Tag Archives: appalachia

I’ve learned that the most interesting places are not right on the road

EVERY CREEK’S A STORY IN CLINTON COUNTY Ridge hikes and crossroad chats yield a bumper crop of legends 
down near the Tennessee border. By Howard Hardaway —Louisville Courier-Journal, no date, 1930s The ‘New Era’ is Clinton County, Kentucky’s only newspaper. W. H. Nunn has been the publisher for a number of years. He tells a [...]

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A dreadful cyclone that came this way

It was the greatest disaster ever known to this Western Virginia mountain village. On May 2, 1929, the unusually violent storm slammed into the little community of Rye Cove, VA in the mountains of Scott County. During the storm a tornado directly struck the local two-story schoolhouse, with over 150 children and teachers inside. The [...]

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Was I what you would call a pioneer? No, there were then old settlers

I sought and received the forgiveness of my sins in August 1861, at a camp meeting at Bird’s Chapel, in Dade County, Georgia. My conversion was so definite – I may say, so sweet and so satisfactory -followed by so great peace – which I could never be made to doubt that I was reconciled [...]

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The art and influence of fiddler Henry Reed

James Henry Neel Reed, known as Henry Reed, was born on April 28, 1884, in Monroe County, WV,  a rural county lying along the Virginia border in the Appalachian Mountains of southeastern West Virginia. Reed grew up in Monroe County as a member of a large extended family. His father and at least one uncle [...]

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The story told by an old account book

It is really surprising how much old account books can tell about people and the times. Changes in attitudes, customs, dress, and even the thinking of the people in a given community can be plainly detected and charted.

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