"Folklife along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River records the history, lore, and lifeways of people who once occupied the land that became the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The National Park Service sponsored the research in 1979, just as former residents were being displaced from their homes, as a baseline survey for cultural heritage interpretation in the newly established recreation area.

Through oral history interviews and historical records, ethnographic study of household economic strategies, and documentation of music, lore, old-time occupational skills, and handcraft traditions, this book recounts what life was like in the Big South Fork during the first half of the twentieth century, when the region's agrarian economy was transformed by the timber and coal industries. This reconstruction of past lifeways provides the reader with a picture of this once-bustling area as it was prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and of the people who held fast to their customs as the area's growth and industry declined."

"The original National Park Service technical report that forms the basis for this work also serves as a pioneering example of applied ethnography in the National Park System. This kind of research has become a recognized tool for national park planning and cultural resource interpretation over the past two decades. In a new introduction and postscript, Benita J. Howell places her work in historical context and updates the reader on the more recent development of the area."

"Visitors to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area will find this a useful introduction to the area's rich history and culture, while genealogists and descendants of the inhabitants will discover a wealth of information about the region's historic settlements. Social scientists will recover valuable insights into the cultural dimensions of environmental impact assessment along with a counter to conventional wisdom that tends to explain Appalachian culture in terms of either psychocultural or environmental determinism."--Jacket.