APPALACHIA

“THINKING BACK ON HISTORY, APPALACHIA WASN’T AN EASY PLACE TO LIVE. I THINK PEOPLE MADE DO WITH WHAT THEY HAD AND MADE THE BEST OF IT.”
—Appalachian native Karl Worley

Driving through Appalachia in the wee morning hours of a crisp October day is like stepping back in time. Rolling fields of golden sorghum stalks await their harvest while time-worn, paint-chipped barns and a patchwork of farms dot the lush ruby-hued autumnal landscape. In this beautiful corner of the country, life is slower and days seem longer, and it’s the present-day pioneers who inhabit the spacious land who keep the pace.

The Appalachian Regional Commission defines Appalachia as 420 counties in 13 states spanning as far north as southern parts of New York and as far south as portions of Alabama and Mississippi. But ask most locals and they’ll give you varying answers on what the region entails; because with its trying history and diverse population, Appalachia is, in truth, hard to define.

The area was first inhabited by Native Americans who were mainly split into two groups—the Iroquois and the Cherokees. It’s believed that Hernando de Soto or his fellow explorers named the Appalachian Mountain range on an expedition