Underground Railroad And Fly Around Festival, Inside Appalachia

This week, before emancipation, Appalachia provided pathways to freedom for enslaved people trying to escape bondage. A new project identifies more than two dozen previously unknown underground railroad sites. Also, the Fly Around Music & Arts Festival in North Carolina was inspired by the hard work that followed Hurricane Helene. And, a ballad about floods recorded a generation ago still provides solace for people today.

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Arts & Culture Bill Lynch +, Jun. 26, 2026

Kudzu, Farmstands And Bristol's ‘Black Bottom’ Community, Inside Appalachia

This week, some folks are working to preserve the memory of Bristol, Virginia’s Black Bottom, a largely African American community wiped out by urban renewal. Also, small food producers embrace digital technology for the humble farm stand. And, kudzu; it’s coming for us.

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Arts & Culture Wendy Welch, Apr. 30, 2025

Poison Ivy Cures Can Be Found In The Woods

For all the products on pharmacy shelves, people still use folk remedies for common ailments. Like the itchy rash that comes from poison ivy. Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch spoke with two health professionals about where folk cures and mainstream medicine overlap.

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Arts & Culture Bill Lynch +, Jul. 15, 2024

Natural Dyes And A 'Wishtree' Controversy, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, one person’s roadside weed is another’s “golden” treasure. So says a North Carolina fiber artist. We also talk with a children's book author about a school system that suspended its community reading program over concerns about the sex of her book's main character — an oak tree. And, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is now available in every Kentucky community. We revisit our 2022 interview with the American icon.

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Arts & Culture Wendy Welch, Apr. 15, 2024

Violets Make Medicine, Munchies And Memories

Every spring, violets bloom across Appalachia, a carpet of purple, white and yellow. These unassuming flowers do everything from spruce up a cocktail to fight cancer. Here are a few of the ways herbalists use them for food and medicine.

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