A century ago, the Brevard Rosenwald School in Transylvania County, North Carolina, opened its doors to African American students from the community and the surrounding area. It was a microcosm of the community it served; teachers and pupils lived on the same streets, shopped in the same stores, worshiped at the same churches, and teachers and parents served on the same committees, confronted similar social and economic problems, and sought each other's advice about issues in daily life. This book is a history of the school, with special attention given to the years 1920 to 1966, and its...

In the summer of 1927, nineteen bands gathered for a recording session in Bristol, on the Tennessee-Virginia border, including some of the most influential names in American music--the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Stoneman and more. Organized by Ralph Peer for Victor records to capitalize on the popularity of "hillbilly" music, the Bristol sessions were a key moment in country music's evolution. The musicians played a variety of styles largely endemic to the Appalachian region. Rather than attempting to record purely traditional sounds, however, Peer sought a combination of musical...

Oral history and memoirs preserve much more than a single event. They record information about a time and a particular way of life. Buying a loaf of bread for a dime and a 25-pound bag of flour for a dollar, walking 9 1/2 miles in 5 hours, watching the Cove Creek gym (and several school buses) go up in flames--these are just a few of the tales related in this collection of oral and written histories. From boating to finding a first job, from riding a pony to school to joining the Navy, this book contains dozens of memories gathered from the residents of western Watauga County, North Carolina....

This updated edition of the 1979 original covers the landmark struggle to save the New River from damming in the 1970s. The grassroots movement emphasized the river's cultural and historical value rather than narrow environmental issues and became one of the great victories of the environmental movement. This edition also includes a new epilogue examining the current ecological status of the New River and the ongoing impact of the original conservation efforts in the face of new environmental threats. The 1979 edition won the Weatherford Award presented by Berea College and the Appalachian...

Best known as the author of the acclaimed novel River of Earth (1940), Alabama native James Still is one of the most critically acclaimed writers of Appalachian literature. This compilation of scholarly essays exploring Stills literary work is the first book-length collection of its kind and features contributions from leading scholars and writers, including Wendell Berry, Fred Chappell, Jim Wayne Miller, Jeff Daniel Marion, Diane Fisher, Dean Cadle, and Hal Crowther.

One of the premier tourist attractions of the eastern United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway stretches from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina. This volume relates the author's one-of-a-kind backpacking trip along the 469-mile road, along with his observations and recollections regarding the Parkway, the most visited unit of the National Park Service. Beginning with his experience as a summer college intern, the book also covers the twelve years he spent working as a ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anecdotal history and...

Asheville, North Carolina, grew from humble beginnings as a hamlet for local livestock handlers to become one of the most culturally and artistically diverse cities in the South. Here in this book is all the fascinating history of Asheville, complete with a rich array of photographs. Multiple appendices reveal details concerning many lesser-known aspects of Ashevilles unique history, including city buildings designed by architects Richard Sharp Smith and Douglas D. Ellington, and city projects funded by philanthropist Julian Price.

This scholarly study identifies several reasons behind Owsley Countys ongoing struggle with poverty, including the countys lack of natural resources, a poor transportation system, and a centralized socio-political power structure controlled by the entrenched elite. Finally, the author asserts that Owsley Countys economic hardships are far from unique, but rather are representative of a significant number of similarly-stricken Appalachian counties and towns. Several tables and appendices provide useful demographic, legislative, and agricultural data from Owsley County between 1844 and 1975.

The mountain South thrives on centuries-old cultural heirlooms, a fact well known to readers of Appalachian literature, which is among the richest and most evocative of any region in the country.This anthology collects 225 poems by 37 poets of Southern Appalachia, from James Still and Louise McNeill to Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell and Charles Wright. Embracing the region's strong narrative traditions, dialect and syntax, the collection also includes poems that redefine the terms of isolation, as technological change and heightened tourism bring the old and new ways into greater...

There was a time when the average American woman was more likely to die from childbirth than from any other condition except tuberculosis. This was especially true in areas where hospitals and quality medical care were scarce or nonexistent. But deep in the rolling hills of eastern Kentucky's Cumberland Range, one woman almost single-handedly changed those dismal figures. Her name was Mary Breckinridge, and her goal was to introduce quality, professionally trained midwifery to the United States. The Frontier Nursing Service, opened in 1925 in Leslie County, Kentucky, set out to meet the...