John Fox Jr. first visited the Cumberland Gap area while a student at Harvard College. His two older brothers, James and Horace, owned coal mines in Jellico, Tennessee, and the three came to the area as speculators and mineral developers in 1888. While exploring the area for business, John Fox became more and more fascinated with the region and its people, eventually abandoning his real estate interests for his writing. Works like The Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come reflected both his interest as well as a general interest among American readers for the Appalachian people.