Stay ConnectedWelcome to “Stories of Appalachia,” the podcast where hosts Steve Gilly and Rod Mullins have been unraveling the captivating history and folklore of the Appalachian region since 2015. Join them as they guide you through mist-covered mountains and winding rivers, exploring the stories that define the heart and soul of Appalachia.
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Copyright: © Copyright Steve Gilly
Hello podcast listeners! If there’s one thing about the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys it’s that the whole thing started with a trial over a pig. And you’d be wrong. Today we tell the stories, yes, stories, of the infamous “Hog Trial” of Pike County, which likely never took place, at least not […]
Hello podcast fans! For the next several weeks Rod and I are going to be telling the story of the Hatfield and McCoy feud. This bit of Appalachian history is probably the most widely known, and the most controversial. Newspaper stories about the conflict planted the seeds of the ignorant, violent, uneducated Appalachian hillbilly stereotype. […]
The Loretta Lynn biopic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was filmed in Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia during the late 70’s, causing a ton of excitement for the residents of that area, including yours truly, who happened to be working in a radio station in Norton, Virginia, at the time. Both Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones […]
Around the turn of the twentieth century there was a vigilante group that operated in Sevier County, Tennessee, named the “White Caps” for the white hoods they wore. Starting out as a means to enforce morals with switchings of immoral women, the White Caps turned increasingly violent, becoming involved in the murder of a couple. […]
In the winter of 1779-1780, a group of settlers set out from the present site of Kingsport, Tennessee, sailing down the Holston River to establish a new settlement in the wilderness. They succeeded in reaching Fort Nashborough, later Nashville, Tennessee, after a trek that took them all the way down to the Ohio River, then […]
A little change of pace on today’s podcast as Rod and Steve tell about the old Scots-Irish tradition of storytelling that was brought to the Appalachians by the first settlers. And they also take a stab at a little of that storytelling themselves by sharing a couple of Appalachian Jack tales with you. You can […]
If you think politics are nasty now, you should have lived in southern Appalachia in the middle of the nineteenth century. That’s where a Methodist circuit rider named Parson William Brownlow began his rise to political power as governor from his home in East Tennessee. Generally ranked dead-last on historians’ lists of Tennessee governors, Brownlow […]
Times were good in Saltville, Virginia, in 1924. It was Christmas Eve and people were wrapping up their shopping and getting ready for parties and family and gifts under the tree. Then disaster struck in the form of the collapse of a dam holding back millions of gallons of caustic muck. Today, Steve and Rod […]
In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors explored the Southern Appalachians, blazing trails for an expansion of the Spanish Empire. Captain Juan Pardo led one of these expeditions, which visited Western North Carolina, East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. On today’s podcast, Steve and Rod tell his story. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, […]
Back in early 1800’s Abingdon, Virginia, lived a Baptist minister named Abner Vance, who had a daughter named Betty. Betty was done wrong romantically by a local doctor, and Vance took a shot at him, accidentally killing the doctor’s brother. After a time on the run, Vance returned to Washington County, Virginia, where he was […]
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