-[female voice] This place has a heartbeat of its own.

-[male voice] You just get a vibe that you're here at home.

-[female voice] It's given me opportunities that I never thought I'd have.

That atmosphere is infectious.

-[female voice] It's a magic little place in the mountains.

-[announcer] Made with the state fruit of North Carolina, Mighty Muscadine offers a line of superfruit supplements and juices made from the Muscadine grape, including the Cellular Health Antioxidant Beverage, Vinetastic.

More at mightymuscadine.com.

[♪♪♪] -[Joshua Deel VO] Centuries ago, a man, one of many, risked everything to cross an ocean.

[♪♪♪] He left behind a world of persecution and oppression chasing the hope that here would be better than there.

[♪♪♪] That this place, unknown and raw, might offer a chance for something more, a future unshackled from fear, where possibility might grow.

[♪♪♪] Could he have imagined what lay ahead for his descendants?

Could he have dreamed in the chaos of revolution and risk, what this edge of the frontier would become?

Still, he came.

They all came.

They gambled everything for a sliver of hope.

Generations later, others followed.

The promise of opportunity drove them deep into the earth, mining coal, carving lives out of rock and shadow.

[♪♪♪] They didn't come here to make it big.

They came to survive, to eke out something better than what they left behind.

[♪♪♪] But time has a way of reshaping places.

Over the years, corporations swept through, taking what they needed and leaving behind the bones of an industry.

Now at first glance, this place might seem bleak, its prospects as uncertain as the journey my ancestor once made.

And yet there's something in the air here, a stubborn resilience, a history written in grit and sacrifice.

It's complicated, messy, and deeply human.

[♪♪♪] I've heard it said where we are affects who we are.

Makes sense, right?

I've always believed you can't really understand yourself until you understand where you come from.

Hi, I'm Josh, and I'm hosting this series with PBS Appalachia to explore the places people still call home, their hometowns, and to uncover the stories that make them unique.

Hometowns is about exploring the communities that give America its character.

This season, we're going off the beaten path, on a journey from Virginia to Wyoming.

Now, don't get me wrong.

Many of these places have their flaws, warts and all.

But if that's all you focus on, you're missing the bigger picture, the raw, untamed beauty of the land, and the depth and complexity of its culture.

These are the things that speak to the heart of understanding what it really means to be an American.

It's a journey worth taking.

Trust me.

[♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] Deep in the heart of southwest Virginia, in the coal fields of Buchannan and Dickinson County, the mountains tell a story of connection, resilience, and the kind of deep-rooted pride that can only come from a place that carves itself into your soul.

[♪♪♪] Here, strangers don't stay strangers for long, around the campfire, swapping stories after a hard day on the trails, bonds form as naturally as the rivers cutting through these mountains.

These small towns hold tight to their heritage, stubborn and proud in a world that can't stop rushing ahead, but here, life moves at its own pace.

-We tell everybody we're either commendable or committable.

It's just a passion for, I think, for all of us that work here and volunteer.

Now, all of our members are volunteers.

None of us are paid to come in and do this.

We just want to be a happy family.

-Sure.

-We have our lives and we have a good time.

We all enjoy it.

We never know what's going to walk through the door next.

You know, we may get just a genealogy book, or we may get a wooden coal car, which is sitting out here waiting to be placed.

-What would you say people are bringing to you?

Stuff that they don't care about or stuff that...?

-I think the generation now is bringing in stuff that they know that their children are not going to appreciate and it's just going to go into a dumpster somewhere.

But they want it kept and they want it preserved in some form or fashion.

-Right.

Because they do care about it?

-Yeah, they do care about it.

-Yeah.

I think Clintwood is more or less the typical small town these days.

You know, we don't have the big box stores.

We really don't want the big box stores in here.

[laughs] I'm getting a look over here.

The mom-and-pop shops, I think, is what makes it, and...

I've never had the desire to live in a bigger area.

But, you know, most everybody in town, and you can speak to them, be on a first-name basis with them, like the mayor, you know, even though we are his problem children.

It's just home.

-[Joshua VO] There's a kind of poetry in knowing your neighbor, in waving from a front porch, in living somewhere red lights aren't in charge.

It's a place that reminds you to slow down, to breathe, and to see the beauty in what's always been here.

-Southwest Virginia is just pure; it's real.

The music from Southwest Virginia is real too.

-There's more to this place than just coal and timber.

-Yeah, there's been a lot of great musicians coming from Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky all in this whole region, you know?

Some of the greatest of all time.

I mean, you've got The Stanley Brothers, you know, of course, that come from here, that helped create talents like Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs, that grew up loving those guys, you know?

-Mm-hm.

-And they became two of the best in the country music genre, let alone bluegrass.

But when it comes to bluegrass music, you know, the big three was Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and The Stanley Brothers.

That was... That was the beginning of it all there, and that's the three that... that really stood the test of time, you know.

-Do you see, like, that music has been kind of part of the fabric of the area?

-Yeah, I think so.

-[Joshua] Yeah?

-I think so.

And I think there's a little bit of an uptick to that.

-[Joshua] Okay.

-Just the younger generation now picking up on the instruments and learning how to play.

And maybe, you know, who knows we may have the next superstar come out of one.

-[laughs] -[Joshua] Sure.

-You know, I've heard people say, "What is a Stanley sound?"

-The way Dad played the banjo.

-Mm-hm.

-Just listen to the crack, listen to the tone, the sound.

Nothing sounded like it.

The way he noted a banjo, the way he played it was different, you know.

His tenor voice, for instance, so unique.

I mean, you ain't going to hear it again.

And it was like a voice from 1700s or 1800s, who knows?

I mean, there was just nothing like it in this or last century or this century to me.

That's why, when he was on the floor of the Grammys that year, all these pop artists and everything took attention to that, you know.

They never heard nothing like it.

-[Joshua] Right.

Never, never will again.

-And then it won't again.

No, that's right.

Yeah.

But that came from this region.

Came from his hometown where we're sitting today: Clintwood, Virginia, at the Ralph Stanley Museum.

-[Joshua VO] Life in Dickinson and Buchanan County isn't for everyone.

It's not fast, it's not flashy, and it doesn't try to be.

It's a place where people choose to stay, not out of obligation, but out of love.

Love for the land, for the people, for the way this place refuses to let go of what matters.

The past isn't just preserved here; it's alive, breathing in the mountains, in the music, in the stories that make this place more than just a county.

It's home.

It always will be.

The power of place keeps people rooted here.

-I was born and raised in the larger Haysi community.

Around here, we call it "up on the mountain."

[♪♪♪] -I went to work in the mines.

Mostly, what I really enjoyed about the job was learning the different methods of, you know, mineral extraction and coal mining.

But I just never was comfortable being underground, and so I didn't last for about a year at that.

Now you've only got, just what, there's less than 5,000 active coal mining jobs in Virginia.

We've still got a lot of work to do.

You know, we're talking about generations of families depending on mining jobs- grandfather, father, sons, uncles, everybody.

We have new businesses open every year.

Usually, we'll have between a dozen and 20 new businesses open in any given calendar year.

-[Joshua] Okay.

-[Larry ] And by and large, most of them are successful.

A lot of people kind of frowns on the economy built on tourism.

But, you know, tourism for Haysi and Dixon County- I look at that as being an asset-based economy, you know, beautiful views, clean air, clean water.

Hopefully, it's not going to run out.

The Breaks Interstate Park has been here for millions of years.

It's going to be an attraction in the future.

Southwest Virginia has got a lot to offer.

-[Joshua VO] Life in the coal fields has never been easy.

For generations, coal is king- a hard and unforgiving way to make a living, but a way nonetheless.

It demanded grit, sacrifice, and a determination to survive.

When the industry changed, the people here didn't crumble.

They adapted.

They always have.

Survival isn't just a skill here; it's the backbone of their culture, passed down like an heirloom.

Still, for all the challenges, one thing never wavers.

This is home.

[♪♪♪] It's where roots run deep, where traditions stay alive, and where there's always a glimmer of hope for what's next.

[♪♪♪] The mountains, once stripped for the resources, became the town's greatest asset.

Haysi turned outward, embracing the rugged beauty of its trails, rivers, and peaks.

Outdoor tourism became the new lifeblood.

ATVs roaring through the Spearhead Trails, adventurers flocking to the Breaks Interstate Park.

The land that once sustained mining now promised adventure, exploration, and something entirely new.

-Since I've been little, I've been riding four-wheelers, dirt bikes, way before side-by-sides was a thing.

-[Joshua] Yeah.

-I started on motorcycles.

I rode them every day.

You know, we rode logging roads and stuff.

That's what every trail was at the end.

There was no spearheads, no type of trail system.

It was old logging road.

-You made your own.

-And friends and families and neighbors' lands that you begged and I asked to ride on it.

So we had an abundance of places to ride, and we would ride after school every day until dark.

But that's where it started for me.

I growed up in the woods riding trails, and now, you know, I just really want to give people the opportunity to experience what I growed up experiencing.

That's our main goal, is to give people who didn't have the luxury of growing up like me and all my friends and family.

Give them the chance to experience that in a safe way.

We've had people from, like I said, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, just everywhere.

And it's been a phenomenal group of people.

When they first take off, you know, it's kind of like we're strangers.

I'm just renting this off.

When they come back, they tell me about everything they've done.

-High five.

-Yeah.

-I end up sitting with them by their campfire if they're camping at Southern Gap, and I end up knowing a lot about them, and they know as much about me.

-Haysi, to me, is built in by DNA.

There's about 500 people that live in the town of Haysi, but there's about 3,500 people that call Haysi home.

-Have you thought about moving away?

Or is that-does that ever cross your mind, or...?

-No.

-[Joshua] No.

-No, I'm pretty good right here.

-[Joshua] Yeah.

-[Derek Fuller] This is home.

It's home.

It's where I want to be.

It's where I want my family to be, and they feel the same way.

I've seen small towns that fade away to nothing, and I really want to see Haysi, you know, survive.

-[Joshua] Yeah, man.

-And not only survive, but, you know, thrive.

-[Joshua VO] Haysi today is a town in transition, no longer defined solely by coal, but still deeply connected to its legacy.

[♪♪♪] The mountains echo with the memories of miners, but they also sing with the promise of what's next.

This is not just a story of survival.

It's a story of transformation, slow as it may be.

And if there's one thing this place has always known how to do, it's dig deep.

[♪♪♪] Entrepreneurship found its footing here too.

Largely born from the necessity to adapt, local businesses began to pop up, each a testament to the spirit of reinvention.

This wasn't about forgetting the past.

It was about building on it, proving that the same resilience that powered the coal boom could power something entirely different.

-And it's just like any other county in Southwest Virginia.

You've watched it be a steady decline, and it's not happened over the last 10, 15 years.

It's been happening since the '80s, you know, since the boom hit and went.

So, but, you know, I have to give a lot of credit to the local government leadership.

You know, 15, 20 years ago, they seen what was going to be, and so they developed what we're at now, Southern Gap.

And Southern Gap was actually a reclaimed strip job.

It's 3,500 acres up here.

We've got everything A to Z.

We've got a regional airport with a 50-some 100-foot runway that we're working on.

We've got outdoor recreation.

We've got residential, consolidated high school coming up here.

We've got the center we're in now.

Workforce development.

We've got an industrial park where we've got the future corridor of the Coalfields Expressway, which we're hoping will kind of connect us.

You know, Buchanan has not had the connectivity that a lot of other counties in Southwest Virginia have.

-Kind of landlocked.

-Grundy itself had to just basically pick up and move, right?

The whole town?

-There's the town's a shadow of its former self, thanks to that flood.

-[Joshua] Right.

It never really recovered?

-No.

I have to commend the town leadership.

They've done a phenomenal job at working with what they've got, but it'll never be to the point that it was.

And, you know, there's a lot of people that were sad to see the town go, but you have to do what you have to do.

-[Joshua] Yeah, you can't just put it right back.

-And especially, you know, with the- I mean, we just had the Whitewood and Hurley floods, you know, the last couple of years, and it's just devastating to see.

And with the way that the geography is, there's a good chance that there could be future floods too.

So that's why the development in the future of the county is here.

Because, like I said, if we have a flood up here, we've got bigger issues.

-[Joshua VO] Community here is more than a buzzword.

It's a way of life.

In Clintwood and other small Coalfield towns, neighbors don't just know your name, they know your story.

Mom-and-pop shops, with their weathered signs and unpolished charm, are the backbone of Main Street.

-Clintwood is more, I guess, the more of a home, family hometown that, you know, everybody knows everybody, and you know everything.

People help each other out, you know.

They're friendly people, good people to be around.

-Yeah.

-Somewhere where you want to call home.

-[Joshua] Right.

[♪♪♪] -[Joshua] Sure enough, that barber's house.

[laughter] -Get done by that little tree that'll turn right at the barn.

Exactly.

-[Rodney O'Quin] They tell me I'm the best barber in town, you know, so.

You know what, I wouldn't dispute that now.

I wouldn't.

-See?

I mean, it doesn't matter that I'm the only barber in town, but I mean, I am the best barber in town, so.

[laughing] -We are very welcoming, we're strong, we're intelligent.

So many misconceptions, I think, are out there about Appalachian people that just are not true.

And if you come to this area and get to know people, you will find that out for yourself.

My dad has told me many stories about coming here as a kid, staying all day and watching movies for maybe a dime, you know, so he could get a whole day's entertainment for 10 cents.

And just something that we can't even imagine now.

Since then, we've used it for many different things.

We have plays, concerts.

We do still have a movie screen.

We show movies.

Dancing.

Just about anything that you can imagine.

We actually won the Appies, the Appalachian Arts and Entertainment Awards.

We won that for our best small music venue.

And that was so exciting for us because that was kind of my goal when I started this.

I wanted to... this place to be seen as a legitimate music venue.

We don't have a major highway running by Clintwood.

We don't have big restaurants or anything.

So the entertainment aspect of this is so important for our community to have somewhere to go.

-Coal has never completely died.

It's--it's--it's -[Joshua] Right.

It's always been somewhat steady.

But, you know, right now, we had a recent expansion with Colorado Coal.

They did a $200 million expansion, 180 jobs.

So, I mean, it's still alive and well.

It's never going to come back to the way that it was.

And, you know, we understand that, but we're looking at ways to work around that, and what else can we, you know, build up in different sectors.

The beautiful thing about Southern Gap is not only do you have an airport that's coming up here, the school, the residential, the commercial office park, the center.

We're about 10 minutes away from the Breaks Interstate Park.

And so, a while back, they worked on restoring the elk herd here.

And so right now, it's thriving.

We've got over 300 different elk in the herd, and they've been a huge draw.

You know, I just want to see everybody flood the county and see what made me want to come back.

I could have easily just went anywhere.

Grundy, I don't know.

I've watched Grundy change, and I think Grundy's future is still to be determined.

-You know, it's just such a tight-knit community.

You know, if somebody needs something, they just holler at you.

If you need something, you holler at them.

That's the main thing.

It's just the heritage of it, the community I love.

And it's going to sound weird, but I love being from a place that has no red lights in town.

I really like that.

-But it means the world to me to come from here because of all the culture and the heritage and just what it stands for.

And, like I said, I couldn't imagine being from anywhere else.

-I feel safe here.

I feel worthy here.

I feel like, you know, that I can, that my life matters here.

-I just think this is a community of giving, loving people that help each other.

-Lived here all my life.

I don't know how I would survive anywhere else.

[chuckles] If I had to, I could, but I don't want to.

I want to stay here.

-It's your choice, right?

-It's my choice.

-You choose to be.

-It's my choice.

-We need to work together; otherwise, we won't have much to look back on five, ten years from now.

So I'm really hopeful for the future.

-[Joshua VO] These aren't just towns on a map.

They're a way of life, a testament to the strength of community, and a reminder that no matter how much the world changes, the heart of these mountains beats steady and unshakable.

[♪♪♪] -[female voice] This place has a heartbeat of its own.

-[male voice] You just get a vibe that you're here at home.

-[female voice] It's given me opportunities that I never thought I'd have.

That atmosphere is infectious.

-[female voice] It's a magical little place in the mountains.

-[announcer] Made with the state fruit of North Carolina, Mighty Muscadine offers a line of superfruit supplements and juices made from the Muscadine grape, including the Cellular Health Antioxidant Beverage, Vinetastic.

More at mightymuscadine.com.