Place names Archives - Appalachian History

How Virginia’s Huckleberry Train got its name

Newspapers called it “the Christiansburg-Blacksburg Railroad.” Here’s how the railroad became connected in people’s minds to huckleberries.

As with elsewhere in Georgia, many of Rabun County’s place names are derived from Indian names. In Rabun County that would be the Cherokees.

It probably should’ve been named William Christian Lake, considering the herculean efforts of Pulaski County, VA to preserve his legacy.

Justus Stearns heard reports of vast tracts of virgin timber in the southern Kentucky counties of Pulaski, Wayne, and Whitley.

While all documented versions of the story are very different, they all claim the town was named after the dish — rabbit hash.

Developed by Thunderbolthost