Last year, I posted this tweet: “Appalachian folks: I’m hunting for some @InAppalachia story ideas. What’s something your momaw made that’s unique to where you’re from?” It got dozens of replies, a large number of which mentioned pinto beans and cornbread. I found that strange because beans and cornbread are the […]
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It takes about 40 hours of hammering to turn a steel drum into a steelpan drum. Although originally meant to hold oil, shampoo or ketchup, the metal tube becomes an instrument uniquely capable of evoking island breezes and a slower pace of life. And believe it or not, this transformation takes place […]
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Traditional Appalachian pull candy — sometimes called cream pull candy or Kentucky pull candy — is known for two things: its buttery, melt-in-your-mouth flavor and the painstaking process required to make the stuff. The candy must include exact ratios of all the ingredients. It has to be cooked to an […]
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Name a significant event in West Virginia over the last three decades. There’s a good chance Steven Rotsch was there. He was on the scene at two major mine disasters. He was front and center at seven gubernatorial inaugurations. He was there for nearly every major natural disaster. He met […]
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When Mary Lou Estler married her late husband Bob in 1960, it wasn’t long before she was introduced to a priceless family heirloom — an heirloom tomato. “They had beautiful dinners,” Mary Lou said. “And Mrs. Estler owned a Blenko piece of glass. All the way around would be these […]
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Standing at the base of “The Hole,” a gargantuan rock formation in West Virginia’s New River Gorge, you can hear water coming down the mountainside, rushing to the river below. Looking up, you’d see the rock shooting hundreds of feet overhead, curving as it goes, to form an imposing-looking overhang. […]
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