Hillbilly history highlights Clinchfield RR

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I recorded “Hillbilly – the Real Story” off the History Channel the other day. I mention it here because the two-hour documentary features a look back at the coal mining operations in Appalachia – including a wonderful hunk about the Clinchfield Railroad, maybe five minutes long with some awesome archive footage.

You may want to keep an eye out for it.

It is described thusly:

Join host Billy Ray Cyrus on a journey into the hollers and runs of Appalachia to discover the proud legacy of the region’s mountain folk. Learn how hillbillies, long misunderstood and maligned as isolated and backward, actually have a 300-year history of achievement and success that has contributed significantly to our national identity.

In this two-hour special you’ll meet outcast immigrants, war heroes, isolated backwoodsmen, hard working miners, fast moving moon shiners, religious warriors, musicians and statesmen. You’ll learn of their contributions, which include establishing the first labor unions, battling the British, and spawning some of the most popular aspects of American culture today, like NASCAR and country music. And you’ll see them in a whole new light.

2

As someone who has driven extensively in SE Kentucky, I’ll have to agree that it’s amazing what some people can manage with a few curtains in the windows of abandoned school buses, up on blocks.

3

Who or what are you agreeing with? Not me.

I guess everyone can’t be as refined and sophisticated and well-off as you.

4

I suggest you get Kathy Mattea COAL CD. She comes from coal country and does an excellent job with this collection of tunes. She was on the Santa Train this year.

5

Likewise, as someone who has visited and toured NYC and the surrounding area it is amazing what some people can manage to wreck an entire worldwide financial system.