, including his fourth-great grandfather, Jacob Vatter, whose surname was changed to Feather. After serving in the Revolutionary War, he and his wife set out for Somerset County, Pa., and from there, to Preston County, Virginia, where they were among the early settlers of Lenox (Crab Orchard community). Their sons and daughters married other second-generation Palatinates, as well as offspring of established Scotch-Irish and English immigrants. As farming declined and exploitation of the land and its minerals took its toll on the economy and sustainability of subsistence farming, the fourth and fifth generation sons left the high places for the industrial flat lands of Ohio and Maryland. But the intense draw of these mountains, which reminded the Palatinates of the landscape they knew in the Rhineland region, could not be ignored. The author's personal journey back to the mountains and coming full circle is at the center of this story from start to finish.