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

Between the towns of Big Stone Gap and Appalachia in the mountains of southwestern Virginia was a  place once known as "Boneyard Hollow."  This little hollow was where a meat butchering concern used to dump the bones left over from preparing steaks, roasts and other meats.  It also was where a body could be found, at least as one prisoner told it.  Today we tell you that story. The Stories podcast is available free of charge at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, IHeart Radio, Spotify, TuneIn and on many other podcast apps. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories of Appalachian history.

The strange story of Tizrow McGhee, born on Friday the 13th in Kentucky, who kept getting into all kinds of scrapes, including one that kept him awake for 23 years. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening!

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 Stories podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Spotify, IHeart Radio, and many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories with your friends.

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, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Spotify, IHeart Radio, TuneIn and on many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening to our stories of Appalachian history....

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 subscribe, for free. Thanks for listening and sharing our little stories of Appalachian history with your friends...

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, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, Feedburner or any number of other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing our tales of Appalachian history with your friends.

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 friends.

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, which soon turned into rock-throwing and then into a full fledged riot in which several black voters were shot and one killed.  Today we tell that story.  The Stories podcast is available on RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Feedburner, Spotify Player FM and many other podcast apps. You can also find out podcasts on our website: www.storiespodcast.net. Thanks for listening!

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 just as the town had rejected the Lord.   You can subscribe to the Stories podcast, for free, at Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Spotify, Feedburner or on your own favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends.

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 in what's now eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia during those frontier times. The Stories podcast is available at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and on many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends.

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 way, Napoleon Hill was born in Pound, Virginia, and we tell his fascinating story on today's podcast episode. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Feedburner, or on any number of other podcast apps. Thanks for listening.  

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 by the company that commissioned the work, Union Carbide. The result was the worst industrial disaster in American history. Today we tell the story of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel. You can subscribe to the Stories podcast, for free, at IHeart Radio, RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on many other podcast apps. Thanks for listening to our stories of Appalachian history.

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 and on Twitter @storyappalachia. Thanks for listening and sharing us with your friends!  

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 podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Spotify, IHeart Radio and wherever else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories with your friends.

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, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, and more. Thanks for listening to our stories about the history of Appalachia.

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, Spotify, IHeart Radio, and on most other podcast apps. Thanks for listening and sharing our stories of Appalachian history with your friends.  

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 friends.

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, Stitcher, Spotify or on any number of other podcast apps. We're on Facebook @storiesofappalachia and on Twitter @storyappalachia.  There's also a Stories Podcast YouTube channel!  We only have two videos, but we are working on adding others for you, so be sure to subscribe!