Appalachian History

Please welcome guest author Arlene Marcley. Marcley is the founder and president of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library in Greenville, SC, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to honoring Shoeless Joe Jackson’s life and professional career. The great Ted Williams once remarked, “When I was younger, the Red Sox used to stop in [...]

His beginnings were humble; he was born the son of an immigrant Scottish coal miner in the company town of Lonaconing, MD. But John Gardner Murray (1857-1929) rose to the heights of the Episcopal Church on the national level, becoming the first elected Presiding Bishop in 1926. Until the church began electing a Presiding Bishop [...]

KATY SAGETHE LOST GIRL OF GRAYSON By Ex-Judge D. W. Bolen, “Hillsville Advocate”Wytheville, VA Friday, November 5, 1897 The 11th of April, 1793, was a bright and balmy day. Early that morning James Sage went to his “clearing” to prepare his ground for crop. The day opened so bright and clear that Mrs. Sage decided [...]

We post a new episode of Appalachian History weekly podcast every Sunday. Check us out on the Stitcher network, available on mobile phones, in-car dashboards and tablets worldwide. Just click below to start listening: We open today’s show with a 19th century political analysis that rings eerily true during this current American presidential campaign. “As [...]

“For the last three or four years, or until the middle of 1920, the cotton mills passed through a very prosperous period, just as did every other kind of business that was properly managed. “The cotton mills made large profits, but if any other business, including farming, failed to make large profits during the period [...]