In the spring of 1781, during the American war for independence from Great Britain, redcoat troops arrived in upland Carolina and brought terror to Elizabeth Jackson and her sons. Elizabeth’s youngest son, Andrew, though barely fourteen years of age, hated their presence—and quickly learned [...]
Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, Americans were afflicted with a case of what John Steinbeck called “westering and westering.” During the early 1840s, two specific accounts focused the attention of restless Americans on the far West. John C. Fremont led a U.S. Army Survey [...]
From colonial beginnings until early in the twentieth century, one-room schools played an important role in Eastern Kentucky education. These tiny schools that dotted the hills and valleys were, collectively, a salvation to a region recovering from the Civil War and, later, the Great [...]
Greenup County, located in northeast Kentucky, lies approximately halfway between Ashland, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. It is a land of wooded hills and clear, fast-moving streams that empty into the Ohio River, which forms the county’s northern border. The land surface ranges from rich [...]
In “The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, And The Kidnap That Shaped America,” Matthew Pearl explores the little-known true story of the kidnapping of the daughter of the legendary pioneer Daniel Boone and the dramatic aftermath that rippled across the nation. On [...]
Fewer words in the English language are more glibly uttered and more misunderstood than the word “history.” American history rests squarely upon a local base. Thomas Jefferson theorized that what happens at the local level of society is more important to the individual than [...]
In some parts of America, the “intellectual leaders” fancy themselves much too deep to be understood by everyday folks like you and me. Not so in Appalachia! Our intellectual leaders have been kind, loving, accessible men and women who represent, with their own lives, [...]
Before the Civil War, the Underground Railroad was a network of hundreds of safe houses, churches, and farms throughout the North and South that served as way stations on the road to freedom for tens of thousands of runaway slaves. Fugitive slaves risked their [...]
Lots of folks have been sick this winter. If you have a friend or loved one recovering from illness or surgery, Jesse Stuart’s “The Year of My Rebirth” would be a helpful gift. Stuart’s message in this well-known book is that no person can [...]
Loretta Lynn’s death on October 4, 2022, was a painful loss for eastern Kentuckians and country music fans nationwide. Known as “The Coal Miner’s Daughter,” she was born April 14, 1935, at Butcher Holler, Johnson County, Kentucky, to Melvin and Clara Butcher Webb. Named [...]
