Hi, Folks! Growing up, I wasn’t much different than most other boys in the western mountains of North Carolina. I loved fishing and the outdoors, spent a lot of time learning how to work with tobacco & hay and was expected to go to school and make good grades. To…
Howdy, Folks! Years ago, it was common place to see animal hides tacked up on the sides of barns and sheds all over Appalachia. From the sport of hunting with dogs or trapping, mountain folks would “show off” a wide array of hides on the side of their barns or…
Hello, Folks. Years ago, the most critical day of the year for most Appalachian Farming Families was the day when they took their tobacco crop to market. This was the day of year when hope was placed in the hands of bidders from huge corporations such as R.J. Reynolds and…
Y’all Come See Us By Steve Tweed Rural America has a rich farm history in which Appalachia has played a major role. Some of the more impacting visual reminders are the barns that dot the landscape around us. Along the way, someone figured out that using barns as billboards would…
A Lantern In The Darkness By Steve Tweed Folks, meet Tommy. He’s one of the new faces of hope; A reflection of Old Appalachia in this writer’s opinion. At 23 years of age, the first thing you will encounter are his youthful outlook, exuberant personality and infectious smile. He always…
Bloody Madison By Steve Tweed “Right over there. That’s where it happened at”. Those are the words that Freddy Patterson recalls his late Grandmother, Roxie Norton Patterson, saying with a pointed finger as they would ride down Highway 212 in northern Madison County. She would point to a spot behind…
Kill The Music By Steve Tweed Laurel Seminary Church sits at the bottom of a serene field in the Big Laurel Community of Madison County, North Carolina. The church was organized on December 11, 1897 and services were conducted until the early 1960’s. The church sits on property owned by…
Family Decoration Day By Steve Tweed A long standing Appalachian Tradition is “Decoration Day”. It is similar to Mexico’s “Dia de los Nuertos” or “Day of the Dead”. Decoration Day is the gathering of family and friends to honor and remember loved ones who have passed on to the other…
Cornbread & Milk By Steve Tweed The day I captured photographs of Wayne Sawyer was the first time I ever met him and I got the shots quite by surprise and accident. I went down to the old Barnard community in Madison County to capture photographs of the iconic Barnard…
