Ongoing documentary project captures history of Appalachia from seniors 80 and older

A road trip has turned into a project to document Appalachia through the stories of people who have lived in the region for several decades, Bill Lynch reports for the Charleston Gazette. While traveling from Virginia to New Orleans, Shane Simmons and Jason Barton came up with the idea, deciding that "they wanted to talk to people, learn something of their history and culture and maybe find out things that were in danger of being lost." (Gazette photo: Shane Simmons conducting an interview for the project)

The idea turned into "The Appalachian Project," an ongoing documentary on Facebook in which Simmons and Barton interview Appalachians 80 and older, Lynch writes. Initially, Simmons said when they started the project in February the hope was to get 1,000 to 2,000 likes by the end of the year, but as of Thursday the site had 6,851 likes. Simmons told Lynch, "We had no idea there was such a demand for what we're trying to do"

Simmons said "they expected the senior citizens they spoke with to tell them that the greatest thing that had changed during their lifetimes was technology," Lynch writes. "Instead, they said people had changed." Simmons told him, "They told me people don't get together like they used to. They don't visit homes and that kind of thing. We've lost that closeness." (Read more)