2006 – Issue 3 (June)
National Trust lists Blair Mountain Among Most Endangered Places
This April, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Blair mountain, the West Virginia site of a 1921 labor confrontation, as one of the country’s most threatened historic places. “Past preservation efforts have failed because of fierce opposition from the coal companies that own or lease most of the ridge,” said the National Trust for…
Read MoreAppalachian Festivals
It all started with a wagon in 1973. And Jimmy Neil Smith didn’t really think it would work. Smith brought Jerry Clower, the comedian, onto the stage at the Washington County Courthouse Square in Jonesborough, Tenn. But Smith also had a backup for his marquee – he hired Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys as…
Read MoreMorton’s Legacy Endures for Appalachia’s Environment
images/voice_uploads/13_HM_Mildred.gif One of Appalachcia’s most powerful voices has been silenced by cancer at age 85. Hugh Morton, a prominent North Carolina environmentalist, photographer and real estate developer, died at his home, surrouned by family, on the first of June. Known as the owner of Grandfather Mountain resort and also as a real estate developer and…
Read MoreBlair Mountain: the forgotten civil war
images/voice_uploads/18_Mother-Jones.gif To the commissioners of Jefferson County, West Virginia it looked like a slam dunk. All they wanted to do was level the 80-year old former Jefferson County jail that sits on the main street of the sleepy community of Charles Town and has not housed any creatures except rats for years. The commissioners planned…
Read MoreRemembering the Past, Working for the Future
I am a child of Appalachia, and I say that with pride. I was born and raised in a coal camp up Cabin Creek Hollow near Kayford, West Virginia. As was often the practice then, my family shared a house with my paternal grandparents. The home in which I was born is still standing; but…
Read MoreDiscovering the Underworld of Crayfish
images/voice_uploads/C.-chasmodactylus.gif You get a line and I’ll get a pole; We’ll all go down to the crawdad hole, Ho-ney, ba-by, mine. “The Crawdad Song,” southern American folk song Growing up in western North Carolina, I have two distinct memories related to crawdads- The Crawdad Song, a popular children’s tune sung by family members; and the…
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