On April 2, 1931 Horace Kephart was killed in an automobile accident near Ela, NC along with fellow author Fiswoode Tarelton. Kephart (1862-1931) was a travel writer and librarian who published hundreds of articles during his lifetime, but became especially renowned for his classic works ‘Our Southern Highlanders’ and ‘Camping and Woodcraft.’ In one of [...]
0 commentsThe city of Middlesboro, Kentucky, was established in the late 1880s by Scottish born Canadian Alexander Alan Arthur and his British backers in the American Association Ltd. They were drawn to the area by the promise of iron ore deposits in the Cumberland Mountains. Arthur purchased 80,000 acres of land and built his city in [...]
1 commentsBy January 1, 1941, Harlan and Bell Counties were 95 per cent organized. The only nasty non-union outpost was the Fork Ridge mine just across the Kentucky line in Tennessee, a short distance from Middlesboro. The mine was operated by C. W. (Dusty) Rhodes, president and general manager. Searchlights were placed on the tipple and [...]
2 commentsA prolific composer, South Carolinian Lily Strickland (1884-1958) published 395 musical works for popular, church, and children’s performances. Her early works displayed the influences of life in the Jim Crow South, incorporating numerous elements of African American spirituals and folk music and the rhythms of Southern speech. Lily was the only daughter of Charlton Hines [...]
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