This is part of my So Far Appalachia Kickstart project. We’re just 62 hours away from finishing. It’s now or never! Even though we’ve reached our first goal, we’re still hoping to reach $12,000. If you are so inclined, please donate! * * * In Pennsylvania, the earliest gunsmiths that can be documented are Robert […]
“The borderlands — as this region was known — were remote and lawless territories that had been fought over for hundreds of years… And when they immigrated to North America, they moved into the American interior, to remote, lawless, rocky, and marginally fertile places like Harlan that allowed them to reproduce in the New World […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please visit my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Robert Lee Baker, Sr, my great-grandfather, was the last man killed in the Clay County War. There are […]
This is part of the So Far Appalachia book project. If you enjoy what you read, please vist my Kickstarter page (and pass this along to any friends who you think might find this interesting). * * * Growing up, I always considered Appalachia as some mystical place forgotten in time. I say this full well […]
Community. That’s a word with which I never associated as I grew up, left the Midwest, and headed into the world with delusions of writing grandeur. Life was short, and there was little time to consider what was happening around me if I wanted to succeed. These days, I move a little slower and I […]
In June 1935, Bobby Baker got in his car in Hamilton, Ohio and headed south towards the Central Appalachian town of Manchester, Kentucky, the place his family helped found in early 1800s. Bobby was an enigma. A man bound by generations of family honor and duty, he still managed to spend a great deal of […]
Writing a book requires a team. I have a great one. Here’s everyone who helped make this project happen.
**Greetings Gawkers who found me through this piece or this piece. Remember to tip your waiters and waitresses. And the 1030 show is always different than that the 8.** I have buried the lede in this piece so I hope you’ll hang with me while I indulge in a little storytelling about why I’m a […]