Definition of the Melungeons

A Research Article
By Jack Goins, MHS VP for Heritage

The Melungeons were a very dark skin group of settlers who settled in the mountains of East Tennessee and the extreme Southwestern area of Virginia beginning 1790's. Originally they were Portugese adventurers, who came to the long shore parts of Virginia, they became friends with the Indians and intermixed with them, and subsequently with the pioneer settlers. Some of them took the names of the first settlers. The main body of this group migrated from the Pamunkey River area of Virginia to the Flat River area of NC 1730's-1740's. Then around 1767 they migrated from the Flat River to the back woods New River area’s of Virginia and North Carolina before migrating to the Clinch River areas of Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee.

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The Underground Railroad in Tennessee

The Underground Railroad is a compelling metaphor first used about 1834 to describe the fl ight of slaves from the slaveholding states of the South to the free states of the North. Neither underground nor railroad, the term referred to unnumbered routes over which fugitive slaves might secretly escape to freedom, usually with assistance from persons along the way. It was their bold efforts to free themselves
that prompted helpful responses by free blacks and whites.

Persistent traditions suggest the haunting term “Underground” was coined in 1831 by a frustrated Kentucky slaveholder who unsuccessfully pursued his slave Tice Davids across the Ohio River at Ripley. Suddenly losing all trace of Davids, the master exclaimed, “He must have gone off on an underground road.” A few years later the advent of railroads with speedy steam-powered locomotives brought the Underground Railroad name into general use. A participant explained, “It was so called because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view as really as if they had
gone into the ground. After the fugitive slaves entered a depot on that road, no trace of them could be found.”

To read about the Underground Railroad in Tennessee: Click Here.

Note: Adobe Acrobat or other PDF reader is required.

Tennessee Virtual Archive

Welcome to Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA), a program of the State Library and Archives to create a digital repository of Tennessee history and culture. Our mission is to bring electronic versions of the state’s rich collections to a wider audience. TeVA provides a searchable array of historical records, photographs, documents, maps, postcards, film, audio and other original materials of enduring value.

To enter: Click Here.

Recent Newspaper Article on Will Allen Dromgoole

Boro poet Dromgoole helped bridge generations
By: By MIKE WEST
Murfreesboro Post
Monday, February 9, 2009

Her poem still often quoted

During her life, Will Allen Dromgoole was a prolific writer and poet.

While she wrote more than 7,500 poems, 5,000 essays and published 13 books, her most famous poem was “The Bridge Builder.”

To read the article, including "The Bridge Builder": Click Here.

From the standpoint of Melungeon research, the most interesting part of the article is this:

Her life then took an unusual twist for the day. She studied law with her father and won terms as engrossing clerk for the Tennessee State Senate. But an unflattering series of articles she wrote about the Melungeons of East Tennessee caused her defeat in 1889 and 1891 and she relocated to Texas where she wrote for newspapers.

This claim seems unlikely. In the first place, Melungeons were neither numerous nor popular in 1889 and 1891. And in the second place, she seems to have originally lost her job before publishing the first of her four articles on Melungeons in 1890.

For more on Will Allen Droomgoole: Click here.

Museum of the Cherokee Indian

“To preserve and perpetuate the history, culture
and stories of the Cherokee.”

Located on tribal land in the Great Smoky Mountains, this non-profit organization tells the story of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose ancestors lived in these mountains for more than ten thousand years.

To visit: Click Here.

Craft Revival

Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present

A website and digital archive and a project of Hunter Library at Western Carolina University. The project received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Administered as a Heritage Partners grant by the State Library of North Carolina, the Craft Revival project is part of NC ECHO: Exploring Cultural Heritage Online, a state initiative.
WCU logo

Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library is responsible for the research and writing that informs the online storyboard presented on the website. It staffs the project and administers its budget. The Library receives items from seven Heritage Partners and uploads them into a database that forms this project’s digital collections. Hunter Library assumes full responsibility for maintaining the website/database and for making it available to the public via the World Wide Web.

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The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum

The State Center for Blue Ridge Folklore

For over 30 years Ferrum College's Blue Ridge Institute and Museum has documented the folkways of the people living in and around the Blue Ridge Mountains. Through gallery exhibits, the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, the Blue Ridge Farm Museum, the Blue Ridge Heritage Archive, the BRI Recordings series and innovative outreach programming, the BRI promotes a special understanding of regional folklife for all ages and audiences. At the same time the Institute's focus adds a unique element to Ferrum College's modern academic programs.

To learn more: Click Here.