Appalachian History

Mountain Echo Hyden, KY. Jan. 18. 1897 NOT MURDERED……BUT TURNED BOY! The mystery of the disappearance of Miss Polly Feltner has been cleared up. She was found on the head of a creek called Leatherwood in Perry County, forty miles from here. She became angry at her parents because they refused to send her to [...]

An open letter to the readers of the Appalachian History blog, from Cynthia Fife Coughlin, a student at Radford University: I began reading the mission of Radford University as included in RU’s 7-17 Strategic Plan after my major, Anthropology, was eliminated from Radford’s curriculum two days into the semester. It reads, “The vision and mission [...]

I’ve got a ’40 John Deere, and I’ve got the biggest part of equipment for it, and it’s . . . it’s up there in the barn. It’ll still run. And we . . . we worked around here and worked for other people and, you know, in a small community like this, you . [...]

On March 10, 1920, the West Virginia Legislature passed a joint resolution ratifying the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. The original constitution of Virginia allowed only white men who owned property to vote. The property qualification was dropped in the revised 1850 constitution. When West Virginia joined the [...]

If you’re a lover of classical chamber music living in Asheville, NC, you can thank the efforts of Jeanette and Joe Vanderwart for helping make that performing art available locally. This couple moved to the area in the 1950’s, and Joe’s work in the lumber industry provided a good living. They were able to introduce [...]