Appalachian History

The following article by Danny Bernstein ran on April 12, 2011 on the National Parks Traveler site. I did not realize how dark and small the old Oconaluftee Visitor Center at Great Smoky Mountains National Park was until I walked into the airy, spacious new one. The 6,300-square-foot visitor center and history museum, located two [...]

Ahhhh, dandelion wine! The popular name comes from dent de lion, French for “lion’s tooth,” referring to the teeth on the leaves. Wine is made from the heads. Choose dandelions from an open field far from any insecticide spraying. Pick early in the season when the leaves of the plant are still tender. Flowers that [...]

From the Athens News, December 9, 2002 SAN TOY: GHOST TOWN OR A BLACK DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH? By Matt Zuefle In 1996, on my last visit to San Toy, Ohio, I had to stop and ask directions twice. Driving down a long, unpaved road to the bottom of a deep, wooded valley, I came [...]

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 a look at the rise of [...]

Some know the song as “Nancy Brown,” others as “The West Virginia Hills,” but according to The Frank Gullo Music Sheet (sic) Collection at Millersville University, “She Came Rollin’ down the Mountain” was written by Arthur Lippmann, Manning Sherwin, and Harry Richman and published by Crawford Music Corporation in 1932. The ditty tells the tale [...]