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
Category: Personalities
The Man Who Wanted to be Alone – Uncle Nick GrindstaffThe Man Who Wanted to be Alone – Uncle Nick Grindstaff
In the late 19th century a man from Stoney Creek, in Johnson County, Tennessee, went West to seek his fortune. He found that fortune. He then lost that fortune and
The Unfetchable Melungeon Moonshiner (Video)The Unfetchable Melungeon Moonshiner (Video)
A woman who once lived atop Newman’s Ridge in Hancock County developed a reputation as the biggest moonshiner in Appalachia, literally. Her unique ability to avoid the law brought reporters
Andrew Jackson’s Giant Wheel of CheeseAndrew Jackson’s Giant Wheel of Cheese
After America’s first Appalachian president was elected, a farmer in New York decided to send him a very fragrant gift, one which President Andrew Jackson had trouble getting rid of.
The Unfetchable MoonshinerThe Unfetchable Moonshiner
One of the biggest moonshiners (literally) in Appalachia was a Melungeon woman from Newman’s Ridge in Hancock County, Tennessee. She lived an interesting life, providing shine in many ways, including
The Outlaw Kinnie WagnerThe Outlaw Kinnie Wagner
The 1920s were a decade of loosening morals, Prohibition and crime, with notorious outlaws popping up across America. Along with the likes of Al Capone, John Dillinger and Bonnie and
The Legendary Revenuer: Big SixThe Legendary Revenuer: Big Six
We’ve told stories of moonshiners; we’ve even interviewed one of them. Today we’re going to tell the story of untaxed whiskey from the other side, that of the federal revenue
The Appalachian ProphetThe Appalachian Prophet
A man from Anderson County, Tennessee, had developed a reputation as being a bit strange, going on about all those visions he had after his wife left him years before.
The Cloudland HotelThe Cloudland Hotel
After the Civil War fine hotels were built all along the mountain range that separated North Carolina and Tennessee, each one grander than the last, a sort of Guilded Age
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