Appalachia
is a national treasure. It is a region stretching from New York
to Alabama, comprising the oldest mountains in North America. It
is home to the most ancient forest in the world and one of the greatest
collections of mineral wealth on the planet. From the early Scotch
Irish settlers of the sixteenth century when the region's name first
entered the historical record, Appalachia has been a place of mystery
and mythology. It has been romanticized, maligned, discovered, rediscovered,
exploited, redefined, but only vaguely understood. In fact, more
is known about Appalachia that is untrue than about any other region
of the country.
Appalachia
is unlike any other region in America. Nowhere else in America is
the ancient history of the earth so openly revealed as in these mountains.
Nowhere else does such a distinct culture, formed in relative isolation
from the rest of America, still exist. And nowhere else in America
is the story of man’s interaction with nature so dramatically
evident. In Appalachia the complexity of the geology is echoed in
the complexity of the culture. The mountains have shaped the people
and the people have shaped the mountains — its a dynamic interaction
of natural and human history of which the Scotch
Irish play a massive part.
It
is the story of larger than life characters such as Daniel
Boone, Attacullaculla, William Bartram, Stonewall Jackson, Booker
T. Washington, Mother Jones, Thomas Wolfe and Doc Watson.
The
greatest number of Scots-Irish arrived in the Delaware river ports
of Philadelphia / Chester / New Castle. From there they headed west.
The path they followed was determined by geography, circumstances
and the Appalachian Mountains. They had already settled in the coastal
lowlands ; the vacant land laid to the west. The great Cumberland
Valley of Pennsylvania led west for a hundred miles. Then, blocked
by the Allegheny mountains, they turned south into the Shenandoah
Valley or the Valley of Virginia. From there the path led to the
Piedmont regions of the Carolinas. The land lying along the "Great
Wagon Road" that stretched from Philadelphia
to the upper reaches of the Savannah River near Augusta, Georgia
became the new home of the Scots-Irish in 18th century America.
We
came to the Appalachia from our homeland Ulster and traveled south
through the colonies of America to reach a new and hopeful region
to settle, farm, and call home. Having suffered the effects of rack-renting,
starvation, and had no hope of owning land, which would improve
the quality of our lives, it drove us to this new and strange country
that tested our courage, endurance, and faith. Struggling to survive
and thrive in a new place, we labored to improve the quality of
our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of future generations.
Its
important that we should examine our cultural heritage. The connections
to the Old World that we brought and left as vestiges of our past
ways? And what would the lasting effects of our sacrifices has been.
These
connections, the cultural heritage of the Scots-Irish, are alive
in the Southern Appalachian region today. By looking at these connections,
we honor them, as well as learn how we adapted our culture to make
a lasting effect on the Southern Appalachian region and our country.
If
you were asked to write down a brief description of yourself, what
would you write? Would you write a physical description, a list
of your parents and their parents before them? Would you list the
geographical location where you were born or live now? Would you
list personal traits? How were those traits formed? Who or what
influences made you that way? What was your description? Your description
was right. You are all those things: past and present. Just as an
entire nation is also its past and present, its
symbols, language, stories, music, and customs.
History
is a very valuable study of political issues, battles and wars,
military campaigns and tactics, and the outcomes on the people.
It is dates and facts, and it is causes and effects. History impacts
people’s daily lives, but it is heritage that is alive and
adapting to new generations and changes.
The
cultural heritage connections between Ulster, Scotland and Southern
Appalachia indeed far reaching? According to the magazine
Now and Then, statistics are given that show one out
of four Americans can claim Scottish or Scotch Irish descent, and
that eighty-five percent of the all Scottish and Scotch Irish people
live outside Scotland. Out of that eighty-five percent, seventy-five
percent live in America. The periodical also states that a quarter
of a million Ulster Scots migrated to America helping to establish
the backbone of much of US society, especially Appalachia.” Statistically
speaking that is enough to substantiate an examination of the influence
of the Scotch Irish culture on America.
Read
about the wonderful Movie Songcatcher.
A story about the origins of country music. The film is set in the
last century and revolves around a young orphan mountain girl, and
the discovery of her music. The music of the Scotch Irish
There
is a global connection in both the past and the present between
the Scotch Irish and the Southern Appalachia. In fact, maybe the
greatest thing we can learn in studying cultural heritage is the
adaptability of humans. We can leave to future generations the sense
of what we adapted to, what we preserved, and the concepts and ideas
of what we did right. As Margaret Clark and Pamela Munn state so
eloquently, “Today and to future generations we offer them
the best of our values and beliefs, and hope they will surpass us
in the task of living in the light of them.
Long
ago, in the still quiet of the Southern Appalachian frontier, journeyed
many struggling Scotch Irish settlers. Our ancestors from Ulster
left a legacy of incredible wealth. Not material wealth, but cultural
wealth and strength of character to draw upon to make a new life
in a new world. Their sacrifices and perseverance brought this generation
to where it is today here in the USA and in Northern Ireland.
It
is hoped that this generation will pass on its appreciation, preserve
what is sacred to it, and pause to reflect on its richness. In this
way its cultural heritage will always be remembered,
treasured, and passed on
lovingly into the hands of future generations.
