Blue John Remembers: A map of the proposed State Of Appalachia which appeared in one of the Bristol newspapers in 1906. I was living in Roanoke at the time, and there was a lady from Bristol visiting I the home where I boarded. She received the Bristol paper and in one issue there was a map showing a proposed new state, called the State of Appalachia. I do not know who conceived the idea, nor do I remember the exact boundaries. Roughly it took in all of Southwestern Virginia from about Radford west; and then included a number of counties in North Carolina, following the crest of the Blue Ridge; thence the boundary turned west and included the counties of upper East Tennessee to Morristown; thence in an arc northwest to include several counties of Eastern Kentucky, as well as a few counties in the southern tip of West Virginia. Bristol was set up as the capital city of the new state. It was argued that this area constituted a homogeneous mountain empire with conditions and problems all its own and not shared by other portions of the adjacent states. Richmond scarcely knows that Virginia extends beyond Roanoke; Raleigh seems to think that the western boundary of North Carolina is. at the top of the Blue Ridge; Nashville seems to think of East Tennessee as alien territory, and Frankfort pays scant heed to the counties lost in the mountains of east Kentucky. The population of this area has about the highest percentage of pure Anglo- Saxon stock to be found in the United States. The resources of this new state would include the principal coal producing sections of four states; tremendous waterpower, developed and potential, vast areas of forest, the finest grasslands and farming country, unsurpassed scenery and recreation facilities, and a climate that makes for the most enjoyable and healthful living to be found on the globe. Now I did not originate this idea, I saw the map more than fifty years ago. I hope that if anyone reading these lines has a copy of this issue they will communicate with the newspaper. In all probability I=ll be shot at from all five states involved for bringing this old matter to light again, for it would mean a nasty little civil war if such a thing were ever attempted. In that event I have a nice cool cave picked out when I can hide as soon as the shooting commences.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 12:17:19 +0000
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