Based on the Eulogy Delivered by his Uncle April 26, 2026  It was 2001, and Sheldon Lee Compton needed a job. “Any dumb hillbilly can learn to operate a forklift in ten minutes.”  That’s what Steve, Parts Manager at the Caterpillar store, told my nephew Sheldon on his first and last

Appalachia’s Coal Miners Killed on the Job By Tabitha Wallen Something near and dear to my heart, a part of my very soul, are coal miners. My dad worked for McCoy Labs in Pikeville, testing water and soil samples on mining sites. His father drove a coal truck for the

Legend of Mathias Harman Storyteller is Mathias Harman The province on Mathias Harman is not of the usual story and is based on the 1787 contract with one John Preston, John Smith, Henry Skaggs, and me Mathias Harman to settle in what was then Mason County, originally Bourbon and then

Big Sandy is know far and wide for her rich and prolific coal beds, or seams, and numerous operations are now in progress mining this product to be shipped to citizens in a less fortunate portion of the country; where coal fields are unknown. Of the many mines that are

EASTERN KENTUCKY SALT WORKS Salt was a vital commodity in the Western Virginia Frontier long before Kentucky had became a State. Long Hunters and Early Settlers had the ability to preserve food in an era long before refrigeration ensured its high demand. As important as salt was in the Colonies

Local Native American Habitation The Pike County Historical Society has recently been allowed from a local collector to photograph a local Native American collection. All items came from an area in and/or immediately adjacent to Pike County. The bead necklace has been restrung and the stone axe rehandled. The majority

The Building Of Consolidation City Before any Modern City can be built, there is a massive amount of planning and set up in what’s its ulitmate purpose. In this particular story the planning for Consolidation City, it started 144 years ago when a venture seeking engineer by the name of

Appalachian Arts and Crafts/ Cumberland Gap TN.