Appalachian History

Shivarees, Spin the Bottle, and Post Office

If you’ve taken part in a shivaree and played post office and spin-the-bottle, chances are you’ve been around a half-century or more.

Clark Dyer filed patent 154,654 for his ‘Apparatus for navigating the air’ a full 29 years before the Wright brothers made their flight.

Silk-Stocking Hill, Seneca, SC. Six of its houses were built by the Gignilliat family. Who were they, and how did they end up in the upstate?

Here’s a day in the life as reported in the February 14, 1930 edition of the Clinch Valley News in Raven, VA

Thousands of families, most Eastern European immigrants, streamed into the shadows of Black Mountain, KY between the World Wars to mine coal.