Blair Mountain

On December 30, 1881, 30 convicts, along with their guards, were shackled and deposited on the banks of the Tuckaseegee River near Dillboro, North Carolina, with a job to do: cross the river in a boa...

6 Jan 202411min

In the early 1900's a young mother in Polk County, North Carolina, had a decision to make. She had separated from her abusive husband and had several young children to feed, house and clothe, with ve...

30 Dec 202313min

With Christmas fast approaching, Rod and Steve talk about the history and the folklore behind Christmas in Appalachia...You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PlayerFM, S...

23 Dec 202311min

David Crockett Beaty was a farmer in Fentress County, Tennessee...until the start of the Civil War.He became a guerrilla fighter in that war, on the side of the Union, with his most well-known rebel c...

16 Dec 202317min

In 1902 coal miners struck the mines along the New River, seeking better wages and better working conditions. The strike continued until February 25, 1903, when a massive gun battle broke out between ...

9 Dec 202312min

In 1843 a prominent man in Jamestown, Tennessee, distributed a broadsheet, under an assumed name, accusing the wife of a tavern owner of being, among other sordid things, a "witch of the most extraord...

2 Dec 202310min

Granny women were the healers and caretakers of folks in Appalachia, dispensing folk remedies, serving as midwives, and even dousing for water. These women were essential in rural Appalachia, where do...

25 Nov 202314min

At the turn of the 20th century a wealthy and politically connected man from Grainger County, Tennessee, lost a lawsuit filed by a widow and was ordered to pay her a sum of money. Failing to do that,...

18 Nov 202312min