I live in a small town surrounded by gorgeous hills and forests, but I've realized.... there's nowhere to go to actually be in nature, at least not for free or easily accessible. Everything is either private land or a kid's park, or you have to pay for it. Does anyone else experience this? Maybe it's just endemic to the small urban town I live in, but it's honestly depressing. :| When I first moved here I tried checking out all the parks within walking distance, but they're all children's playgrounds. Why are we surrounded by nature but it's all inaccessible? It's like you have to own land to actually be able to walk around in nature in day to day life.

Does anyone else notice how much beautiful land around them is privatized? I just think it's ridiculous we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, but it's so inaccessible. I shouldn't have to drive (and I CAN'T drive due to a disability) 30 miles out away from my apartment to find a state park or larger park and pay to get in just to sit in unspoiled nature for a while. I feel suffocated.

edit: I live in the potomac highlands of wv, by the way.

2nd edit: My main point is there is nowhere to go to be in nature within my town or its limits, not that I expect there to be 100+ acres of state park within 5 minutes of my front door. Even a city park with a few acres of nature would be nice, but that just doesn't exist here or in many places. I think small towns like this are inaccessible to those with disabilities, over-privatized, and have nowhere to go to just be in nature. I'm not here to debate whether or not there are free parks in my state (which I cannot get to because I cannot drive) or where tax dollars should go, I just don't have the energy to debate and that is not the point.

Also, some of the closest state parks to me are in Maryland, and not every state park in MD is free.

Never thought so many people would say I (a disabled person dealing with poverty) am privileged and complaining too much. Damn.

From my trip across the Appalachian section of Pennsylvania

The rebuilt trail, which is expected to be completed in December, will have three months over the winter to “settle.”

Rode a 25 mile peaceful loop today, around Cave Run
Lake and over Clack Mountain by Lockegee

I had no idea hair art was once common in Appalachia. Did anyone else's family talk about this?

I recently learned that during the Victorian era, it wasn't unusual for families to create keepsakes from the hair of loved ones who had passed away. Some were framed as artwork, while others were woven into jewelry as a way of remembering family members.

I'd always associated that practice with Europe or large cities, so I was surprised to learn examples can still be found at the Southwest Virginia Museum in Big Stone Gap.

It made me wonder what other customs used to be common across Appalachia that have mostly disappeared.

Did your grandparents or great-grandparents ever talk about traditions that younger generations would find unusual today?

I'm thinking about things like:

• Mourning customs
• Family superstitions
• Homemade remedies
• Funeral traditions
• Folk beliefs
• Other customs that have faded away

I enjoyed digging into the history, and if anyone's interested in learning more about the museum and these traditions, here's the article that got me started:
https://back-porch-tales-travels.beehiiv.com/p/what-we-learned-about-death-memory-and-hair-art-in-big-stone-gap-va

I'd love to hear what traditions or stories have been passed down in your family.

Hi! I just moved to the area of Eastern Kentucky/Tennessee and I was wondering if there were any pagans around? I’m aware many people are Christian’s (specifically Baptist) but I am a Pagan and would love to know if there are any around? I just moved here for college and would love to learn more.

From my time in Big Stone Gap

Some of you might remember me. I'm the paralegal from Southwest Virginia who wrote a novel set in my hometown and posted about it here back in the spring.

I'll be honest about something now that I wasn't honest about then: I was scared to death to make that post. I'm a nobody from the mountains with no writing degree and no publisher, and I was bracing to get told to sit down. Instead, people from this sub bought the book, read it, and messaged me about which parts felt like their own hollers.A couple of people installed the Kindle app just to read it. I think about that more than I should probably admit.

And the feedback did more than make me feel good. People told me what rang true and what didn't, which details they recognized and where I'd leaned too hard. All of that went into the second book. If Laurel Dark is better than Binding Creek, and I worked hard to make sure it is, a piece of that belongs to this sub.

So here's book two. It's set in a Wise County coal camp in 1958, back when the company paid in scrip. It follows May, who runs the commissary register, and who has seen the blue lights moving in the tree line above the cemetery since she was three years old — since the day her granny yanked her off the porch and said don't look at them in a voice she never used again. May's family has been carrying things up to that tree line for as long as anybody can remember: biscuits, milk, tobacco, set down and walked away from and never talked about. When the surface mining permits start going up on the community board, May has to decide what that tending is worth when the mountain is being measured in tonnage.

It stands alone. You don't need the first book. It's on Amazon in ebook and paperback. Same promise as last time: if you're from around here, you'll recognize it. If you're not, I hope it makes you homesick for a place you've never been.

Thank you again, sincerely. This sub is the reason there's a book two. (And book three is already deep in revisions, so apparently y'all created a monster.)

This was a while ago but I grew up in southern NJ and had family on my mom’s side in rural NY and the Adirondacks. Once I got older we moved around a lot and landed south of the capital region in NY but still spent a lot of time in the mining and mill towns, and in the mountains where I always felt most at home. I wanted to get away from home for college so I went down south to TN and I remember when I got there I felt right at home because it reminded me of some of the towns in NY I’d lived in, especially by the Mohawk. But I just thought I’d sound crazy if I told people that.

Around the time I graduated I had a few friends from Eastern TN come visit me when I went home for the winter and stay at our place. When we got there they started laughing- I had no idea they thought I was from downstate in the city, and they’d had no idea upstate NY was so different and varied. One of them told me that if she knew I was gonna take them to another shitty steel factory town in a valley she would have taken me to her mom’s place instead! But we ended up spending that week talking about the way folk music up north and blues and bluegrass have those same themes of struggle and poverty, and the small towns that closed after the mines dried up and the wars ended and there was no more steel work because they weren’t building tanks and airplanes, and how we’d both grown up in towns with less than 1000 people and were now living in big cities like our grandparents had moved to way back when, feeling sort of out of place but excited.

I had grown up traveling and moving around and never really fitting in anywhere and it was so comforting to find little slices of home in places that surprised me. I used to think I was a city person, but that time I spent at college soaked in good food and wonderful music made me miss climbing into the ravine behind our house and living where the sound of cars was too far to hear. Now that I’m out of college and back home I did a little research and learned that the Adirondacks and parts of southern and eastern New York are actually part of Appalachia and I had never known that until a few years ago. It’s really amazing that those cultural ties stretch all the way down, and that I can find things in common with people anywhere along that Appalachian trail.

I’m looking to take my girlfriend on a weekend getaway to the mountains for her 30th birthday and looking for recommendations for places to visit. We enjoy hiking, breweries/wineries, dive bars, good food, and exploring small mountain towns. We have been to and enjoyed Blowing Rock, Boone, Highlands and Cashiers so far. Maggie Valley and Bryson City look nice but wanted to get some other recommendations in either Western NC or eastern Tennessee.

We also have a dog so any places that are dog friendly are a bonus. Thanks in advance!

I couldn’t find any recent posts on Reddit about this trail that runs along the VA/KY border so I figured I’d ask about it here.

I’m planning a long weekend of trail running, and saw some posts from last year or earlier about this trail being open in some, but not all sections. It seems gorgeous and the perfect place to get in a long (~20 mile) day. I’d be interested in doing a section starting around Pound Gap (Wise County, VA) going either south toward High Rock or north toward The Doubles. I’ll be staying near Norton, VA so don’t want to drive much more than an hour to a trailhead.

Any info someone might share about either section would be appreciated!

I'm traveling over Appalachia doing a photography project and would love to meet and photograph some musicians.

Be great to hear from people if this could be of interest and I can DM with more info.

Most days I take it for granted but every now and again I try to stop and appreciate working and living in Appalachia.