Poverty in Appalachia is widespread and severe. The poorest families seem to gravitate to areas that are often called the ‘hollows’. The hollows are back areas in the mountains - these areas are largely owned by coal companies and many of the poor live there as squatters. The coal companies do not seem to care that the squatters are there and seem to expect them. When the coal ‘plays out’, the mining operations move out and the squatters move in. A new community then begins.



Abandoned trailers and abandoned company buildings become homes. Sometimes FEMA trailers are available. Those who can get a FEMA trailer are lucky, indeed, as these are likely to be fairly new and in reasonable condition.


Winters are difficult. Many children do not wear shoes in warm weather, but save what they can get for cold weather. Their heating systems are both friend and enemy. Coal is a cheap and, sometimes, free way to heat, but trailers are not properly equipped to heat with coal. Many of the trailers that I have seen have a stovepipe sticking out from a window. Fires are common and fire trucks are not readily available in the hollows.


The roads in the hollows are mostly single lane, and are widened every few hundred yards so that oncoming traffic can pass. I haven’t ventured into the hollows except in a four wheel drive vehicle. (We once had to abandon the road when a vehicle approached. Our driver was a local who knew the roads). Many of these roads were built by the coal companies for their equipment.