Program studies area’s Scotch-Irish roots
NORRIS, Tenn. — To clear up a big misconception right off, the Scotch-Irish
immigrants who settled in Appalachia didn’t wear kilts and they didn’t play
bagpipes.
"Early immigrants didn’t look like ‘Braveheart,’’’ said Ted Olson, director of
the Appalachian, Scottish and Irish Studies summer program at East Tennessee
State University.
But the Scotch-Irish are responsible for bringing moonshine, music and that
particularly Southern expression — "ya’ll" — when they settled in the
mountainous region.
The summer program at ETSU is teaching students about the history of the
Scotch-Irish, how they adapted to life in America and their unique contributions
to Appalachian culture. "This program gives them an opportunity to look at the
specific ways the culture might be shaped — something as simple as fiddle tunes
or as general as the way we think," said Roberta Herrin, director of ETSU’s
Center for Appalachian Studies and Services.
The ETSU summer program started in 1988 as part of the center and has an
exchange agreement with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
The Scotch-Irish, also referred to as Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots, probably just
called themselves Irish when they immigrated to colonial America.
They came from Ulster, a province in northern Ireland mostly settled by lowland
Scots in the 17th century under the direction of the British monarchy. They were
Protestant and mostly poor.
The Scotch-Irish are generally considered to have been the largest single ethnic
group to settle Appalachia, which runs from northern Alabama and Georgia to
Pennsylvania along the Appalachian Mountains. Many people who now live in the
region, particularly those in southern Appalachia, are their descendants.
Because of the narrow focus, the course usually draws history majors, Olson
said. Nine students from ETSU and one from Edinburgh enrolled this summer.
"I had known vaguely about Scotch-Irish connections," said ETSU senior Andrew
Walters, a history major who wants to pursue a doctorate. "It is a great benefit
to my academic career."
As part of the exchange agreement, the two schools rotate hosting the course.
Next summer it will be held at the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh.
The students have taken field trips from the ETSU campus in Johnson City to the
Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina, Cumberland Gap National Park and
the Museum of Appalachia in Norris.
Paul Laidlaw, a graduate student at Edinburgh, said his only knowledge about the
region was from watching the Burt Reynolds movie "Deliverance," so he wanted to
come see Appalachia for himself.
"It’s important for Edinburgh and ETSU to maintain this link," Laidlaw said.
The Scotch-Irish began coming in great numbers to America in the early 1700s.
Most of them landed in Philadelphia, moved inland to find free land and ended up
in the mountains of Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama and
Georgia.
Known for being adaptable, they blended their culture with Germans, who mainly
settled in northern Appalachia, other Europeans, Cherokee Indians and later with
blacks, Olson said.
The new settlers were instrumental in winning the colonies’ independence. Many
of them joined the militia called the Overmountain Men, who defeated the British
at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Making moonshine is one of the elements
directly linked to the Scotch-Irish. Most of the whiskey in Ireland was made in
central distilleries, but the settlers found a way to make it for themselves in
the isolation of the mountains.
The Scotch-Irish were adamant about keeping it from being monitored by the
government.
This story was published Sunday, August 15, 2004