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Square dance calling — the spoken instructions said over the music — makes participation easy. But there are other aspects — like the prevalence of gendered language such as “ladies and gents” — that can make square dancing an unwelcoming or confusing space. One group of friends in the Appalachian square dance scene are taking action to make the tradition more welcoming for all participants.
Controversy and Mystery Still Surround Lakes Built by the Army Corps of Engineers
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In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we visit communities impacted by creation of flood-control lakes. In one, the Village of Lilly, about 40 families were pushed off their land along the Bluestone River in Summers County, W.Va., in the 1940s. Many of these families had lived there for more than 200 years.
Inside Appalachia Host Jessica Lilly has deep roots in this community, as we hear in this episode.
In Central Appalachia, there are more than 30 man-made lakes, built and maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. Across the United States, there are more than 700 man-made lakes created by dams. Some of these lakes were made to prevent flooding in populated areas while others were built to create recreational activities.
Burnsville Dam
Mari Lynn Evans grew up with her grandparents in West Virginia. In the 1970s, they were forced off their land — some 2,000 acres — to make room for Burnsville Lake, a recreational body of water. Evans, a documentary filmmaker, said says her grandparents lost everything they knew when they had to leave their farm.
“They raised cattle and they raised vegetables for generations, and in 1977, the Army Corps of Engineers — through eminent domain — took all of that land, and took our home, and all of our outbuildings and took our silos, and it still hurts,” Evans said. “It still hurts to lose your home.”
Stonewall Jackson Lake
We also hear an archived recording from a 1984 documentary produced by filmmaker Michael Kline. In it Barbara Heavner talks about why she refused to leave her home in Lewis County, W.Va., when the federal government told her the Stonewall Jackson dam would put her house under water. Residents were paid for their property, but some , like Mrs. Heavner and her son, Bob, didn’t leave without a fight. We hear her recount the showdown between her family and a federal marshal, who was tasked with physically removing them from their property.
Stonewall Jackson Lake was completed in 1990 and is now used for boating and fishing recreation. It also provides flood control for areas downriver of the West Fork River. And although there is an exit off Interstate 79 named after the town of Roanoke, that place no longer exists — along with Barbara Heavner’s farm and nursery, it sits at the bottom of Stonewall Jackson Lake.
Credit USDA/ Daniel Boone National Forest
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Hikers at the 1967 protest at the Red River Gorge. Some people recall there were about 800 people on the hike, some against the project to build a lake in the Red River Gorge. Others supported the project because it would help prevent flooding.
Red River Gorge
Some projects to build dams have come against pushback from historians and environmentalists. That’s true in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. In this episode we hear an excerpt of a radio documentary, Kentucky’s Red November, produced in 2016 by Charlie Baglan. The piece explores how the fight to protect the Red River Gorge, and block construction of a dam, turned into one of the nation’s earliest environmental controversies.
While a few local citizens spoke out against the dam, residents of Powell County mostly supported the project because it would help with flood control for communities like Clay City. By 1967, the project to create a lake in the Red River Gorge seemed like a done deal.
But then, the newly formed Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club helped organize a protest hike. Local resident Carroll Tichner suggested they invite avid outdoorsman and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, to walk the gorge and help raise awareness. And he showed up.
We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from Charlie Baglan, of Kentucky Afield Radio, a production of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Michael Kline and Berea College.
Music in this episode was provided by Blue Dot Sessions, Seth Partridge, Fog Lake, Dr. Turtle, Jake Schepps, and Dinosaur Burps.
On this West Virginia Morning, we continue with the second of our three-part series on human trafficking in West Virginia. We talk with law enforcement experts about how to spot human trafficking and the ways it is being investigated.
On this West Virginia Morning, human trafficking is a topic many in law enforcement are discussing these days. But often there is some misunderstanding about it.
On this West Virginia Morning, Curtis Tate spoke with Sam Workman, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University, about what Sen. Joe Manchin’s departure means for Democrats and what it would take to fill the void he’ll leave.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we pick up a little light reading at the Johnson City Zine Fest. And… Grab your dancing shoes and learn about a movement to make square dance calling more inclusive. Also, the perils of playing the spoons.