writers Archives - Appalachian History

The vanished community of Lost Cove

Neither North Carolina nor Tennessee claimed jurisdiction over Lost Cove. The boundary line wasn’t clear when it was founded. Hence the name.

Jesse Stuart’s ‘Man with a Bull-Tongue Plow,’ poems that celebrate his people and the natural world, appeared in 1934 and was widely praised.

John Fox Jr. made his name as a novelist after settling in Big Stone Gap, VA, where he spent the last 29 years of his life.

In this interview, Harriette Arnow, author of ‘The Dollmaker,’ discusses her time spent with the hill people of Kentucky.

‘Appalachian Bestiary’ presents stories of fantastical creatures—snipes, belled buzzards, hoop snakes—from the region’s folklore.