Appalachian History

Author Gretchen Laskas caused quite a stir at the WV Book Festival several weeks ago in Charleston, where she discussed her newly published second book, “The Miner’s Daughter.” We decided to find out what all the fuss is about, and ask her a bit about she’s up to in this young adult novel. Appalachian History: [...]

“This was last used in 1942. It’s one of the mills that supplied part of the valley in here. “The original mill didn’t belong to my grandfather. It belonged to a family of Matthews that owned this property at that time. The Matthews were . . . I’m sure you’ve heard of the old Federal [...]

SALLY GOODIN’ Love her, love Sally Goodin’Love her, sweet thing Sally Goodin’ A big piece of pie, a big piece of puddin’Give it all away, to hug Sally Goodin’ Looked on the hill, seen Sally runnin’Yes my my, sweet thing Sally comin’ Up and down the road , the road all muddyTo hug Sally Goodin, [...]

NY TIMES (Oct 24, 1936): “Further evidence of Hollywood’s knack of distorting historical characters into stock figures of blood-and-thunder fiction is presented at the Palace in “Daniel Boone,” which purports to be a reasonably accurate chronicle of the frontiersman’s trek with a party of settlers from Yadkin, N. C., across the trackless Cumberland Mountains up [...]

“I was born on the Virginia Polytech Institute campus in October 1903, the son of Dr. Ellison Adger Smyth, Jr. of Charleston, South Carolina who came here with Dr. McBryde to found the Biology Department in 1891. “Mama, my mother, being from Charleston, did not feel that the house was really established unless there was [...]