Appalachian History

Like many locations in Georgia, many of Rabun County’s place names are derived from Indian names. In Rabun County that would be the Cherokees. In most Indian place names, we know the English spelling of how the Cherokees pronounced the word, but no actual translation of what the word means. For example, both Chattooga and [...]

Doctors once prescribed a tonic. Sulfur and molasses was the dose. Didn’t help one bit. My condition must be chronic. Spring can really hang you up the most. “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” (1952) lyrics by Fran Landesman; music by Tommy Wolf Time to shed the sluggishness of winter! Up till the [...]

Please welcome guest author C. Douglas Ward, principal of Williamson High School, Williamson, WV.  The following article was culled from his master’s thesis, “A Case Study of an Appalachian Community during the Great Depression,” submitted, and accepted, at Marshall University in 1990. Ward is currently pursuing an ED. D . in Educational Leadership at Morehead [...]

She kept it under her hat for years, but now, the University of Tennessee’s first statistics graduate discusses how she did her part for the U.S. war effort in the 1940s, including her work with the top-secret Manhattan Project. How’s this for a job description? Manage the compilation of data obtained from a mass spectrometer [...]

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 guest author Ed Wetschler’s description of [...]