Stories, quotes and anecdotes from Appalachia. 1880s-1950s era.

Category: Appalachian Trail

Benton MacKaye proposes the Appalachian Trail

Benton MacKaye (1879-1975) was the first person to propose the idea of the Appalachian Trail, which he did in October of 1921.

His gravestone reads “Lived alone, suffered alone, died alone,” but in the 1870’s Nick Grindstaff was Johnson County’s most colorful resident

Emma Gatewood became “Grandma Gatewood” to her immediate family long before the rest of the world knew her by that title.

When I first wrote about our Grandma Gatewood project for Appalachian History in 2013, we were at the half-way point of our shooting schedule.

Bette Lou Higgins, herself working on a PBS documentary about Emma Gatewood’s life, reviews Ben Montgomery’s new book.

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Appalachian Innovators: Untold Stories of Invention and Ingenuity
July 16, 2024
Heavy Rainfall Events and Their Impacts in Appalachian History
February 27, 2024
From Root Cellars to Larders to Modern Pantries: The Evolution of Food Storage in Appalachian Homesteads
January 12, 2024
A Journey Through Appalachian Winemaking History
November 9, 2023
The Historic Role and Contemporary Allure of Vintage Appalachian Farm Trucks
September 7, 2023

David Doerr on Tapping Oil at the Roots of a Family Tree
Tami on The Guineas of West Virginia
Marbles in the Graveyard - The Secret Life of Marbles on Put the corpse in the barn till spring
Brian Sherwood on 125 reasons you’ll get sent to the lunatic asylum
Kat on “Everyday” Appalachian Superstitions

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