Cumberland Plateau

Well, when fires essentially were snuffed out of the landscape, particularly in the earliest 1900s, it just paved the way for all those early successional species to infiltrate.

And so, you know, if you're on the Cumberland Plateau of southeast Kentucky, Red maple is the big invader, or scarlet oak.

But if you're in the Great Valley of southwest Virginia, eastern red cedar and winged elm might be your primary invaders.

So it really depends.

But the people who ran as unapologetic progressives came closer than anyone else, any other Democrat in a congressional race.

Mike Crowley, who was up in the Cumberland Plateau area, who was running against the horrible Johnny Garrett, he only missed it.

In the Cumberland County area, He only missed it by three points.

That is absolutely unbelievable.

A lot of your modern medicines have at least an origin in plants and herbs and things like component similar to what aspirin is made out of can be found in willow bark.

And my dad's mother, she lived over on the Cumberland Plateau in the Jamestown area.

She was an herb doctor, which was another kind of kitchen witchery, I think.

They later became...

So at that time in 18, around 1877, 1878, there was a recession that was going on.

And so a gentleman out of Boston, he had purchased a, lots of land over here on the Cumberland Plateau, and his idea was to establish a community here for some of the workers in Boston to help during this recession.

Well, in 1879, or excuse me, 1878, the recession ended, and so he decided that he wasn't going to establish that community.

So he was looking for another investor.

But after Rugby opened for business in October of 1880, they had the worst winter that had been in the area for a very, very long time.

The two rivers, the White Oak and Clear Fork Rivers there, they froze solid.

And a lot of these Englishmen were not really used to the harsh climate that we have here on the Cumberland Plateau.

And so there were already several people.

And then they're going to be running stages from there.

They're going to be running a stage out towards like Frozen Head State Park, all the way out into the Cumberland Plateau and north of that.

So hell, there might even be a stage out by me up here in Campbell County.

Nice.

It's very rural, very inexpensive.

We've talked about moving to Middle Tennessee over on the Cumberland Plateau where my dad's from, Jamestown in that area.

All kinds of stories and legends over there.

It's very, very inexpensive too.

Even my dad, his experience was different.

Now, they weren't into all the supernatural as much as my grandparents.

grandmother on my mother's side but my dad had some stories and stuff that he'd heard over there in the uh over on the cumberland plateau in that area of course over there you've got haunted rugby you've got um The Devil of Helenwood, they're close to Oneida.

There's spook lights and things over there.

Her latest book, Look Like a Lady, explores art history's visual scripts and counter stories for women.

Alyssa lives with her husband and two sons in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they enjoy hiking the Cumberland Plateau, biking along the river, and hosting big parties with good food.

Alyssa, welcome to Old Books with Grace.

I'm so excited that you've returned.