"Spencer's Mountain"--author Earl Hamner Jr's autobiographical Virginia-set tale became basis for memorable TV movie "The Homecoming" starring Patricia Neal and Richard Thomas and led to TV's long-running series "The Waltons"--author's own gentle voice, with its Central-Virginia inflections, can be heard as narrator of the series

  

Spencer's Mountain: The Family that Inspired the TV Series The Waltons

In this classic novel that inspired the TV series The Waltons, a father struggles to support his large family in Depression-era rural Virginia.
 
For generations, the Spencers lived on the mountain that still bears their name in the Blue Hills of Virginia. But the hard times changed everything. Now Clay Spencer works at the local mill in New Dominion and lives with his family in housing provided by the company. A proud patriarch, he is determined to build his loved ones a new home in the hills. And he’ll do whatever it takes to give his children the best lives possible—including his eldest son, Clay-Boy.
 
The first member of the family to graduate high school, Clay-Boy wants to go to college, but the cost of higher education is too great a burden for the Spencers to bear. Still, his father is not easily deterred, even in times of great trials and personal tragedy. But to help his firstborn achieve his cherished dream, the elder Clay may be forced to make a devastating sacrifice that could impact the future of the entire Spencer clan.
 
Based on the author’s own family background and childhood experiences, and the basis for the classic motion picture featuring Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara, Spencer’s Mountain is a moving celebration of familial love and commitment in the face of overwhelming odds. Evocative and unforgettable, it is a timeless American classic that will continue to captivate readers for generations to come.

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

Set on a Depression Christmas Eve in 1933, this heart-tugging story centers around the Walton. They’re a rural American family preparing to celebrate Christmas together. Though times are tough, love and sharing are abundant in this family. An inspiring tale of love, hope and spirit, this deeply moving story goes far beyond the boundaries of time and place to reach out and touch everyone, everywhere.

The Waltons: The Complete Series

They built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. For nine seasons, “The Waltons” were America’s family. Viewers’ hearts were captured by the story of John and Olivia Walton, their seven children, Grandpa and Grandma as they faced the Depression and World War II with not much more than a love of the land and the rock-solid support of one another. Richard Thomas, in the key role of John-Boy, portrays a youth on the verge of manhood and a writer whose observations are made through the filter of life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Over the years, the heartwarming series bring tests, tears and triumphs, and “The Waltons” experience topical and timeless family issues that are specific to the times, yet forever true: holding children close and letting them go, doing without and making do.

 

Earl Hamner Jr.

 

Earl Henry Hamner Jr. (born July 10, 1923 in Schuyler, Virginia), was an American television writer and producer (sometimes credited as Earl Hamner), best known for his work in the 1970s and 1980s on the long-running CBS series The Waltons and Falcon Crest. As a novelist, he was best known for Spencer’s Mountain, which was inspired by his own childhood and formed the basis for both the film of the same name and the television series The Waltons, for which he provided voiceover narration. 

http://www.earlhamner.com/about.html 

http://walton-mountain.org/