Marci Spencer, author of Potluck, Message Delivered: The Great Smoky Mountains Are Saved!, will speak at Lanier Library’s Brown Bag Lunch on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Retired from a career as a nurse practitioner, who also spent time in overseas medical missionary service, Spencer has many years experience in independent nature study and has been certified as a Blue Ridge Naturalist by the North Carolina Arboretum.

Her latest book, illustrated for children, tells the story of an expedition to Clingmans Dome by journalists in 1929 to celebrate plans by North Carolina and Tennessee to form the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hiking journalists used homing pigeons to send word back to Asheville of their journey – the first attempt at exploration of this wilderness area destined to become the nation’s most visited national park.

Other books by Spencer include Clingmans Dome: Highest Mountain in the Great Smokies, and Pisgah National Forest: A History.

Lanier Library holds Brown Bag Lunches on the third Tuesday of each month at noon in the library. Events are free and open to the public. For more information about this event or about becoming a member of the library, visit lanierlib.org or call 828-859-9535.

–Submitted by Gina Malone