AppalachianFolkA Collection of Appalachian Stories

You have heard it said many times, and so have I: “Oh, I love to read but I just never have the time.” I reject that statement–a false premise from the word go. Any omniverous reader will support my contention that if you are a reader, you will read–regardless of time, place, or circumstance. It [...]

Noah Maynard BACK IN 1960 WAS BAD AND GOOD TIMES FAMILY’S DID NOT HAVE MUCH BUT WE HAD LOVE DAD HAD A THIRD GRADE EDUCATION IN MARKUM HOLLOW MARRIED RUTH SHE WAS 14 HAD HARD TIMES LIVED ON $200 DOING ODD JOBS AND NINE CHILDREN BORN AT HOME NO HOSPITAL IN MARTIN CO KY FATHER’S [...]

I remember those clear summer nights. Never too hot never too cold. I could see clearly, Climbing to the top of the mountain pushing our bicycles with sleeping bags in tow. The three, sometimes four, of us were on our way for a long night of camping usually Jimmy, Johnny ,Eddy and myself . I recall [...]

     Sarah and her brother, Fallon, got off the school bus and looked back as it disappeared around the curve.  Then they started the long walk to their newly acquired home.  It was a home, but not a house like everyone else lived in.  It was a cave in the side of a small mountain [...]

<!– –><!– –>Roger Philpot, Author of “Coal Miner’s Son” grew up in a coal camp.  His story and his site are a tribute to the American Coal Miner and an educational tool for those those who did not grow up in the Appalachian Mountains.  His mission is to educate the public about the coal miner’s [...]

I grew up in a coal mining family.  They are strong, both physically for the hard labor they have to endure, but they are also strong mentally, or to be more direct, the are stubborn as heck. My father is a great example of stubborn.  He was a mine Foreman at 21 years of age, [...]

Men in Appalachia take Deer Hunting Season very seriously.  From the time they are small boys, they are groomed into being hunters.  There is no prouder moment in a mountaineers life than his first Buck, mounted on the wall with his name and the date engraved below it.  They are heirlooms that are passed down from [...]