Dave Tabler, Author at Appalachian History

I don’t know when I got my first radio, but Daddy had one of the first radios there was in Ceres, VA (shown here in 1912). It was about as big as television is now.

davy crockett with birthplace behind him

June 5, 2019 Appalachian celebrities / Backwoodsmen/guides / Tennessee

Home and the school-house had both become too hot for me

Folk hero Davy Crockett was born in Greene County, TN. He remained in East Tennessee until 1811, when his parents moved to Lincoln County.

“A Characteristic Group, Representing Chang and Eng, the Siamese Twins, with Their Wives and Children,” c. 1850.

June 4, 2019 Appalachian celebrities / Carnivals & circuses / North Carolina / Unusual medical conditions

The Siamese Twins at home in Mt. Airy

After spending much of their lives on tour, the Bunkers settled in Mount Airy. They married sisters and raised a total of 21 children.

Early view of Lincoln Theatre interior, Marion, VA

June 3, 2019 Theatres / Virginia

Sound comes to the photoplays

The Lincoln Theatre is completely and finely equipped for the reproduction of sound with the showing of its photoplays.

union mining company aerial b&w illustration 1895

May 31, 2019 Coal mining / Maryland

Picnic in a coal mine

Sometimes the official stories that make it into museum collections just don’t shed enough light on the complete context of an event.

Author: Dave Tabler

“You would wear yourself down winding it up”

Home and the school-house had both become too hot for me

The Siamese Twins at home in Mt. Airy

Sound comes to the photoplays

Picnic in a coal mine