On any given Sunday in Appalachia, a request to be baptized can be made. To mountain folk, this was an outward profession of an inward or personal faith in Jesus Christ. The water doesn’t wash away sins but serves as a testament to the world that the person has become…
When we last left Tom Dooley he had just been caught on the run in Tennessee. Now it was time to try him. The prospect of a trial gained much attention throughout the region and caught the attention of former governor North Carolina Governor Zeb Vance. Some believe that Vance…
The section of mountains I grew up in is called East Tennessee, Appalachia. I lived in a small, rugged, rural, mountain town called Sneedville, or Hancock County. This area is particularly known for its Melungeon heritage. I was born and raised here but never remember hearing the word “Melungeon” until…
In today’s edition of Appalachian Moments We explore the most famous love story gone wrong in North Carolina history as we hang our head with old Tom Dooley (Dula). Dooley was born to a poor Appalachian family in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Wilkes County, NC. Tom…
Appalachian folks hold tightly to many traditions that were passed down through their family lines or within a community as a whole. For example, folk medicines were said to be the go-to thing to use in case of an ailment. Many years ago, getting a doctor to a patient was…
Seven Devils…the village that we know today was just an isolated mountain valley farm perched between Hanging Rock and Grandfather Mountain. Farmers were growing cabbage and tobacco where the soil was good and running cattle up in the hills among the rocks and old arrowheads. The federal government opened up…
New Appalachian Moments Blog Post by Scott Ballard Just to be clear: A “haint” (sometimes referred to as a “haunt”) is an unsettled or angry dead spirit. A haint can range from a ghost to an undefinable something that scares the you-know-what out of you. In the same way a…
New Appalachian Moments Blog Post by Scott Ballard Born at the turn of the 20th century and prodigy as a child, young Thomas Wolfe enrolled in UNC Chapel Hill at age 15…impressive enough, but this kid had BRASS. During an induction ceremony for new members of the debate and literary…
New Appalachian Moments Blog Post by Scott Ballard Think about someone in your family (history) that you are the closest to or feel the strongest connection with. Got it? Who is it? As we get older and understand those folks better…we see their wisdom, sense their humanity, we often desire…
New Appalachian Moments Blog Post by Scott Ballard We sat a spell with Jinny in our last Appalachian Moments post, but today we get to know her beloved husband Jim, my great-great Grandfather and a prime example of the generational transition from his subsistence farming to a new way of…
