Appalachian History

Please welcome guest author Michael Rivers. Rivers is a southern writer of both fiction and non-fiction work. The following excerpt is from his forthcoming book ‘Appalachia Mountain Folklore,’ due out at the end of December, published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen PA and available for pre-order now. Rivers’ previous books include ‘Verliege,’ ‘The Black Witch,’ [...]

But, strange as it seemed to him, there were minutes — sometimes half-hours — when, without his knowing why, the black burden seemed to lift itself again and he knew he was a living man and not a dead one. Slowly — slowly — for no reason that he knew of — he was “coming [...]

He was at work in the field. The sweat ran in trickles down his back and cascaded from his eyebrows into his eyes. The world was still and bright and fiery in the blaze of a July noon. He rested between the plow handles behind the mare. Sweat traced little rivers down the legs of [...]

Please welcome Betty Dotson-Lewis and Kathleen Colley Slusher, co-authors of the novel ‘The Girl from Stretchneck Holler,’ released in April by Brighton Publishing, LLC. We’re pleased to present an excerpt from the book below. Dotson-Lewis was born in the coalfields of southwest Virginia in Buchanan County where her family had deep roots in the coal [...]

The following article by Rick Steelhammer appeared in the November 12 issue of The Charleston Gazette. Reprinted here with permission. The route U.S. 60 follows as it traverses the breadth of Southern West Virginia has gone through a number of name changes. Known first as the Buffalo Trail in deference to the bison that trod [...]