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Since 1967, Foxfire has been a storehouse of traditional Appalachian knowledge that still helps people today.
It continues to preserve music and history, but part of Foxfire’s heritage has been recording the stories of Appalachian women.
This week, Inside Appalachia explores Foxfire – its past, present and future.
In This Episode:
Foxfire began in 1967 as a student-run magazine in North Georgia. It was a way for high school students to collect and share the wisdom and lore from their community members. They named it “Foxfire” after a fungus in the region that glows in the dark.
Over 50 years, it’s grown into a book series, a magazine, a museum, and an oral history archive. One of those oral histories is from 1975 and captures the kind of knowledge that Foxfire collected.
A lot of the women in older archival Foxfire interviews said that they “didn’t work” but so many Appalachian women were midwives, mothers, and business owners.
Foxfire’s latest collection features 21 women in the book called “The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women,” edited by then Foxfire education director and museum curator Kami Ahrens. Mason Adams had more.
In 2020, Blue Ridge Public Radio partnered with Ahrens to record oral histories and aired them on the radio. BPR’s Lilly Knoepp shared a few.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Sean Watkins, The Steel Woods, and Dr. Kathy Bullock and her class at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.
Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!
Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
West Virginia is aging faster than the rest of the nation. More than 1 in 5 residents are over 65, and as young people leave the state, the gap between those who need care and those who can provide it keeps growing. At the same time, elder care has shifted from nursing homes to home-based support — but there aren’t enough workers to keep up. Us & Them explores the looming caregiving crisis and what it means for families, workers and the future of care.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsAppalachian Power customers may be seeing another price hike, caregivers are under stress, particularly during the holidays, and a new mountain roller coaster is a destination for fun seekers in Mercer County.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThis week, the cost of health insurance is going up in 2026. Millions of people are faced with sticker shock. Also, a mountain farmer kept an encrypted diary for years. It’s unclear whether he would have wanted that code to ever be cracked. And, a beloved West Virginia hot dog restaurant closed in 2018. An annual tribute sale gives people a chance to relive its glory days.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsPeople who buy health care through the federal marketplace are set to see their premiums rise 40 percent or more. It depends on whether Congress extends the 2021 enhanced subsidies that help people pay their premiums. Ruby Rayner is a reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press who’s been covering this story in Tennessee. Inside Appalachia’s Mason Adams spoke with Raynor.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
