Appalachia Bare would like to thank all our military and service members. This Memorial Day, we remember and honor all those who served and fought for our country. Our warriors in valor, strength, and excellence . . . The following is the fourth excerpt of Benny F. Shown Sr.’s memoirsContinue Reading
“I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.” – Al Capone Introduction Perhaps the nation should have looked closer at a Tennessee precedent before Prohibition wasContinue Reading
Kin Takahashi was a five-feet-two-inch, 123-pound ball of joyous energy whose fire burned brightly for only thirty-six short years. But Mr. Takahashi shared his energy with all those around him willingly and without hesitation. It could be said that his life was so brief because he gave everything of himself,Continue Reading
The “back of beyond!” Writing from North Carolina, that’s what Horace Kephart called the Tennessee side of the Great Smokies. It was nearly impossible to get there in his day and a stingy place to scratch out a living. Kephart wrote about that dark side of the Smokies in hisContinue Reading
In early March, Appalachia Bare received an email announcing the upcoming album release of Earth Bow (available at Bandcamp.com) by Sarah Louise, a musician from the Asheville, North Carolina, area. I must admit that prior to this email, I was largely unfamiliar with her work. But the email and thisContinue Reading
I am the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. My father, Benny F. Shown, Sr., served honorably from 1967-1968 with Second Platoon in B Battery of the 29th Artillery. He served with the First Air Cavalry Division, various infantry units, and, in some cases, with Special Forces. He rarely spoke aboutContinue Reading
On a rainy day in late March our family decided we needed a day in the Smokies, or, to be more precise, under them. Our destination was Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend, Tennessee, about 25 miles south of Knoxville. The word Tuckaleechee is derived from the Cherokee word, Tikwalitsi (original meaningContinue Reading
Mountains are in my blood. I spent my early childhood in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Pennsylvania while my extended family was (and still is) out West. My people hail from the mountainous region of Northwestern Oregon’s Willamette Valley, down the Pacific Coast Range all the way to San Diego.Continue Reading
Welcome back to Part 2, the last of Appalachia Bare’s series about the Daugherty surname. Our focus here will mainly be on Sir Cahir Rue O’Doherty, the last Gaelic/ Irish Chieftain. Understandably, Cahir is not from Appalachia. But I remember something my grandmother once said to me: A Daugherty isContinue Reading
Like just about everyone else in this region (and across the nation), I am a conglomeration of peoples. I am Irish, Scottish (Scots-Irish (Scotch-Irish)), German, English, Dutch, French, Swiss, Bohemian, Melungeon, and I could go on. The earliest known existence for any of my ancestors in this region was aContinue Reading
