Used to Be a Rough Place in Them Hills

Used to Be a Rough Place in Them Hills PDF Author: Joshua Beau Blackwell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781438934709
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
The area known as the "Dark Corner" near Greenville, South Carolina was once home to a distinct Appalachian culture. Isolated from their fellow South Carolinians, the Dark Corner was perceived as culturally and politically backwards throughout much of the nineteenth century. In particular, the area's reliance on illicit distillation as a cornerstone of its economy led to a protracted conflict with State and Federal law enforcement. Much of this conflict occurred during the post-Civil War modernization of the South Carolina Upstate. New South editors aggressively perpetuated the stereotype of the lawless and drunken distillers on the inhabitants of the Dark Corner. This stereotype, coupled with the Dark Corner's resistance to modernization, ostracized the local inhabitants and alienated the area from much of the economic boom of the Upstate. While the cultural mores, including the production of illicit alcohol, of the Dark Corner remained intact throughout much of the twentieth century, the area was eventually modernized by outsiders moving into upscale residential resorts dotted throughout the mountain landscape. While genealogists and popular writers have outlined some of the historical events surrounding the disputes between law enforcement and the residents of the Dark Corner, they have not placed these events in a proper cultural context. This work attempts to fill the gaps in the historiography of the Dark Corner. By picking up where many have left off, and introducing a new argument to the topic; this work demonstrates that the various conflicts over the illicit production of alcohol reflect deep cultural differences between this outpost of Appalachia and the rest of SouthCarolina.

Something in These Hills

Something in These Hills PDF Author: John M. Coggeshall
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469670267
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
What is the "something in these hills" that ties mountain families to family land in the southern Appalachians? This ethnographic examination challenges contemporary theory and explores two interrelated themes: the duality of the southern Appalachians as both a menacing and majestic landscape and the emotional relationship to family land characteristic of long-term residents of these mountains. To most outsiders, the area conjures images of a beautiful yet dangerous place, typified by the movie Deliverance. To long-term residents, these mountains have a fundamental emotional hold so powerful that many mourn the sale or loss of family land as if it were a deceased relative. How can the same geographical space be both? Using a carefully crafted cultural lens, John M. Coggeshall explains how family land anthropomorphizes, metaphorically becoming another member of kin groups. He establishes that this emotional sense of place existed prior to recent land losses, contrary to some contemporary scholars. Utilizing the voices and perspectives of long-term residents, the book provides readers with a more fundamental understanding of the "something in these hills" that holds people in place.

Highway 25 in the Carolinas: A Brief History

Highway 25 in the Carolinas: A Brief History PDF Author: Anne Peden and Jim Scott
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467148091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
Traveling US 25 through the Carolinas today is a much more pleasant experience than it was in the 1700s. Then, the road from the Tennessee Cherokee Towns to Augusta, Georgia, was a Cherokee trading path that followed a bison trace to the navigable port on the Savannah River. Drovers came from as far as Kentucky herding hogs, turkeys and mules. Lowcountry South Carolinians traveled by stagecoach and wagon to the foothills and mountains, staying for months. The Augusta Road, Saluda Gap and Buncombe Turnpike became the Dixie Highway Carolina Division and then US Route 25 by 1931. Authors Anne Peden and Jim Scott travel the trading path and concrete highway to explore this fascinating history.

A Deranged History of Alcohol in Human Society

A Deranged History of Alcohol in Human Society PDF Author: AJ Crown
Publisher: Cacophony Innovation
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 133

Book Description
How much do you know about booze? Not just those unusual craft beers with odd names, but the real history of alcohol. It’s a wild world filled with pirates, bootleggers, prohibition agents, writers who never turn down a cocktail, drunk monks, and so much more. Told from a humorous perspective, this book helps to separate the lore from the facts. It’s a fun and historical look at the history of alcohol and some of the many peculiar people who played a role. If you’ve ever wanted to have a bevy of booze-related stories to toss out to friends or strangers while sipping on a drink at a bar or party, well, you’re in luck. Inside these pages, you’ll find a wealth of weird and interesting information. Colorfully written, the book covers several periods in time when people drank way too much alcohol and did some rather strange things. Have you ever heard of the man who sold alcohol to most of Congress during Prohibition? Do you know about the illegal alcohol operation on the isle of Inishmurray? Have you heard about the weird antics and drinking games of the Song Dynasty poet Shi Manqing? Got an inkling about why pirates were reported to drink so much? You’ll find out all of this information and more when you grab a copy of this book and take a jaunt through history. This book spans several periods of history to help give you a better understanding of just how pervasive alcohol has been throughout humanity. You’ll learn more about the origins of alcohol in ancient China and how it was used as medicine. You’ll learn about the moonshiners from the American South (co-written by Maxim Sorokopud), the pirates who controlled the rum trade in the 1700s, and just how important alcohol was during the Black Plague.

Hill Women

Hill Women PDF Author: Cassie Chambers
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1984818937
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
After rising from poverty to earn two Ivy League degrees, an Appalachian lawyer pays tribute to the strong “hill women” who raised and inspired her, and whose values have the potential to rejuvenate a struggling region. “Destined to be compared to Hillbilly Elegy and Educated.”—BookPage (starred review) “A gritty, warm love letter to Appalachian communities and the resourceful women who lead them.”—Slate Nestled in the Appalachian mountains, Owsley County, Kentucky, is one of the poorest places in the country. Buildings are crumbling as tobacco farming and coal mining decline. But strong women find creative ways to subsist in the hills. Through the women who raised her, Cassie Chambers traces her path out of and back into the Kentucky mountains. Chambers’s Granny was a child bride who rose before dawn every morning to raise seven children. Granny’s daughter, Ruth—the hardest-working tobacco farmer in the county—stayed on the family farm, while Wilma—the sixth child—became the first in the family to graduate from high school. Married at nineteen and pregnant with Cassie a few months later, Wilma beat the odds to finish college. She raised her daughter to think she could move mountains, like the ones that kept her safe but also isolated from the larger world. Cassie would spend much of her childhood with Granny and Ruth in the hills of Owsley County. With her “hill women” values guiding her, she went on to graduate from Harvard Law. But while the Ivy League gave her opportunities, its privileged world felt far from her reality, and she moved home to help rural Kentucky women by providing free legal services. Appalachian women face issues from domestic violence to the opioid crisis, but they are also keeping their towns together in the face of a system that continually fails them. With nuance and heart, Chambers breaks down the myth of the hillbilly and illuminates a region whose poor communities, especially women, can lead it into the future.

Moonshine Nation

Moonshine Nation PDF Author: Mark Spivak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493012460
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Book Description
Moonshine is corn whiskey, traditionally made in improvised stills throughout the Appalachian South. While quality varied from one producer to another, the whiskey had one thing in common: It was illegal because the distiller refused to pay taxes to the US government. Many moonshiners were descendants of Scots-Irish immigrants who had fought in the original Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s. They brought their knowledge of distilling with them to America along with a profound sense of independence and a refusal to submit to government authority. Today many Southern states have relaxed their laws and now allow the legal production of moonshine—provided that taxes are paid. Yet many modern moonshiners retain deep links to their bootlegging heritage. Moonshine Nation is the story of moonshine’s history and origins alongside profiles of modern moonshiners—and a collection of drink recipes from each.

The 1865 Stoneman's Raid Begins: Leave Nothing for the Rebellion to Stand Upon

The 1865 Stoneman's Raid Begins: Leave Nothing for the Rebellion to Stand Upon PDF Author: Joshua Beau Blackwell
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614232407
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
Striking out from Knoxville, Tennessee in late March of 1865, Major General George Stoneman unleashed his cavalry division upon Southern Appalachia intent on "leaving nothing for the Rebellion to stand upon." The raiders wreaked havoc on government stores, civilian property and indispensable infrastructure, dashing all hope for the dying Confederacy's stand on the rugged peaks of the Blue Ridge. They eventually trampled through five southern states, reduced to ashes one of the last major prisons in the south and helped pursue the renegade president. But much more than wanton destruction, their story is one of hardship, redemption and retribution. Taking into account the local folklore of the Raid, this volume traces the column's course as it departed Tennessee, penetrated Southwestern Virginia and stormed the North Carolina Piedmont.

Recovering the Piedmont Past

Recovering the Piedmont Past PDF Author: Timothy Paul Grady
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1611179238
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
An anthology exploring the modernization of the South Carolina upcountry and the region's role in creating the New South Continuing the theme of unexplored moments introduced in Recovering the Piedmont Past: Unexplored Moments in Nineteenth-Century Upcountry South Carolina History, Timothy P. Grady joins with Andrew H. Myers to edit this second anthology that uncovers the microhistory of this northwest region of the state. Topics include the influence of railroads on traveling circuses, tourist resorts and visits by Booker T. Washington during the rise of Jim Crow, pioneering efforts by progressives to identify the cause of pellagra disease, a debate over populism involving "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman, the acculturation of Greek immigrants, and the daily lives of Civilian Conservation Corps workers during the New Deal. After years of being overshadowed by the coastal elite, upcountry South Carolinians began to play a vital role in modernizing the region and making it an integral part of the "New South." In a study of this shift in the balance of power, the contributors examine religious history, the economic boom and bust, popular recreational activities, and major trends that played out in small places. By providing details and nuance that illuminate the historical context of the New South and engaging with the upcountry from fresh angles, this second volume expresses a deep local interest while also speaking to broader political and social issues. Melissa Walker, the George Dean Johnson, Jr. Professor of History Emerita at Converse College and coeditor of Recovering the Piedmont Past: Unexplored Moments in Nineteenth-Century South Carolina History, provides a foreword.

The 1865 Stoneman's Raid Ends

The 1865 Stoneman's Raid Ends PDF Author: Joshua Beau Blackwell
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614234965
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
The dramatic story of the cavalrymen tasked with capturing Jefferson Davis, and the terror and plunder that followed. In the spring of 1865, George Stoneman’s cavalry division departed Salisbury, North Carolina, with one objective in mind: returning home. However, after the collapse of the Confederacy, the mounted division was ordered to apprehend the exiled Confederate president Jefferson Davis, even if it meant “follow[ing] him to the ends of the earth.” By May, the raid had transformed into an uphill struggle of frustration, pillage, revenge, terror and wavering loyalty to the flag as the troopers crashed down on the civilian populations that lay in their path with demonical ferocity. Taking into account local folklore and traditions surrounding the raid, historian Beau Blackwell follows the column’s course as it sacks the city of Asheville, canvasses the Palmetto State, plunders Greenville, terrorizes Anderson, and ultimately tramples the soil of Georgia. Includes illustrations

Outwitting the Devil

Outwitting the Devil PDF Author: Napoleon Hill
Publisher: Sharon Lechter
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 30

Book Description
Originally written in 1938 but never published due to its controversial nature, an insightful guide reveals the seven principles of good that will allow anyone to triumph over the obstacles that must be faced in reaching personal goals.