Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places

HARLAN HISTORY
Harlan, Kentucky was first settled by white folk in 1796. They named their small community Mount Pleasant as a nod to a nearby Native American Indian Mound, but it was later renamed Harlan for Major Silas Harlan.

Harlan was established from parts of Floyd and Knox counties and has a population of 2,000, give or take a few holler so.

It is the county seat of Harlan County, and is situated in the Appalachian Mountains along the Cumberland River.

IN THE MINES
I have been told that if you want to know about Harlan, you need to know about the mines. Timber and coal were the first and, honestly, the only real industries that put Harlan on the map.

Harlan was known as the “Coal Capital of Kentucky” for many decades, and sadly earned another nickname as  “Bloody Harlan” after countless violent labour disputes took place.

These specific battles played a major role in establishing worker rights and organized labour laws across the US.

The nearby town of Lynch, Kentucky was one of the state’s largest company-owned town. In this case, US Steel facilitated more than ten thousand workers from nearly 40 countries as well as company-owned schools, hospitals, hotels, shops, and entertainment businesses.

Lynch eventually became a ghost town for the most part, but is now home to the popular Harlan area Portal 31 tourist attraction.

For as long as Harlan has had a name, it was known for poverty, destitution, hardship, and other miserable “qualities” of life in an Appalachian mining town.

Below is the Harlan County Coal Miners Memorial Monument, with a plaque that tells about the Time Capsule buried that is set to be opened in 2076.

MOVING ON
With the closure and dissolution of many of Harlan’s mines, the town has turned to tourism to support itself.

Harlan’s historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, and soon after programs like the Main Street Program, With Love From Harlan, Higher Ground, Harlan Tourism, Harlan County Community Action Agency, The Artists’ Attic, and so many more were formed and set to work rebuilding and rebranding the town.

Harlan’s historic Commercial District has more than 40 buildings in its historic register, but most are commercial box buildings. Some have really cute embellishments, but most are quite plain.

The Courthouse and post office buildings are two rare exceptions, and both are in the Classical Revival architectural style.

HARLAN IN THE MEDIA
Harlan has been featured in a surprising number of hit songs, films, documentaries, and television shows.

Darrell Scott’s song “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” has been covered by even more well-known names like Brad Paisley and Patti Loveless, but my favourite rendition is by the Ruby Friedman Orchestra.

The 2010 FX Network show Justified featured Scott’s song and its fame continues to spread.

Other songs about Harlan include “Harlan County Coal” by The Pistol Annies, “Harlan Man” by Steve Earle, “Goin’ Back to Harlan” by Emmylou Harris, and “Ain’t No Christmas in Harlan County” by Rick Ashtray.

Definitely and interesting mix, there.

Back in the 1970s, the documentary Harlan County, USA and the 2000 tv-movie Harlan County War both depicted the lives of miners in Harlan and especially the Brookside Strike.

National Geographic produced a series called Kentucky Justice between 2012-2013 that featured the Harlan County Sherrif’s Office, and later on, the Harlan County: A Road to Change documentary was released in 2014. Harlan was also the subject of the series Dopesick as well, to the town’s chagrin.

Famous Harlan natives include boyband pop singer Nick Lachey, The Voice winner Jordan Smith, NYT #1 Best-selling author Rick Hill, two-time Pulitzer recipient author and report Don Whitehead, historian-filmmaker Scott Allen Nollen, and author George Ella Lyon.

We actually caught the end of George Ella Lyon’s reading at Moonbow Tipple Café during our visit, but did not get to meet her personally.

Below is the Harlan Heart sculpture in Pocket Park.

MAMAW FESTIVAL
We made the trek to Harlan for the 2024 MAMAW Festival, a collaboration with Higher Ground and the One Nation One Project‘s initiative, Arts for EveryBody.

Arts For EveryBody organizers worked with local artists, healthcare providers, and community leaders to put on the festival that featured live music, handmade goods for sale, storytelling, creative workshops, poetry readings, screenings of the new film Mighty Harlan County by Jared Hamilton, theatrical performances like Eugene Wolf’s The Book of Mamaw, and printmaking demos.

MAMAW stands for Mountains of Appalachian Music, Arts, and Wellness and the intention is to create awareness and celebrate how art impacts our physical and mental health.

We met a really lovely gal named Olivia who etches her print-making stencils herself, creates art supply kits for the community, and teaches art therapy courses.

She showed us how to make these beautiful totes that we got to take home with us.

Another artist, also called Olivia, had my favourite vendor booth at Mamaw Festival. She was selling her art and embroidery pieces that I wanted so badly, but the ones below (unless I misunderstood) were just for display.

I looked her up and found out she is an amazing body positive advocate for women/womxn who suffer from the pain, frustrations, and constant societal harassments that come with having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Most people do not have a clue how awful the condition is because all they see on the outside is the presence of facial hair, but a lot of them sure have something nasty to say about the women suffering from it.

Her payment info sign said “6patsy6cline6” but when I checked online later to see if she had a website, Instagram, or Facebook, I only found what seems to be a personal page. I wish I had asked her for her public art page.

PETUNIA THE POSSUM, a mural painted by artist Lacy Hale, is my favourite thing in all of Harlan.

You should have heard me squeal with glee every time I saw Harlan’s town mascot represented on signs, windows, and shopping bags everywhere we went.

Hale’s mural served as the backdrop behind the main music stage of Mamaw Festival, where we saw hiphop artist Geonovah and local bands like Slut Pill, Bek & The Starlight Revue, and The Local Honeys. Slut Pill’s rad song “Get F*cked” has been stuck in my head for about a week now.

Other bands and teachers were set up on smaller stages in the nearby blocks.

EDGAR THE POSSUM, a real life possum, really stole the show. My friends know that my love for possums runs deep, and I am in the process of getting my rehabilitation credits so I can do my part to help these critters.

Being able to pet and play with him was such a treat.

Edgar was recently hit so violently by a car that he lost his vision, a few fur patches, and part of his tail. After about six months of rehabilitation he now lives a bougie life as an educational animal for local wildlife outreaches.

Other booths had a diverse collection of offerings.

One lady had a table set up where people could imprint their own copy of Cast Iron Stories, while they shared their memories and anecdotes about anything related to cast irons.

Sadly we could not eat the biscuits.

Many organizations onsite were distributing free medical supplies, Plan B, Narcan, contraceptives, and items for personal hygiene, as well as offering free medical screenings and haircuts.

Information booths were set up to educate attendees on different topics from mental health resources, Narcan training, addiction and crisis support, cancer survivor groups, COVID and infectious disease prevention, healing circles, and the Yellow Balloon sobriety support organizations.

And of course we were pumped to see the Hillfolk booth, whose owner we had just met over in Cumberland Gap on the way to the festival.

DOWNTOWN FAVOURITES
For such a small town, Harlan packs a punch with its limited but mighty food options.

MOONBOW TIPPLE COFFEE & SWEETS doubles as a bookstore and venue that specializes in hosting, selling, and supporting Appalachian artist and authors, which is rad AF.

They regularly feature readings and live events throughout the week, and lended their stage to host Mamaw Festival activities.

I was elated to see them with a few Little Bubby Child prints for sale, which has become my new metric for how awesome an Appalachian business truly is (or not) as of late.

Moonbow’s special offering this weekend was the official festival drink, Mamaw’s Blackberry Cobbler refresher. It was so delicious my best friend had instant regret for buying something else and wanted to share sips of mine.

HARLAN BEER COMPANY is a relatively new addition to Harlan.

You are going to hate me for this, but Harlan County is what they call a “moist” county, where it is a dry county overall but certain districts or towns can make an exemption for themselves.

In Harlan, the official rule is that any restaurant with a capacity of 100 or more can serve alcohol.

Our waitress absolutely did not give a damn and her service was terrible, but a different server eventually took over and he saved the day. One can reasonably assume the staff were much busier than they are used to, due to the festival. No big deal.

I would not mention it at all except to say that they are growing something good there, so be patient if you visit during hectic times.

We tried a variety of delicious items including the salmon cakes, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, a burger with bacon and pimiento cheese, and french fries.

I really look forward to returning when they are selling their own beer.

We liked this weird mural in the hallway that leads to the bathrooms.

THE PORTAL PIZZERIA was featured in season 6 of the Justified, and IT occupies one of the most interesting buildings in Harlan.

The owners proudly grow all of their own veggies and herbs that are used in their homemade sauces, which won me over.

We were bummed that we were too full to stop in for a slice, but try and stop us next time.

SASSY TRASH VINTAGE & THRIFT is a delightful second-hand store in a tall, canary yellow building that just screams for attention among the mostly faded brick and beige or off-white facade of downtown.

We talked to the owners and, by proxy, some of their friends who were visiting the shop. They were so genuinely welcoming and interesting, and we love what they have there.

If vintage and thrift is not really your bag, check out all the quirky handmade toys, stickers, candles, and other wares from local makers mixed in among the rest.

I was so tempted to buy this possum car refresher except it was “banana peel” scented, a smell that always makes me want to barf.

Other stores that we saw, but were not open at the time, include Mountain Merch, Jewelcraft, Southern Ruckus, and Sonwoods.

I am anticipating a visit to the Kentucky Coal Mine Museum, the Hensley Settlement, the historic site of Pine Mountain Settlement School for mountain children, the Godbey Appalachian Center at SE Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Cumberland Campus, Kingdom Come State Park, or perhaps to one of the last remaining Rax burger restaurants still in existence, during our next visit to Harlan.

Perhaps we can even make it to the annual Poke Sallet Festival, the longest continually running festival in Kentucky, if we are lucky.

We really had a great time in Harland and, somehow, we left Harlan alive.

In the area for a while? Follow me to Cumberland Gap, Berea, Lexington, or Louisville!

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