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Appalachian Passage
Appalachian Passage is based on the journal kept by Helen B. Hiscoe during the year that she, her physician husband, and their baby daughter spent in a West Virginia coal-mining camp. When he reported to Coal Mountain in June 1949 as the new company doctor, Bonta Hiscoe was young, idealistic, and unprepared for a practice in a remote "hollow" forty-five miles from the nearest hospital. With no trained help and substandard facilities, he was charged with the care of more than four hundred miners and their families.
Dr. Hiscoe found the work both challenging and exhausting and his wife was immediately drafted to assist him. Her honest, direct descriptions of life in Coal Mountain reveal a people at once impoverished yet fiercely proud, remarkably adapted to their circumstances and solidly set in their ways. Equally contradictory was the country itself, whose wild beauty contrasted sharply with its strip mines, treacherous roads, and barely adequate dwellings.
A more personal story also unfolds in Appalachian Passage , for Helen Hiscoe played three simultaneous, often conflicting that of a new mother; a traditional, demure Coal Mountain wife; and a confident and competent medical assistant.
Job-related injuries, though ghastly, were not so frequent as problems related to a high pregnancy rate (families of five to ten children were the norm) and a general unfamiliarity with basic hygiene. The Hiscoes quickly learned to hold their tongues and attune themselves to local ways. Offending people not only undermined doctor-patient relations but coulds bring the Hiscoes into conflict with entire clans.
The Hiscoes' year at Coal Mountain coincided with the final stages of a bitter dispute between the United Mine Workers, the mine owners, and the federal government. Dr. Hiscoe, as an outsider and an employee of the company, was often at odds with local labor leaders. Though most of these disputes were resolved, the Hiscoes' frustrations at union politics lingered. Coupled with the news of Helen Hiscoe's second pregnancy, these feelings motivated the family to leave Coal Mountain in July 1950.
Appalachian Passage is a book to be valued for Hiscoe's revelations about herself and her family and for her insights into the social structure of mining camps and the problems of rural health care.
Dr. Hiscoe found the work both challenging and exhausting and his wife was immediately drafted to assist him. Her honest, direct descriptions of life in Coal Mountain reveal a people at once impoverished yet fiercely proud, remarkably adapted to their circumstances and solidly set in their ways. Equally contradictory was the country itself, whose wild beauty contrasted sharply with its strip mines, treacherous roads, and barely adequate dwellings.
A more personal story also unfolds in Appalachian Passage , for Helen Hiscoe played three simultaneous, often conflicting that of a new mother; a traditional, demure Coal Mountain wife; and a confident and competent medical assistant.
Job-related injuries, though ghastly, were not so frequent as problems related to a high pregnancy rate (families of five to ten children were the norm) and a general unfamiliarity with basic hygiene. The Hiscoes quickly learned to hold their tongues and attune themselves to local ways. Offending people not only undermined doctor-patient relations but coulds bring the Hiscoes into conflict with entire clans.
The Hiscoes' year at Coal Mountain coincided with the final stages of a bitter dispute between the United Mine Workers, the mine owners, and the federal government. Dr. Hiscoe, as an outsider and an employee of the company, was often at odds with local labor leaders. Though most of these disputes were resolved, the Hiscoes' frustrations at union politics lingered. Coupled with the news of Helen Hiscoe's second pregnancy, these feelings motivated the family to leave Coal Mountain in July 1950.
Appalachian Passage is a book to be valued for Hiscoe's revelations about herself and her family and for her insights into the social structure of mining camps and the problems of rural health care.
- GenresNonfiction
344 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1991
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2014
Appalachian Passage by Helen B. Hiscoe
Always interesting to read about Applachian people and lives of the miners.
This is a story of a woman her doctor husband and infant daughter, via her journal.
Such a proud set of people/community and stubborn. 1949 Cold Mountain, WV hard times...
Follows their lives as they go through daily events, glad they get to experience it first hand.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Always interesting to read about Applachian people and lives of the miners.
This is a story of a woman her doctor husband and infant daughter, via her journal.
Such a proud set of people/community and stubborn. 1949 Cold Mountain, WV hard times...
Follows their lives as they go through daily events, glad they get to experience it first hand.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
June 27, 2023
While dated, this gives on a good understanding of Appalachian life in West Virginia, during the height and fall of coal mines. Life is still difficult there and the book lends some explanation.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews