Foxfire

What is "Foxfire"?

• The term "foxfire" is a name commonly applied to several species of bioluminescent fungi that grow on rotting wood in damp forests.

• "Foxfire" is the name that an English class picked, in 1966, for a student-produced magazine they chose to create, containing stories and interviews gathered from elders in their rural Southern Appalachian community.

• "Foxfire" is the name of a series of books which are anthology collections of material from The Foxfire Magazine. The students' portrayal of the previously-dismissed culture of Southern Appalachia as a proud, self-sufficient people with simple beliefs, pure joy in living, and rock-solid faith shattered most of the outside world's misconceptions about these "hillbillies".

• "Foxfire" is a museum in the small northeast Georgia town of Mountain City.

• "Foxfire" is a method of classroom instruction.

• Most importantly, "Foxfire" is the living connection between the high school students in the magazine program and their heritage, built through continued interaction with their elders.

To visit the web page of this nationally known Appalachian educational endeavor: Click Here.

Letcher County Genealogy

Letcher County, Kentucky maintains one of the most comprehensive GenWeb sites. If you have Letcher County connections, Melungeon descended or otherwise, you do not want miss it.

To visit Letcher County: Click Here.

To locate GenWeb sites for other counties of interest: Click Here.

Haints in the Hollers

Supernatural Tales from the Appalachian Mountains
An Annotated Bibliography

Compiled By Judy A. Teaford
Mountain State University

What better day of the year than Halloween to introduce this extensive and rather detailed online annotated bibliography of the supernatural in Appalachian lore and legend, encompassing not only Appalachian fiction and folklore collections, but movies and Internet sources as well.

To read: Click Here.

Devil Jim Turner

Outlaw of Harland County
By Holly Fee

FORWARD

My interest in `Devil Jim' was first aroused by the Reverend John Jay Dickey's interview with Woodard Lyttle and curiosity about the killings of William and David Middleton. Since then many bits and pieces of information related to the events surrounding Devil Jim's life have been discovered. The following partial account of Devil Jim Turner is compiled from many sources, Harlan and Clay County court records, census records, Narcissus Middleton's letter, traditional family stories, the above mentioned Woodard Lyttle interview with Dickey and other sources. Some assumptions have been made as to the character and personality of some of the persons involved and as to the timing of some of the events.

But back to the beginning...

To read this fascinating story: Click Here.

DNA Testing and the Melungeons

By Roberta Estes
restes@comcast.net
Copyright 2006-2008

Roberta Estes, MHS board member and technical adviser to the Melungeon DNA project (among several others), has written this in-depth article especially for us on DNA testing, the types, nature and limitations of commercially available DNA tests for genealogical purposes, and the role DNA testing can play in Melungeon studies.

I want to thank Roberta for all the work she has put into this fine article, which is not only so very important in its own right but will also serve as an informational and technical foundation for future blog entries dealing with genetic genealogy and the Melungeon DNA project. I want to also thank Penny Ferguson and Janet Crain for editorial and production assistance.

To read the article: Click Here.

For future reference, the article may be found at any time under the "Genetic Genealogy" section of the MHS Blog's "Links of Interest" page, the portal to which can always be found on the sidebar to the right, immediately above the MHS Blog Archive.

Geographical Location of the Melungeons

By Joanne Pezullo

Beginning in 1849 and to this very day the researchers have headed to Newman's Ridge to find the Melungeons.

To continue reading this review of the literature: Click Here.

Digtal Library of Appalachia

Appalachian College Association Central Library

The Digital Library of Appalachia provides online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region. The contents of the DLA are drawn from special collections of Appalachian College Association member libraries and include both photographs and documents.

To visit the DLA: Click Here.