Appalachian History

A few years ago the blacksmith was the very heart and center from which the great machine world grew. In your grandfather’s time the blacksmith shod horses, made plough points, built wagons and carriages, and made all kinds of tools and implements. He could turn his hand to making guns or clocks or locks and [...]

Clarkesville, GA has always had a great attraction for all sorts of cranks and oddities, who have drifted here from every quarter, besides having her fair share of the same sort of native production. Did the scope of this paper permit, I could relate many tales of interest both grave and gay. I will speak [...]

We post a new episode of Appalachian History weekly podcast every Sunday. You can start listening right away by clicking the podcast icon over on the right side of your screen. If you’d rather grab the show off itunes for later listening, click here: We open today’s show with an excerpt from interviews of coal [...]

Please welcome guest blogger Ron Dees, author of the Wythe Notes blog. “After 35 years of beating my head against the brick wall that is Washington, DC, as a lobbyist turned chef,” says Ron, “I dragged the long-suffering Anne to the wilds of Appalachia. Wythe Notes is my attempt to get in touch with my [...]

“The Battle of King’s Mountain (October 7, 1780) was an American victory over a loyalist detachment in South Carolina during the British campaign in the South,” begins the Encyclopedia Brittanica entry on the topic. “To stem the British advance into North Carolina, a force of about 2,000 colonial frontiersmen had been gathered from neighbouring states [...]