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This is a good article/website that talks about the history of the Appalachian people and culture. It is useful information to people that aren't familiar with Appalachian culture.

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Gene Wilhelm's theory of Appalachian culture is that it is a way of life and thinking that developed in the 1700s when the Scotch Irish and other British Isles and German people came into the valley and ridge country of Virginia and North Carolina and lived with the Indians. We thus became "Indianized white people." This is a bit of an overstatement but we did learn a lot from the Indians including what crops to grow. After the Revolutionary War these people moved into Tennessee, Kentucky, what is now West Virginia and the Ohio hills. Some moved right on eventually to the Ozarks, East Texas, Southern Illinois and Indiana, and even the towns along the coast of Washington State. This list of places is what is called Greater Appalachia.

Many scholars say there is no such thing as culture, much less Appalachian culture (see Obermiller and Maloney article: http://uaccstage.wpengine.com/pdf/workingpaper20.pdf).

What defines Appalachian culture? Food? Though much has been written about our food tastes including pinto beans, fried potatoes, ramps, poke salad, and baloney sandwiches there are many Appalachians far removed from this traditional diet. Many of us subsist on convenience foods and "pop and potato chips." If we are rich we might prefer steak. Mexican Restaurants and Pizza parlors dot Appalachian and urban Appalachian neighborhoods. But the old food traditions are still alive. At Maloney family reunions big pots of pinto beans still show up. And corn bread.

Is it our values? Our values are American values: individualism, private property, and limited government. Or is it familism, patriotism and religion? There are two lists of Appalachian values. There is the negative list including individualism, familism, and violence, which sounds like a list of diseases. This list was invented by outsiders to justify their efforts to steal our land and mineral wealth or to convert us to their brand of religion. And there is the positive list which includes love of the land, strong family ties, religion, and sense of justice. We developed this list to defend ourselves against the negative list.

So what is Appalachian culture? First of all it is stories, myths, and stereotypes. The negative stories about violent men who beat their wives and slatternly women who do drugs, neglect their children, and live off of welfare. The positive stories about dulcimer playing folk song singers who are gentle, soft spoken and modest. The negative images of large families with bad teeth living in hillside shacks who lack ambition and knowledge of the outside world. The image of Appalachia as strange people in a strange land. It is the missionaries' image of noble people who just need a little education and uplift. (My sisters were recruited by missionaries, sent to boarding school locally, then to finishing schools outside the mountains to become proper young ladies.) The Waltons embody the positive stereotypes. The Dukes of Hazzard embody the negative except that the characters are clever and Uncle Jesse represents the positive values of hard work, modesty, and wisdom.

In the sixties and seventies we started writing our own stories about our struggles to have a better life. Stories about coal miners and their wives who organized for better pay and mine safety and for black lung treatment and compensation. Stories about women who got jobs in the mines. Stories about Widow Combs and Dan Gibson resisting surface mining destroying the mountains, fighting to preserve their land and way of life. In Cincinnati we told stories about our life in the mountains and our struggles and successes in the city. We fought for respect and better treatment for our kids in school. We fought police brutality. We organized community schools and jobs programs. We won inclusion in Cincinnati's Human Rights Ordinance. We made Cincinnati and the Miami Valley one of the most important centers of country and old time music and Bluegrass. Our stories are about how we took care of our families and helped each other in Appalachian neighborhoods.

Appalachian culture is not to be found in lists of values or characteristics. It is to be found in honestly looking at the stories of our families and our people as a whole, the things that build us up and the things that drag us down. The story of the tens of thousands of people from the mountains who came to the Cincinnati region is one of the biggest success stories in American history. We helped build Cincinnati and all the surrounding towns. We built the houses and bridges. We made the cars and trucks and refrigerators. We dug ditches, we taught school. We were lawyers, doctors, and nurses. We are one-in-four Greater Cincinnatians. Yet we still have families who did not share in this success and still need the help of our community. How we respond to their needs will say a lot about our "culture."

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What is Appalachian Culture? - Welcome to UACC

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by Michael Maloney Gene Wilhelm's theory of Appalachian culture is that it is a way of life and thinking that developed in the 1700s when the Scotch Irish and other British Isles and German people came into the valley and ridge country of Virginia and North Carolina and lived with the Indians.

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This map shows the highlighted areas that are considered to be a part of Appalachia. As you can see, the area of Tennessee that I live in is very much part of it.

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A lot of Appalachia is in the Bible belt, so many people in this region grew up attending a small church like this one. This is the church that I grew up in. It is Independent Baptist and the congreagtion at its peak was maybe made up of around 35 people. Relgion, church, and faith is an intergral part of Appalchian culture. There are churches on every corner in this region.

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The Heartland Series is a personal journey through all the wonder that makes the Smoky Mountains unique. The Heartland Series also captures the human spirit that resides in Appalachia. The show takes a deep dive into stories, festivals, people, history, and pastimes that make the Appalachian region so unique. I grew up watching this show with my Mamaw and it is very near and dear to my heart.

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WBIR’s The Heartland Series with Bill Landry: Volume 1

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Dollywood was a magical place to me when I was a child. For people in the Appalachian area that couldn't afford to go to Disney World, this was their Disney World. I have been to this place more times than I can count and most people in my area have had the same expereince. Dolly Parton created Dollywood to provide more jobs for people in the Appalchian region. So not only is it a fun place to visit, it provides jobs for people in a poor, rural area.

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Hee Haw was an intergral part of my childhood. My grandparents watched this quite frequently, so I am very familiar with the silly songs like this one. The show is very nostalgic to me and gives me great memories of loved ones that have passed on. A lot of people in the Appalachian region have grew up watching Hee Haw religiously. I don't know many people that grew up around me that haven't seen it.

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Gloom Despair And Agony On Me (tall girls)

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My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was very young. I can still do basic stitches to this day. The memories of sewing, crocheting, and embroidering with my Mamaw are precious to me. I hope to learn more from her and then pass my knowledge down to my kids and grandkids one day. Above is some of my work from a long time ago. I have done many embroidery designs like this, but most of them have been gifted to family members so I don't have them anymore. I know that sewing is a part of Appalachian culture, as many people in this area had to make their own clothes to save money.

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Every summer since I can remember, my Mamaw has spent weeks canning food. She cans green beans, potatoes, pickles, tomatos, kraut, etc. The food that she cans lasts for a few years and feeds us all winter long. There have been times that the only reason we didn't go hungry is because of my Mamaw's canned food. This tradition was instilled in my Mamaw by her mother and was taught for generations before her. This is definitely a part of Appalachian culture. Canning food saves a lot of money and is a labor of love.

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I have been to Cades Cove countless times and I feel like I still haven't explored all that it has to offer. This is peak Appalachian history, with many buildings still around of the settlers of Cades Cove. This place has and always will be very nostalgic to me.

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You can't talk about Appalachian culture without mentioning bluegrass. Being half-raised by my grandparents, bluegrass was a very important part of my childhood. That's pretty much the only kind of music my grandparents would play in the car, so I grew accustomed to it very early in life. My grandparents even took me to a bluegrass music festival once. I can still remember river dancing with some of the older gentleman there. Above is a link to a playlist of some famous bluegrass songs that I grew up listening to.

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There is never a time when cornbread isn't sitting on the stove, ready to be ate with our next meal, at my house. Corn bread is a southern Appalachian staple food. It's easy to make, the ingrediants are cheap, it's filling, and it's tasty! I probably have eaten more cornbread than sandwhich bread in my lifetime.