Appalachian History

If you’ve taken part in a shivaree and played post office and spin-the-bottle, chances are you’ve been around a half-century or more. In fact, you’ve been around so long the anthropologists may come looking for you to get information about those fine old East Tennessee customs of courtship and marriage. Dr. Charles H. Faulkner, a UT [...]

May 31, 1898 Yesterday morning, Monday, I left Hyden to come to this neighborhood to see about getting permission to furnish a teacher for this school district. There are 109 scholars in the census. I want to put a Wilmore teacher here, full of the Holy Ghost, to get the people saved. Storefronts in Hyden, [...]

Shenandoah Herald Woodstock VA April 2, 1909 ‘To Find Your Affinity’ Your affinity is your mate, but unless you know the six types of happy married folks on Olympus, up to date, you may miss yours. Jupiter, king of heaven, ruler of men, house and business, must marry Juno, the queenly woman, plump, domestic, wise [...]

At the first call of the robin in the spring, Aunt Emmie on Honey Camp Run, in clean starched apron and calico frock, dragged her rocker to the front stoop of her little house and there she sat for hours rocking contentedly while her nimble fingers moved swiftly with crochet needle and thread. “Aunt Emmie’s [...]

When the mountain girl marries and responsibility is put upon her, she thriftily adapts herself to conditions. A young girl of sixteen who was about to marry was looking at my wedding ring one day. “Did you get that plain ring when you married?” she asked. “Why, of course,” I said, carelessly using a broad [...]