By Jennifer A. Bauer | This is the first story in a series to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. | Many years prior to the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, hunters, settlers, and folks from many walks of life were exploring what laid beyond the mountains and lands west of the British colonies. This story is about the people who established the first settlement, the Watauga Settlement, which declared its independe

By Ted Olson | A conversation with Rodney Dillard | When the members of The Dillards first left Salem, Missouri, in 1962, they did not know they were a cutting-edge roots music band charting a path for so many others. The band was helped by a fortuitous early stop at what has become the world’s favorite fictional Appalachian town, where “the Darlings” live on as permanent visitors from nearby hills.

By Becky Pendergraft Parsons | The office of Grammy-nominated songwriter, artist, and educator Thomm Jutz is unassuming. Inside Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business building on Nashville’s Music Row, a guitar leans against the windowsill. His Master of Arts in Appalachian Studies degree hangs behind a modest desk outfitted with a computer and two studio speakers. The room is spare, functional, and revealing: Jutz prioritizes music and con

By Ophelia Wagner | Acclaimed Appalachian poet and novelist Ron Rash visited East Tennessee State University in April as the keynote speaker for The Bert C. Bach Written Word Initiative’s 10th Annual Spring Literary Festival at ETSU on April 21-22. Hosted by ETSU’s Literature and Language department, the festival welcomed writers such as Rose McLarney, Juan Martinez, and Nickole Brown for poetry and prose readings and public conversations. 

On April 7, East Tennessee State University’s campus was buzzing with showcases of local culture and traditions. Mountain Made, an Appalachian folk festival hosted by the ETSU SGA, Department of Appalachian Studies, and Buctainment, ETSU’s student life organization. The event is a callback to the ETSU campus culture of the 1960s and ’70s, when folk festivals were held on campus every year. Students, faculty, and visitors could find activities and performances throughout campu

By Mark Rutledge | It’s late spring and a few groups of lucky lottery winners are about to gather for some deep-woods wonderment at Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park in Flag Pond, Tennessee. For those who won the free online lottery, the show is about to begin. For everyone else — better luck next year.

By Jeff Keeling | This story was originally published and broadcast on Jan. 16, 2026 by WJHL-TV, an affiliate of CGS and ABC based in Johnson City, Tennessee. Pavlo Rybaruk, who lives in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, is seen here wearing the Hutsul serdak, a traditional decorated jacket worn by men in the region. Rybaruk wore the Hutsul serdak for his graduation ceremony, hosted via Zoom by ETSU.

By Phillip J. Obermiller and Thomas E. Wagner | Although not readily recognized for it, the federal Appalachian region hosts many busy ports. They are an important part of the region’s transportation network, serving national and international markets for coal, steel, chemicals, cement, grain, fertilizer, limestone, petroleum products, sand and gravel, and other bulk commodities such as lumber and wood chips.

By Iris Castillo | On the narrow, winding roads of Southwest Virginia, distance has never been measured in miles alone. Here, distance is felt in whether a car starts on a cold morning, or whether a neighbor can afford to take time off work to drive someone to an appointment three counties away. In central Appalachia, a mile “as the crow flies” can take hours to traverse by road. Geography has always shaped access to health care.

By Mark Rutledge | The majestic peaks, deep valleys, and peaceful blue haze of Western North Carolina are home to a network of faith-based mountain retreats and conference centers established during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the complexes experienced damage to their historic facilities when Hurricane Helene dumped record-breaking and catastrophic amounts of rain on the region on Sept. 27, 2024 ...

By Ted Olson  | In the aftermath of the September 2024 flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, one thing was clear: Ashevillians, whether natives, longtime residents, or recent arrivals, collectively praised their city’s stunning mountain landscape and rich cultural legacy, including a distinctive music heritage. A year after Helene, officials representing the City of Asheville alongside a small team of music scholars and promoters collaborated on telling a story heretofore unto

By Lacy Snapp | Every October, poets from around the Tri-Cities region of East Tennessee gather on one of the first cool nights of fall to celebrate community, creativity, and craft beer. For the past five years, Atlantic Ale House, a tap room in downtown Johnson City with mostly outdoor-patio seating, has hosted the opening-ceremony toast of the Johnson City Poets Collective’s annual Poetry Contest and Pub Crawl ...

By Savannah Bennett | When I was growing up, road trips were riddled with talismans and traditions. Lengthy excursions were marked by unique houses, roadside attractions, and stories my family repeated from memory. These geographic markers turned monotonous car rides into scavenger hunts. My sister and I would compete to see who noticed things the fastest, or who could tell the old stories the best. Many of the roadside messages associated with these memories were scattered a

By Sandra Laws | In 2005, author, food writer, radio host and associate professor of Appalachian Studies Fred Sauceman created and taught the Appalachian Foodways course at East Tennessee State University. He considers the course a natural fit for academic studies of Appalachia or any other part of the world ...

By Laura E. Clemons | The brief life and enduring contributions of Charles Faulkner Bryan of Tennessee.

By Donna Davis | Josh Goforth brings love, murder and mystery from his mountain porch to the coast.

By Ophelia Wagner | For four weeks this summer, 26 teenagers from across the state joined a decades-long program at East Tennessee State University that allows high school scholars to form lasting bonds while earning college credits.

By Thomas E. Wagner and Phillip J. Obermiller | While JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy, is a heartbeat from the presidency it seems appropriate to consider the Appalachian presidents. There have been four born in what today is known as the federal Appalachian Region: James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, and Joseph R. Biden.

By Ron Roach | Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and Magura in the Piatra Craiului Mountains of Romania may seem worlds apart. Yet, these two mountain communities share similar landscapes, histories, stories of preservation and ...

By Lacy Snapp | Nickole Brown is a poet whose voice is a contemporary, vital presence in our Appalachian writing community as her poems often include a speaker who holds up a curious and reverent magnifying glass to the more-than-human world. Brown is the executive director of the Hellbender Gathering of Poets, a new ecological writing festival ...