Christmas on the River
One winter day as I was sitting on the river bank, I heard a group of boys coming through the willows. Christmas was only a few days off. At the church, the boys said, sacks of hard candy would be given to all the [...]
True Christmas Stories From the Heart of Appalachia
In 2019, the Jesse Stuart Foundation published “True Christmas Stories From the Heart of Appalachia,” a book that captures the spirit of Christmas in 43 stories by 39 authors. Thirty-five of the stories are from Kentucky and the others are from neighboring states. This [...]
W-Hollow Holidays and Holiday Recipes
In 1987, Jesse Stuart’s youngest sister, Glennis Stuart Liles, called me at home one Sunday afternoon and announced that she had an idea for a new money-making project for the Jesse Stuart Foundation. “I want to do a cookbook. I’ve wanted to do one [...]
Thanksgiving Hunter
As a Thanksgiving present to our readers, the Jesse Stuart Foundation offers the following short story by Jesse Stuart. “Hold your rifle like this,” Uncle Wash said, changing the position of my rifle. “When I throw this marble into the air, follow it with [...]
JSF seeking help with important reprint projects
The Jesse Stuart Foundation preserves the human and literary legacy of one of America’s most popular and influential writers. We keep Stuart’s books in print while also advancing the works of other Kentucky and Appalachian writers. With support from our friends, the JSF makes [...]
Hidden Heroes of the Big Sandy Valley
The Big Sandy Valley, a geographical corridor approximately 120 miles in length, stretches from Pikeville to Catlettsburg along the Kentucky-West Virginia border. It is almost 5,000 square miles of mountainous land that includes the counties (going from north to south) of Boyd, Lawrence, Johnson, [...]
Murder at Peddler’s Well
In his 1956 autobiography, The Year of My Rebirth, Jesse Stuart briefly mentions the murder of “Nick” Nickapopolis, a pack peddler who worked W-Hollow on a monthly basis in the 1850s. Nick became a monthly regular for many years, normally spending about two days [...]
The Thread That Runs So True
Beginning in 1937, a new book had been tumbling around in Jesse Stuart’s head. It was a book about education—a hymn and personal testimony to the profession of teaching. In 1948, he finished the book, and it was published the following year. “The Thread [...]
James Still’s Sporty Creek tells of life in Kentucky hills during the Great Depression
Unlike Harriette Arnow and Jesse Stuart, whose novels have appeared on best-seller lists, James Still (1906-2001) never won a popular national audience. He did, however, win many honors and was well praised by a small but select band of supporters until late in his [...]
That Summer of ’45
My friend Sam Piatt died on June 25 at the age of 88. He was a much-loved man and a much-respected journalist. Like thousands of others in northeastern Kentucky and surrounding areas, I enjoyed his weekly column in The Daily Independent, where he had [...]