Dave Tabler, Author at Appalachian History

B’ar in the Syrup Bar’l

He r’ared up on his hind legs, started slapping at that bar’l trying to git it offen his head. In about 3-4 minutes he rolled over, dead.

In late 1943 Dutton agreed to publish a volume of poetry titled “The Ballad of the Bones.” By January 1946, the book was in its 3rd printing.

West Virginian Bruce Crickard describes trapping a live bear, then carrying it back home strung on a pole, still live.

Mountain dialect reflects the Anglo-Saxon origin of the mountain people; obsolete words found in Shakespeare and the KJV Bible are common.

What was it like in Moore Hollow after the mines got started? It was booming. New York didn’t have any more business than Moore Hollow.