The Buffalo Creek DisasterThe Buffalo Creek Disaster
In February, 1972, a coal company muck dam along Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, collapsed after a winter of heavy snow and rain. The resulting flash flood of
Category: The Coalfields
The Girl From Slab Fork, West VirginiaThe Girl From Slab Fork, West Virginia
Doris Payne was born in 1930 to a coal miner in Slab Fork, West Virginia. She didn’t stay there. In fact, she ended up traveling the world for decades pursuing
The Frontier Nursing ServiceThe Frontier Nursing Service
In the 1920s the granddaughter of a U.S. Vice-President established a unique nurse/midwife service in rural eastern Kentucky. Mary Carson Breckinridge led this program until she died in 1965, providing
The Hatfields and the McCoys: After the FeudThe Hatfields and the McCoys: After the Feud
When you say “feud” anywhere in America, what comes to most folks’ minds are the names “Hatfield” and “McCoy.” That notorious feud has been the stuff of legend not just
The Murder That Never Happened: The Story of Condy DabneyThe Murder That Never Happened: The Story of Condy Dabney
In 1925 a man from Coal Creek, Tennessee, named Condy Dabney came to Harlan County, Kentucky, looking for work down in the mines. He soon tired of that work and
The “Hillbilly Girl” Murder Case: Edith MaxwellThe “Hillbilly Girl” Murder Case: Edith Maxwell
In 1935 a young Appalachian teacher from Pound, Virginia, was arrested for the murder of her abusive father. The trials that followed attracted the attention of the national press, which
The Howard-Turner FeudThe Howard-Turner Feud
In the 1880’s and early 1890’s Harlan County, Kentucky was the scene for one of the most notorious feuds aside from the one between the Hatfields and McCoys. Two prominent
John Fox Jr., An Appalachian StorytellerJohn Fox Jr., An Appalachian Storyteller
One of the first writers to bring the real Appalachia to the world was John Fox Jr., who had come to the coal boom town of Big Stone Gap, making
The Dunglen HotelThe Dunglen Hotel
During the post-Civil War coal boom in West Virginia, many new towns were founded to serve the coal industry and the railroads that hauled that coal to market. One of
The Hawk’s Nest Tunnel DisasterThe Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster
Hawk’s Nest is in the mountains of West Virginia, not far from Fayetteville. From there you have a lovely view of the New River as it curves around the mountains