On December 21, 1964, CBS aired a special report entitled “Christmas in Appalachia” with Charles Kuralt. The special visited folks Kuralt referred to as the “permanently poor” in the Eastern Kentucky counties of Letcher and Floyd. In this video, I discuss the report and show the original broadcast in its entirety. I have been fortunate to hear from some of the folks in the video as well as some of their families to get a couple of updates. As you might imagine, life had different twists and turns for the folks featured in the video,

I would love to hear your thoughts on it as well after watching. It was clearly a sad story and meant to call attention to the plight of the folks suffering from poverty and job loss. Several of the folks featured in the video really get an emotional grip on a viewer. I have heard from so many people about how this video makes them appreciate their own lives and upbringing in comparison.

I have noticed a lot of Appalachia-related documentaries from the mid-1960s that are centered in Eastern Kentucky, especially in the Letcher County area. A lot of the reason for this stems from the influential yet bleak book Night Comes to the Cumberlands by Harry Caudill. This work had an influence on John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and indirectly led to the infamous “War on Poverty.”

The effectiveness of the War of Poverty is certainly debatable but documentaries like this certainly left a lasting mark, for better and worse.

Unfortunately, the sickness has continued to plague us both this December but we are hopeful it is about to come to an end soon. Melody has been battling various ailments for around 8 weeks and I had a week thrown in there myself. We are extremely thankful for all of you and can’t say enough how much it means to have your support – your prayers, cards, letters, messages, and all the ways in which you’ve reached out to us have made this time so much more bearable. We look forward to seeing you all back out on the road very soon and wish you all a blessed Christmas season. We posted this video to give the latest update on our situation.

We have been aiming toward launching a new website for a long time but finances and other obligations had popped up to delay it until now. We look forward to using this website as the mothership for all of our social media endeavors, as well as adding exclusive content here. We appreciate you all and hope everyone is having a fantastic Christmas season!

Clintwood, Virginia is known as “the county seat of Virginia’s baby” for being the county seat of the youngest county in the Commonwealth. Home of the legendary, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Clintwood has also been home to some very strong women – including the ladies who made up the Petticoat Government.”