Appalachian NYE – Last Minute Options

Posted in History & Culture on December 31st, 2011 by marklynn
Appalachian NYE – Last Minute Options
If you’re like me, you don’t plan your New Years Eve activities until the eleventh hour. We just decided two days ago to ring in 2012 playing pool and eating pickle flavored potato chips (our local billiard’s specialty). For all of my fellow stragglers, here are five favorite Appalachian NYE options: 5) SnowShoe Mountain’s Gone Country New Years, Snowshoe, West Virginia: Snowshoe’s 15,000 square foot entertainment v Read More »


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Under My Tree: Dolly’s Recipes and Coal History

Posted in History & Culture on December 25th, 2011 by marklynn
Under My Tree: Dolly’s Recipes and Coal History
Check out my gifts! With 125 of Dolly’s favorite recipes and a coal history classic under my tree, it’s been a very Appalachian Christmas. I hope you’re having a wonderful day too, full of home cooking, maybe some country crafts, and more loved ones than you can count. Read More »


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Christmas Ghosts in Oak Ridge, Tenn

Posted in Music on December 18th, 2011 by marklynn
Christmas Ghosts in Oak Ridge, Tenn
Y’all might remember my surprise when I learned that fissionable plutonium originated in Tennessee’s foothills. Well, I just learned that Oak Ridge, the secret production facility that pioneered it, wasn’t just cooking up nuclear magic. It was also the birthplace for one of country music’s most enduring bands. If you could pick up WNOX out of Knoxville in the 1940s, Wally Fowler was a name you’d have known. He was a Read More »


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10 Great Places to Get Appalachian Crafts

Posted in Art & Lit on December 11th, 2011 by marklynn
10 Great Places to Get Appalachian Crafts
It looks like Appalachian crafters are finally getting their due. This week, USA Today ran 10 Great Places to Shop at Craft Galleries, and not one, not two, but three of them are in the homeland. That has me feeling big waves of pride for our region’s artists, and it makes me want to tell Target, Walmart and Best Buy to lump it this season. Rather than just filling my loved one’s stockings with mass-produced doo-dads, I’m going Read More »


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Moonshiners – Tonight at 10 on Discovery

Posted in History & Culture on December 6th, 2011 by marklynn
Moonshiners – Tonight at 10 on Discovery
Y’all know that the days of bootleggers, backwoods stills and “white lightning” aren’t over, but did you expect them to end up in prime time? Tonight at 10:00 PM, Discovery Channel premieres its new series Moonshiners. Here’s how they’re billing it: “Moonshiners tells the story of those who brew their shine – often in the woods near their homes using camouflaged equipment – and the local autho Read More »


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Are You Ready for High Allegheny National Park?

Posted in Outdoors & Travel on December 4th, 2011 by marklynn
Are You Ready for High Allegheny National Park?
View of potential park land from Seneca Rocks area Over on the outdoorsy blogs, the long standing debate over a new national park in Maine has been upstaged by one humdinger of a proposal for West Virginia. It would merge three protected areas along with some privately owned land into a single mega-park, covering half a million acres or more. Most folks are calling it High Allegheny National Park. Some call it High Allegheny Park and Preserve. Read More »


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