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The Battle of Blair Mountain….Revisited
In late August and September of 1921, the largest armed rebellion in the U.S. since the Civil War was mounted in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. Union coal miners gathered, in numbers estimated anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 strong, outside of Charleston. It is perhaps misleading to call them an “army”, for they had…
Read MoreSupporting Their Farming “Habit”
“Know how to make a small fortune farming?” “Start out with a large fortune and pretty soon you’ll have a small one.” This sort of wry humor is standard among farmers when talking about their declining profession. It’s no secret that the family farm is in financial trouble – the nation’s small farms have been…
Read MoreThe First Appalachian Journey
A country road in the west of Scotland. I look out at the sweep of field and forested hills surrounding us, and I feel a sense of calm. “It looks right,” I say. A month later I went home to southwest Virginia with a photograph of that landscape of Scottish countryside, and I passed it…
Read MoreWendell Berry on Sustainability, Citizenship and Becoming a Native
For over forty years, Wendell Berry has written from his hillside farm in Kentucky. Through more than thirty books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, he has critiqued the many problems of our American lifestyle while also offering more ecologically sane alternatives. What follows are excerpts from an interview with Berry conducted in November of 2003.…
Read MoreThe New River
“Hey Jeffrey, take a look at that water – is it fishable?” asked Judson, not taking his eyes off the narrow, winding and fog-covered road ahead. “Looks a little dingy, but it’s not a mud ball,” answered Jeffrey. “I’m not happy with it yet.” At 7:00 am, somewhere along the New River near the Virginia-North…
Read MoreMountain Camp Thrills and Fulfills
I sat under the hand-notched timbers of a traditional southern Appalachian mid-eighteenth century style barn, dark rain clouds overhead. I listened as a dozen kids described their adventures that week and I admired the handmade medallion necklaces they had just completed. Propped on a woodworking bench opposite me sat G., a beautiful eleven year old…
Read MoreBirds on the Wing
Spring is perhaps the best time of year for watching birds, and, ironically, is one of only a couple times each year one might actually see a Tennessee warbler in Tennessee or a Nashville warbler stop to rest its wings on a WSM transmitter. There is no better time to watch birds than when they…
Read MoreMuskie Mania!
Most people go fishing with the expectation, or at least the prospect, of catching a fish or two. Muskie fisherman, however, are a different breed altogether. Anglers who pursue the mighty muskellunge — a toothy member of the pike family that grow locally up to 35 pounds and reach lengths of 50 inches — come…
Read MoreWinter Camping in Mountains Offers Solitude, Challenges
At 4,545 feet, nothing grows on the summit of West Virginia’s Black Mountain except for stubby chin-high pines that have entrenched their twisted roots into what would otherwise be a lunar landscape of loose, white rocks, the remnant of a mountain peak that was once among the highest in the world. My reason for choosing…
Read MoreWith Mast Down, Scout Early & Often For Whitetail
Forester Ray Boggs would like to find some ginseng behind his house, but all he sees is deer sign. That’s fine with him. This fall is special for Boggs, who has worked with the state forestry department for three decades. He planned his retirement for October, just as the fall fire season begins and archery…
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