Stories-a History Of Appalachia, One Story At A Time

In 1977 a small town along the Tug River in West Virginia needed a bridge.  They got that bridge, and became world-famous in the process.   That's our story this week. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, Stitcher, RadioPublic, IHeart Radio or on your own favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening!

After the Civil War a group of English men and women traveled to the hills of Tennessee to set up a utopian colony.   Today we tell that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, IHeart Radio, Audacy, or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories with your friends!

Today we tell a story that's a little bit history and a little bit folklore about a legend in eastern Kentucky named Moses Stepp, supposedly the oldest man to have ever lived in the state. Thanks for listening and for sharing our podcast with your friends.

In 1959 a mining operation ignored mine regulations leading not only to a mine roof collapse but flooding so bad that miners were killed and the entire economy in the area was pretty much destroyed. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audacy, IHeart Radio, Stitcher or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories with your friends...

1929 was a rough year for the jailer at the Yancey County jail, in North Carolina.  That year saw not one but two 3-prisoner escapes from the facility.   That's our story today. Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories of Appalachian history.

We wrap up our story about Davy Crockett, telling of his leaving Tennessee and moving to Texas to fight in the Texas War of Independence. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app...please add us to your favorites list! Thanks for listening...

Probably nobody embodies Appalachia and her people more than a man born near Limestone, Tennessee, in 1786.  Davy Crockett was a frontiersman, cowboy, businessman, politician and a martyr to the cause of Texas independence.   Today we start telling you his very big story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

In 1945 a preacher was arrested and charged in his wife's death...by snakebite. Seems he had been holding a service near Norton, Virginia, in which a large poisonous snake had been placed in his hand, and his wife had been bitten when she reached over to pat the creature's head. Today we tell the story of a death in a snake-handling church, another part of the history of this place we call home: Appalachia.

In 1671 Thomas Batts and Richard Fallam set out from Appomatox Town (near present day Petersburg), Virginia, on a mission of exploration into Appalachia.  Along the way they discovered the New River and many other places in the western part of the colony. Today we tell their story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio, Deezer and many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening!

One hundred years ago this month the largest labor uprising in American history occurred in southern West Virginia when striking coal miners gathered with weapons and headed toward the Appalachian coal fields, intent on unionizing the mines there. What started with a deadly shootout in Matewan between men hired by the coal company to kick striking miners out of company-owned housing and Police Chief Sid Hatfield and his men in the spring of 1920 and Hatfield's subsequent killing on the McDowell County Courthouse steps by those same enforcers a year later exploded into a mass movement that took the police, hired mercenaries, bombs dropped from airplanes, machine guns, poison gas and, finally, the intervention of the U. S. military to stop. Today we tell that story.

In 1912 a Carroll County, Virginia, man was sentenced to serve a one year sentence in the state penitentiary. The announcement of that sentence set off a gun battle that became one of the worst incidences of violence ever to occur in an American courtroom. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio or on your favorite podcast app.

In 1931 Knox County, Tennessee, sheriff's deputies, along with federal Prohibition officers, found something very interesting underneath a house in Knoxville. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening and thanks for sharing our stories with your friends!

Shortly after the end of the Civil War an orphan boy disappeared near the High Knob, on the border of Scott and Wise Counties in Virginia. Today we tell a story that's been handed down for over a hundred years of an Appalachian unsolved mystery! You can subscribe to the audio version of our podcast on your favorite podcast app. As always, thanks for listening!

Today we tell the story of the Wonderland Hotel and the area around it, Elkmont, both part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.   You can subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening!

In the 1920s a young woman opened a business providing moonshine to all the bootleggers in the Harlan, Kentucky, area during Prohibition.  After Prohibition she opened a store that sold legal liquor.  She also sold moonshine there, for which she was arrested and tried and served her one and only jail sentence, even though she was arrested again and again, 37 more times, without a conviction.   Oh, she was also the model for a character in a popular television series that aired just a few years ago. Today we tell the story of Maggie Bailey Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories of Appalachian history.

In 1877 a farmer was shot dead as he was working in his fields.  No one saw who fired the shot and nobody confessed to the murder.  But Daniel Dean was hanged for the crime, splitting his community in half. Today we tell that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.

In 1929 there were textile strikes going on across the southeastern U. S., including at the two mills located in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Mack Elliott worked at one of those plants and was involved in union organizing there, which led, literally, to an explosive development. Today we tell that story.  

During the French Revolution a French baron attempted to establish a colony of Frenchmen in Appalachia, at present-day St. Paul, Virginia.  Today we tell you that story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, IHeart Radio, TuneIn, Audible or wherever you find your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Explorer, surveyor, soldier and Indian agent are all jobs held by Joseph Martin. He also built a settlement, Martin's Station, that was a way station for settlers moving west into Kentucky. Today we tell his story. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, IHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on you favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening and for sharing our stories of Appalachian history.

During World War I a wealthy playboy from Philadelphia refused induction into the U. S. Army and was charged and convicted of draft evasion.  He managed to escape and, when captured, offered to buy his way out of prison with gold he said was hidden in the hills of West Virginia. That's just a small part of this week's story...you'll have to listen for the rest! Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app for all our stories of Appalachian history. Thanks for listening!