Appalachian History

January 14, 2014 Appalachian music / Banjo

Making Music: The Banjo, Baltimore, and Beyond

Robert Winans, co-curator of a Baltimore Museum of Industry exhibition on the early banjo, explores how it moved from Africa into Appalachia.

January 13, 2014 Early settlers vs. native Americans / Maryland

1790: Was the Snider family massacred on Catoctin Mountain?

Did Jacob Snider & family live long, prosperous lives on Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain? Or were they murdered by Susquehanna Indians in 1790?

The Reedy River put Greenville on the map—and, like its meandering currents and rushing falls, is the centerpiece for its rise, fall, and triumphant rise again.

December 20, 2013 Christmas traditions / Virginia

Death by Eggnog

Addison Williams came to his death as a result of “being exposed to the cold after drinking a large quantity of mean whiskey.”

December 7, 2013 Culture shifts

Appalachian aesthetics and why I’ve been thinking about it

“We undervalue our diversity here,” says Nate May. “We white-out a significant portion of our history, much to our own detriment.”