Every journey begins somewhere. For The WayMaker Saga, it begins in Scotland in 1715—with a blacksmith, his family, and a decision that will carry them across an ocean and into a new world.
(August 19, 2026). Beyond the Sea: Road to Bath, the first book in The WayMaker Saga, follows Joshua and Sara Davis and their young children, John and Elspeth, as they leave the life they know behind and set sail for Carolina.
But their story is about more than a voyage.
It is about what happens when ordinary people are swept into extraordinary moments in history—and the choices they make when the road ahead is uncertain.
Where the Journey Begins
In the early eighteenth century, crossing the Atlantic was not simply a journey from one place to another. It meant leaving behind family, familiarity and the world you understood for a future you could barely imagine.
For Joshua Davis, a young Scottish blacksmith, and his wife Sara, Carolina represents possibility. But reaching it will demand far more from their family than they expect.
Their voyage carries them through the Atlantic, into a violent storm and ultimately onto the Carolina coast—where survival becomes the first task and building a life becomes the next.
From there, the family enters the world of Bath, North Carolina, a growing colonial town shaped by waterways, trade, ambition, conflict and the people—European, African and Native—whose lives intersected there.
The history is real. The Davis family’s journey is the thread that carries us through it.
Meet the Davis Family
At the heart of The WayMaker Saga is a family trying to find its place in a changing world.
Joshua Davis is a blacksmith—a man accustomed to shaping iron with his own hands and trusting the value of honest work. His wife, Sara, brings a different kind of strength: practical knowledge, healing skills, resilience and a fierce commitment to her family.
Their children, John and Elspeth, experience this new world differently. Through their eyes, history becomes something to explore. A shell found along a creek, an unfamiliar trail, a ship entering the harbor or a conversation overheard in Bath can become the beginning of a much larger discovery.
Together, their different perspectives allow readers to experience history not only through major events and famous names, but through the everyday lives of the people who lived within them.
Because history doesn’t happen around ordinary families. It happens to them, through them—and because of the choices they make.
History You Experience, Not Just Memorize
History can feel distant when it is reduced to names, dates and events on a page. The WayMaker Saga approaches it differently.
Readers encounter the past as the Davis family encounters it—through the people they meet, the work they do, the landscapes they cross and the questions their children begin to ask.
The growing port at Bath becomes a place to understand colonial trade. A blacksmith’s forge reveals the importance of skilled trades. A journey through the Carolina wilderness opens questions about geography, plants, wildlife and Native communities. Ships arriving in the harbor lead naturally into exploration, navigation, commerce—and eventually piracy.
Real historical figures and events enter the story alongside the fictional Davis family, allowing readers to see how individual lives existed within the much larger forces shaping early America.
The goal isn’t simply to tell children what happened. It is to make them curious enough to ask why.
A Story That Keeps Going
Beyond the Sea: Road to Bath is only the beginning.
The WayMaker Saga is designed as a multigenerational historical series, following one family’s journey across nearly three centuries of American history. As generations change and the family moves forward, readers will encounter new places, new challenges and new turning points in the nation’s story.
The people at the center of the books will change. The world around them will change. But the questions that shape their lives remain remarkably familiar: Where do we belong? What do we carry forward? What is worth protecting? And what kind of path will we leave for those who come after us?
That is where the idea of the WayMaker becomes larger than any single character.
A waymaker is someone who learns from the paths behind them, recognizes the choices before them and helps create a path for those who will follow.
One family. Many generations. A journey still unfolding.
Beyond the Book
The WayMaker Saga was created to do something a story can do especially well: open a doorway.
A child may begin by wondering how Joshua worked iron in his forge, how sailors navigated an ocean, what plants Sara might have used, how people traveled through the Carolina wilderness, or what creatures lived along the Pamlico Sound.
Those questions don’t have to end when the chapter does.
Through Stone & Arrow, the world surrounding the Saga can expand into history, geography, science, nature, engineering, art, music and hands-on discovery—giving families opportunities to follow the subjects that capture a child’s curiosity.
The story becomes the starting point. Curiosity determines where the journey goes next.
Read the story. Follow the questions. Discover the world behind it.
The Journey Is Just Beginning
History leaves trails everywhere—in the places we live, the names we carry, the objects people left behind and the stories passed from one generation to the next.
The WayMaker Saga invites families to follow those trails together.
Because history is more than a collection of dates. It is a trail of choices, discoveries, hardships and hopes left by the people who walked before us.
The WayMaker Saga invites you to follow that trail—and discover where it leads.