Stories of Appalachia

When the Chattanooga Mocs came to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers in the fall of 1958, Tennessee was looking forward to breaking a losing streak.  You see, the Mocs had lost their last 28 games with the Vols, so Chattanooga was seen as an easy pick up.  That's not what happened, and that led to, well, mayhem on the football field in Knoxville.  Today we tell you that story. The Stori...

Feuds were fought across the mountains of Appalachia after the Civil War, as families competed for the newly developed timber and coal riches in the area.  One of the most well-known, outside the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud, was the one in eastern Kentucky between the Martins and the Tollivers, better known as the Rowan County War. The Stories podcast is available, free of charge, at Apple Podcasts...

Today we tell the story of one of southern West Virginia's most beloved circuit riding preachers, William Dyke Garrett.  Garrett is best known to the rest of the world, though, as the preacher who saved the soul of the most famous feudist in Appalachia. The Stories podcast is available at RadioPublic, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Feedburner, and on most other podcast apps.  Be sure to subs...

Who shot the mayor of Bluefield, West Virginia, back in 1917?  Today we tell the story of that little bit of Appalachian history. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on RadioPublic, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, IHeart Radio, and more, all for free. Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories with your friends...

Grandfather Mountain is one of the most popular tourist destinations in western North Carolina, and has been for decades.  It's also a world heritage site for the protection of the plants and animals native to the area.  That's all because of the work done by Hugh Morton, one time owner of Grandfather Mountain.  Today we tell that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, App...

Today we tell the story of William Winfield Scott Duggan, better known as Buster Duggan.  Duggan was an outlaw, moonshiner and murderer notorious in southeast Tennessee and northeast Alabama early in the 20th century. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn and on most other podcast apps, all for free. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your...

Today we tell the story of two oddly dressed street preachers who showed up in Beckley, West Virginia, in the summer of 1930, causing a great deal of commotion among the African-American community in that city. The Stories podcast is available, free of charge, at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Spotify and many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening to our stories of Appalachian history....

The 1868 presidential election was the first held in the country since the end of the Civil War.  Recently freed slaves flocked to the polls on election day in Asheville, North Carolina, to cast their votes for the Republican Party.  At the same time white voters came out to vote for the Democratic Party, run by former Confederates.  A small clash occurred between two groups of opposing voters, wh...

Today we tell the story of Robert Sheffey, one of Southwest Virginia's most well-known circuit riders.  These preachers traveled from one community to the next, bringing the word of God to those who would accept it.  There was one town, however, that never accepted Preacher Sheffey's efforts to save it, no matter how hard he tried, so, as the story goes, he laid a curse on this town, rejecting it...

The Appalachian frontier of the 1780's and 1790's was a dress rehearsal for the Wild West of the 1870's and 1880's, with the establishment of new towns, new farms, and wars with the Native Americans who were already there.  Today we tell the story of the son of a Cherokee woman and a Scots trader who became a legendary Cherokee warrior, raiding the settlements along the Holston and Clinch Rivers i...

There are a lot of men and women who make a career out of helping others achieve their life goals. These self-help teachers and authors include Norman Vincent Peale, Tony Robbins and Dale Carnegie.  One of the first of these was a man named Napoleon Hill, whose book "Think And Grow Rich," was a world wide bestseller still available in bookstores 80 years after it was first published.   Oh, by the...

During the Great Depression jobs were hard to come by.  So when the Rhinehart and Dennis Construction Company came looking for workers to build a hydroelectric tunnel on the New River in West Virginia in 1930, men from around the country started pouring into the area.  Many of these men were African Americans from the Deep South, and they worked the hardest, with little or no safety gear provided...

We have a "two-fer" for you this week! In our first story, from Pennsylvania, we tell of a murder with a wizardly twist. In the second, a husband with a dying wife in West Virginia appears to be trying to hurry her along. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Spotify, TuneIn or wherever podcasts can be downloaded. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia...

In 1886 two brothers from Carter County, Tennessee, ran for governor of the Volunteer State, one a Republican and the other a Democrat.  Instead of ripping the family apart, the campaign allowed the two to have the time of their lives, all the way to the Governor's Mansion.  Today we tell the story of the War of the Roses between the Taylor brothers, Alf and Bob.   You can subscribe to the Stories...

Back in the 1920's A. P. Carter scoured the Appalachian countryside looking for songs the Carter Family could perform.  Along with him was a young black musician from Kingsport who was instrumental in finding many of those songs in the area's African-American community.  Today we tell his story. The Stories podcast is available for download, for free, from many podcast apps, including Stitcher, Sp...

Today, in a retelling of our very first podcast episode, Rod and Steve tell the story of a man who, during the 1930's and 40's, worked at Tennessee Eastman, Holston Defense and in Oak Ridge on the Manhattan Project.  He also was a Russian asset who sold information about American weapons to his handlers.   The Stories podcast is available, for free, at Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Spotif...

Today we tell the story of Judge Alexander Ratliff of Pikeville, Kentucky, who ran for office as both a Democrat and as an Independent, at the same time, gathering enough votes from both ballots to be elected. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any number of podcast apps, all for free. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friend...

The story of the kidnapping of a high school student in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, who was dragged off into the woods while walking from her bus stop to her house. The man who took her was known as an eccentric in the community. The kidnapping triggered the largest manhunt in American history to that time. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast, for free of course, at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts,...

On September 10, 1897, more than a dozen coal miners, mainly eastern European immigrants, were shot and killed by police while on strike at the Lattimer mine in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.  This was a turning point in the UMW's efforts to organize the coal fields of northern Appalachia and today we tell that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHear...

Today we tell the story of Nance Dude, of Haywood County, North Carolina, convicted in the death of her granddaughter in 1913.   You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Player FM and on many other podcast apps. For more stories about the history of this place we call home, you can follow us on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and Twitter @storyappal...

Today we tell a story of love, lust, and espionage in Chattanooga, Tennessee during World War I. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and many other podcast apps, all for free! We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for listening to our tales of Appalachian history...

The Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee, outside Knoxville, was in the news recently when one of the buildings there was burned.  Fire investigators found a white power symbol in the ashes of that building.  Today we're going to tell you just why that might have been as we share the story of Highlander's history in the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's, as...

Today we're going to have a pea-pickin' old time telling the story of one of the most talented and popular entertainers to ever come out of Appalachia: Tennessee Ernie Ford, of Bristol, Tennessee. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and on many other podcast apps. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappal...

Among the pioneers of what was then known as "hillbilly music" was a coal miner from Norton, Virginia, named Moran Lee Boggs. Better known as Dock Boggs, he became known for his unique style of banjo playing and singing, which was a combination of old time Appalachian folk music and African American blues. Today we tell his story. You can find the Stories podcast on RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, St...

Today we share some interesting short stories about this place we call home, Appalachia. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at our website, www.storiespodcast.net , RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or on any number of podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing our tales of Appalachian history with your friends!