Life in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky has changed a lot in the past 100 years. What was once a vibrant culture, filled with traditional ways of living, methods of supporting yourself and a reliance on community, is quickly disappearing, if not gone all together. In the early 1980′s, photographer Shelby Lee Adams stumbled upon a forested ‘holler’ called Beehive, the home of the Napier family. Their way of living stunned him. Chickens ran through the yard, hound dogs came running, small cobbled together homes had ceder smoke wafting out of their chimneys… with just one small line for electricity, it was truly like stepping back in time.
Adams quickly made friends with the welcoming Napier family, learning that they had somehow escaped the passage of time and were happily living as a traditional Appalachian family would have back in the 1930′s… the only clue to their modern time being small details on clothing like “Camel Joe” or “Michael Jackson.”
Click the pic to see more from this amazing project.