A Wondrous Place By Randall Risner Growing up in the remote Appalachian forests of Magoffin County Kentucky was an experience I shall always treasure. It gave me a genuine perspective on what is important in the life of human kind. It was also a very different view of life than my contemporaries that lived in the more developed modern world outside the confines of these beautiful green hills experienced. No Leave it to Beaver Suburbia here, ours was a world far removed from that idyllic picture of middle class utopia. Although we were perceived by some to be something less than civilized in many ways we were more so than they were. Families went to grandmother’s house for Sunday Dinner. We mourned the loss of loved ones and told and retold snapshots of their life. My great grandparents died before I was born but I come to know them through these stories, stories that shared intimate portraits of their personalities and peculiarities. No where else in America do people concern themselves about their neighbor’s genuine wellbeing to the extent that we Appalachians do. I grew up in the Nuclear Age, the age of television, and the age of come see the USA in your Chevrolet, the post war suburbanization of 1950’s and 60’s America. Though I had contact with this world with modern highways and shopping centers and I presume this contact helped shape who I am, I am mostly a product of sequestration on the waters of Puncheon Creek; I am proudly a Creeker. I was born at home on Mash Branch when the road was in and out of the creek bed, no asphalt here. Few households had TV and a telephone was rare. One of my favorite childhood memories was walking by the light of the moon or occasionally a kerosene lantern across the hill to my uncle’s house on Sunday nights to watch the Cartwright clan on Bonanza. We children played outdoors in the creeks and woods, no video game voodoo to mesmerize us. We ran through the hills pretending to be Indians and as we got older pursued the quest of love. How times have changed, Puncheon Creek is now served by a striped two lane highway. We have all new state of the art three phase electrical services and fiber optic broadband phone, cable and internet service not to mention 3G/4G cellular networks. I am proud of our new public schools and other new facilities from our showcase health department to the beautiful Courthouse and Justice Center. Magoffin County is no longer on the periphery of America but is in fact the best of America. If you come to Puncheon Creek or Magoffin in general and visit with the people, get to know them you will discover a wondrous thing. The gizmos of modern life not withstanding, we are what we were. Our Appalachian Culture is fully intact, we still retain a love for the mountains, a respect for our heritage and a sense of who we are. We respect time honored traditions, many still have Sunday dinners, cemeteries are hallowed ground and friends are welcome in our homes. Puncheon Creek has changed for the better in so many ways but it remains unchanged in important ways also. You can still savor what has always been best about Appalachia here, her people, her culture and her natural beauty. As I reflect back on all I have been privileged to experience in my life I can not help but be overwhelmed by the realization that I have been blessed to live in a wondrous place. A place that has become much as is mainstream America while still retaining a distinct character that is the soul of Appalachia. I feel assured that as we develop modern infrastructure and become much as any modern community that our special culture will not vanish. I am excited at the prospect of The Battle of Puncheon Cultural and Heritage Park. I know that it will make a positive impact on our quality of life. I also know it will help preserve that about us that make us special and unique as Appalachians. At the end of the day we must stake claim to what is best about us and let no detractors define us. We are just as deserving of those things that add quality to life as anyone anywhere. Our heritage is one to honor and take pride in and our culture is true and time tested. It has been a long time coming but at last we are getting respect as true Appalachians, soon we will have the finest Rail Trail in the state if not the Nation. I believe that in the very near future we will become a destination not just a pass through for Tourists from near and far. My steadfast conviction is that the future for our County has never looked more promising and that we have never been in a more favorable position to grow our own future.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:07:05 +0000
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