What are /r/Appalachia's favorite Products & Services?

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https://www.amazon.com/White-Trash-Cooking-Ernest-Mickler/dp/0898151899 White Trash Cooking - old school classic southern cookbook that embraces stereotype and refuted them all at the same time

https://bittersoutherner.com/the-short-and-brilliant-life-of-ernest-matthew-mickler For a more detailed and deep look at this cookbook and it’s author

Scout of the Buckongehanon: An Historical Romance of the Western Virginia Border, 1764-1782

It’s fiction, but very accurate historical fiction, with all the characters, places and events being real. Not really a “romance.”

I'm in NW GA. We've not had much cold weather nor precipitation to date. However today it's raining and currently 47 degrees and we have freezing temps and possible snow showers predicted for later in the day. I'm west of blue ridge at roughly the same latitude. Here's our 10 day forecast. https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USGA0749:1:US

This doc is absolutely worth the buck to rent:

https://www.amazon.com/Them-That-Work-MATEWAN-inspired/dp/B0861HDX7W

(And just since i have it open in a tab right now: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/theminewars/#part01 )

Lots of Irish / Scots-Irish in Appalachia. In colonial days poor immigrant last and recently freed indentured servants could find land and community in the mountains, away from the English influence they had emigrated from. The Battle of Kings Mountain was mostly fought by Scots-Irish immigrants. That lineage runs deep including the music. Here’s an old Documentary on the subject: https://youtu.be/DHOyYQ0Wm_I and here’s a decent book: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916891

Silver sharpie used for writing on dark surfaces.

And trans rights yes, but maybe express it without marking up trails. Leave it how you found it and all that?

snake spray

I think people can be extremely tolerant if you are a kind and respectful person. I moved here 13 years ago with my Japanese boyfriend (I’m white) and we worried unnecessarily about racism. I don’t know what they thought but they were not outwardly mistreated. There is a pretty scholarly book called “A Handbook to Appalachia, an Introduction to the Region” edited by Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury and Ricky L. Cox that would answer any questions you could have about the people historically. I like the author Ron Rash because he writes about the place as if it’s a character in his novels. Ben Robertson wrote a book about upstate SC called Red Hills and Cotton which rang true even though it was written in the 20’s or something. I live in the Blue Ridge Foothills. It seems there are a lot of open minded people (especially in the towns outside of Asheville like Marshall, Celo and Black Mountain). I think you will have a wonderful summer.

There is a good book that is a collection of essays that is a response to Hillbilly Elegy. It is call Appalachian Reckoning.

I really enjoyed this book: https://www.amazon.com/Appalachian-Forest-Search-Roots-Renewal/dp/0811701263, it goes into it a bit, but doesn't go back 100's of millions of years into super geological stuff. This video is pretty good too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR8n1vkF9lU&ab_channel=McClungMuseumofNaturalHistoryandCulture

The book was actually lauded when it was released as a window into the mind of someone who wouldvote for Donald Trump. That was... until he was actually was inaugurated then started making decisions. More recent reviews of the movie are pretty hate-fueled with their aim being to never let anyone like him be elected again, and to demonize any experience that validated his election in the first place. Contrast the reviews of the book and that of the movie and the difference is sometimes night and day.

Vance himself considers the hillbilly culture toxic, and sincerely wishes to fix its many problems. He also derides gov't run programs like food stamps. (as a former cashier at a major supermarket, I actually empathize with this opinion) “I could never understand why our lives felt like a struggle while those living off government largesse enjoyed trinkets that I only dreamed about.”

If you wanted something else to help understand or identify with the type of cultural issues that he was exploring, may I suggest White Liberals and Black rednecks by Thomas Sowell.

Just stopping by to add a recommendation for 'What Are People For' by Wendell Berry.

A favorite spot of mine in north GA (I live in Athens and am a big hiker/backpacker...check my post history) is Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail.

I really have also started to fall in love with the Sky Valley/Scaly Mountain area, with Scaly Mountain and Rabun Bald being my favorite peaks on the Bartram Trail.

I have absolutely no info on hotels as I'm usually renting a cabin (via vrbo usually) or camping.

The National Geographic Trails Illustrated series of topo maps are amazing and I'd recommend getting one depending on whether you'll be in more eastern or western north GA

https://www.amazon.com/Brasstown-Chattooga-Chattahoochee-Geographic-Illustrated/dp/1566954673

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1566954665/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1566954673&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=Z3CXMEF1ZB7GQ083642P