Appalachian History

“The population of this vast mountain region is divided into two distinct classes, as far removed in character and environment as it is possible for people to be. First, there are those who live in fertile valleys along the rivers and the railways, with the very best religious and educational advantages, and who are equal in intelligence and refinement to any people in America.

"[People of the second group] do not live in these favored valleys, but far back from the main lines of travel in small clearings by the watercourses, almost entirely removed from the outside world, with few advantages for learning and few opportunities for improvement. The extreme poor live ‘back of beyond,’ beyond the towering mountains, locked in narrow coves, without teachers, without physicians, without comforts and conveniences.”

Rev. Homer McMillan
"Unfinished Tasks of the Southern Presbyterian Church"
Richmond, VA, Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1922


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