Hey everyone!! This is a little odd but I am an 18 year old college student, and in my English class we have an essay we need to write about our ancestors and intertwining personal investment with learning to write persuasively. All of my grandparents passed away before I was born, including the one I chose, but I chose her cause I thought she seemed pretty cool and I was hoping you guys might could give me some cool insight or better context I could use in my essay that I don’t know since unfortunately I can’t ask her, and the political pieces I find are, as usual, pretty polarizing. Anyways of what I know, she grew up in eastern Kentucky, somewhere in letcher country, and as an adult married my grandfather and moved to California secretly after, as they were both gay. They had my dad a year after marriage and moving there, and unfortunately she passed away from leukemia, and not 3 years later my grandfather from aids. I wonder what life would’ve been like back then for her and why she would’ve wanted to leave home, but also, she visited often as I could see in pictures and from word of mouth. I wonder what things were like to do with lgbt politically at the time compared to now. I have never been to Kentucky but I live in a very blue area, so it’s hard for me to conceptualize what it must’ve been to be lesbian back then. Also what is eastern Kentucky like culturally for women? And back then? To give a better timestamp my grandmother died in the early 90s when she was around 40. Whoever comments thank you so so so much :) I’m a long time lurker on the sub and u guys are amazing people❤️

https://www.appalachianmimzy.com

Just her site sharing her fallout recipes and experiences as an Appalachian.

Edit: family recipes not fallout recipes

My spouse is going to school in Scotland. His family is from many generations in East Tennessee, and he thought he’d lost his accent (which I love, and has gotten much less pronounced over the years as we don’t live in the hills.) He presented an academic paper last week, and a listener came up to him after and asked where he was from. “You sound like home,” she said. It made them both happy.

Does anyone have tips of how to heat a house without a furnace? We went without power 12 days from Hurricane Helene, when it came back a surge shorted out our entire HVAC system, also our the control board of our oven (stove eyes still work but not the oven part, but stove eyes aren’t really helping that much), and dryer, so those two aren’t an option to help keep it warm in here either. Got denied FEMA because we have homeowners insurance. But homeowners insurance is of course taking forever, they finally came and looked at everything last week but said the claim probably won’t actually come in until mid January. It’s a single wide mobile home, not very large. We have a small space heater but there’s only one outlet we can plug it into that can handle 1500W and it’s in the living room. But I don’t really like sleeping with it on because I have a toddler and I’m told it’s generally just unsafe to sleep with a space heater on. We’ve been kind of lucky with the weather so far, as it only been 50-80 degrees but it’s finally getting cold here, especially at night, last night it was 27 degrees and it’s supposed to get even colder the rest of this week :/ so pls give all the tips you can on how to keep it warm in here.

Looking to head to Appalachia for a week or so after Christmas. We're formerly from N. GA, and like to come back to various areas on vacation as its drivable for us. We've done Gatlinburg area a dozen times, Asheville, Maggie Valley, Southern VA (coast and mountains), Greenville, Charlotte, Harpers Ferry, DC, Green Briar area of WV..And almost every town in GA.

Need some new areas to check out. Any ideas for places we've missed? Have kids. What gems are out there that we haven't enjoyed yet?

Can't wait to build my house with this exact view.

This one, lone, maple, refuses to drop its leaves until, like, February.

Does anyone know of any American Chestnut trees still alive and putting out shoots or producing chestnuts? My mother was from north Georgia, born there in 1905, and she told me of how a blight had killed the Native American chestnut tree. Every winter she would buy Chinese or English chestnuts to roast and repeat the sad story of the American chestnut.

My mom was from Giles Co. VA ( not far from Blacksburg). She had a family tradition of fried oysters at Christmas. Never had oysters any other time of year unless she got a good deal and we had some at New Years too. We were in East TN and everyone I knew thought that was a strange (and disgusting) thing to do. I wonder if that was really a thing in her part of the mountains or just a thing in her family?

Does anyone have some suggestions for areas to check out? I went backpacking in Dolly sods last summer and we had a blast. Spent some time hiking around Davis/Elkins in the spring but didn't get to camp. Those were West Virginia areas I really enjoyed. I'm looking to plan some trips for next spring coming from OH so 3-4 day trips are ideal. Thanks for tips

Grew up eating this, family is Appalachian. Was telling another person about it & they’ve never had it. Was curious to know if it’s truly something Appalachian or just something my family did?

Northern GA. Cold breeze, clear sky, good beer, moonshine, and some sausage cooked in the fire after a big thanksgiving dinner and some football.

Coworkers are claiming I'm crazy for putting vinegar in them, that it's not supposed to be in deviled eggs. I've always made them this way, same way my mamaw made them.

Do you put vinegar in them?

Let me preface this by saying I am not from Appalachia (although I am from the non-Appalachian part of an Appalachian state); but I have a deep interest in the region and its history/culture.

I am aware of the rich musical history of country, folk, and blues from the region. But outside of Asheville NC and Athens GA, I rarely don't hear much about other styles of music like rock, punk, and indie in the region outside of a few alternative country artists. I do know Whitesburg/Appalshop has some bands though. Tl;Dr what "music cities" are there currently in the region?

Good evening everyone. Hoping to gain a little insight on some traditional herbs, fruits etc from the region. I am working on a final school project where I have to create a craft beverage. I’ve decided the direction I’d like to go in is to create an Appalachian inspired Gin. I was thinking about using ginseng with raspberry and the traditional juniper needed to make gin, but I’d like to know what else would go well with that and be easily accessed. I currently live in western North Carolina. What are the flavor profiles that you associate with the region. Thanks in advance!

Edit: THANKS for all the suggestions. i’ll be sure to post back here in a few months when I have a final product and i’ll let you know how it tastes!

Who has had chocolate gravy before? Miss Norma's family recipe is in the book!