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The Grave Creek Stone – archaelogical gem or hoax?
Scholars and archaelogists have been duking it out over the authenticity of the Grave Creek Stone since it first surfaced in 1838. Local amateur archaelogists in what was originally called “the Flats...
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The Red Neck Army marches to Blair Mountain
The Battle of Blair Mountain marked a turning point in the national movement to better the conditions of working people by demanding the legalization of unions. It was the largest armed labor...
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Woman has no greater claim to the rights of the ballot
“Bullets and ballots are not companions;” said Lizzie French in a famous 1912 speech to the Tenneesee Bar Association, “but ballots in the hands of people are supposed to be a substitute for bullets in...
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Oh brother I am dying now
Listen to Buell Kazee play “The Dying Soldier” Oh brother Green, oh come to me, For I am shot and bleeding, Now I must die, no more to see, My wife and my dear children. The southern () has layed me...
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The Lost Provinces
North Carolinians for many decades thought of them as the Lost Provinces. Prior to the early 20th century, Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga counties were hemmed in and separated from the rest of the state...
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Irradiated dimes: tourist item or health threat?
The American Museum of Science & Energy is today’s No. 1 Oak Ridge, TN tourist destination. But from 1941 to 1949 Oak Ridge was a town that did not exist. It was one of the top secret facilities...
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Gravely and his motor plow
Dear Sir: During the past year, I have had occasion to discuss the business situation with practically every business man in the City of Charleston and suburbs. Our very limited number of productive...
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Squirrel hunting season gets under way
Squirrel hunting was and is a passion, necessity (that may be more of a was), and a sport in the hills of Virginia and Kentucky. You see it reflected in the place names: Dickenson County, VA has...
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Gertrude a la September Morn
That’s the exact caption of this photo, and while the caption dwells in specifics, the photo itself captures a universal moment that most any parent can respond to. Gertrude is the daughter of Darley...
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The Laurel Creek Murders, part 1
On the night of September 21st, 1909, Howard Little allegedly came to visit Elizabeth E. Baker Justus and her extended family in Laurel Creek, VA and asked if he could spend the night. The family knew...
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The Laurel Creek Murders, part 2
When the fire had died, the neighbors and relatives who went through the smoking ruins of the cabin were met with a most gruesome sight: the charred bodies of Betty and Lydia and two of the children....
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Judaculla Rock
No other rocks in the area have similar markings, although there are many other boulders in the vicinity. Some of the pictographs on it appear to be animals and animal tracks, while others appear to be...
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Benton MacKaye proposes the Appalachian Trail
“Extensive national playgrounds have been reserved in various parts of the country for use by the people for camping and various kindred purposes. Most of these are in the West where Uncle Sam’s public...
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Home Sweet Home. For 9,000 years.
Alabama has 3,400 documented caves. The most famous of these is Russell Cave (now a national monument), the oldest rock shelter used regularly for a home in the eastern United States. Named for Thomas...
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When my stories are true, why, I don’t yodel to the end of the story
“I’ve been a guide now for quite a few years, and I was borned and rared in the Great Smoky Mountains, at the foot of Mount Leconte, and when I was a boy, I didn’t do anything but hunt. One day I went...
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Haints and Hags on Halloween
Halloween’s around the corner. Here’s a little haint tale for the occasion from Putnam County, Tennessee. About one mile and a half east of Cookeville the Buck Mountain Road is crossed by the old...
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When you get into your head to go sparking, go over the mountain
Appalachian writer James Still (1906-2001) moved to Kentucky after he was grown, and stayed, finally living in Hindman but keeping his original cabin, located between the waters of Wolfpen Creek and...
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Kentucky politicos bought votes with gingerbread
“One of my elections was contested. They accused me of buying gingerbread and using other ways of influence on the voters. Giving them money. They figured what they done, I done the same thing....
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Amelia Earhart drops in
Amelia Earhart flew into the Anderson, SC airport in her Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogyro on November 14, 1931 and attracted over 1,000 spectators. Mayor G.T. McGregor and other city leaders met her at the...
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From the heart of the man farthest down
Listen to 1921 recording of “St. Louis Blues” by Original Dixieland Jazz Band, with Al Bernard William Christopher “W.C.” Handy, acknowledged ‘Father of the Blues’ and composer of such American...
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