100 Days in Appalachia

Words and photographs by Kristian Thacker

Throughout the Ohio River island’s history, flora and fauna have reacted and adjusted to human development like oil and gas ...
100 Days in Appalachia

100 Days in Appalachia

Throughout the Ohio River island’s history, flora and fauna have reacted and adjusted to human development like oil and gas wells. As humans abandoned the infrastructure, they’ve reclaimed their space ...
100 Days in Appalachia

100 Days in Appalachia

“Music kind of creates a community, and it’s an exalted position to be up on a stage and to be part of the thing that brings people together,” O’Brien said. “This story was originally published by ...
100 Days in Appalachia

W.Va. Opioid Settlement Funds are Supposed to Reverse Years of Crisis. In Several Counties, They’re Being Used to Pay Regional Jail Bills.

In rural Wyoming County, West Virginia, Ann Reed is the sheriff’s department’s only social worker. Funded through a temporary grant from a local mental health center, Reed provides resources and care ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Inside Election Night As A Student Journalist

In 2020, 100 Days in Appalachia ran a story by a student journalist at Appalachian State University, taking readers inside the newsroom as journalists covered the lead-up to the election and election ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Five Years After It Became a National Park, There’s a Growing Divide In West Virginia’s New River Gorge

The New River Gorge is a jagged area in the middle of Southern West Virginia’s coalfields. Shaped by one of the oldest rivers in the world, whitewater rapids roll under its high petrified sandstone ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Big Tech Comes to Tucker County, WV

Pamela Moe was reading the paper in late March when she spotted a public notice from a company she’d never heard of. Fundamental Data, a Virginia-based company, had applied for a permit from West ...
100 Days in Appalachia

‘We Know What It’s Like To Be Exploited’: Tucker County, W.Va., Grapples With Future-Defining AI-Infrastructure Proposal

To fully appreciate the beauty of Tucker County, you must visit. Nestled at 3,500 feet in the gorgeous Allegheny Mountains along the Blackwater River, the town of Davis is at the highest elevation of ...
100 Days in Appalachia

Across Appalachia, Photo ID Requirements Complicate Voting

When Amanda Saint went to vote in the 2020 election, she didn’t anticipate having any problems. For years, the 36-year-old nurse had been living and voting just outside of Huntsville, Alabama. But ...
100 Days in Appalachia

From Flooding to Fires: Appalachia’s Recreation Industry Faces Climate Change Challenges

The impacts of climate change are steadily and exponentially being felt here in Appalachia just as they have across the globe, and environmental activists, scientists and outdoor enthusiasts alike ...
100 Days in Appalachia

The Number of White Nationalist Groups in Appalachia Is Rising — and the Surge Could Have Implications for Democracy

The number of white nationalist groups operating in Appalachia has increased, according to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The rise coincides with a national surge of far-right, ...