The Buried South

Documentary histories of Appalachia and the Upland South, built from primary records — court filings, committee prints, contemporary newspapers and federal photographs. Every claim on this site traces to a document, and the document is on the page.

Episodes

• 12 Deputies Drove That Road. 2 Came Back. | The Battle of Evarts, 1931 — 35 scenes, 0 documents
• The Judge Got Three Words Out. | Hillsville Courthouse, 1912 — 50 scenes, 0 documents
• 175 Men Checked In. Nobody Could Count the Dead. | Fraterville, 1902 — 60 scenes, 18 documents
• Masked Men Captured a Kentucky City. Only a Lawsuit Ever Named Them. | 1907 — 75 scenes, 26 documents
• They Widened the Tunnel to Sell the Rock That Was Killing the Men | 1930 — 90 scenes, 54 documents
• He Named His Killer From the Gallows and Predicted the Acquittal | 1899 — 108 scenes, 56 documents
• The Camp Said Its Water Was Perfect. The Wells Killed 18 Men | 1918 — 108 scenes, 69 documents
• Congress Blamed the Second Explosion on the Government Itself | Scotia 1976 — 149 scenes, 67 documents
• The Government Told Them There Was Uranium in Their Wells. It Left Out One Word. — 188 scenes, 163 documents
• Nothing on the Railroad Could Tell That the Bridge Had Moved — 208 scenes, 202 documents
• Kentucky in 1940, in 93 Photographs — 93 scenes, 93 documents
• The Government Built 198 Houses in West Virginia. 1,640 Families Applied. — 89 scenes, 69 documents
• Two Miners Went to Detroit to Ask Henry Ford. They Were Fired When They Got Back. — 56 scenes, 12 documents
• Four Armed Men Burned the Only House the Flood Spared | Frozen Creek, 1939 — 65 scenes, 19 documents
• The Carnival Came to Coal Country Once a Year | West Virginia 1938, in Color — 96 scenes, 96 documents
• "Third of U.S. Pot Is in D.B. Forest": Kentucky's Marijuana War — 44 scenes, 17 documents
• A Flood, a Fiddler, and a Hole Punch | North Carolina's Blue Ridge in Color, 1936-1943 — 59 scenes, 57 documents
• The Government Photographed Cincinnati for Eight Years. It Started in the Slums. — 78 scenes, 76 documents
• The Town at the Bottom of the Lake | East Tennessee in Color, 1935-1943 — 89 scenes, 84 documents
• The Army Photographed Everything It Drowned | Lake Cumberland, 1936-1958 — 79 scenes, 69 documents
• "Uncle Sam Is My Shepherd" - the Georgia county the government tried to save, in color — 87 scenes, 87 documents
• Tried Four Times for a Governor's Murder, Then Sent to Congress — 88 scenes, 14 documents
• The Fall the Buyers Vanished | The Tobacco Belt in Color, 1939-1940 — 85 scenes, 84 documents
• Hauled Into Court 100 Times, Convicted Once - Maggie Bailey, Harlan County — 74 scenes, 33 documents
• The Navy Inspected Harlan County House by House. Its Photographer Stayed With One Family. — 90 scenes, 79 documents
• Why Every Bridge in America Is Inspected Every Two Years — 103 scenes, 10 documents
• "I Love My Mountains." Then He Went to Work on the Dam. — 87 scenes, 59 documents
• 126 Saloons, 43 Night Clubs, 41 Gambling Convictions — 105 scenes, 7 documents
• Who Could Afford the Houses Built for Destitute Miners? — 92 scenes, 41 documents
• A Memo Said Inspect This Dike Daily. That Was 1985. It Broke in 2008. — 80 scenes, 7 documents
• They Were Paid in the Drug They Came to Quit | The U.S. Narcotic Farm — 92 scenes, 6 documents
• What $7 a Month Bought in McDowell County, West Virginia, 1946 — 103 scenes, 63 documents
• 25,460 Feet Before the Work Began | Jewell Ridge, Virginia, 1946 — 103 scenes, 87 documents, film premieres September 7, 2026
• Brought In to Break a Strike, Hired Last Ever After | Bertha Hill, 1938 — 66 scenes, 63 documents, film premieres September 10, 2026
• 320,000 Acres, 2,609 Families, 3,390 Graves | Kentucky Lake, 1944 — 85 scenes, 66 documents, film premieres September 14, 2026
• The Disease the X-Ray Couldn't See | Black Lung, 1974 — 76 scenes, 65 documents, film premieres September 17, 2026
• "The Right to Destroy the Surface" | Knott County, Kentucky — 69 scenes, 21 documents, film premieres September 21, 2026
• A New York Company Owned Half the Valley. Hiwassee Dam Drowned It. — 85 scenes, 55 documents, film premieres September 24, 2026
• Why Is There a Desert in Tennessee? — 55 scenes, 17 documents, film premieres September 28, 2026
• Lexington Buried a Creek Under Vine Street — 61 scenes, 33 documents, film premieres October 1, 2026
• What Was at Fort Knox Before the Gold? — 62 scenes, 0 documents, film premieres October 4, 2026
• Closed for Selling Beer | Highlander Folk School, 1961 — 76 scenes, 24 documents, film premieres October 8, 2026
• The Corps Checked the Dams Next to Buffalo Creek. All Would Fail. — 116 scenes, 17 documents, film premieres October 11, 2026
• Chattanooga, 1906: One Lynching, Six Convictions, Ninety Days — 96 scenes, 21 documents, film premieres October 15, 2026
• "To Prevent Conflict and Ill-Feeling" | Louisville, 1914 — 61 scenes, 32 documents, film premieres October 18, 2026
• Why Was the Mine at Fourmile, Kentucky Sealed for Three Years? — 88 scenes, 44 documents, film premieres October 22, 2026
• The Best Coal Camp in Kentucky Had a Golf Course. Who Paid for It? — 93 scenes, 76 documents, film premieres October 25, 2026
• Company Towns of Kentucky and West Virginia, 1926–1946 — 68 scenes, 52 documents, film premieres October 29, 2026
• Cold Potatoes, Corn Bread and Mush — 83 scenes, 83 documents, film premieres November 1, 2026
• Atlanta Had Two Cities. The Government Photographed Both (1936–1943) — 79 scenes, 79 documents, film premieres November 8, 2026
• 175,000 Pictures in Black and White. 1,600 in Color. — 50 scenes, 50 documents, film premieres November 5, 2026
• The Marine Corps Had Gliders at Parris Island, 1942 — 73 scenes, 67 documents
• Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940: Two Hundred Homestead Claims in Real Color — 84 scenes, 71 documents, film premieres November 15, 2026
• Puerto Rico Had a 500-Acre Limit. One Company Owned 12,188. — 70 scenes, 60 documents, film premieres November 17, 2026
• Melrose Park, Illinois, 1942: The Yard Worked 24 Hours a Day — 72 scenes, 63 documents, film premieres November 24, 2026
• Chicago to Los Angeles, 1943. The Water for the Engines Came by Train. — 75 scenes, 67 documents, film premieres December 1, 2026
• Long Beach and Inglewood, 1942: Nobody Wrote Down Her Name — 86 scenes, 74 documents, film premieres December 8, 2026
• Corpus Christi, 1942. Congress Abolished the Agency That Trained Her. — 72 scenes, 62 documents, film premieres December 15, 2026
• St. Croix, 1941: The Sugar Company Was the United States Government — 86 scenes, 66 documents, film premieres December 22, 2026
• Cleveland and Sandusky, 1943: The Boats Only Had Eight Months — 84 scenes, 57 documents, film premieres December 29, 2026
• Clarksdale, 1939: The Cotton Industry Told Congress There Was No Machine — 87 scenes, 60 documents, film premieres January 5, 2027
• Southington, 1942. Congress Barred This Office From Publishing for Americans. — 64 scenes, 45 documents, film premieres January 12, 2027
• Thirty Cents an Hour, for Imported Workers Only. Robstown, Texas, 1942. — 88 scenes, 56 documents, film premieres January 19, 2027
• Southwest Washington, 1942 — Union Street Is Not on the Map Any More — 81 scenes, 60 documents, film premieres January 26, 2027
• The Pipeline Will Start Here | Alaska, 1973 — 71 scenes, 61 documents
• Washington, D.C., 1943: The Light Looks Like an Angel — 86 scenes, 82 documents
• Roanoke Farms, 1938: The Government Killed 211 of These 384 Photographs — 68 scenes, 53 documents
• The EPA Wrote the Shot List First. Alloy, West Virginia, 1973 — 85 scenes, 72 documents
• Head Toward the West. The TVA Grave Removals, 1933–1952. — 63 scenes, 51 documents, film premieres September 8, 2026
• Birmingham, 1972: The Government Photographed the Air It Took to Court — 79 scenes, 66 documents, film premieres September 15, 2026
• Cleveland, 1973: The River Everyone Remembers Burning, Photographed After the Law — 78 scenes, 69 documents, film premieres September 22, 2026
• Oregon's Gas Lines Started in June. The Embargo Came in October. — 76 scenes, 67 documents, film premieres September 29, 2026
• 640 Tons of Chlorine, a Few Blocks From Downtown Louisville — 73 scenes, 48 documents, film premieres October 6, 2026
• 60 to 4, Against Flood Insurance. Helen, Georgia, 1975. — 76 scenes, 70 documents, film premieres October 13, 2026
• 600 Cars a Day, Then 80. Cincinnati's Tailpipe Test, 1975. — 85 scenes, 77 documents, film premieres October 20, 2026
• The EPA Photographed Cincinnati for Five Months and Found Nothing Wrong — 87 scenes, 79 documents
• The Government Promised to Eradicate Dutch Elm Disease. It Never Spent a Dollar. — 86 scenes, 11 documents, film premieres September 20, 2026
• They Lived at the End of Logan's Runway. The 1972 Noise Law Exempted Aircraft. — 78 scenes, 52 documents, film premieres October 27, 2026
• The Government Photographed Them and Wrote Down What They Said — 103 scenes, 101 documents
• The Year America Built One Hundred Cars — 106 scenes, 106 documents
• The Night the Lights Came On — 77 scenes, 49 documents
• The Government Bought Every Tobacco Quota in Kentucky. It Never Told Anyone to Stop. — 80 scenes, 57 documents
• "A Wink and a Nudge" | Hyden, Kentucky, December 30, 1970 — 64 scenes, 59 documents, film premieres February 2, 2027
• What Happened to Kentucky's 7,205 One-Room Schools — 78 scenes, 75 documents, film premieres February 9, 2027
• Every Town Had a Depot. In 1958 a Federal Examiner Gave Them a Date. — 86 scenes, 50 documents, film premieres February 16, 2027
• "The Tents Lit With Matches" | Ludlow, Colorado, 1914 — 74 scenes, 62 documents, film premieres February 23, 2027
• 104,089 Country Stores. Then the Census Stopped Counting. — 85 scenes, 84 documents, film premieres March 2, 2027
• 19 Dead, One Suspect, and Not a True Bill | Saltville, 1924 — 66 scenes, 25 documents, film premieres March 9, 2027
• To Buy a Forest, Congress Had to Call It a River — 89 scenes, 89 documents, film premieres March 16, 2027
• Washington Said the South Was Starving. Twelve States Voted That It Wasn't. | Pellagra, 1914-1941 — 55 scenes, 45 documents, film premieres March 23, 2027
• The Weather Picked Hog-Killing Day. Then the Government Counted the Freezers. — 79 scenes, 79 documents, film premieres March 30, 2027
• Two Years to Save the American Chestnut | 1912-1973 — 71 scenes, 62 documents, film premieres April 6, 2027
• Virginia Took 181,000 Acres to Give Away. The Court Said a Newspaper Notice Was Enough. — 86 scenes, 56 documents, film premieres April 13, 2027
• "No Men Wanted" — The Train Out of Richwood, West Virginia, 1942 — 99 scenes, 68 documents, film premieres April 20, 2027