Appalachian History

Frank Slake (right) and Ray Stratton gathered holly and mistletoe in the hills near Lerose, KY for Christmas 1907 when they worked for the K. & P. Lumber Company established there. Full caption at Owsley County Historical & Genealogy Society. Tweet Send to Kindle

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 1881 poem titled ‘The Ashland [...]

One Christmas morn in eighty-one, Ashland Kentucky that quiet burg, Was startled the day had not yet dawned When the cry of fire was heard. For well they knew two fair ladies Had there retired to bed. The startled crowd broke in, alas, To find the girls both dead. And from the hissing, seething flames [...]

Irish monks in North America, centuries before Columbus? So claimed Dr. Barry Fell (1917-1994), a professor of invertebrate zoology at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and a president of the Epigraphic Society. Fell’s claims were based on his controversial work in New World epigraphy (the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved into stone or [...]

Our community derived its name from a medicinal plant known as Gin Seng. At one time it grew here in abundance. There is still some scattered plants to be found, and a few old timers still hunt for them. The roots bring a high price; they are exported to China. John Friend was the first [...]