An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series Editor’s Note: The following is a fictionalized letter inspired by Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones) real-life words and activism. While this letter is imagined, the events it describes—the brutality of the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek strike, the suffering of the miners, and the role of…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series The Road That Changed America Imagine standing at the edge of civilization, your worldly possessions packed onto a horse, your family by your side. The road ahead is no more than a rough footpath, cutting through dense forest and winding toward a mountain pass. You’ve heard…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series In the hills and hollers of Old Appalachia, long before hospitals dotted the landscape, there were the granny women. They were the healers, midwives, and wisdom-keepers of mountain communities, blending herbal medicine, faith, and folklore to treat everything from fevers to broken bones. Their remedies, whispered…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series Life on the early frontier often hinged on one thing: salt. It preserved food, kept animals and humans healthy, and was used as trade currency. Great battles were fought over it. Men died mining it. The salt trade on the Holston River wasn’t just a business;…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series In the last days of the Civil War, as Richmond burned and the Confederacy fell apart, a desperate group rolled out of town. They carried something more valuable than weapons—they carried their stash of Confederate gold. This fortune, meant to keep the Confederacy alive, made its…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series The Abduction On the Western Frontier of Virginia in 1776, life was a delicate balance between survival and danger. Boonesborough, in Kentucky County, VA, had been settled just a year earlier. A tenuous treaty between a handful of tribal leaders and the British government allowed the…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series Driving north on Interstate 77 near Wytheville, VA, just before where the highway crosses the New River, stands a tower made from field stone: The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower. For more than 30 years, until 1839, the Tower manufactured lead shot. It played a key role…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series Another Valentine’s Day looms ahead. Some young ladies will be expecting gifts; some young men will hustle at the last minute to grab flowers or candy or secure a coveted dinner reservation. Others, perhaps, will be carefully crafting the perfect message for an online dating profile…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series The wind tore through the brakeman’s jacket as he inched along the top of a freight car, his boots skidding slightly on the frosted steel. Below him, the Blue Ridge Mountains stretched out in waves, shrouded in a foggy mist. The train groaned and shuddered as…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series The breaker boys’ story is one of stark contrasts: the innocence of childhood stolen by the grit and grime of industrial labor. Imagine being eight years old, bent over a conveyor belt, fingers raw and aching from hours of picking slate out of coal. The air…
An installment in our Appalachian History and Culture series Imagine a quilt hanging on a clothesline, fluttering gently in the breeze. To a casual observer, it’s just a piece of fabric, a practical household item airing out in the sun. But for some, it might have been a covert message—a guide to freedom for those…
An installment in our Folklore & Legends series Picture this: it’s Christmas morning, and you’re rushing to get the cinnamon rolls in the oven, clear the wrapping paper carnage, and maybe post a perfectly filtered photo of your tree on social media before the dog eats the ornament hooks. Imagine trying to do all that…