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Old 07-16-2016, 02:26 AM
 
Location: Caverns measureless to man...
7,588 posts, read 6,572,777 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Blue View Post
Home - Paintsville Tourism

Butcher Holler (old homeplace of Loretta Lynn) Is in Van Lear, just south of Paintsville. The only two lane roads you will be on is after you leave Rt 23 and follow signs to Butcher Holler.

I am a bit further South on 23 in Pikeville..Lots to do and see here.

I am from Cincinnati/Dayton area and have lived here for many years and it really hurts me and other people here when people continue to stereotype us. Some, probably most of us, choose to live here, because we do not like the big city life

I have good Internet and Cable TV service, and am seldom out of range with my cell phone.

If you come on our front porches, most of us would more likely invite you in for supper.
Is that only in town, or do have good cable outside of the town? Because we have lots of friends over in Rowan and Elliot counties and thereabouts, and are looking at properties there, but the connectivity once you get out of Morehead is really spotty.

For what it's worth, i don't think anyone who has spent any real time in the hills would stereotype the area or the people. It's one of the most beautiful places anyone could ever imagine, and the people are the finest you'll ever meet.

Oh - and the word "holler" is just a derivation of the word "hollow," meaning a small valley, usually wooded, between two or more hills or ridges. Ain't nothin' but hills and hollers up there; make sure you have good brakes on your car, and good tires in the winter.

Last edited by Mr. In-Between; 07-16-2016 at 02:35 AM..
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Old 07-16-2016, 08:34 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Albert_The_Crocodile View Post
Is that only in town, or do have good cable outside of the town? Because we have lots of friends over in Rowan and Elliot counties and thereabouts, and are looking at properties there, but the connectivity once you get out of Morehead is really spotty.

For what it's worth, i don't think anyone who has spent any real time in the hills would stereotype the area or the people. It's one of the most beautiful places anyone could ever imagine, and the people are the finest you'll ever meet.

Oh - and the word "holler" is just a derivation of the word "hollow," meaning a small valley, usually wooded, between two or more hills or ridges. Ain't nothin' but hills and hollers up there; make sure you have good brakes on your car, and good tires in the winter.
First, thank you for your good comments about the area.
We live about 8 miles from town. We are on a different TV cable. Pikeville is on Sudden link, we are on Intermountain Cable. I imagine there are spotty areas very far and out in the more wilderness parts of the County where some still have to use Dish. We lived 25 miles from Pikeville for the first 30 years we have been here when we first came here and had problems with TV, and electric quite often, but that changed as more modern systems were adapted.

I have seen 1000% improvement in everything since coming here and I assure everyone, we are as modern as everyone else in our "little big city" town.

I have more trouble with my On Star than Internet, TV or cell phone though when traveling around the county. That is just a fact when one lives in a mountainous terrain.

I would probably advise no one to "bundle" Tv/phone/internet in this area though, because of the heavy rains that often cause mountain slides with rocks and trees coming down knocking out service of one or the other.

I still say "hollow" and "power saw" even though my family say I have picked up the accent over the years. However just a few minutes when I go home,I tend to speak "Ohio"
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Old 07-16-2016, 04:22 PM
 
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I've really enjoyed reading this thread. The name alone "Butcher Hollow" sounds like it's from a suspense movie. The more I learn about Eastern Kentucky, the more I'm intrigued by it's beauty, people and history.
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Old 07-16-2016, 04:45 PM
 
Location: Caverns measureless to man...
7,588 posts, read 6,572,777 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Blue View Post
First, thank you for your good comments about the area.
We live about 8 miles from town. We are on a different TV cable. Pikeville is on Sudden link, we are on Intermountain Cable. I imagine there are spotty areas very far and out in the more wilderness parts of the County where some still have to use Dish. We lived 25 miles from Pikeville for the first 30 years we have been here when we first came here and had problems with TV, and electric quite often, but that changed as more modern systems were adapted.

I have seen 1000% improvement in everything since coming here and I assure everyone, we are as modern as everyone else in our "little big city" town.

I have more trouble with my On Star than Internet, TV or cell phone though when traveling around the county. That is just a fact when one lives in a mountainous terrain.

I would probably advise no one to "bundle" Tv/phone/internet in this area though, because of the heavy rains that often cause mountain slides with rocks and trees coming down knocking out service of one or the other.

I still say "hollow" and "power saw" even though my family say I have picked up the accent over the years. However just a few minutes when I go home,I tend to speak "Ohio"


That's interesting... it sounds like you actually have better service and connectivity than the area around Morehead, which I would have thought would be better served if only because of population density. I don't get any cell service at all once I turn uphill going out of Morehead. I always call my wife as I'm driving through Morehead just to check in and let her know we'll be out of touch for the rest of the day.

And hell, it doesn't take me years to pick up the accent at all - just a few hours. Once I went up there before my wife woke up, and when I got home that night and was chatting with her, she said, "Oh, you went up to visit Quince today! How are they?" She had me halfway through the first sentence. It's a seductively easy rhythm to fall into.

Oh, and as for my love and respect for the area - it's no secret that that for the first few years I was here, I hated just about everything to do with Kentucky. And there are still a lot of things I don't like, and never will.

But... that was before I knew the mountains, and the people who live there. Oh, I'd driven through them, and seen them, and met some of the people - but I didn't really know them. Once I started spending time up there, making real friends, and finding myself accepted and taken in as one of them, I finally began to know the mountains. And now I know Kentucky in a completely different way than i ever did before. And I'll never think of it the same way again.

The Bluegrass Plateau, and the cities? Hell, you can have 'em. Anyone who wants 'em, I'll help you load them onto the truck. Far as I'm concerned, that's not Kentucky. The mountains are Kentucky. You can not know Kentucky until you know the mountains, and once you know them, you can never see Kentucky the same way again.
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Old 07-16-2016, 05:11 PM
 
Location: Caverns measureless to man...
7,588 posts, read 6,572,777 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760 View Post
I've really enjoyed reading this thread. The name alone "Butcher Hollow" sounds like it's from a suspense movie. The more I learn about Eastern Kentucky, the more I'm intrigued by it's beauty, people and history.
I warn you, once you see it (and if you are fortunate enough to "feel" it inside you), you may never leave. It's very different, though, from what most people are used to. One thing I love about the place is that most of the people who live up there are completely, absolutely comfortable and at peace with who they are - they don't ever pretend to be anything or anyone they're not. Because they just don't see any need to. If you appreciate that kind of person, you'll feel very much at home there.

A lot of folks up there are used to outsiders looking down on them and condescending to them - do that once, or even hint at it, and they'll never accept you. But if you accept and respect them for exactly who they are, they'll treat you like family. They're used to people from outside stereotyping them as dumb hicks because a lot of them aren't very well-educated in a formal sense, but the people I know up there are the smartest, most capable, common-sense, down-to-earth people I've ever met in my life. It's not their fault they didn't have good schools to go to, but they got smart in different ways.

I know people younger than I who used to ride horses to school or the town store, because you couldn't drive vehicles on some of the dirt roads in the winter. They're still living on the farms their papaw and great-great granddaddy worked back in the 1800s, and they wouldn't even think of leaving. If you get to know some of those people, and spend some evenings sitting on their porch and hearing the stories, you'll understand Appalachia - and even America itself - in a way that few people ever even imagine. You get the feeling that no matter what happens in the rest of the world, no matter how bad it gets, nothing can touch you up here - because whatever happens, the people up there know how to handle far worse.

You ever do really come for that visit, I'll take you up there (my wife's health at the time permitting) and you'll see what I mean. Hell, i may even be living up there myself by then. Wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Oh, and the name "Butcher Holler" is really not as dramatic as it sounds. Loretta Lynn's great-grandfather (or maybe great-great) homesteaded part of the valley that Butcher Holler lies in, and his name was Butcher. He was part Cherokee, and in fact the entire family has Cherokee blood. Some people have even tried to link their bloodlines to the Melungeons (which, if you're not familiar with the term, is worth a google), but I think that linkage is pretty shaky. A lot of the early families up there mixed with the Cherokee and Shawnee, but most of those bloodlines were parallel to and distinct from the classic Melungeon lineage - which probably traces back as far as the early 1700s or even late 1600s. Unfortunately, it's become trendy for people to go Melungeon-hunting even where no Melungeons exist.


Edit: I almost forgot. From my perspective, one of the best things about the hills is that every time I drive up there, I just sit there watching the number on my car thermometer get smaller and smaller and smaller... by the time I get all the way up to where the Cumberland Plateau transitions into the Allegheny Plateau, the temperature usually drops about 10 degrees from the Bluegrass. For a northerner, that has a great deal of significance in July and August.

Last edited by Mr. In-Between; 07-16-2016 at 05:45 PM..
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Old 07-16-2016, 05:39 PM
 
13,640 posts, read 24,414,053 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760 View Post
I've really enjoyed reading this thread. The name alone "Butcher Hollow" sounds like it's from a suspense movie. The more I learn about Eastern Kentucky, the more I'm intrigued by it's beauty, people and history.
Here's a short flick of the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8I2cF51Npc

There is a lot of information about Butcher Holler here and elsewhere on the net . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butcher_Hollow,_Kentucky
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Old 07-16-2016, 06:43 PM
 
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Albert, thank you for the great information and history lesson. The more I learn about the eastern part of Kentucky, the more I'm drawn to it. For a long time, I wasn't even considering that part of Kentucky to retire in but this forum has educated me. I'm much more of a mountain lover than flat land or even beach person.
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Old 07-16-2016, 06:47 PM
 
17,264 posts, read 11,082,017 times
Reputation: 40511
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Blue View Post
Here's a short flick of the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8I2cF51Npc

There is a lot of information about Butcher Holler here and elsewhere on the net . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butcher_Hollow,_Kentucky
I've been an admirer of Loretta Lynn for a long time. A few years ago I saw a show on TV about where she currently lives. It's some kind of old plantation and I think still in Eastern Kentucky. Loretta Lynn is an amazing success story, and from what I can tell, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
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Old 07-16-2016, 07:23 PM
 
13,640 posts, read 24,414,053 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760 View Post
I've been an admirer of Loretta Lynn for a long time. A few years ago I saw a show on TV about where she currently lives. It's some kind of old plantation and I think still in Eastern Kentucky. Loretta Lynn is an amazing success story, and from what I can tell, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
Actually the old plantation house is in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee which is off I40 between Nashville and Memphis. She lives in a house she and Doo built directly behind the old house which btw is said to be haunted by several very interesting spirits from the civil war era.
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Old 07-16-2016, 07:49 PM
 
Location: Caverns measureless to man...
7,588 posts, read 6,572,777 times
Reputation: 17966
I should watch that again soon. It's been a long time since I've seen it. Marino, a lot of that movie was filmed on location, some right in Butcher's Holler and a lot more just in the region around it. If you watch that movie, you'll know what the area looks like.

Interesting trivia about that film... Sissy Spacek wanted to be a country singer when she was younger, but nobody would sign her because she sounded too much like Loretta Lynn. She was Lynn's choice to play the part, but wasn't sure whether to take it, and her mother told her to wait for a sign from god telling her what to do. So Spacek and her husband went for a drive to think it over, and as the car pulled out of the driveway, the classical music station on the radio started playing "Coal Miner's Daughter."

When Spacek won the Oscar, Lynn was in the audience, which i believe was the first time a character for which an actor was awarded an Oscar was in attendance for the award. It was also Levon Helm's first acting role, and Lynn later said that when she walked into the set of her childhood home and saw Helm in costume and in character, she fainted because he captured her father so perfectly it was like seeing him alive again. She still cries when she talks about that.
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