Stories of Appalachia

In 1794, thousands of federalized militia marched into western Pennsylvania to put down an uprising by American farmers. Their crime? Making whiskey and refusing to pay a federal tax on it. The Whiskey Rebellion was the first major test of the new federal government’s authority, and George Washington personally accompanied the troops sent to suppress it. But why did a tax on whiskey bring the young United States so close to civil war? It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Subscribe to the Stories podcast for more stories about the people, places, and events that shaped Appalachia. Thanks for listening!

Dillion “Old Dill” Asher was one of the early pioneers of southeastern Kentucky, a frontier soldier and farmer who became the toll keeper at the Cumberland River ford at what’s now Pineville, giving him a front row seat to the early settlement of the state. In this episode, we tell Old Dill’s story, from his connection to the first settlers in what became Tennessee, his military service, his journeys into Kentucky along the Wilderness Road, the settlement of Red Bird Valley, and his, shall we say, “complicated family life.” Along the way, we try to separate what can be documented from the rich folklore that grew up around one of eastern Kentucky’s most colorful pioneers.  If you enjoy stories like this, please subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss any of them. Thanks for listening!

In 1779, on the Georgia frontier, a group of armed Loyalist soldiers forced their way into Nancy Hart’s cabin, demanding a hot meal from a helpless woman and her daughter. Instead, they found themselves face to face with one of the American Revolution’s toughest and fiercest patriots. Join us as we tell the story of Nancy Hart, whose courage, quick thinking, and tough stand against soldiers loyal to the British crown made her one of the most celebrated heroines of the southern Appalachian frontier, another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Stories podcast, available wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

The infamous Killing Rock massacre ended with the deaths of a moonshiner and his wife and several of their friends on a mountain along the Virginia-Kentucky border.  It began years earlier with a lawsuit, a bitter rivalry, and two determined men on opposite sides of the law. This week, we trace the feud between lawman Doc Marshall Benton Taylor and moonshiner Ira “Bad Ira” Mullins, and the long road that ended in one of the most notorious acts of violence in that part of Appalachia. It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Don’t miss any of our stories by subscribing on your favorite podcast app or on our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening!

In the winter of 1789, Cherokee war leader John Watts made a daring decision. Instead of returning to the Chickamauga towns as he usually did for the winter, he established a hidden winter camp deep in the mountains, at what’s now the Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park in Unicoi County, Tennessee, so he and his men could attack the frontier farms when it was least expected.   When John Sevier learned of the camp’s location, he led a militia through snow and bitter cold to launch a surprise attack that became one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles with the Cherokee. Join us as we tell the story of the Battle of Flint Creek, the last military action taken by the short-lived State of Franklin.   If you’ve not done so already, subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss any of our stories.   Thanks for listening!

In the late 1780s a man from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, William Hewitt, crossed the Ohio River seeking to find solitude in the Appalachian wilderness after heartbreak changed his life forever. Living alone in caves and rough dugouts for nearly fifty years, Hewitt lived in peace alongside the Shawnee, served as a scout during the War of 1812, and became a legend across southeastern Ohio.  But the strangest chapter of his story began after his death. Join us as we tell the haunting true story of the Hermit of Hewitt’s Fork. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening!

In September 1894, a routine drilling operation on a Tyler County, West Virginia, farm broke into a massive natural gas pocket, unleashing one of the most powerful and uncontrollable wells the world had ever seen. For nearly a year, the Big Moses well defied human engineering, triggered massive fissures in the ground, survived two separate lightning strikes, and wasted billions of cubic feet of gas. Join us as we tell this wild true story from the West Virginia oil boom era about the legendary Big Moses gas well. If you like these historical stories, make sure to hit that subscribe button and leave us a comment on your favorite podcast app to help others find the podcast. Thanks for listening!

Vincent “Clawhammer” Witcher became one of the most feared Confederate guerrilla leaders along the Virginia/Kentucky border in the Civil War.  As the leader of what was called “Witcher’s Boys, he operated from the Ohio River in what’s now West Virginia down into northeast Tennessee, bringing brutal violence to both friend and foe alike.  This week we tell his story, including notorious incidents in Lee County, Virginia and Unicoi County, Tennessee, that earned him the name “The Devil in the Mountains.” Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss any of our stories. Thanks for listening.

The early settlements along the Watauga and Holston Rivers in what’s now Tennessee were the very beginning of “The Wild West.” While names like Daniel Boone, John Sevier, and William Bean filled the history books, another man was standing right beside them at nearly every major turning point—yet his story has been lost to time.   In this episode, suggested by one of our listeners, Steve and Rod tell the story of Captain William Asher.  One of the first to arrive in the Watauga settlement, Captain Asher served as a Patriot in the American Revolution, fought the Chickamauga, established fortified stations on the frontier and guided surveyors as they headed west, only to meet a sudden, tragic end while hunting deer near his home at Bean Station. If you like our stories, make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

In 1781, as the American Revolution raged, Appalachian settlers in what’s now West Virginia rose in armed rebellion against the Virginia government. Angry over crushing taxes, forced military service, and wartime demands, John Claypool led an Appalachian backcountry revolt that sparked panic across the Shenandoah Valley. This is the little-known story of Claypool’s Rebellion, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.

Quill Rose was a Confederate veteran, bear hunter, blacksmith, storyteller, and moonshiner who lived deep in the Smoky Mountains along Eagle Creek. In this episode of Stories of Appalachia, we tell his story, from Cades Cove in the 1840s through war, family life, isolation, to his illegal whiskey-making in the mountains. Along the way, Quill became a figure known not just for survival, but also for his loyalty to family, his reputation with Plott hounds, his run-ins with the law, and the many colorful stories told about him, many of which he told himself. Subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss any of our Stories of Appalachia. Thanks for listening!

This week we have not one but two podcast episodes for you! In this one, we go to Glen Ferris, West Virginia, a town at the falls of the Kanawha River, to tell the story of the Glen Ferris Inn, a place that hosted presidents, businessmen, Civil War generals and even, it’s said, a ghost!  If you’ve not done so already, be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss any of our stories.  You’ll find us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

This week we have not one, but two episodes for you! For this story, we travel back to December of 1908, when people in Russell and Adair counties in Kentucky were shaken after 12-year-old Mamie Womack failed to return home from school. Her disappearance that winter afternoon triggered a desperate search, as neighbors, family, and bloodhounds followed a trail through the woods that uncovered a horrible crime. As the hunt for answers widened, suspicion fell on Elmer Hill, a young man with ties to the Womack family, who also went missing. What followed was a multi-county manhunt involving posses, bloodhounds, and growing public outrage. Hill would eventually be captured after days on the run, but the case would not end in a courtroom. In this episode of Stories of Appalachia, Steve and Rod tell the story of Mamie Womack’s disappearance and the chilling fate of the man thought to be responsible, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.

In the late 1600’s, Dr. John Lederer, a German immigrant to the Virginia colony, became one of the first Europeans to explore the Appalachian region. Between 1669 and 1670, Lederer made three trips into the Blue Ridge Mountains, traveled west and south through Native territories in Virginia and the Carolinas, and searched for a passage west through the Alleghenies. Along the way he encountered wolves, rattlesnakes, deadly spiders, Native villages, rumors of strange bearded white men, and stories that hinted at vast inland waterways beyond Appalachia. Lederer’s journal about his travels became one of the earliest written descriptions of Appalachia. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast.  You’ll find us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

The highest mountain valley in Virginia is Burke’s Garden, also referred to as “God’s Thumbprint” for its bowl-like shape. It was here that something began killing sheep in the winter of 1952.  Night after night, farmers woke to fresh losses, and no one could agree on what was responsible. Was it a wolf, a panther, or something stranger and unexplainable?  This week we tell the story of Burke’s Garden and the mysterious predator that became known as the “Varmint of Burke’s Garden” and gripped an Appalachian community with fear for nearly a year. If you like our stories, be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast. You’ll find us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

This week we tell the strange and little-known story of the Mountain Cove Community, a spiritualist commune founded in the mountains of what’s now West Virginia in the early 1850s. Led by Reverends Thomas Lake Harris and James L. Scott, the group believed they could communicate with spirits, build a new Eden in Appalachia, and create a perfect society apart from the corruption of the outside world. But as power, prophecy, and control grew inside the community, Mountain Cove began to unravel. If you enjoy Appalachian history and folklore, be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast. Thanks for listening!

In 1948, a small town in West Virginia became the center of a growing national fear over the perceived evil influence of comic books.  There, in the town of Spencer, a schoolteacher and her students gathered thousands of comic books and set them ablaze in a bonfire, starting with one featuring the Man of Steel, Superman.  What led to this dramatic moment? In this episode, Rod and Steve tell the story of the time a national panic reached into the heart of Appalachia, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.  If you enjoy stories like this, be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast so you never miss an episode. You’ll find us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening.

George Washington Kirk was a carpenter from Greene County, Tennessee. He was also a feared and hated Union soldier/bushwhacker during the Civil War, operating in the mountains along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.  Kirk and his band of Unionists known as Kirk’s Raiders were hailed as heroes by some and denounced as nothing but savages by others. From the audacious raid on Camp Vance and the brutal Battle of the Bloody Chucky at Red Banks in what’s now Erwin, to his post-war role in the Kirk-Holden War against the Ku Klux Klan, George Kirk’s story is another one of the Stories of Appalachia.  If you like our stories, we’d appreciate it if you’d give us a like and a comment; be sure to subscribe, too. Thanks for listening!

In 1755, the frontier settlement of Draper’s Meadow was shattered by a brutal Shawnee raid in which many settlers were killed and the survivors captured. Among those taken prisoner was Mary Draper Ingles, a young wife and mother.  The group was forced into a grueling march north to a village in the Ohio country. Separated from her children and facing a winter in the wilderness, Mary made a choice that would become one of the greatest survival stories in American history. This week, we tell the story of Mary’s incredible 500-mile journey home. With nothing but a tomahawk, a knife, a blanket and sheer will, she navigated treacherous terrain and escaped starvation to return to her Virginia home in the New River Valley. If you like our stories, be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

James Harrod was a soldier, a longhunter, an explorer and the man who founded Kentucky’s first permanent pioneer settlement. But in February 1792, the legendary Colonel Harrod walked into the woods and never returned. Today we tell the story of the man who founded Harrodsburg, Kentucky and the many theories surrounding his mysterious disappearance, including a possible connection to the fabled Swift’s silver mine. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss any of our stories.  You’ll find us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Roger Tandy Quisenberry had every advantage in life: wealth, education, and opportunity, but chose a path few could understand. From the California Gold Rush to a dangerous expedition in Nicaragua, his early years were filled with adventure. But when he returned home to Kentucky, something had changed. He withdrew from everybody, lived alone in a crude cabin, and became known for his extreme isolation and strange behavior.   Today we tell the story of Tandy Quisenberry, the woman hating hermit of Kentucky, another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a comment on your favorite podcast app, we’d appreciate it. Also consider becoming a supporter of the podcast at spreaker.com.  You’ll have access to an ad-free feed of the Stories podcast plus extra unreleased episodes! Thanks for listening.

In the spring of 1895, a sudden wage cut swept through the Flat Top-Pocahontas coal fields along the Virginia/West Virginia border, touching off one of the earliest large-scale labor confrontations in that part of Appalachia. What began as a wildcat strike quickly shut down mines along the Norfolk and Western Railroad, disrupted coal shipments to Norfolk, and brought state militia into the company town of Pocahontas. Today we tell the story of the Flat Top miners’ strike of 1895. If you enjoy our stories of Appalachian history and folklore, subscribe to the Stories podcast and follow the show wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Consider becoming a supporter of the Stories podcast as well, at spreaker.com.  You’ll get an ad-free feed of our stories along with lots of extra audio! Thanks for listening.

Born aboard a ship of immigrants in the Atlantic Ocean, Kasper Mansker became a longhunter, venturing out to explore the wilderness of Kentucky and Tennessee from his home in what’s now West Virginia. From those longhunts to building Mansker’s Station and helping shape the Cumberland frontier, his life is part of the story of those who moved west on the Appalachian frontier. If you enjoy our stories, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast, too…you’ll get an ad-free version of the Stories podcast plus lots of extra unreleased episodes! Thanks for listening.

Daniel Ellis of Carter County, Tennessee was a wagon maker who became one of the most successful guides of the Civil War. Living behind Confederate lines in East Tennessee, Ellis created a secret route through the Appalachian Mountains to Union territory at Cumberland Gap. Traveling mostly at night and avoiding Confederate patrols, Ellis made about twenty journeys through East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, guiding roughly four thousand Union supporters to safety. About two thousand of them later joined the Union Army. Join us as we tell the story of the man Confederate soldiers called “The Old Red Fox” for his ability to escape capture, another one of the Stories of Appalachia. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast so you don’t miss a single episode. And consider becoming a supporter of the podcast on Spreaker.com, where you can get an ad-free version of our stories, plus exclusive content. Thanks for listening!

This week, Rod and Steve tell the story of Ray Vaughn Shores, better known as Von Shores, an Appalachian aviator and popular aerial daredevil in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky during the 1920s and ’30s, who, it’s said, once crashed his airplane near Pound, Virginia. He was a favorite at local airshows and fairs and it’s also said he ran whiskey for Al Capone during prohibition. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get you favorite podcasts. Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast, too, and help us tell our Stories of Appalachia! Thanks for listening!

This week, we tell a story from the lawless mountain border between western North Carolina and east Tennessee during the Civil War. As great battles raged elsewhere, outlaws and deserters came to the mountains to hide, to rob and to turn old trails and creek crossings into killing grounds. At the center of this story is John Jackson Kirkland and his gang, whose violence touched soldiers, civilians, rivals, and even their own kin. This is a story of a war without sides, and justice that never came. If you’ve not done so already, subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes.  Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast and get extra content along with an ad-free feed of our stories! Thanks for listening.

This week, Steve and Rod tell the story of Granville “Stick” McGhee and Walter “Brownie” McGhee, two brothers from East Tennessee whose music helped shape American blues and early rock ’n’ roll. Born in Knoxville, the McGhee brothers took the music they heard growing up and used it to launch themselves onto the national stage. Be sure to subscribe to the Stories podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast and get extra content along with an ad-free feed of our stories! Thanks for listening!

In 1730, seven Cherokee leaders traveled from their Appalachian home to the heart of London. Hand-picked by a Scottish adventurer named Alexander Cumming, they were presented to King George II as “Kings” of a new empire. Today we tell the story of that voyage and how these Native Americans navigated their way through the streets of the city at the center of the British Empire, all while securing an alliance on their own terms.  It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia. If you like our stories of Appalachian history and folklore, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a comment, too. You can also help support the Stories podcast by becoming a supporter at spreaker.com. There you’ll find extra content and an ad-free version of the podcast! Thanks for listening.