Tag Archives: Appalachia

Just Hangin’ With the Hatfields and McCoys

Hatfields and McCoys Dinner Feud (dinner theater) in Pigeon Forge, TN; image courtesy MyPigeonForge.com Historic Hostility In Pikeville Leads To Homespun Hilarity In Pigeon Forge By Ria Nicholas For most of us, the names Hatfield and McCoy call up caricatures of hatin’ hillbillies and backwoods bickering – feuding families who just couldn’t get along. InContinue reading “Just Hangin’ With the Hatfields and McCoys”

Were Smoky Mountain Grist Mills a Tech Thing?

Making the Most of the Daily Grind by Ria Nicholas In the late 1800s, scattered Appalachian [apple-AT-ch’n] farm communities consisted of independent, resourceful, God-fearing people, scrappy enough to wrest a living from the hardscrabble soil under their feet. If the Church acted as the spiritual head of the community, and the family epitomized its heart,Continue reading “Were Smoky Mountain Grist Mills a Tech Thing?”