Jenkins, Kentucky: A City Built on Coal, by Coal, for Coal in Letcher County 

You are so right!! Today, we the children of the coalfields, are so denigrated right along with the coal mining by the politicians. Wonder how much money has lined their pockets over the years?

@@brendalane4228 bless both you and Christopher Hubbard, from upstate NY!

@@brendalane4228 Times change, places like these never planned for the changes, coal wasn't going to last forever.

i was born in jenkins ky and live not very far from there to this day, i will be in jenkins on friday, it will always be home.

@@brankobelfranin8815 Branko Belfranin...how could they change when they worked Very Very Hard but the Rich Kept Them Down.. these workers were taken Very Great Advantage of and Treated like underdog... it is easy to make a comment when you Do Not Know the facts...

you sure got that right...thank you, Gray

I was born and grew up in Raleigh Co. WV! Console had Mines in WV. These are good people living here. Spent their whole life in these little towns. Like WV survival is the name of the game. Prayers for all!

You’re not a Skook are ya, Gray? Spent a lot of time with the Independent miners there. Now living in the Poconos

@@coalminergroupie No sir. Born outside Johnstown. Dad worked at a Island Creek mine in a cross roads called Tire Hill. My kids are older now but when they was young i couldnt begin to explain what it was like there and in Johntown city. Mills, pubs, Pa RR Main line running through town. No BS, everybody worked and in awe of the WWII generation. Heck from the Bethlehem and US steel plants that lined the valley, just three miles out to the west or north you could hunt deer. It was amazing area go grow up in.

I was down near Crum and Yawkey WV yesterday. I was thinking how the coal barons took the mega-millions$$$ out of those hollows and the people weren't left with much. Sad! Those folks gave their lives to the mines!

that is amazing, thanks so much for that information. I thought there had to be a connection like that but had never heard that story before. Really cool to know that Mother Teresa visited there.

They sound like a wonderful group of women. Definitely needed now more than ever. 🙏🏻

There is a place like that here in western Kentucky. The Ursuline sisters of Mount St. Joseph in Maple Mount.

It's a tough conundrum for sure. I know it brought income to these areas but the health side effects were awful.

Agree! It's a critical part of American history that should be honored by making the coal industry history. Coal miners fought and bravely gave their lives not only to dig coal to build Americas economy, but also to build America's labor rights ... Fair wages, time off, safety standards, freedom to not have your life controlled by the company via the company store and company housing. We have such a debt of gratitude to pay to coal miners and the Pullman Strikers, the best way to repay them is to respect unions, switch our country to renewable energy, and make sure these coal towns are revitalized with new industry.

😜 from the MAJORITY of us in the Bay Area California 🤑

glad you enjoyed it, Ann and Hope

Welcome to Appalachia. You say bonjour and we say howdy :)

Glad you enjoyed it

sing it...

Exactly anything to get rich and leave the workers poor and ruin the land

I understand your frustration.

thanks so much, Bradford

Great comment, thanks

thanks for watching

thanks for watching, great to hear from the other side of the Commonwealth

Thank you, I'm trying to raise me game. I didnt realize how much interest there would be in a lot of these places so I want to do the best I'm capable of doing.

Thanks for riding with me :)

I hadn't thought about that before but youre right

@@realappalachia Only thing I would add is the hollows here are usually inhabited by one or sometimes two familes. Same last names on the mail boxes. When I bought land here 20 years ago or so the old time locals wouldn't respond to me when I talked to them. They were not rude but looked away and just didn't talk to strangers (people they didn't know). I grew up 3 counties away in lower country and never experienced anything like that. Not that bad anymore or maybe they realized I wasn't going away. Can't say. If you can mention someone you know nearby they are likely to know that helps.

@Robert McCulloch That’s the kind of reception I got in this area 40+ yrs. ago after I moved here from NY. I learned my “fine edu-macation” was about useless for conversation or survival up here. I had never ridden in a pick up truck. Was shocked to learn people subsistence Hunt, Fish and Trap. I thought “Fur Fish and Game” was some kind of porno magazine the way the men’s eyes would kind of glaze over as they discussed “fur prices” ??! Didn’t know what a Carhartt was; now I own one, admittedly well broken in but stylish-some man told me his wife liked it so much he’d give me $200. for it, had never been in a “mobile home,” never mind a “fur house” where the skins were being processed (I came to one right from work in my heels and suit, poor men about had a heart attack thinking I was a PETA person), got the hell scared out of me one evening when I made a house call waaayyyy back in the woods by a bear while walking back from the house to my car and worse yet, a guy with a rifle shortly behind the bear who immediately decided I was more interesting than the bear, I thought there were four seasons but there’s more seasons than I can keep track of except for the opening of large game hunting because there’s deep woods on three sides of my home (where people jack deer year round) etc. I can at least make some small talk now and people know who I am but as far as they’re concerned I’ll never be “from here” and I still look and dress “city.” I’m now here by choice not chance so I relinquished my right to complain about *anything*!

@@tundrawomansays5067 I agree after 20 years I'm not and I’ll never be “from here”. It's not possible to pull that off. Maybe in Knoxville or Nashville.

Very good observation, so true

Thanks for riding along

God bless you too. I have to have my caffeine and another hour or two lol

@@realappalachia I noticed this video had 4 commercials that kept braking in. Use to not have. Is this from you tube ?

@@virginiamartin7312 yes, they plug multiple ads in longer videos which is a downside of doing longer ones but some places like Jenkins are hard to tell their story in a short video. I try to keep them all to a minimum but some cant be chopped much.

@@realappalachia I didn't know that. Thanks

you said it, Peggy lol

I love mornings, hate waking up

Agreed. All these years later, my college roommates still talk about much of a NON-morning person I was. They learned not to wake me up if they could help it.

I am definitely not a morning person. I love the night. Once my daughter headed off to college I was like.....okay, no more morning job for me.

thank you so much for watching and the comment

Did not know he was from McRoberts. I watched a documentary on Dean Dillon the other day (I think it was called Tennessee Whiskey or some such) and it talked about how great Stewart was. I hope his sister puts that movie together because he surely led a fascinating life. Thanks so much for that info, that was awesome.

The Stewart’s are neighbors to us not far down the road fr us

Gary Stewart theres a country legend

I have tenn wwhiskey saved to my watch list. I luv documentarys & watch them all the time!😊

Sheas Fork is where the singer Gary Stewart’s first cousin by the same name lives in McRoberts. The country singer spent a lot of time in McRoberts but he was actually from Jenkins. His cousin Gary still lives in Sheas Fork behind the old elementary school. I have lived in McRoberts for 25 out of 42 years.

thank you

Bless you 1000x for telling me that information. It has worn me out for years lol

@@realappalachia your welcome, a little more info if you like, Winston was operating for years without a license so eventually the state came in and shut him down and took the exotic animals he had, he now works at the letcher county clerks office, I seen him a few months ago

@@SouthernMechanic was he a good vet? Few years ago I went with a girl to little place in Pennsylvania, don't remember the town but on the other side of place called Hollywood we are in SC, anyways we went through what seemed like every mile of west Virginia second time I went through portion of west Virginia, I still say, it's the most beautiful state we have!

@@donaldatkinson7937 yes he was actually really good, we have taken many of our pets to him in the past with no issues

Very true, so much need in some areas that it is overwhelming

I was counting the other day that I have had over 20 flat tires in my life and none of them have been any fun to change lol. Thanks for the prayers :)

thank you lol

I love me some Gary Stewart

Glad you like them! thank you as always, Jane

I’ll never forget it lol

Two good reasons lol…thanks so much, Austin

Glad you like them! Hope you're well in Sydney

Glad to know it brought back some memories, love hearing from locals

Thank ya, Karen

I feel your pain lol

My wife and I would get up, drink a cup of coffee, look at each other, and then flip a coin for who was going to get our youngest daughter up, lord, I love her but she was awful!!!!!!!😀

I have never found a way to get up happy lol

@@realappalachia lolol, I can't say that I have either. It seriously is "don't talk to me until I've had my coffee, and my coffee intake could take quite some time. Hahahahaha

@@monicavanopdurp9853 you said it lol

@@realappalachia 😄😄😄😄

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks

Sorry to hear of your loss, John

Sounds so very much like these towns

I miss seeing those little mom and pop stores like that, they are disappearing

I've heard of Dunhm but wasn't sure where it was located, little did I know I was sitting right in it lol. I would love to know more about Smokey Rowe too, seems like there's a real story there.

it seems very little exists these days. i am researching a story about the cincinnati reds losing a scrimmage game to a coal camp allstar team but i can find very few details

@@burdineblue I’m just in McRoberts 🤗

@@burdineblue I subbed to you too love 🤗

glad you enjoyed it, Patsy