After the Civil War, as the South lay in ruins, a group of freedmen decided to depart the Mississippi plantation on which they had been held as slaves in search of a promised land. They found it...i

Billy Dean Anderson was born in Fentress County, Tennessee, and, by all accounts, lived a normal law-abiding life as he grew up, even becoming a volunteer preacher in his church.Then it all went hor

After the Civil War a young man bought Cherry Mountain in Rutherford County, North Carolina and used the wild cherries found there to add flavor to his distilled product, illegal of course, that becam

John Romulus Brinkley was born in Burnsville, North Carolina, to a former Confederate medic and his housekeeper. From those humble beginnings young Brinkley grew up to become a traveling "Quaker doct

Joe Brown was a hell-raiser, thug and violent alcoholic who terrorized the town of Whitmer, West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century. He did, that is, until he went a step too far.That, folks

On January 3, 1921, a massive fire broke out at the West Virginia state capitol in Charleston. Not a big deal, you might be thinking, fires happen all the time. This one, though, had a twist or thre

On December 30, 1881, 30 convicts, along with their guards, were shackled and deposited on the banks of the Tuckaseegee River near Dillboro, North Carolina, with a job to do: cross the river in a boa

In the early 1900's a young mother in Polk County, North Carolina, had a decision to make. She had separated from her abusive husband and had several young children to feed, house and clothe, with ve

With Christmas fast approaching, Rod and Steve talk about the history and the folklore behind Christmas in Appalachia...You can subscribe to the Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PlayerFM,

David Crockett Beaty was a farmer in Fentress County, Tennessee...until the start of the Civil War.He became a guerrilla fighter in that war, on the side of the Union, with his most well-known rebel