Thinking of Stories of Place as applied narrative ecology, we approach “place” as an ecosystem  that depends on the stories we tell for its ongoing renewal. What are the environmental and social conditions that sustain storytelling in our communities? And how does storytelling nurture environment and society together?  Working with youth to gather and present the stories of elders, Stories of Place engages multiple generations in the discovery and renewal of places that matter most to Central Appalachian communities. Our curriculum introduces students to the unique legacies of the mixed mesophytic forests of the region, as they identify and explore landscapes and histories shaped by more than a century of coal and timber extraction.  Through discussions of the work of Appalachian writers and filmmakers, students learn to tell the stories of their communities. On the way they meet with and learn about key figures and institutions in the region’s cultural history, including a field trip to Appalshop in Whitesburg in October 2018, and a visit from Gurney Norman, who grew up in the coalfields of southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky, and who from 2009 – 2010 was Kentucky’s poet laureate.

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Talking with community partners in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia, as well as with members of Indigenous communities in the Western U.S., we hear a persistent refrain: Distracted by technologies of the digital age, we pay less attention to our local surroundings, and to the communications between young people and elders that strengthen communities of land and people. Stories of place uses digital technology to address both rifts, and to engage youth and elders in planning for the future of their communities.

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In August 2018, with the support of a Whiting Fellowship awarded to Karen Rignall (faculty member  with the Community and Leadership Development program of the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment), LiKEN launched its Stories of Place program at Sheldon Clark High School, in Inez, Kentucky. As director of LiKEN’s Stories of Place Program, Mary Hufford worked to launch this project with Karen Rignall, project coordinator in Martin County, Ricki Draper, a fellow with the Highlander Institute, and Sheldon Clark faculty members Allison Leip (English) and Christin Roberson (Science). Our community adviser is Nina McCoy, who formerly taught biology at Sheldon Clark High School.  Twenty high school sophomores gathered each week for Stories of Place meetings. They developed the skills needed to conduct documentary interviews with elders in the community. They also learned GIS mapping skills, and in the spring 2019 they met with Willa Johnson, of Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute, for training in editing and producing podcasts.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented in-person programming in 2020. 

In Summer 2021, Karen Rignall brought together various participants in Stories of Place / Martin County to begin developing a website as a platform for sharing these wonderful stories. This dedicated team of Martin County citizens and LiKENeers has been working all fall on the new website, Martin County Stories, which is currently under revision. The group work collaboratively to develop a mission and vision:

Our mission is to open a civic space where Martin County citizens across generations can present the beauty of their home, in their voice, through their eyes, in a beautiful mosaic display of the realness of Appalachia;

Our vision is to be a place for an online community filled with love and pride for our homes and each other and a source for resources about the land, culture, and people in Martin County.

Key leaders in this effort are high school students, University of Kentucky undergrads, and UK graduates from Martin County: Alyssa Dyer, Chloe Hale, Madison Mooney, Liz Stayton. Ashley Watkins took the lead in website design during her joint UK / LIKEN internship, bringing gifts from her UK Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies major and her Appalachian coal mining family roots.

In 2023, Martin County Stories was launched as a way to package the story-based community outreach taking place in the county into a cohesive brand identity that will serve as an information and community hub connecting citizens to cultural resources throughout the region. An online hub has been created and will be launched soon.

2022 was a busy year for the project and included an artistic residency in the Martin County High School involving over 175 students in 6 classrooms, open-mic night at the library with over 65 community members and students, an oral history workshop by UK’s Nunn Center for Oral History held in the county with 14 participants, and storytelling circles bringing together 30 high school students and senior citizens.

During the storytelling circles at the Martin County Senior Citizen Center, participants were encouraged to bring in photographs, and photos from the local newspaper, The Mountain Citizen, which had loaned a collection of photos for the event to stimulate stories. There was a particularly heartfelt moment in which a quiet older woman was suddenly moved to share memories with others after recognizing a picture of her granddaughter going to prom on a riding lawnmower that she had sent to the newspaper, the Mountain Citizen, but had thought was lost. The newspaper allowed the woman to keep the photo of her granddaughter. This instance exemplified one of the values of the Stories of Place project, as it connects individuals to share their diverse life stories.

The Stories of Place Residency project in 2023 gave students at Martin County High School the opportunity for hands-on work with LiKENeers Madison Mooney and William Major in an interactive classroom setting to both learn about and document their communities and cultures using creative art and writing projects. They wrote poems based on George Ella Lyon's "I Am From" poem and created collage self-portraits.

The newest branch of the Stories of Place program is the Family Cemeteries project, which focuses on documenting hundreds of uncharted gravestones located on private land throughout the county. Students learned GPS and documentation skills in their summer internships.

Senior citizens and high school students share stories at the Inez Senior Center in fall 2022. Photos by William Major.