Nestled in the heart of Appalachia.

The University of Virginia's College at Wise is where students experience unique regional culture and the great outdoors.

UVA Wise empowering students to learn and lead in their communities and the world.

[uplifting music] [Joshua Deel] I've heard it said, "Where we are affects who we are," and I think we have the chance to understand ourselves better if we understand where we come from.

Understanding who and what came before us is the task of each generation.

It is the machinery in the hands of free people.

Hi, my name's Josh, and I'm producing this series because Appalachia is my home.

I choose to live here.

Hometowns is about exploring the communities that make small-town America unique.

This season, I'll take you on a journey off the beaten path through Southwest Virginia to hear personal stories from those who know the land and her story because her story is my story.

No, I don't run around barefoot, and I still have all my teeth.

I also don't drive down the road waving a shotgun from my pickup window.

I drive a Toyota.

Don't get me wrong.

This place has its warts, but if that's all I showed you, you'd miss out on the remarkable breathtaking beauty of its natural wonders, and the rich depth of its cultural heritage that, in a sense, are at the heart of what it means to be an American.

In truth, it was yellow journalism and egregious stereotypes perpetuated as fact that set me on this course of picking up a camera to record what I see right in front of me.

Before this, I spent the better part of a year producing an independent docuseries called Exploring Appalachia for my film company "Mountain Roots," a cultural journalism of sorts combined with a desire to make documentary films.

The result has been an international audience intrigued by the colorful yet complex history of this region.

Millions of viewers on Facebook and YouTube have seen my trips around Appalachia that counter the popular narrative that, at best, is negative regarding this albeit ancient region.

In this spirit, I am venturing on a new journey with PBS Appalachia to explore the towns that so many people still call home, their hometown, to unearth remarkable stories and the people behind them.

I would be doing you, the viewer, a disservice if all I showed you was the drive-by trauma tourism and ruin porn, which I have found in nearly every state across the United States.

Central Appalachia will surprise you.

The resilience of its inhabitants, given the adversity dealt them at times, will humble you, filling you with empathetic compassion.

And it is this story, the story of Appalachia, heck, the story of America, that encourages me to keep sharing, keep telling, keep shining a light on our hometowns.

For many people, there's a magnetism, a strong sense of place about Appalachia that keeps them rooted here.

Even for folks not from this region, they pick up on this.

It's an endearing quality, an intangible feeling that somehow breaks through the surface.

The mountains have a way of getting in your soul.

It's infectious.

Take the small mountain hamlet of New Castle, nestled in Virginia's highlands between the rugged mountain terrain of West Virginia and the ever-broadening tobacco country of Virginia's rolling hills and farmlands, extending east to the coastal regions.

People have been coming here for a long time and staying, for many, a lifetime.

One such person I had the pleasure of speaking with is Diane Givens, who herself has called New Castle home for nearly 40 years.

Did you grow up here or...?

-I'm sometimes refered to as a foreigner.

-A foreigner?

Okay.

-I've only lived here 37 years.

-Okay.

-Um... -So, what's that benchmark?

Is it 50 years?

-I don't know.

-That they adopt you as one?

-I don't know that.

-Okay.

Oh.

Checking in.

-We don't know when I'm going to be a native.

[Joshua Deel] So, tell me about New Castle.

Why is New Castle here?

-Well, it's amazing to think back and try to imagine what it was like in the 1700s when people just could not tolerate the conditions in Europe, in Ireland, in Scotland, and had to just kind of risk everything, get on a little boat, and come across the ocean.

Well, they got there.

They didn't-- a lot of those people didn't want to live in a big city.

They didn't want to be in Philadelphia or wherever.

They were looking for freedom and space.

So, they started working their way gradually west.

A lot of people, I would call them strong, brave pioneers, got this far in Virginia, looked around and said, "Yes, the landscape and the mountain, the scenery, looked like home... -[Joshua Deel] Right.

-...whether it was Europe or Scotland or Ireland.

Now they tell us that one of the main issues that they needed is good source of water.

Well, right here, is the confluence where Craig's Creek and John's Creek meet.

New Castle here was established in 1851 as the county seat, so with the courthouse here, and centrally located in the county too.

It really is at a crossroads between not only the creeks that cut through the county, but roads have developed that crisscross or dissect the county in four directions.

So, New Castle just became the hub of civilization in these wild, crazy mountains.

[country music] [Joshua Deel] Early records indicate New Castle had around a couple of dozen dwellings by 1835, along with a handful of stores, a flour and oil mill, local blacksmith, a tavern, of course, but also a house of worship that keeps a growing community in balance.

Who might the original patrons of these establishments be, you ask?

Well, they were the early pioneer types, the independent-minded trappers, and resourceful farmers looking for good land and opportunities to act with their own free agency, to carve out a life in what at the time was the American frontier.

Eventually, there were two primary drivers of industry that drew people to Craig County and thereby expanded the development of New Castle.

One was people traveling to the hot springs of the area and the resorts that grew up around them such as Sweet Springs, designed by Thomas Jefferson and played host to notable people such as United States presidents Martin Van Buren, Franklin Pierce, and Miller Fillmore.

It was also home to America's first female journalist and royal, a prominent woman in national political life who also set the style for modern columnists.

The other was a diversity of agriculture.

At one point in time, old growth timber logging would have been the chief among the agricultural products harvested here.

Although New Castle is in the mountains of Appalachia, coal never played a role here.

What came from the Earth here was iron ore. Once this discovery was made, it eventually attracted the railroad, which today ceases to exist, but at one time, had a regular line to and from New Castle.

In a county that is more than half national forest, you won't find a single traffic light.

However, you will still find agriculture and local support industry for it, including a company that was started and is still headquartered here that harvests and imports Icelandic sea kelp for agricultural use.

I also spoke with local business owner Rob Carper about his involvement in the community.

[goats bleating] So, you have a few businesses here in town.

-So, about 14 years ago, I opened up Subway in town.

-Okay.

-And, you know, trying to bring a fast-food restaurant to town that was healthy... -Right.

-...or one of the healthier ones out there.

I actually had a few of them.

I had a couple more out of town and... -Okay.

-...you know, I decided to sell them and just kind of stayed local here in town.

-Right.

[Rob] And then decided to open this up.

It is an agriculture community.

-[Joshua Deel] Mm-hmm.

[Rob] So, we need somewhere that we can-- didn't have to go across the mountain... -[Joshua Deel] Right.

-[Rob] ...to get feed.

You know, lots of backyard farmers.

[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

[Rob] And lots of small hobby farmers.

You know, they're not getting bulk feeds, you know, delivered in a truck, three tons at a time.

-Sure.

Sure.

-So, they need to place... -A 50-pound bag.

-They can get a bag or two and then get one in three or four days... -Right.

-...rather than having to go across the mountain... -Sure.

-...like, you know, like they used to have to.

[Joshua Deel] So, why do you think people choose to stay in New Castle or even move here?

-That's a good question.

-Yeah.

-I mean, you know, we grew up here.

It's just a little tight-knit community... -Mm-hmm.

-...you know, that you can know it.

When you walk down the street, you can yell at somebody across the street and say, "Hey, how you doing?"

Just a very good home feeling.

You know, I'd want my kids to grow up like that.

Yeah.

There's lots of things to do here, you know, with... -[Joshua Deel] Right.

-[Rob] ...hunt, fish, hike.

There's lots of opportunity here... -Right.

-...that doesn't cost money.

-Sure.

-You can just go do it.

-Yeah.

-You know, and that's kind of, you know, we are-- I don't know the percentage, but we're a high percentage national forest in Craig County.

So... -Yeah.

Very high.

Very high.

-So, you know, it gives those people the opportunity to do that.

-Right.

-And we kind of want to keep it that way.

[Joshua Deel] Like Rob said, New Castle has a close-knit community.

And from what I've found, it's very accommodating to those interested in learning about its long-held traditions and even becoming part of them.

Another fascinating gem I've found here is the annually anticipated molasses-making that occurs in Meadow Creek.

Historically, in the absence of costly sugarcane, Appalachians would grow a crop called sorghum, which looks a lot like corn stalks, only without the ears.

The stalks are cut down and gathered in the fall... then crushed and squeezed for their juices... which are then boiled down through the lengthy labor of love, stirring and sifting the delectable juices into what will ultimately become the tasty sorghum molasses your Granny may have once made.

It goes so good on homemade biscuits.

It's clear to me from such past times as these that tradition and education are both important to the people who call New Castle home.

It can also be seen in the historic walk of "Add" Caldwell, who trekked nearly 30 miles from his home here in Craig County in the early 1870s to enroll as the first student at Virginia Tech in nearby Blacksburg.

But, it's been a minute since that happened.

Yet, this same impetus can also be seen in some of the new things happening here too... like on-farm events that seek to both entertain and educate, while reconnecting people with their food.

Sustainable farms like Smoke In Chimneys are capitalizing on this return to the land... teaching people how their food is raised and harvested with the most holistic of principles, while directly reconnecting them with their supply chain.

[♪♪♪] One indisputable fact is there's absolutely no questioning the stunning beauty of this place.

These echoes, perhaps ripples from the past, can be seen in the present.

Like the resorts that once drew people to Craig County and New Castle, today, there's Paint Bank, with its varied dining and overnight accommodations, from boutique hotel to glamping options.

The spirit here is reminiscent of what once was...

Whether it's a southern-style bed and breakfast hotel, a train depot converted to a lodge, or an active general store from yesteryear.

New Castle, like much of Appalachia, will surprise you.

What you might find around the next corner or just over the next mountain could be the antithesis of what you expect to see.

Once towed and released into the sky, these gliders or sailplanes can fly hundreds of miles unassisted, without a traditional airplane engine or any kind of propeller, merely by expert piloting using currents of rising air called thermals to stay airborne.

The New Castle Gliderport, I'm told, is one of the top such ports in the country, and is also quite technical due to the mountainous topography of the area.

It's ideal for cross-country ridge flights, as well as wave flights, which many glider pilots regularly have to travel to Wales or the highlands of Scotland to experience.

The Blue Ridge Soaring Society is a sailplane flying club that supports the sport of soaring through public outreach, training, and racing.

It hosts an annual competition here every fall that sees these sailplanes covering ridges in four states, a distance of over 600 miles.

[man] The rudder pedals are adjustable... -[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-[man] ...electrically.

And so, I keep-- I tend to keep pushing them further forward, so I'm not pushing on them so hard, and then I find a sort of slouch and almost disappear.

I'm like, "All right, you got to quit them and..." [Joshua Deel] Some of these crafts are loaded with instruments and tech I couldn't begin to tell you what it does.

But as I was being shown around, I did find, for a small upgrade, you can have your glider fitted with an engine.

Just in case you're uncomfortable with the thought of soaring thousands of feet above the planet with literally nothing to keep you there but the wind.

Not a bad backup plan, in my opinion.

Ah, and who doesn't enjoy a little rough and rowdy all-American weekend fun?

It's not all about mangled metal or the smell of burnt motor oil, though.

I found some here in New Castle who enjoy a different kind of fun: a need for speed.

Bub Ponton and his family have been racing for generations.

His dad, Jim, took him to the track since before he could walk.

And now, Bub's son, Hunter, is racing competitively on the go-kart track in carts that exceed 70 miles per hour.

[Bub Ponton] This was last year at Winchester Speedway.

We did a little dirt-- I haven't done a whole lotta dirt-track racing, a little bit.

It's kind of new, but we ventured out and got us a win.

That was in this car here.

[Joshua Deel] The sport of racing requires such attention to detail, precision tuning, and engineering that only comes from years of experience and accumulated skill.

For example, I learned after every cart race, they tear down the entire go-kart, going over every part in painstaking detail in order to finally tune the cart for the next race around the track.

[Bub Ponton] Right here's what we've mostly done our whole-- this race.

-[Joshua Deel] Is it race?

-Racing and fixing the... -[Joshua] I like the hustle.

-...building the cars.

I've been going to the racetrack since I was old enough to remember, you know.

They carried me in the car seat and sat me on the trailer, and it's just been there.

I guess, you know, you become the-- it just gets in your blood.

Now, too, I think, go-kart racing is a big skill builder when it comes to driving.

I'm telling you, Hunter's got a big jump on me.

He's ten times the driver now that I ever was.

He's the next generation of the number seven here.

Coming up... To be a hometown racer, you come home, you put it in here, and you start going over everything here.

It's about finishing the race, too.

[Jimmy] You got to finish to win.

[Bub Ponton] You got to finish to win.

-Most races are won in the garage.

[Bub Ponton] There was a lot of nights-- you know, of course, we were like most teenagers, you know, wanting to run around and get in everything, but when we were racing, it was a lot of Friday nights we spent in the garage.

-[Jimmy] Yeah.

-You know, we didn't-- I always tell a lot of people it kept me out of trouble, probably most of the time.

But there was an old guy down the road, and he had an old car and he said, "We'll fix you a car," and we kind of scratched everything together and we worked on the car.

Pops would come home when we worked on it at night, welding the cage and all in it, and that was my first car.

I was 13.

Growing up and around here and things is-- everybody was always willing to help each other out... -[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-...do whatever it was.

You know, if you needed something, you know, it's always a friendly atmosphere.

[Joshua Deel] Like Bub's dad said, "It's all about community," the racing, the late nights in the garage, neighbors helping neighbors, all boil down to family and friends sharing life together, the people you've spent a lifetime collecting memories with, traveling to races, long days at the track, the highs of victory, and the lows of defeat.

The bond this creates is hard to describe, and I suspect must be experienced for its full effect.

This spirit of community, however, is alive and well in New Castle.

Bub and his dad told me how Main Street was much more lively at one time, and then went through a period of near-ghost town status.

But in the last 10 to 12 years, a small renaissance of New Castle has begun to occur.

There are new things happening now in New Castle.

I also got the chance to catch up with a new business owner in town to learn about her experience moving to New Castle and being part of the changes occurring here.

-Well, I've been doing the custom cakes for the last almost three years.

So, that's how I got started is I-- for Thanksgiving in 2020, soon after we moved here, I started offering a pumpkin pear cake for the holidays starting for Thanksgiving.

So, between, like, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I've had-- I made, like, probably close to 100 of these cakes.

People just started ordering them.

And then I started getting requests for custom cakes.

Never made a custom cake, decorated it before in my life.

And I said, "Well, there's only one way to learn.

You just start doing it."

So, I've never taken classes.

I just kind of learned as I go and... -[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-...a lot of mistakes, but, you know... -[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-Cakes are forgiving.

You just take the icing off and start over again.

We just found our dream home here.

We live in an A-frame.

We were going to build one during the pandemic.

-[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-And then we just decided we found what we wanted, so not going through the hassle of construction.

[Joshua Deel] Right.

Yeah.

-So, we found it and we're here to stay.

[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-Now, we're really here to stay.

[Joshua Deel] Really here to stay.

Yeah.

Have you done this before, this type of work?

[Dawn] Yeah.

Well, no.

My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and she was that PTA mom, always baking for bake sales.

So, and she always made things from scratch.

So, I learned from her.

And then I always had a dream of having a bakery, but I'm a nurse.

So, I've been doing-- I've been in nursing since I was out of high school, many moons ago.

So I, finally, I was like, let's just jump into it and see what happens.

We saw the building for sale.

We said, "Oh, well, let's check it out," and then it all just kind of-- I was not even planning to open a bakery.

[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

Oh.

[Dawn] It just fell in the place.

[Joshua Deel] It seems like you got a good reception.

-I was a nurse for almost 17 years.

I left that in November and to get all this going.

[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-I would say New Castle is community.

I've met a tremendous amount of just wonderful people here.

So, I've had, from the very beginning, 100 percent support from people.

So, that's the biggest thing is, it's community, for sure.

-[Joshua Deel] Yeah.

-And it's a wonderful community.

[Josh] Whether you grew up here or not, people are still finding reasons to move here, live here, to start businesses, to call New Castle home.

[music fades out] Nestled in the heart of Appalachia.

The University of Virginia's College at Wise is where students experience unique regional culture and the great outdoors.

UVA Wise empowering students to learn and lead in their communities and the world.