A Mountain Feist is a type of small hunting dog.  Like the many others varieties of feists, it is not a specific breed. The ancestral homeland of the Mountain Feist is the Southern Appalachian and Ozark Mountains. These dogs played a vital role in the lives of...

Some of Appalachia’s most special places are protected through land trusts. These non-profit organizations work with private landowners and other organizations to protect places of significant agricultural, environmental, historic, and recreational value. Land trusts...

The Appalachian Trail extends 2,160 miles from Springer Mountain in North Georgia to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine. “Through Hiker” is the name given to those who hike the entire trail in one season. It may also be used to describe hikers who walk the entire trail...

Cullowhee is an unincoporated community located in the Tuckaseigee Valley of Jackson County, North Carolina where Cullowhee Creek joins the Tuckaseigee River. Originally a Cherokee town of ancient origins, its name is derived from a Cherokee phrase meaning...

  Appalachian people, of Cherokee, European, and African origin, all share a long history of making useful and decorative items from the outer leaves of ears of corn, known as cornhusks, or corn shucks. The husks are soaked, shaped, and then dried into the...

Not too many generations ago, before snow plows, central heat, and supermarkets, winters in Appalachia were a much different experience than they are today. Many basic necessities such as mobility, heat, and food were not taken for granted. . .

One voice seized me more than the rest. Over a simply picked banjo, the voice sang mournfully about a mole in the ground. Elsewhere, the same voice preached, over that same simple banjo, about dry bones. Like so many folk tunes, these told strange, elliptical stories, dense with images, exploding with emotion.

In 1934, the United States Congress officially established what is today the most popular National Park in the country, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a result, over 500,000 acres of scenic. . .

Wilma Dykeman of Asheville, North Carolina, was a major Appalachian author. Her novels “The Tall Woman,” “The Far Family,” and “Return the Innocent Earth” vividly evoke life in the region as it experienced rapid change between the Civil War and the 20th century.

Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, located on the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina, was founded in 1946. Its goal is to preserve Cherokee arts and crafts, and provide Cherokee people with a means to sell their crafts year-round. Today, Qualla Arts and Crafts...

On March 14, 1967, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, arrived in Jackson County, North Carolina. She had come to visit the Canada community elementary school. As a National Teacher Corps Demonstration Center, the Canada school was part of her...

In 1928, Bascom Lamar Lunsford turned his vast knowledge of traditional music and his organizational skills to the creation of a local music festival. The Asheville Chamber of Commerce had long sponsored an annual Rhododendron Festival, highlighting mountain arts and crafts. . .

  Face jugs, a form of folk art, are so-called because human faces are shaped on them. Because the faces usually have exaggerated humorous or monstrous expressions, they are sometimes called “ugly jugs” or “devil jugs.” While it is unclear whether their origin...

Languages are spoken in a variety of dialects. Appalachian English is the name given to the dialect spoken in the Southern Mountains. It differs from Standard English, the version taught in schools and spoken by network television announcers, in several ways. . .