What is Appalachia?
Some define Appalachia as a physical region. Some define it as a culture. Some say both. The debate continues on...
The Appalachian Region Commission, created in 1965, defined the Appalachian region in 420 counties in thirteen states on the east coast of the United States. Appalachia is known for its mountain regions as it covers the Great Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allegheny Mountains, and part of the Appalachian Mountains but it is also known for its unique cultural heritage. Appalachian culture is rooted in strong traditional values and ways of life and has created a new division of Americana culture. There are many negative stereotypes associated with Appalachian culture and its people but many have been disbanded through continued research in Appalachian studies.
The Appalachian region has been combating poverty since the 1930's because of the decline in logging and coal production which prompted many New Deal initiatives to come to various parts of Appalachia. The Appalachian Region Commission was established in 1965 to help alleviate impoverished conditions that were prevalent in the Appalachian region. A new major industry of the region is tourism with many parks, trails, and more outdoor activities are being promoted as well as historical homes and sites for tourists to explore.
History and General Overview of Appalachia
Appalachia on Our Mind by 
A History of Appalachia by 
Appalachia by 
Appalachia in the Making by The U.S. Civil War in Appalachia
The Heart of Confederate Appalachia by 
In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Foxfire Series
In 1966, a new teacher at the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Northeast Georgia’s Appalachian mountains was struggling to engage students in his high school English class. In frustration, he asked them what they thought would make the curriculum interesting. They decided to create a magazine, honing their writing skills on stories gathered from their families and neighbors, and producing articles about the pioneer era of southern Appalachia as well as living traditions still thriving in the region.
They called it “Foxfire” after the glowing fungus that clings to rotted wood in the local hills. This spark of an idea, and the work that followed, has turned into a phenomenon of education and living history, teaching readers, writers, visitors, and students how our past contributes to who we are and what we can become – how the past illuminates our present and inspires imagination.
From the Foxfire website
This volume, the original anthology, celebrates the home life and creative history of Appalachia, featuring sections on hog dressing, log cabin building, soap making, basket weaving, planting by the signs, preserving foods, making butter, snake lore, hunting tales, faith healing, and moonshining.
This second volume celebrates the rites and customs of Appalachia, featuring sections on ghost stories, spring wild plant foods, corn shuckin’s, spinning and weaving, midwives, granny women, old-time burial customs, witches and haints, and wagon making.
This third volume celebrates the lively and homespun heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on animal care, banjos & dulcimers, hide tanning, summer and fall wild plant foods, cornshuck mops, butter churns, apple butter, building a lumber kiln, and ginseng.
This fourth volume celebrates the home life and creative heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on fiddle making, springhouses, horse trading, sassafras tea, berry buckets, knife making, wood carving, logging, cheese making, and gardening.
This fifth volume celebrates the survival techniques and resourceful heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on ironmaking, blacksmithing, horseshoes, cowbells, shovels, bellows, barrells, furnaces, flintlock rifles, and bear hunting.
This sixth volume celebrates the playful and innovative heritage of Appalachia, featuring 100 toys and games, from bow and arrows to merry-go-rounds, flying jennys to puzzles, cornstalk fiddles to gourd banjos and song bows, and cucumber dolls, as well as wooden locks, shoemaking, and a water-powered sawmill.
This seventh volume celebrates the spiritual heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on ministers and church members, from Baptists to Methodists to Pentecostals to Presbyterians, as well as revivals, baptisms, shaped-note and gospel singing, faith healing, camp meetings, foot washing, and snake handling.
This eighth volume celebrates the artistic and skillful heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on the Black Community in Appalachia, Southern folk pottery – from glazed snake jars to swirlware to flowerpots, pug mills, ash glazes, groundhog kilns, face jugs, churns, and roosters – and tales of mule swapping and chicken fighting, breeding, and conditioning.
This ninth volume celebrates the crafts and heritage of Appalachia, featuring sections on the Judd Nelson wagon, crazy quilting, general stores, herbal remedies and home cures, herb doctors and healers, a praying rock, a Catawban Indian Potter, witchy and ghostly haint tales, and the log cabin revisited.
This tenth volume celebrates the heritage and history of Appalachia, featuring sections on old folklore, the role of railroads in Appalachian communities, boarding houses, building and technology from the Depression to the present, chairmaking, whirligigs, snake canes, and gourd art.
This eleventh volume celebrates the rituals and recipes of Appalachia, featuring sections on the old homeplace, wild plant uses, planting and growing a garden, preserving food – pickling, smoking, and salting, as well as beekeeping and making honey, hunting stories, fishing, and more affairs of plain living.
Reminiscences about square dancing and tales about traditional craftsmen who created useful items in the old-time ways. There are lessons on how to make rose beads and wooden caskets, and on how to find turtles in your local pond. Hear the voices of descendants of the Cherokee who lived in the region, and learn about what summer camp was like for generations of youngsters. Meet a rich assortment of Appalachian characters and listen to veterans recount their war experiences. Illustrated with photographs and drawings, Foxfire 12 is a rich trove of information and stories from the Southern Appalachian culture.
Digital Repositories of Appalachia
The Digital Library of Appalachia is a collection held by the Appalachian College Association, a consortium of private colleges and universities located in the Appalachian region, that depicts the history and culture of Appalachia.
A research guide to the Great Smoky Mountains provided by the University of Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Digital Collection
A digital collection of the creation and life of the Great Smoky National Park, created and hosted by Western Carolina University and the State Archives of North Carolina.
Appalachian Literature
Appalachia Inside Out - Conflict and Change by