Welcome Guests at Pre-Modern Appalachian Gatherings

Before radio and TV, Appalachian "get-togethers" (frolics, bees, singings) especially valued:

• Storytellers: Keepers of oral history, legends, family tales.
• Ballad Singers: Unaccompanied narratives of love, murder, faith.
• Instrumentalists: Fiddle, banjo, dulcimer, guitar players for dances.
• Dancers: Square dance callers and skilled flatfooters.
• Craftspeople: Quilters, woodcarvers, potters demonstrating/selling wares.
• Herbal Healers: Folk medicine knowledge for community health.
• Local Characters: Wits, eccentrics, tall-tale tellers enlivening gatherings.
• Travelers: Brought outside news, songs, stories—connecting isolated hollers.

These gatherings were the internet of their day: entertainment, education, and social glue.