|
|
Blue Ridge Parkway Overlook at Groundhog Mountain, Meadows of Dan, VA
|
|
|
|
Howdy, and welcome to the first edition of the Blue Ridge Tales newsletter. The BRT website and newsletter are new, and I appreciate your support.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Porta-Potty, Johnny-on-the-Spot, Outhouse, Portable toilet. Whatever you call them, they all have one thing in common: they stay put once you set them up. They don't go anywhere. Unless you are in Independence, VA, on the second Sunday in October, when you will see outhouses running down the main street. The running outhouses are part of the Grand Privy Race …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appalachian Folk Magic The Celtic roots of the Appalachian people run deep. Appalachian folk magic practitioners regarded natural openings like caves, lakes, graves, or a coffin as "thin spots" or portals between heaven and earth, where one can glimpse the spiritual world. In these places, lost spirits might be seen lingering near their graves. Of course, we don't believe that. …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bluegrass music and flatfoot dancing go together like bread and butter. Go to any event with live bluegrass music, and someone will set up a dancing platform or throw a piece of plywood on the ground and start flatfooting. Flatfooting, also known as clogging, foot-stomping, or buck-dancing, consists of dancing alone or in groups to up-tempo music, using enthusiastic footwork …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The moonshine still's cook pot sits down the hill by the creek, mounted atop a stone furnace. The copper tubing leading to the cooling barrel is green with verdigris. The wooden chute that carried water to cool the steaming moonshine is green with moss, but the mash barrels look almost new. The U.S. government once went to great lengths to …
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, that's it for this edition. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like me to cover a particular topic, drop me a line at the address below. And don't forget to "like" our Facebook page. It's new, too.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
© 2024 Wayne Jordan. All rights reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
