Appalachia featured on PBS

By Joanne Brannon Aldridge

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People, made by Ross Spears and Jamie Ross, is a four-part PBS series that is the first environmental study of any region of the country.

The mountains are the main character of the series, and they are a mighty presence: the world’s oldest mountain range and one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. This series shows them in magnificent visuals, gorgeous color scenes of the Appalachian Mountains in all seasons of the year along with archival photos and footage.

The series is beautifully filmed and illustrated. And while the mountains with their rich deep forests, the plants that grow there and the wildlife that inhabits them are the main character of the film, the scope of the series is extensive embracing many aspects of Appalachia, blending science, natural history and human history.

In this regard, the editors suggest that the story of the series is not just the story of Appalachia, it is the story of America as well and “a window into our struggle to find a proper relationship with the natural world.” The series features colorful stories, as well as interviews with a variety of people with diverse expertise and strong interest in Appalachia. The documentary is narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek.

In the film, novelist Barbara Kingsilver says, “Somehow being enclosed in the mountains you can always feel like there’s something just over the ridge, something waiting for you.”

Appalachia: The Mountains and the People is just waiting and well worth watching all four episodes.

“Part One: Time and Terrain” explores the region’s “unique mosaic of plant, animal, and early human life.” Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist E. O. Wilson observes, “A history of a region includes not just the people but the creatures and the living environment. Geology is destiny.”

“Part Two: New Green World” depicts the natural and human history of Appalachia tracing the story of the region from the Revolutionary War with the Battle of Kings Mountain through Andrew Jackson’s forced relocation of the Cherokee in 1831. Contrary to stereotype, the colonists saw Appalachia as a source of great wealth, luring Daniel Boone, naturalist William Bartram and land surveyor George Washington.

“Part Three: Mountain Revolutions” explores the story of how land grabbers poisoned the region and how the chaos of the Civil War tore away and destroyed an agrarian way of life. Appalachia was left ripe for plunder. Speculators spread through every timber-rich, mineral infused hollow. Courthouse fires destroyed property records. People who could not prove ownership of their property were evicted. Ancient trees were cut down. Forests were destroyed. Coal was dug to fuel the nation’s booming economy. Clear cutting and strip mining ravaged the land all in the service of greed. Appalachia’s land, people, wildlife, and culture were changed forever.

“Part Four: Power and Place” look both at all that has been lost and hope for what might be done for Appalachia’s ransacked ecosystem. Historian Ron Eller observes, “The land was transformed from a place to live to a commodity to sell.” The greatest tragedy for Appalachia is that it became what anthropologist Harvard Ayers called “a resource colony, an environment you could sacrifice for the benefit of the rest of the country.” Natives, even when they have had to go somewhere else for a job, have maintained a strong sense of place and love for Appalachia.

But there is hope for Appalachia in a new wave of activists, writers, musicians, scientists and nature lovers who want to protect what is left— both preserve and conserve— make efforts to restore in whatever ways what has been lost in the forests, the rivers, the mountains themselves. The National Park Service has offered on possibility. A conservation ethic with which to imbue the country is called for, a recognition that everybody needs beauty as well as bread.

This is an engrossing and important documentary not just for natives of Appalachia, but for the nation, as well.
The film shows on PBS on Thursday at 10 p.m. and is repeated on Sunday at 7 p.m. It is available in two DVDs for $42.95. (www.appalachiafilm.org/series)

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People was made by award-winning documentary filmmakers Ross Spears and Jamie Ross. Spears is a Johnson City, Tenn., native who still owns a home in the area.

Appalachia: Music from Home, $15 plus $5 handling charges, is a companion CD and a sampling of Appalachian music, not a soundtrack of the film. Music is the art form most associated with Appalachia. This CD features Ralph Stanley, Jean Ritchie, Dock Boggs, Darrel Scott, Robin and Linda Williams, Blue Highway and others (www.LonesomeRecords.org) celebrating the diversity of life and music in the Appalachian Mountains.