Appalachian History

University of South CarolinaColumbia, S.C. June 29, 1889 O.P. Temple, EsqMy dear Judge I have read with great interest every word of the Knoxville Journal, concerning John Sevier, etc. The occasion was on of deep historic interest. I hope you will send me the more permanent publication which will doubtless be issued hereafter. Your own [...]

St. Patrick’s Day is only a couple of weeks off, and one of the things you’ll always find plenty of at that celebration is shillelaghs. The shillelagh [siúil éille is an old Gaelic word meaning "oak club"] is a wooden cudgel associated with the Shillelagh Forest in County Wicklow, Ireland, famous for its once massive [...]

January 25 marks the 253rd birthday of poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), who continues to be widely loved in the Scots-Irish community. Many of the bard’s songs and poems have become international favorites – even among those who find his use of Scottish lowland dialect difficult to decipher. If you find yourself in Franklin, NC this [...]

Ringing out the old, ringing in the new. Everyone’s doing it tomorrow night. One New Year tradition in Appalachia is the New Year baby. The custom of using a baby to signify the New Year originated in ancient Greece, the baby symbolizing in this case not birth, but re-birth. The Germans added the twist of [...]

Scots-Irish Impact on the Appalachian region Please welcome guest blogger Byron Chesney. By day a computer applications engineer in Knoxville, TN, Chesney is also an active observer of the Southern Appalachian scene on his numerous Tennessee and Knoxville area related websites. Somewhere in all that he manages to eat and sleep! Stubborn, proud, independent, rugged, [...]