On this West Virginia Morning, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival in Pineville, Kentucky has staged a formal dance for nearly a century that has remained the same for generations. Folkways Reporter Will Warren takes us for a visit.
Home » Inside Appalachia Inspires English Principal's Trip to W.Va.
Published
Inside Appalachia Inspires English Principal's Trip to W.Va.
Listen
Share this Article
Our podcast “Inside Appalachia” inspired Matthew Shirley to take a trip to our region. This is a pretty cool fact by itself, made even cooler by where Matthew is from: England.
By pure chance, Matthew was staying as an Airbnb guest with our health reporter, Kara Lofton. Imagine her surprise when she found out why he came to West Virginia!
Matthew is a primary school principal in Callington, England. He became fascinated with our region after listening to the “Inside Appalachia” podcast. So he decided to come here to see it for himself.
When we found out, we invited Matthew to the station for a tour. He says there are many similarities between Appalachia and his region, Cornwall, the rugged southwestern tip of England (it’s where “Doc Martin” is filmed.)
“Certainly, each episode of ‘Inside Appalachia’ reflects things I could think on for Cornwall itself,” he told WVPB’s Bob Powell.
“There’s a really good balance on ‘Inside Appalachia,’ Matthew said. “You sometimes get the heart-rending stories about things like the floods, but you also get the variety, stories about hip-hop in the hills, or discussing the murals on the backroads.
You never know what you’re going to get each week…I can remember the controversy over the Sheetz pepperoni roll, which quite amused me,” Matthew said.
He said he was also affected by episodes about people coming from out of state and “showing West Virginians in a bad light,” he said.
For every Matthew we find out about, I wonder how many people inspired by Mountain Stage or West Virginia Morning to come to West Virginia that we DON’T know about.
If Matthew’s story doesn’t prove our impact, I don’t know what could.
This week the U.S. Department of Education is launching a multimillion-dollar program to help boost the completion of FAFSA nationwide. We’ll also learn more about the state’s largest methamphetamine seizure in history. And we’ll hear about a rupture in the Mountain Valley Pipeline during a pressure test.
On this West Virginia Morning, Asheville, North Carolina is home to an eclectic dining scene with hidden gems like Neng Jr.’s, which serves up elevated Filipino cuisine. Tucked away in an alley, it’s a slice of home no matter where you’re from. Folkways Reporter Margaret McLeod Leef has more.
Stock car racing’s roots run deep in Appalachia. Our twisty roads and dark hollers were home to moonshiners — and moonshine runners, who became known for their driving skills. And they became some of NASCAR’s first stars when it formed in 1948. But NASCAR’s oldest continuous racing team had nothing to do with moonshine.
For Sue and Stan Jennings, woodworking isn’t just a way to make a living, it’s a way of life. What started out as a passion for the craft was born out of necessity. Over the last 30 years, the Jennings have developed a thriving business making wood objects called treenware — small wooden kitchen utensils.