The Water Rituals of Appalachian Folk Christianity

Thirst No More
Theologies of Water
in Appalachian Folk Christianity
Cody Hamilton Nygard
Seminary of the Southwest
Spring 2014

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Contents
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 3
1. Hills of Home ............................................................................................................................ 5
Appalachian Context and Heritage
2. Washing the Feet of the Saints .............................................................................................. 18
Humility, Community, and Foot Washing
3. Seeking Salvation Below the Surface ................................................................................... 33
Divine Direction and Water Witching
4. Healing Waters ....................................................................................................................... 48
Spiritual and Natural Agents of Health
5. Washed in the Blood .............................................................................................................. 63
River Baptism and Sacramental Sentiment
6. Thirst No More ....................................................................................................................... 79
An Eschatological Epilogue

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Acknowledgements
What lies in the pages beyond is an ethnographic-theological reflection on four water
rituals practiced in Appalachian Folk Christianity. The research, editing, reflections, and general
sorting out of details which went into this study would have been impossible on my own. I offer
my upmost and hearty thanks to Dr. Anthony Baker for talking Appalachia with me over the
course of this study, even if at times it seemed as though neither of us knew really what we were
talking about. Thank you to my committee readers, Dr. Paul Barton and Dr. Kathleen Russell,
and to all the faculty and staff of Seminary of the Southwest, as well.
The geographical gap between Austin, Texas and Appalachia was bridged thanks to the
work done by the faithful few who have published their research on this captivating culture.
Many of these scholars I may never have the chance to meet. However, I want to acknowledge
Howard Dorgan, Deborah Vansau McCauley, Bill J. Leonard, and Gerald Milnes, specifically.
The work of these researchers and others encouraged me that there is always more to say about
Appalachia.
My biggest debt of gratitude must go to Elder Jeff Little, moderator of Union Old
Regular Baptist Church of Pike County, Kentucky. As a source of information, as a supporter
and encourager, and as a friend, Mr. Little has provided a direct window into the world of
Appalachian Folk Christianity through which we may peer in our own limited way.
It is to honor the friendship and camaraderie which I have been so fortunate to have
gained that I dedicate this work to Elder Jeff Little.

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{ 1 }
Hills of Home
Appalachian Context and Heritage
“In the dead of the night
in the still and the quiet
I slip away, like a bird in flight
back to those hills
the place that I call home.”
-- West Virginia, My Home, Hazel Dickens
“Who shall ascend unto the hill of the LORD?
or who shall stand in his holy place?”
-- Psalm 24:3

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Water in Appalachian Folk Christianity
Water has been one of the most important elements to all civilizations the world over.
When in the wilderness, the first advice to heed is to find water. The importance of water cannot
be overstressed, and in a religion which emphasizes to such a heavy degree “streams of living
water” and “being washed in the blood,” water becomes a potent symbol of spiritual
engagement. The elements which will be examined through the cultural lenses established below
concerning Appalachian Folk Christianity will be foot washing, water witching, healing springs,
and river baptism. All of these elements have spiritual ties, two ecclesial (foot washing and
baptism) and two cultural (water witching and healing springs). Because of the spiritual nature of
these, the ways in which they interact with mainstream Christian theological presuppositions are
noteworthy. By taking a deep look at these practices and beliefs, we can consider the multiple
ways in which syncretism plays a role in Appalachian Folk Christianity. As the differing views
of water are cross examined, other major Appalachian cultural mores also come into view,
particularly the importance of community, humility, hospitality, and faith.
The purpose of this research is not simply to place Appalachians in a petri dish to be
poked and prodded by curious minds, but instead to allow them to largely tell their own story, for
Appalachians do have a story to tell. Their faith, alive and active in their life and world, has
many things to offer those of us who are from other traditions. It is my hope that as more of this
culture is expressed, these lessons may be adapted and adopted outside of the region, and that the
cultural subjugation of this people group may come to an end.
The theological aspects of Appalachian Folk Christianity have great value as exports to
wider American evangelical denominations. Practicing elements of Appalachian Folk
Christianity outside of its native context may not be suitable for mainstream denominations.

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However, the theology and the effects of observing such practices as foot washing, water
witching, healing springs, and river baptism can be adopted by Christians around the world, and
particularly in mainstream evangelical churches. My goal is to present the context in which these
four water-related practices originate in Appalachia and then go on to demonstrate what
formational value these have in communities of believers in Appalachia. The lessons learned in
the mountains can be applied to us outside of the culture in ways which can help form us as well.
Because of the importance of place and heritage in Appalachian Folk Christianity and the
merging of various historical traditions to create something distinct in Appalachia, a basic
understanding of the socio-religious nuances of the region is in order before diving into the
theologies of water.
Cultures and Origins
Appalachia is a region of Eastern North America that refuses to be defined in absolutes.
Geographically, it stretches North to South from the mountainous region of Canada’s Atlantic
Coast all the way to Northern Alabama. Many cultures are expressed throughout this vast
mountain range, considered to be one of the oldest on earth, but for the purpose of our topic at
hand, the focus will be placed upon the folk culture developed by pioneers and settlers who first
entered this region, most from Western Europe, and the sentiments and peculiarities which have
evolved in the communities within the United States.
We will largely be looking at the section generally called “Central Appalachia,” an area
surrounding the confluences of the states of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and
North Carolina. For certain instances, sources and traditions from “Southern Appalachia,” which
consists variously of regions of southeastern Tennessee, southeastern North Carolina, South

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Carolina, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama, may be referenced. To round this
description out, “Northern Appalachia” is generally known by other names, usually the
Alleghenies, or the Burned-Over District of western New York State, and continues up through
Maine and into Canada. This area has developed its own folk cultures, differing from many of
the mores of what is typically considered “Appalachia.” Of particular note are northern West
Virginia, southeastern Ohio, and southwestern Pennsylvania. Although considered “northern,”
characteristics of the cultures found here generally have very close similarities to the more
“southern” regions, and therefore will also be variously referenced at times.
The people who settled in Appalachia from the mid-17th
through the mid-19th
centuries
have been described variously as Scots, Scotch-Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, and, if one
were to look at sources from the colonial period, by much less savory terms. Unfortunately, it
seems as if these people have been generalized far too often in the extremes.
No one group of settlers, or nationalities, or cultures, could be considered the sole
contributor to Appalachia. Scotch-Irish made up the largest genetic group of settlers, contributing
to 90% of the settlers of Southern Appalachia, according to David Hackett Fischer’s analysis of
the 1790 U.S. census,1
but they themselves are an enigmatic group. These pioneers were largely
second or third generations of borderland English and Scottish families from the area of the
Tweed River between the two nations who had been “planted” by King James in six counties of
Ulster, in northeastern Ireland, in a bid to secure the island for English control. Ulster had long
had fishing and trading ties to Scotland, traditionally even sharing a similar dialect of Gaelic with
their Highland cousins.2
However, times had changed and Ireland was not the place for these
1
Anthony Cavender, Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia, (Chapell Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2003), 31.
2
June Skinner Sawyers, Celtic Music: A Complete Guide, (New York: Da Capo Press, 2000), 192.

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Presbyterian lowland Scots. Their loyalty to Ireland was non-existent, and to the crown was
shaky at best, as the area called the “borders” was the site of vicious feuding factions of English
and Scottish nationalities. When the opportunity arose for immigration to America, many
families left Ulster to start life anew, largely in five major migrations from around 1715 through
1775.3
When they arrived, however, they found English settlement and sentiment to be already
firmly in place, and were usually pushed to the fringes of colonial lands and society, which
eventually came to include Appalachia. These feuding, clannish families formed the core of the
colonial culture of the region.
Another very important pioneer group in the area were Germans. Unlike the later 19th
century immigrations from Germany, these earlier immigrants were Protestant, typically
Anabaptists largely from the Palatinate region. The Palatinate harbored many Christians who
dissented from the established Lutheran Church of post-Reformation Germany. These people left
home more for religious freedom than the economic factors driving the Scotch-Irish. In
Germany, Lutherans were under fire from the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anabaptists from
the Lutherans. Interestingly, most of these dissenting groups of Christians retained various
strains of traditional northwestern European folk religion, magic, and superstition. As a result,
many traditions which were much older than the established religion and had already been
disavowed by the Scottish and English immigrants were brought to America. Such practices as
planting by the signs, and strictly observing taboos were mostly propagated by German settlers,
as well as the practice of frying food in animal fat, eating sauerkraut, and the all-important and
active belief in supernatural elements operating in the natural world which have come to
characterize Appalachia. Of course, “German,” like “Scotch-Irish” is a misnomer; no formal
3
Peter Cunningham, Apples in the Flood: the Southern Mountain Experience, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 1987),

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“Germany” existed in the 17th
century. Instead, it would be most appropriate to call these settlers
Palatinate Europeans, however, I will use “German,” and “Scotch-Irish,” to continue the
traditional use of these terms and for ease of understanding. Although their numbers were vastly
overshadowed by the Scotch-Irish, the German influence is instantly recognizable in many
communities, families, and natural features which bear German-sounding names.
Native Americans, particularly the various tribes of Eastern Cherokee, populated this
region for hundreds of years before European settlers arrived, establishing Central and Southern
Appalachia as a well-traversed hunting ground.4
Their traditional values, beliefs, and cultures
were largely assimilated or destroyed by the incomers. However, it is worth noting that up
through 20th
century, a persistent belief in Native American natural wisdom in healing and
cultivating continued throughout the region, and at no time in Appalachia were marriages
between Europeans and Native Americans treated as illegitimate or shameful. Natives tended to
convert fairly easily to the unregulated nature of Christianity in the mountains, and continued
various strains of their traditional religion within their new-found faith communities. Up through
the forced removal of the more traditional segments of Native Americans by the Jackson
administration, Natives found protection in the assimilation of white culture, and many of the
Cherokee, long considered one of the great “civilized” tribes of the Eastern U.S., may have
survived due to their willingness to adapt.
African Americans also found their way in to Appalachia, though their presence has
never been very marked in the mountains. Unlike the South, slavery was not largely practiced in
this region, perhaps due to the lack of cultivatable land, or the economically challenged status of
4
Press, 1987),

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most mountaineers, or the perception of equity which pervaded. Whatever the reason, when
African slaves either were freed or escaped the lowland areas of the nation, Appalachia was a
target for many. If they managed in attaining their goal of reaching the mountains, few were
reclaimed. In fact, few were ever positively found again. Due to such isolation in Appalachia,
these individuals usually followed the pattern of the less numerically advanced groups, such as
Germans and Natives, and assimilated into the mixing-pot of Appalachian cultures through
conversion to Christianity, cultural mirroring, and intermarriage. Not until the race perceptions
of the larger South were impressed upon Appalachia, which never entirely adopted these views,
were blacks treated unequivocally as inferior humans. In the beginning, in a strange mix of
English and Spanish views on race, mixed-race progeny were not seen as “negros,” but they
were not accepted as white either.
This mixed-race element took a particularly strange turn in the case of the Melungeons.
Long-claimed to be the descendants of Portuguese sailors or explorers from an earlier time, these
mixed-race people have lived at the very heart of Central Appalachia, the border between
Virginia and Tennessee, for longer than anyone can recall. The earliest records of European
settlers relay information of encountering white folks with dark hair and long beards living in
this area. Perhaps a remnant of Spanish explorers intermarried with Native Americans, or
descendants of the lost colony of Roanoke Island, or a genetic confluence of European, Native,
African ancestors, or even the improbable claim to be descendants of freed Moorish and Turkish
slaves, these people are an anomaly. However their physical appearance has been described,
today they look no different from any other Appalachian, and recent genetic studies show they
carry Caucasian markers far more than any other.

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Following these first pioneers, settlement has continued in Appalachia up into recent
times. When coal was identified as a viable source of energy for the burgeoning Industrial
Revolution, mining became an unimpeachable element of Appalachian life, bringing with it
foreign workers from industrial centers and recent immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and
various Baltic nations, in the mid-19th
century. Many of these immigrants were Roman Catholic,
bringing an almost totally absent religion to the area for just about the first time. With them came
new languages, customs, and tastes which added new elements to the folk culture of the area.
Additionally, in the late-19th
century, Appalachian “natives” came to be considered the isolated
remnants of the English colonies, kept in purity by their removal from mainstream society. The
mountains themselves came to be regarded as unspoiled, and as possessing a quality of health
unrivaled in the rest of the nation. For this reason, tourists and “city-folk” began to periodically
invade the mountains. Taking advantage of the situation, economically-savvy Appalachians
developed health spas and resorts, many of which changed the culture of the Blue Ridge
Mountains region of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina forever.
Contemporary Appalachian Folk Christian Culture
Nowadays, Appalachia has developed into something else. Seen by most as a cultural
backwater and home to uneducated, socially disinterested “hillbillies,” a stereotype with
prejudices stemming from the very settlement of the region, Appalachia has been recipient, or
victim, of countless schemes to “enculturate the heathen.” Whereas before, Appalachia was a
blight to be avoided, it is now seen as a helpless, retarded little sibling of the mainstream
American society, a new “white man’s burden.” American views of Appalachians generally
depict them as void of hope, power, and interest in betterment, a central cause in the strenuous
efforts to evangelize “unchurched” Appalachia, which is common even today. Rampant poverty

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is a reality; illegal substances, first moonshine, now marijuana and methamphetamines, are
everyday encounters for many in the lower socio-economic status. However, to classify the
people of Appalachia by such extremes is not only unhelpful and distracting, it is insulting to the
vibrant culture which exists largely separated from the North/South divide which has
traditionally defined the Eastern third of the United States and the ways in which Appalachians
themselves deal with the hardships they face.
The genetic, cultural, social, and religious aspects of the first settlers of the region have
changed over the 350 years of population and development which have occurred in Appalachia.
Appalachia can no longer be considered along dividing lines of Old World nationalities or
stereotypes as even “the Scotch-Irish (the dominant Old World culture of Appalachia) who
remained in the mountains often tended to stop thinking of themselves as Scotch-Irish, as they
mingled with the immigrants of German, Welsh, English, Highland Scottish, and other
backgrounds… who settled in the region with them.”5
Appalachia is also not a monolith, for
every community has retained its own strains of the culture that has been handed down to them,
“in fact, one version of ‘Folk Religion’ differs from the ‘Folk Religion’ of the next hilltop or
valley.”6
For this reason, “Appalachian Folk Christianity,” the term I use to describe the
mountain religion of the people, is another misnomer. “Mountain religion” has been the term
used to describe Appalachian Christianity by ethnographers and anthropologists, though it is not
a term Appalachians use themselves. This term could be misunderstood as describing a separate
religious system from Christianity, which I, and most Appalachians, would not believe their
religion to be.
5
Press, 1987), 90-91.
6
James M. Kerr, “A Pastor’s View of Religion in Appalachia,” in Religion in Appalachia: Theological, Social, and
Psychological Dimensions and Correlates, John D. Photiadis, ed. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press,
1978), 77.

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Appalachian Folk Christianity contains elements of established Christianity, as well as
various folk spiritual, medicinal, and cultural beliefs. It is highly syncretistic, adopting and
adapting “what works” with “what is;” it is anything but stagnant; it is always evolving.
Although it has been suggested that due to “the individual nature of ‘Folk Religion,’ there is no
unifying element among the churches,”7
this is not entirely the case. In fact, this “individual
nature” becomes a “unifying factor.” A pervasive belief in a personal relationship with God,
bolstered by familiar and communal relationships, interpreted in various ways, is the bedrock of
Appalachian Folk Christianity. “Almost 98 percent of the people profess a belief in God while
only around 30 to 50 percent actually join the church;”8
organization takes a backseat. “A
preoccupation with religion does not… necessarily imply church membership and support,”9
building upon the individuality, or more properly, “clanism,” of Appalachian Folk Christianity.
Informality in worship of, interaction with, and conversation of God is another key factor, as is a
hopeful, otherworldly emphasis which “crosses denominational and theological lines; it is found
among Calvinistic predestinarian Baptists, as well as among those with whom the Holiness-
Pentecostal approach avails.”10
The largest contributing factor to Appalachian Folk Christianity is its tendency towards
“clanism.” Instead of the “individualism” which has often been highlighted, and even placed in
the above category as an identity marker of this area of belief, clanism would be a more
appropriate descriptor. For although “the South inherited a mostly English disposition, through
Wesleyanism, toward the ‘intensely personal,’ where the gift of the grace of forgiveness and new
7
Ibid., 77.
8
Ibid., 67.
9
Hart M. Nelson, “Attitudes Toward Religious Education in Appalachia” in Religion in Appalachia: Theological,
Social, and Psychological Dimensions and Correlates, John D. Photiadis, ed. (Morgantown: West Virginia
University Press, 1978), 323.
10
Charles H. Lippy, “Popular Religiosity” in Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism, Bill J.
Leonard, ed. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1999), 46.

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life is specifically the individual’s… Appalachia’s history is closer to Scotland’s, where
Presbyterianism fostered the ‘vibrantly communal.’”11
Communities were founded in the
mountains around a family unit, which grew as the family grew. Kinship became the greatest
unifying factor, so much so that even today it could be said that “kinship is vital” to sustaining
popular religiosity in Appalachia.12
In a locale where the church serves as a cultural center,
reception within the church, based on familial ties, is of the upmost importance; it is expected
that the children of Old Regular Baptist elders, who attend the church of their ancestors for their
entire lives, will be saved and received within that particular communion.
Clanism, experiential religion, and syncretism, along with a particular proclivity for the
King James Version of the Bible,13
are all unifying factors which highlight the community and
humility emphases of Appalachian Folk Christianity. These theological and social
presuppositions form the foundation of the religion of the region, and are expressed in the
practices and beliefs associated with water in Appalachia.
The system which I will use for analyzing foot washing, water witching, healing springs,
and river baptism in the following chapters will focus on an ethnographic-theological
framework, providing a general description of the practice in the culture, followed by the effects
this practice has on the culture, and concluding with theological exports which can be used in
non-Appalachian churches to discover some of the vitality which these practices and the
theologies behind them bring to Appalachian Folk Christianity. This methodology is perhaps
unorthodox, employing ethnographic research to provide a cultural framework from which I
11
Samuel S. Hill, “The Virtue of Hope,” in Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism, Bill J.
12
13
In solidarity with the people, all references to the Bible contained herein will be from the King James Version
(KJV).

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draw theological conclusions. In this case, I mine Appalachian Folk Christianity for theological
suppositions which may or may not be expressed explicitly by the adherents to the faith, but
which I recognize in the practices of the people. The theological reflections on the practices of
Appalachian Folk Christianity may not be exactly those voiced by Appalachians themselves;
however I have strived to remain faithful to representing the operative theologies behind the
practices. My hope is not necessarily that conservative mainstream Christians will adopt
Appalachian practices, though there is nothing necessarily barring this. What is truly being
expressed in this research, however, is the life-giving theology behind the practices, and the
possibility that those of us outside of Appalachia may learn and grow through adopting and
adapting these theologies in our own traditions.
The difficulty in ethnographic theology is bridging the gap between two cultures without
exploiting or denigrating either one. Appalachia has been ravaged more than enough, and it is
not my intention to wrongly represent and export the theologies or practices of this people.
Instead, I to present their ideas, practices, and cultures in their own words, following this
ethnographic work with theological interpretations of my own; applying the vital, living faith of
Appalachia to a wider American framework. My hope is that this ethnographic-theology will
open the door for future research in Appalachian Folk Christianity and help to provide
conservative mainstream Christians a fresh viewpoint through which they may see and live their
own faith.

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{ 2 }
Washing the Feet of the Saints
Humility, Community, and Foot Washing
“Give me thy Spirit, O my God
then I can well all trials meet
deny myself and all my pride
and wash thy weakest servant’s feet.”
-- Hymn 96 (0-0-259) L.M., D.H. Goble Hymnal
“If I then, your Lord, and Master, have washed your feet;
ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
-- John 13:14

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Humility, Community, and Continuity
Two of the most important elements in Appalachian culture are community, styled as
“clanism,” and humility. The first is evident, the second may seem surprising. Obviously, in an
isolated culture, community finds prominence, but one may question the preeminence of
humility, for it would seem that pride in place, self, heritage, or other qualities presumably
created the culture of isolation in the first place. This is a misconception, for humility is a self-
preservation technique as well as a community builder; Appalachia operates with “a fundamental
humility that no one person has a corner on God’s truth.”14
Humility, coupled with community,
created hospitality to all, expressed by Alice Slone in the remembrance that in the mountains,
“you don’t invite. Your house is open to everyone. Never is your house closed. To anyone.
Ever.”15
Indeed, humility is a necessary staple of Appalachian culture, where being unfriendly or
overly haughty tended to run people off, people who could be potential allies in the wilderness of
the region.
As are many elements of the culture, community and humility, bound intrinsically
together, are derived from a largely literal reading of the Bible. Nearly, if not all, statements of
faith found in Appalachian churches contain an article to the effect of “we believe that the
scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as translated in 1611 into the King James Version of
the Holy Bible, is the written word of God and the only rule of faith and practice.”16
Similar
sentiment is expressed in churches without a written creed, such as the Holiness and “signs
14
Deborah Vansau McCauley, Appalachian Mountain Religion: A History, (Urbana and Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 1995), 75.
15
Laurel Shackelford and Bill Weinberg, Our Appalachia, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1977), 73.
16
Taken from the Mountain District Primitive Baptist Association, Minutes (1983), pages 18-19, as found in
Howard Dorgan, Giving Glory to God in Appalachia, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 21-22.

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following” churches, in which preaching “in the Word” is essential to the service.17
Even in
churches which are not strictly literalists, such as the Primitive Baptist Universalists, a miniscule
minority subdenomination, a firm belief in the truth and rule of the Bible is practiced.
The whole-hearted belief in the authority of scriptures to govern the life of the Christian
and the church, in a literal sense or not, is behind most, if not all, of the practices of Appalachian
Christianity, including foot washing. Citing the Gospel According to John 13:4-1118
, churches
which consider foot washing an ordinance of the church demonstrate how “the practice of
footwashing (sic) in this passage is mandated more clearly than the Lord’s Supper.”19
Not only is a dependency on Scripture as the truest order for Christian life demonstrated
in the practice of foot washing among Appalachians, but also “the washing of feet… seems to
embody two values that mountain religion treasures: humility and community.”20
Community
and humility, as informed by Scripture, are not only the foundations for the practice of foot
washing, they also foster and ensure continuity through the practice of foot washing. As these
groups of Christians come together, the uniqueness of their culture is expressed and reinforced in
the psyche of upcoming generations. Foot washing becomes a means of propagating the elements
of community and humility in a culture which is being infiltrated by wider American influences
17
Dennis Covington, Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, (New
York: Penguin Books, 1995), 230-232.
18
John 13:4-11 (KJV) “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto
him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter
saith unto him, Lord not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him;
therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”
19
Quoted from John Christopher Thomas’ Footwashing in John 13 and the Johannine Community (1991) and
Footwashing within the Context of the Lord’s Supper (1997) as cited in Mark Thiessen Nation, “Washing Feet:
Preparation for Service,” in The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics, Stanley Hauerwas, and Samuel Wells,
eds., (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), 441.
20
Samuel S. Hill, The Virtue of Hope, in Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism , Bill H.
Leonard, ed., (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1999), 309.

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on all sides. The means of fostering these two elements are not explicitly expressed within the
biblical prescription for foot washing, but follow in the stream of Jesus’ teachings to his
disciples, namely the importance of interpersonal reconciliation.
General Description
Although foot washing is practiced in a wide variety of Appalachian churches, the overall
structure of the service is very similar regardless of the theological background of the particular
congregation. This similarity is noteworthy as a descendent of a common ancestor, the
“communion seasons” of the revivalistic Scots-Irish pioneers of the Appalachian region.21
The
presence of such an ancestor provides a sort of conglomerated description of a typical foot
washing service in Appalachia. Although it is impossible to organically separate the foot
washing from the rest of the worship service of these churches, the striking thing about this
whole procedure is that regardless of how different the services are before communion and foot
washing are to take place, the actual sacramental practices are so similar across congregations
that they can constitute a service unto themselves, which usually follows an intermission after
the conclusion of the regular preaching and worship service. I will attempt to further dissect this
ante-service into “communion,” which will not be discussed in detail, and “foot washing.”
The “sacramental meeting” begins usually as a typical Sunday morning service. These
services vary widely from the stately Primitive Baptist constraint and lined hymn singing to the
explosively emotional services of certain snake-handling Holiness churches. On the appointed
Sunday or occasionally other days or nights of the week, following the preaching and worship of
the regular service, there will usually be a brief intermission to allow for the set-up of the table
21

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with the elements for communion. Foot washing is almost universally held following
communion, in accordance with the scriptural pronouncement found in John 13:4-11. Here there
is some variety among churches according to the methods of distribution and allowance of
partakers. In most associated Baptist churches (that is, belonging to a particular association of
churches), closed sacramental practices endure, where only members of the local church, the
association the church belongs to, or members of associations with which the local church’s
association are in correspondence with may partake of communion and foot washing.22
A notable
exception to this rule, within associated old-time Baptist churches as researched by Howard
Dorgan is the Saddle Mountain Regular Baptist Church, which practiced, at the time of Dorgan’s
research, open sacrament to all professing believers.23
This stance of open table and basin is also
“widespread in the independent nondenominational church tradition and common in non-
Calvinist, subdenominational traditions such as Free Will Baptists”.24
Although the details of the communion portion of the sacramental service are interesting,
and could fill their own chapter quite handsomely, the foot washing portion is our topic at hand.
Following the partaking of the bread and wine, basins which are located at the front of the
sanctuary are displayed, as are towels, and pitchers of water. Only those in the congregation who
have been permitted to take communion are invited to share in foot washing; if the particular
church practices open sacrament, any professing Christian who is willing to participate can join
in, if the church practices closed sacrament, then only those in attendance who are approved of
by meeting the requirements of the church. Regardless of the nature of the participants in relation
to the local church, the emotions begin to be noticeably excited at the close of communion and at
22
Ibid., 103.
23
Howard Dorgan, Giving Glory to God in Appalachia, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 139.
24

- 23 -
the display of the basins. If a separation of genders has not been clearly defined before this point
of the service, men and women usually segregate.
Almost universally, as described by Reverend Ben Cook, the churches “put the ladies on
one side of the church and the men on the other side. The men wash the men’s feet and the
women wash the women’s feet.”25
In one Missionary Baptist church, Mount Paran, Dorgan noted
that the pews to the right of the pulpit were moved to make an enclosed horseshoe for the women
to participate in.26
This act of separation is heightened in the Holiness churches, as expressed by
Brother Coy Miser. Although he states that he follows an Old Regular Baptist-style of procedure,
his church “stretch[es] a curtain through the building so the men can be on one side, the women
on the other.”27
The same sentiment was experienced by Dennis Covington in his time with a
snake-handling congregation in Northern Georgia in which at the only foot washing service he
attended the men were allowed to remain in the sanctuary, while the women were ushered to the
basement to partake.28
Again, the peculiarity of the Saddle Mountain Regular Baptist church
arises. Here, not only is open sacrament practiced, but it is the only known mountain associated
fellowship to also celebrate cross-gender foot washing. Even here, though, the desegregation is
extremely rare, and usually limited to husband-wife pairs or other intimate familial
connections.29
Following the segregation of the sexes, men generally will start the journey towards the
stand, or pulpit/altar area to retrieve basins, pour water in, and gird themselves with a long towel.
25
Paul Gillespie, Foxfire 7, (Garden City: Anchor Press, 1982), 40.
26
27
28
Dennis Covington, Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, (New
York: Penguin Books, 1995), 118.
29

- 24 -
In some churches, this process is started by the pastor, in others, any man in the church may start.
It is noteworthy that in all of these services, the “men are active and women reactive – men
initiate, orchestrate, and direct, women respond.”30
Again, this process of tying a towel around
the waist harkens back to Jesus’ actions in John 13.31
At this point there is some divergence in
traditions. In the Holiness tradition, it seems as though the washing of feet is performed by all of
the particular gender in attendance on each member; that is to say, one man will put his feet in
the basin, while all the others gather around to wash them, taking turns as each man receives and
then washes each other of the men’s feet. In the Baptist traditions, this action is more of a one-to-
one correlation, in which a man or woman will chose the person with whom they will participate
with, and spend the time with this one individual, embracing each other lovingly following the
washing, thus demonstrating the quality of the washing of each other’s feet as an “[act] of
interpersonal reconciliation or renewal.”32
In particularly spirited occasions, though, it is not at
all uncommon for a participant to wash multiple pairs of feet through the course of the service.
Emotions are highest during this part of the service. Depending on what the emotional
experiences were during the preaching/worship and the communion portions of the preceding
service, participants in foot washing may shout, sing, testify, run the aisles, clap hands, pray,
speak in tongues (if the church is Holiness in nature), or even preach, all at the same time during
the foot washing. Crying is the most widely expressed emotional signal involved, both by men
and women, even in the more subdued services of Primitive Baptists.33
It is clear that practicing
30
Howard Dorgan, The Old Regular Baptists of Central Appalachia, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,
1989), 111.
31
John 13:4 (KJV) “He (Jesus) riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded
himself.”
32
33
Ibid., 136.

- 25 -
such an emotional sacrament exacts a heavy toll on the adherents, and afterwards there is a spirit
of exhaustive peace accompanying the typical “dinner on the grounds.”34
These communion and foot washing events are generally held once a year only for
congregations to call larger crowds of “people whom they may not have encountered for several
seasons,”35
and because of the cyclical nature of old-timey Appalachian mountain services.36
This is typical, though by no means authoritative, and is certainly not a “Maundy Thursday”
tradition, as many liturgical churches celebrate. In fact, the practice “is sometimes held with
greater frequency in traditions such as independent Holiness,”37
and again, Reverend Ben Cook
concedes that his church, affiliated loosely with the Southern Baptist Convention, holds their
communion and foot washing services on any fifth Sunday in a month.38
The infrequent nature of
the “sacramental meeting” may indeed contribute to the heightened level of emotion, as it calls
all participants to remember the distance of time between such meetings and ponder their
possible absence, due to illness, inability, or death, at next year’s meeting.
Theology of Conflict and Reconciliation
Howard Dorgan, probably the seminal figure in research on Old Time Baptists and their
ecclesial religious expressions, notes that foot washing serves as an “[act] of interpersonal
34
Howard Dorgan, The Old Regular Baptists of Central Appalachia, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,
1989), 105.
35
Ibid., 103.
36
Most associated Baptist churches in Appalachia hold monthly Sunday morning worship services in accordance
with other churches in the association. This way, parishioners can attend church regularly, though in a different
church building every Sunday. Thus, although each church only celebrates foot washing once a year, these are
scheduled so that no two churches in the same geographic area and association hold foot washing on the same
Sunday, enabling parishioners from all over the association to participate several times in a single year at different
churches.
37
38
Paul Gillespie, Foxfire 7, (Garden City: Anchor Press, 1982), 40.

- 26 -
reconciliation or renewal”39
among congregants who may have discrepancies between one
another. In the splintered congregational settings, in which division around interpretations of
doctrine can arise overnight, the opportunity to express forgiveness to one another in such an
intimate way seems to restore relationships within churches and reinvigorate the glue that holds
these small groups of worshippers together.
Psychologically, this seems to be rooted in the vulnerability required by both washer and
washee in the process. To allow for one’s feet to be washed, and to stoop and wash the feet of
another are highly emotional, personal acts; to perform these acts between two who are in
conflict raises these levels to heights which are difficult to comprehend. Perhaps this is much the
cause of the highest emotional times in the services occurring during foot washing. This
intimacy, emotion, and recognition is precisely what Jesus conveyed to his disciples, with the
understanding that “if [he was] to create a community of disciples who seriously follow him they
will need to know that intimacy includes cleansing, vulnerability, and forgiveness.”40
Appalachian Folk Christianity displays this necessity of forgiveness and reconciliation through
practicing such an interpersonal sacrament as foot washing on a regular basis.
It seems as though these qualities are valued among more mainstream evangelical
Christian groups as well, yet without the sacrament of foot washing to bolster the reconciliation
aspect. It is remarkable that many times in Appalachia, churches which rampantly separate over
seemingly obscure theological disputes are reconciled or accepted into an association with which
their parent church is associated. This raises the possibility that the common practice of foot
39
40
Quoted from Paul Duke in Mark Thiessen Nation, “Washing Feet: Preparation for Service,” in The Blackwell
Companion to Christian Ethics, Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells, eds. (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006),
443.

- 27 -
washing may serve as a symbolic, cross-congregation recognition of forgiveness and
reconciliation, even when not physically practiced upon one another.
Exportation of Culture and Concepts
The practice of foot washing by Appalachians across denominational and doctrinal lines
is fascinating and telling about the belief system of these people. There is something intrinsic in
them that recognizes the value of this oftentimes neglected sacrament in other sectors of
Christianity. By relegating foot washing to an element of example through illustration, as many
more Protestant churches do,41
the nature of fostering harmony in building the community and
humility through intimate connection is lost. It would seem that in fact the Appalachian mode of
foot washing, not evangelical, not quite liturgical, is more than acceptable as most faithful to the
letter and spirit of scripture, out of all interpretations of the sacrament.
The fact that a particular segment of the Christian community practices a certain
ordinance is by no means sufficient cause for others to integrate this ordinance into their
religious life. However, it is my belief that by adopting this practice, and the cultural emphases
which accompany it, churches which would be considered more mainstream, particularly
mainstream evangelical churches, would benefit from a heightened sense of humility,
community, and reconciliation.
To clarify, the evidence that I have uncovered in the communities in Appalachia which
practice foot washing points to the fact that although these congregations are quite independent
of one another and at times even hostile towards each other, this contention is never over the
41
Ibid., 243.

- 28 -
practice of this ordinance.42
The numbers and logic seem to show that all of these churches
should have succumbed to the pressure to assimilate to wider society, and the subdenominations
that are defined by peculiarities such as foot washing should no longer exist, yet these defy the
odds. Somehow, they are sustaining. I believe it is because the practice of foot washing, and the
mindset which the practice fosters, knits families of faith together in an intimate fashion; it
creates the humility and community that are so highly valued in the culture and draws all
participants into a similar acknowledgement of scriptural authority in their daily practices,
regardless of how anachronistic those biblical prescriptions may be today. Mainstream
conservative churches have the chance to realign themselves with the communal element of the
gospel through rethinking their neglect of foot washing.
The framework by which this would be achieved is partially already in place. In order to
understand the reasoning behind the practice of foot washing in Appalachia, we must return to
what was stated at the beginning, namely that the virtues of community and humility, so highly
valued within Appalachian life, and a commitment to the scriptures as the rule of order for life
and practice, are both necessary for faithfully practicing the ordinance of foot washing in an
Appalachian manner.43
In order for foot washing to come to be valued as a recognizable
ordinance in churches outside of Appalachia, the primacy of scripture and the value of
community and humility as expressed through members, and especially leaders, of
congregations, based on the example of Christ, will also need to be fostered.
Interestingly, among conservative, evangelical churches outside Appalachia, scripture is
elevated to the point of infallibility, either naturally, as an extension of a legitimate tradition, or
42
Except for perhaps the case of Saddle Mountain Regular Baptist’s freedom in their cross-gender foot washing.
43
Samuel S. Hill, “The Virtue of Hope,” in Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism, Bill H.

- 29 -
in response to perceived liberalizing of “mainstream” denominations. Consider the Baptist Faith
and Message 2000, article I: “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's
revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its
author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all
Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and
therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the
supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.
All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation”44
Aside
from the specialty of the King James Version in the aforementioned statement of faith of the
Mountain District Primitive Baptist Association,45
and other statements of faith from Appalachia,
many of which are nearly identical, the statements of faith of these considerably more
“mainstream” denominations actually reflect a stricter adherence to Scripture. This belief in an
infallible standard of faith and practice should logically likewise reflect a commitment to
ordinances given therein. So, where lies the disconnect?
One culprit is the strength of interpretive traditions which have downplayed certain
commands as cultural and thus, non-binding. As explained by Presbyterian Reverend L. B.
Gibbs, “we [Presbyterians] do not believe that the Lord instituted another sacrament (besides
baptism and the Lord’s Supper) when He washed the disciples’ feet… but we believe that He
was setting an example of service.”46
This objection to foot washing as a literal ordinance of the
church is not only in the more Reformed denominations, but is also recognized within the
44
Baptist Faith and Message 2000
45
“We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as translated in 1611 into the King James Version
of the Holy Bible is the written word of God and the only rule of faith and practice.”
Mountain District Primitive Baptist Association, Minutes (1983), 18-19. as quoted by Howard Dorgan in Giving
Glory to God in Appalachia, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 21-22.
46
Paul F. Gillespie, Foxfire 7, (Garden City: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1982), 243.

- 30 -
Southern Baptist Convention by Reverend Ben Cook. He relates his experience of “some modern
(understood as “non-Appalachian”) preachers that objected to a foot-washing church being taken
into the (Tuckaseegee) Association (of the Southern Baptist Church).”47
If churches within a
conservative context hold to the authority of the Bible and are willing to change their minds on
the prescription of the Protestant Reformers to limit the number of sacraments to merely two,
there is little logical ground for them to stand on in banning the practice. Yet there remains a
“thorn in the flesh” which I believe keeps these churches from whole-heartedly embracing foot
washing.
Appalachian churches are led by and filled with humble servants of Christ who are
“deeply devoted to living out the ethic of Jesus.”48
Indeed, it seems as if the problem with
mainstream conservative churches is that “churches that practice footwashing (sic) are likely to
be those that are committed to the components of footwashing (sic) in their daily lives and
practices” – that is, foot washing churches will reflect servant-hood rather than power.49
A shift
in emphasis from respectable, well-clad, educated clergy to an emphasis on humble servant-
hood, coupled with a strong engagement with Scripture would logically lead the evangelistic,
conservative mainstream churches to a conviction to return to a foot washing tradition that had
largely died out in America by the 1860’s.50
In addition to humility, the communal aspect generally pushed to the realm of “clanism”
in Appalachia is essential to translating foot washing to the larger context of the Christian
church. Community plays such a foundational role in Appalachian Christianity that it is
47
Ibid., 39.
48
Samuel S. Hill, “The Virtue of Hope,” in Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism, Bill H.
49
Mark Thiessen Nation, “Washing Feet: Preparation for Service,” in The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics,
Stanley Hauerwas, and Samuel Wells, ed., (Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2006), 449.
50

- 31 -
inseparable from the sacraments practiced and should be considered as an orthodox expression of
the faith, and a viable export for mainstream Christianity. This practice of foot washing as the
prescribed expression of Christ-like love for fellow Christians could come to be recognized “as
something luminous, instructive, and vital for the life of the Church,”51
and as contributing
something lacking in many churches outside of Appalachia. Perhaps it is also the intensely
individualistic nature of mainstream evangelical Christianity which hinders the practice of foot
washing from taking hold.
As discipleship becomes an ever-increasing catch-phrase for conservative mainstream
denominations, it may very well be that foot washing, so often overlooked as “primitive” and out
of touch with American culture, most entirely demonstrates this key concept of Christian life.
Even without adopting the practice of foot washing, conservative mainstream churches may find
vitality in reclaiming the fundamental virtues of humility and community-building that this
practice demonstrates for Appalachian Christians. Appalachia, which has so often been regarded
as the backwater of society and intellect, most definitely has something to teach the masses of
Christendom about an ethic of Jesus and what it means to be a true follower of Christ, rallied
around the primacy of his example of humility and dedication to community, as clearly found in
the scriptures concerning foot washing.
51
Ibid., 448.

- 33 -
{ 3 }
Seeking Salvation Below the
Surface
Divine Direction and Water Witching
“Convince us of our sin,
Then lead to Jesus’ blood,
And to our wondering eyes reveal,
The secret love of God.”
-- Hymn 42, Hart S.M., Thomas Hymnal
“There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through
the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.”
-- Deuteronomy 18:21

- 34 -
What’s In A Name?
Water witching, dowsing, and divining are three of the most common terms used to
describe the process of locating underground water or other substances by means of various
inanimate objects. Although names may seem innocent enough, it is interesting to note that two
of these terms are explicitly religiously occult in nature. In Appalachia, a land of deep-rooted,
impassioned Christian faith, it seems odd that the same folks who would self-classify as “born-
again believers” would also bear the title “water witch.” Not only that, but to a people who are
shaped by adhering to biblical precepts separated from much of the secular world, the idea of one
being a “witch” must be disturbing to say the least. There are passages of scripture which have
notorious histories within puritanical religion for the suppression and even execution of supposed
witches.52, 53
Yet this practice goes by two names, water witching and divining, that
unquestionably fall into the forbidden category. How is this acceptable in Appalachian Folk
Christianity and how did such nefarious names come to be associated with the seemingly
innocent practice of locating subterranean water sources?
Etymology can be tricky, particularly in connection with religo-magical terms. In this
case, the three terms mentioned above may have very little to do with one another linguistically.
It appears that the earliest English descriptor for such an action as using a forked stick to locate
subterranean water was “dowsing.” Dowsing, as a word, arose seemingly independently in
southern Britain around the end of the 17th
century.54
By the middle of the 18th
century, however,
the practice had come be associated with another, more spiritual term, “divining,” specifically in
52
Deuteronomy 18:21 “There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through
the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” (KJV)
53
Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (KJV)
54
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “Dowse.”

- 35 -
reference to the “divining rod” used to locate water.55
Consequently, this second term has also
closely been associated with the occult, and it is no surprise that by the early 19th
century, in
America, the term “water witching” had been adopted for this practice, “and is now by far the
most common in the United States.”56
Along with this title a taboo had formed in the collective
American psyche which attributed a certain air of mystery to the practice itself.57
The declination of the practice as an occultic operative was likely due to heightened
religiosity surrounding the frontier following the Great Revival of the early 19th
century. It is
interesting to note that water witching, even by this point in history, had come to be associated
with the people of the frontier, whether due to their supposed lack of sophistication, their
wayward morals, or their more immediate necessity of locating drinkable water away from time-
tested sources. The term “water witching” may or may not have been used by the practitioners
themselves; if there are written descriptions of water witching by practitioners from the time
period, they were beyond the grasp of my research. What is evident is that the physical practice
of dowsing has remained fairly unchanged to the modern day.
General Description
The modern tools for water witching range from electromagnetic barometers to natural
tree limbs to weighted pendulums. By far the most common of these tools used in Appalachia,
and throughout history, is a simple forked, green stick taken from a local tree. Although the
practice of water witching has been widespread in the United States, in Appalachia it takes on
probably its most spiritual form. It is in Appalachia that the diviner or dowser contributes prayer
to the procedure, and gives thanks to God for the gift itself. The art or science of dowsing
55
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “Divining.”
56
Evon Z. Vogt, Ray Hyman, Water Witching U.S.A., (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 21.
57
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, s.v. “Water Witching.”

- 36 -
connected with Christian faith is one of the more fascinating examples of cross-pollination
between folk belief and Christianity in Appalachia. Its widespread adherence and cultural
acceptance make this a prime example of the syncretism which exists in this culture.
Although “the technique varies from dowser to dowser,”58
the practice of water witching
is not difficult to describe. All that is truly needed is a forked stick from a live tree, preferably
one that is still green. No specific species of tree is revered above others, necessarily, but the
most common variety used is willow or peach.59
Cherry, oak, and a myriad of others have also
been observed, but this is of little consequence. The dowser undoubtedly will have a reason for
using a specific tree, but the rationale is usually connected with previous success, and therefore
differs from one individual to another. Once the proper limb is selected, it is broken off from the
tree in such a way that the fork will form two short handles to be held in each hand, with the
longest piece pointing away from the dowser. The dowser will then walk slowly and
intentionally around the area where water is needed to be found. Because water witching is
generally used to locate underground water for the purpose of digging a well,60
the procedure
usually takes place near a home or barn, where the water could be easily accessed.
The dowser watches the forked stick for perceivable drops or twists in the hands; “the
sign of having located something beneath the earth is the spontaneous turning of the [forked
stick] …down toward the ground.”61
Depending upon the dowser, prayer and thanksgiving are
offered to God throughout the procedure. “Some pray while dowsing, asking for divine
58
Julia Merchant, “The mysterious art of dowsing”, (Waynesville: Smoky Mountain News, 27 June, 2007), accessed
10 January, 2014. http://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/9684-the-mysterious-art-of-dowsing.
59
David Osbourne, Raisin’ Cane in Appalachia (Bloomington: Trafford Publishing, 2013), 215.
60
Allan Jabbour and Karen Singer Jabbour, Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decorations
in the Southern Appalachians, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 85.
61
Ibid., 85.

- 37 -
intervention from God,”62
and in light of persecution from his home church, one dowser claimed
to “pray fervently about [his] water finding skill and always had a good feeling about it.”63
The
overtly religious tone of these dowsers seems most peculiar in light of the supposed pagan nature
of the practice. However, “the fact that an idea as controversial as the ability to psychically
detect the presence of water or metal could be accepted in a culture so religiously strong is again
one of the many examples of Appalachian cultural irony;”64
God and “superstition” are not
mutually exclusive in the mountains.
A variation on the practice described above is that of using two metal rods, one held in
each hand, instead of a naturally forked limb. This method is more “modern” and supposedly
more scientific, as the rationale behind it relies upon magnetism of some sort. When the dowser
comes across whatever they are looking for, be it minerals, metals, or still common, water, the
two rods will cross, indicating where to dig.65
This method is more common outside of
Appalachia.
One important element in the practice of water witching is the source of the power of the
dowser. Though definitive claims have been made that “the actual practice of divining with a
forked stick, as we know it, began in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century in Germany,”66
it is widely known that the use of objects for the sake of divination is as old as religious practice
62
Larry Thacker, Mountain Mysteries: the Mystic Traditions of Appalachia (Larry Thacker copyright 2007), 159.
63
Rex B. Valentine, Dowsing Discoveries: Finding Water and Other Mysteries, (Bloomington: Xlibris Corporation,
2009), 15.
64
Ibid., 160.
65
Julia Merchant, “The mysterious art of dowsing”, (Waynesville, VA: Smoky Mountain News, 27 June, 2007),
accessed 10 January, 2014. http://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/9684-the-mysterious-art-of-
dowsing.
66
Gerald Milnes, Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 2007), 133.

- 38 -
itself within cultures of the world.67
In the face of such a long legacy, modern dowsers still are
quite diverse in their opinions of the source of their ability to find water. Raymon Grace, a
practicing dowser from western Virginia, admits that for most of its history, dowsing was used
solely for finding water and that “there was little understanding of it. [Appalachians] knew that if
they held a forked stick of a specific tree and walked over a vein of underground water, the stick
would point downward.”68
Some believers in the art of dowsing hold that the ability derives simply from learned
behaviors, that water witching is a skill handed down from one generation to another through
techniques taught first-hand by older witches. Another take would be that some people are born
with a predisposition to be in tune with the elements or, for more mystical dowsers, the collective
subconscious of the universe. These perceptions of the gift of dowsing are not absent from
Appalachia, but are greatly shadowed by two opposing views which are far more common.
One common view held by Appalachians is that the tools used for dowsing are actually
doing all the work; the dowsers themselves are just the conduit for interpreting what the forked
branch is saying. In fact, there is even a tradition in the Ozarks, a land with a geography much
like Appalachia and populated by many out-migrated Appalachians, in which a person searching
for gold would use a forked stick with a gold ring hung around the free end; in searching for
silver, a slit was to be made in the free end and a silver coin placed inside.69
The rationale behind
this practice is that like-attracts-like, and if there were gold or silver in the ground, the metal on
the stick would be drawn to it. Since magnetism is readily observable, though not immediately
explainable without the knowledge of the science behind it, metal attracting metal makes sense
67
Evon Z. Vogt, Ray Hyman, Water Witching U.S.A., (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 12.
68
Raymon Grace, The Future is Yours: True Stories about Dowsing, Spontaneous Healing, Ghost Busting and the
Incredible Power of the Mind (Charlottesville: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2003), .
69
Vance Rudolph, Ozark Superstitions, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1947), 88.

- 39 -
via experience. In the case of water witching specifically, this is the rationale behind using a
green branch from a live tree: the stick will be attracted to the underground water and therefore
will dip, twist, or bend toward the source. For those who hold this line of reasoning, the human
element is less important, leading these dowsers to suppose that anyone who is willing to be
attentive to the movement of the dowsing utensil will be able to find water.70
The other very common understanding of dowsing is more religious, that is, that God
grants the gift of dowsing. With this line of reasoning, dowsing is unlearned, unteachable, and
“is regarded as a gift from God to serve one’s fellow humans.”71
Some who hold to this belief
see the ability as given only to those chosen to receive it, as an addition to the “gifts of the
Spirit” found in 1 Corinthians 12, while others would recognize the gift as a universal bestowal
of the Holy Spirit upon all those who have faith enough to believe. Self-identified Christian
dowsers see their practice of water witching as being directly given from God and as glorifying
to God in their success. The level of faith which one has in the practice and success of water
witching is also indicative of the level of faith of that individual in God. If they are lax in their
faith, the process may not work, on the other hand, if they have faith in God to work in the
process, the dowser will find water. While some dowsers may charge for their services, those
who see an intrinsically religious connection are far less likely to do so. Even though they cannot
explain their practice, they believe in it, perhaps even more than those who hold to different
persuasions on the origins of the power. Armed with admonitions to faith, such as that from
Matthew 17:20,72
these dowsers see their gift as a logical outpouring of the Holy Spirit within
70
Ibid., 88.
71
Allan Jabbour and Karen Singer Jabbour, Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decorations
in the Southern Appalachians, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 85.
72
Matthew 17:20 “…verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (KJV)

- 40 -
them. As explained by Sam Richardson, a North Carolinian dowser, “whether it’s this or prayer,
it’s all using the universal energy that comes to us from God.”73
Theological Implications
The overarching theology of Appalachian Folk Christianity is an accepted middle ground
between Calvinitic and Armenian beliefs. On the one hand, Appalachia is often recognized,
albeit wrongly, for its “fatalism” and the complacency of the people in accepting their lot in life
as “God’s will.” Appalachian fatalism has typically been expressed as “Calvinistic” by
researchers and reporters. Fatalism has been widely documented and even serves, at times, as a
basis for rigorous efforts towards home missionary movements, to save Appalachians from
themselves and to equip mountaineers “for full participation in the life of the nation.”74
On the
other hand, a vibrant connection with God, especially through prayer, “provides a point of
connection among many strands of Appalachian popular religiosity,” spanning denominational
and theological boundaries.75
A living faith, participatory in nature, is common in the
Appalachia, regardless of Calvinistic or Armenian tendencies of theologies.
Water witching, especially when recognized as a universal gift from God, illustrates this
tension directly: the dowser does not claim to create water, this is no parlor trick to conjure
something out of thin air; the water is there though it is unknown to those above the surface.
What water witching does then is reveal what is. God’s will is absolute, however that does not
mean that humans cannot know it and participate in it. It is this presupposition, that God can be
73
Beth Beasley, “Dowsing”, (Hendersonville, NC: BlueRidgeNow.com Times-News Online, 7 March, 2007),
accessed 10 January 2014.
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20070307/NEWS/703070305?p=4&tc=pg#gsc.tab=0
74
Henry D. Shapiro, Appalachia On Our Mind, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1978), 42.
75

- 41 -
known through the work of the Holy Spirit, that gives water witching its potency in the first
place. This theology can be seen in the Old Regular Baptist soteriology, in which a person goes
through an agonizing process of travail in seeking salvation through crying, supplications and
prayers, and public confessions. This process is not to say that the penitent is performing works
which then save their soul, but is “the product of an individual man’s or woman’s responding to
his or her individual, God-issued call.”76
Water witching demonstrates a similar tension between
the objective fact that the necessary water is just below the surface, and the subjective work of a
dowser to seek and find it.
Additionally, water witching relates to faith in the provision of God, even when it is less
than evident. The scenario of a heightened reliance upon technology and modern methods for
sustenance has already played out in relation to most national denominations, making
Christianity so compatible with modern society as to make the concept of relying upon God to
provide directly through revelation preposterous to many. However to a people with such a
preoccupation with experiential religion, the loss of experiencing God directly is catastrophic,
and I believe is illustrated in the statistics of widespread poverty which are readily available via
reports from the Appalachian Regional Commission.77
Reliance upon modern technology and
outside aide for provision, both of which are only limitedly available in the mountains, has
caused a deepening of the roots of poverty to take hold on this people.
Poverty as a tangible state existed in Appalachia in the heyday of dowsing, no doubt. But
one of the issues which must be considered is that although money itself was scarce, the concept
of poverty was not at the forefront of Appalachians’ self-identity. Instead, many families and
76
Howard Dorgan, The Old Regular Baptists of Central Appalachia (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,
1989), 21.
77
http://www.arc.gov/reports/custom_report.asp?REPORT_ID=47. accessed 14 January 2014.

- 42 -
communities in Appalachia formerly were self-sufficient, or as they would probably have
considered it, sufficient upon God, through growing their own food, bartering between neighbors
for what they needed, and treating the sick with a knowledge of nature. Combined with a
powerful, vital faith, Appalachia, although void of money, was actually considered “better off”
than the South at large from the years following the Civil War up to World War I or so.
As Appalachians began to rely more upon income, and thus on outside sources of
livelihood, for maintaining their homes, they may have come to rely less upon God’s direct
provision. The times changed, bills needed to be paid in cash, not vegetables; fuel for cars could
not be bartered for, and as technology came to the mountains, so did the influences of the wider
American society. As traditional forms of life diminish in the mountains, traditional forms of
Appalachian Folk Christianity also diminish.
The Future of Water Witching and the Exportation of Underground Grace
Even today, “water witching is very common in West Virginia.”78
“Though its use has
waned drastically in the face of progress, we do see resurgences in the use of dowsing as a means
of locating water” for the benefit of single farms to entire townships.79
There is an active chapter
of the American Society of Dowsers serving western North Carolina and upstate South
Carolina.80
In modern America, where water is as readily available as turning on the tap,
dowsing persists for numerous reasons.
Perhaps the most obvious reason for the continued practice of an outdated method of
locating water is that it works. The old saying holds true with Appalachians: if it ain’t broke,
78
Gerald Milnes, Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 2007), 133.
79
Larry Thacker, Mountain Mysteries: the Mystic Traditions of Appalachia (Larry Thacker copyright 2007), 157.
80
http://www.wncdowsers.org/. accessed 14 January 2014.

- 43 -
don’t fix it. For many in Appalachia who have witnessed the success of water witching, there is
no need for foreign methods or technologies in their search for subterranean water. If all that is
necessary is a forked stick and faith either in its intrinsic ability to be attracted to water, some
form of collective subconscious, or most commonly, God’s power to direct the dowser, then
additional means seem not only unnecessary but also evidence of a lack of faith.
Coupled with the concept that what has worked in the past will work in the future, is the
Appalachian insular mistrust of the world outside their own. This isolationism has been criticized
publicly by the wider American culture for as long as Appalachia has been inhabited. The folks
of this region have been maligned to such a degree that mistrust of concepts foreign to them
should only seem natural.
It is not necessary to assume that all Appalachians use dowsing or trust in its methods,
even in light of its success. Elder Jeff Little, moderator of the Union Old Regular Baptist Church
in Pike County, Kentucky, admits that he does not believe that dowsing works, with a caveat: “it
doesn’t really matter where you drill for water, you are likely to find it.”81
The fact of the matter
is that Appalachia is a land filled with water, both above and below the surface. The practice
works because it couldn’t help but work. The chances of striking underground water in the area
are extremely high, regardless of where one might dig.
Elder Little consents that the practice of dowsing, so far as it consists of faith in God and
not in the dowser, holds no contradiction to Christianity,82
highlighting one of the main features
of Appalachian syncretism: all things are possible with God. There is more a spirit of allowance
than forbiddance in Appalachian Folk Christianity, on the grounds that if it is not specifically
81
Elder Jeff Little, email interview, 2013.
82
Elder Jeff Little, email interview, 2013.

- 44 -
denounced in the Bible, then it is permissible. However, as noted above, divination is specifically
denounced in the Bible. Ultimately, a hermeneutic of personal intentionality is used in framing
the context of this Old Testament regulation. If the witch or diviner is using their gifts or talents
to glorify God, if their personal faith, and the faith of those around them, is in God and not
themselves or something lesser than God, then the practice is grounded in God’s power,
therefore making dowsing an extension of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This accepting agnostic view of water witching is not the only one held by Appalachian
Christians, though it may be the most common. It is not uncommon to come across “a few of the
righteous who denounce it as ‘the work of the devil.’”83
This is to be expected in any society
where the emphasis of faith is placed on the small, local congregations, many of which will have
dissenting views from others. Appalachia is far from a utopia in terms of tolerance, but it shows
some of the benefits of locality and “like-minded” fellowship, for those who are ostracized by
one group have the opportunity to find acceptance in another, therefore maintaining their own
religious liberty alongside a commitment to corporate fellowship.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of water witching is not that a practice considered a
form of divination exists within a Christian paradigm, but that there is growing interest in this
practice, and that although there are fewer practicing dowsers now than in the pioneer days of
Appalachia, the art has not died out, nor does it appear to be in its death throes. Water witching is
on the decline, this is true. However, with the application of dowsing to other mediums besides
water, an esoteric form of water witching will likely continue into the future. As Appalachia
continues to be infiltrated and influenced by outside concepts of affluence and necessity, which
83
Raymon Grace, The Future is Yours: True Stories about Dowsing, Spontaneous Healing, Ghost Busting and the
Incredible Power of the Mind (Charlottesville: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2003), .

- 45 -
seem to always leave the mountains in a position of need, dowsing continues to adapt to the
environment and serve as a theological import for discerning truth and finding life-giving
spiritual water.
All of this must be said with a very important caveat: although in form modern dowsing
seems very similar to that of Appalachian water witching, in spirit it is something altogether
different. While dowsing in Appalachia is currently being practiced, and may even be on the rise,
traditional Appalachian water witching appears to be in a terminal decline. It is my conclusion
that as technology has made the search for the necessity of locating subterranean water less
rigorous and mythical, so the traditional practice of water witching has also nearly become
obsolete. Those who practice the traditional form of using a forked branch to locate water hang
on to their tradition, but to little avail. The modern dowsers of Appalachia practice much less
with the same traditional theological presuppositions of the culture and much more with the
mystical traditions now spread via the internet and indoctrinated through national dowsing
associations and conferences. These hold little interest to the farmer who uses God’s guidance to
locate a viable spot on his property to dig a well.
The inevitable loss of the tradition of water witching for provisional means may seem to
be of no consequence, particularly to a Christian denominational culture which emphasizes
providing the cleanest, most efficient sustenance to a people group who have been deemed “in
need,” but there is an element in this practice which serves as a potent illustration of the theology
of Appalachia.
Water witching as a practice serves to bring to light the sufficiency of God’s grace below
the surface of the perceivable. This concept beautifully demonstrates the trust of God’s grace for

- 46 -
salvation, even when it is unseen. For, as stated above, dowsers do not claim to create the water,
they simply tap into what is already there; this is no “works-righteousness” theology, but instead
it is the revelation of God’s grace already present in life, which we are allowed to access through
faith. The faith of the dowser in trusting that water will be found is the same faith which
reassures all believers that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”84
By
accessing this trust in the unseen, mainstream Christianity would come to rely (again) upon the
direct provisional nature of God’s grace for both salvation and daily needs.
My studies into Appalachian Folk Christianity began as an exploration into “what is.” I
wanted to see how Appalachians believe and what of their faith may hold something beneficial
for us who are of different traditions. This journey has taken an odd, personal turn. I now wish
more than ever to present my research as a way to shed light on a dying traditional culture, which
has been overrun and brought to this terminal stage, I fear, by national denominationalism,
encroaching modernity, and the quest for conformity. My research itself has become a form of
dowsing, of finding what is lost, and bringing it to the surface. As traditional folkways, such as
water witching, become simply topics of the culture’s past, I fear that the elements of
Appalachian Folk Christianity which make it so vibrant and life-giving to the people of the
region may also fade away.
84
Romans 10:13 (KJV)

- 48 -
{ 4 }
Healing Waters
Spiritual and Natural Agents of Health
“I wandered way back in the mountains
I was searching for fortune and fame
I found where the water runs deep from the hills
they call it the medicine springs
they call it the medicine springs.”
-- Medicine Springs, Ralph Stanley
“For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water:
whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in
was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.”
-- John 5:4

- 49 -
The Power of Place
People tend to foster concepts of spiritual stimulation by coming into contact with “the
other.” This is often played out in the images which one culture or sect paints of neighboring or
distant cultures or sects, or in the concepts of exceptional worth in something unusual. It is
noteworthy that in many early American cure-books and folk remedies, contact with Native
American or African-American traditional medicine practitioners was often prescribed, and it
was believed that any individual of another race might possess magical methods or skill in
healing. Especially in Appalachia, where pioneers early on and continuously made contact with
Native Americans, the cross-pollination of their spiritual beliefs, in association with the land
itself, were common. It was widely disseminated that “the Cherokee and the European settlers
and their descendants shared the perception of Appalachia as a salubrious, healing
environment,”85
and that “healing water was a key feature of Appalachia as therapeutic
landscape.”86
Appalachia as an environment of health was long held sacred by Native Americans,
especially in their recollection of “medicine springs” or places where hot, typically sulfur or salt-
laden water, bubbled out of the ground in natural pools. These were revealed to pioneers, and
towns such as Hot Springs, North Carolina; Bath, West Virginia; and Maces Springs, Virginia,
sprang up around these sites. The locales were not known only by locals, but also by the
inhabitants of the colonial provinces along the Atlantic coast. The popularity of Appalachian
healing springs was then bolstered by the spread of the popular medical belief of water-treatment
85
Anthony Cavender, Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press,
2003), 55.
86
Ibid., 56.

- 50 -
in the mid-19th
century. Before long, various Appalachian spring towns were transformed into
some of the most luxurious tourist lodgings in the nation.
With the first settlement of Appalachia came the stigma of separation between
Appalachia and America. Appalachian subculture was attributed the status of “other” and the
people which made up the population of the mountains both resented and fostered this dichotomy
in different ways. By holding to their traditional beliefs, fierce clanism, and Old World folkways,
Appalachians created their own identity while supporting some of the stereotypes thrust upon
them by the wider American public. When these two cultures come into contact with one
another, even to this day, there seems to be a sense of distance and mystery, of uncertainty in the
unknown “other.” This uncertainty paved the way for exploitation, but also for an odd sort of
appreciation. Appalachia, in the 19th
century especially, was seen as a pristine haven against the
figurative and literal ills of society.
It should come as no shock the exploitation that took place in turning Appalachia into a
commercial enterprise. Many Americans are familiar with the plight of coal mining in the region.
What is not widely known is that this modern form of outsider usurpation was preceded by the
logging industry, which did incalculable, irreversible amounts of damage to the native forests of
the mountains. This, in turn, was preceded by the capitalization of health-tourism, spurred by
popular medicine mixed with folk beliefs, and numerous outbreaks of deadly disorders, such as
tuberculosis, in the more populated, lowland areas of the Eastern United States. Perhaps it is the
unsurpassable natural beauty of the place, or the spiritual agitation of coming into contact with
“the other,” or the belief that because of its isolation, Appalachia holds some preserved element
which has allowed its people to survive and may be exported to the rest of the nation to aid in

- 51 -
wider growth. Whatever it is, healing springs were destined to become a source of entrance to the
mountains for urban Americans.
On the other hand, one must also look at this brief economic history in terms of self-
exploitation. Appalachians were not simply complacent in the ravaging of their homeland, as
aborigines ignorant of economic theory. Indeed, looking specifically at the topic of this chapter,
healing springs, Appalachians themselves advertised and bolstered the exploitation of this
traditional medical practice in the mountains. In fact, the over-abundance of “healing springs”
and the tourist spas and resorts which dotted the landscape especially in the years following the
Civil War helped recover losses sustained by the war itself. This points to a very important
economic factor: some Appalachians knew what they were doing by drawing the wider
population into the mountains to spend time, resources, and money there. The economic benefits
that these spas brought to the mountains blurs the facts around just how heavily Appalachians
actually believed in the efficacy of healing springs and the economics behind selling the
experience to outsiders. Perhaps Appalachians, who were, and still are, often disregarded as
ignorant or unlettered, were pulling the wool over the eyes of the greatest figures of the
American elite.
In totality, Appalachians opening their world to outsiders should be seen through the light
of hospitality, not trickery. It is evident that belief in the efficacy of the springs existed within
Appalachian Folk Christianity, and regardless of the economic advantages of the self-
exploitation of this belief, Appalachian hospitality is witnessed in the sharing of these springs.
Healing springs have always been communal, even when located on private property. The
invitation from the mountains to the mainstream to come and partake of these waters is an
extension of a foundational cultural and religious belief in hospitality.

- 52 -
General Description
As in other parts of the world, in Appalachia, “healing springs are usually defined as
springs of varying temperature containing minerals, gases, and vapors that are likely to bring
about specific therapeutic effects on the human body, such as changes in body temperature and
in the functioning of the glands, the heart, the circulatory system, the immune system, the
muscles, and the skin.”87
These springs are common around the world, and various cultures
throughout history have attributed healing to the efficacy of their power. It is interesting to note
that in the British Isles, where the vast majority of Appalachian settlers hailed from, innumerable
wells and springs with medicinal powers attributed to the blessings conferred by patron saints dot
the landscape. The trust in these wells to provide healing was limited mostly to the Roman
Catholic populations of Ireland, Scotland, and England. The belief was not widely accepted by
the large Protestant groups which came to America. However, in coming to America, these
settlers fostered their own beliefs in similar natural phenomena, attributing their discovery to the
Native Americans. Interesting parallels between Roman Catholics and Native Americans in the
popular English psyche through the period of settlement of the New World have been raised
before, further bolstering the mystical intrigue and suspicion associated with coming into contact
with the “other.” 88
The healing springs of Appalachia are generally regarded in folk-scientific terms. Sulfur
and salt are often correctly used as descriptors of sites, these minerals being among the most
recognizable to the general population due to their smell and taste. The effectiveness of these
minerals in the healing process is speculative to mainstream science, but long-celebrated in folk
87
Nathaniel Altman, Healing Springs: The Ultimate Guide to Taking the Waters, (Rochester: Healing Arts Press,
2000), 15.
88
Rodger Cunningham, Apples on the Flood, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 72.

- 53 -
medicinal practices. The important thing to note is that for the most part, in opposition to the
theories of blessed wells in the British Isles, healing springs in Appalachia are seemingly
pseudo-scientific and not considered overtly religious. The effects of the enlightenment on the
population of settlers in America and Appalachia must be taken into consideration. The
rationalization of reality was not confined to the elite and wealthy thinkers but to the citizenship
at large. It is often noted that America was a hyper-religious nation at the time of founding.
However, American religiosity was typically considered “experiential,” participatory and
tangible, in nature. This term is very much still applicable to Appalachian sentiment. American
religion also consisted of a “scientific” predisposition to the observable. Frontier religion was
most shaped by observation, and if that observation included witnessing or experiencing first-
hand the healing powers of certain springs, then that was factored into the pantheon of religious
belief within Christianity.
The actual methods of partaking of the healing waters of these springs differ with the user
and the water itself. Sometimes ingestion of the water was the prescription, particularly for
“blood thinning” or digestive disorders. More common was the method of soaking in the springs
themselves and “sweating out” the toxins that supposedly causes illness.89
The sweating out
process was considered particularly effective with suffers of “jake leg,” a sort of alcohol
poisoning common amongst the poorer classes of the time.90
In addition, particular springs and
the elements contained therein may provide healing for particular disorders, as is demonstrated in
89
Anthony Cavender, Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2003), 57.
90
Ibid., 111.

- 54 -
the belief of the “residents (of Cocke County, Tennessee)… that each of the seven springs
located on English Mountain ‘kills a different disease.’”91
Springs of the nature studied in this research can be found in nearly any terrain, and the
same holds true for Appalachia. However, not every such spring became a center for healing.
The most popular healing springs were also those located in the most attractive locales. These
less accessible, more attractive healing springs developed into health spas by the early 19th
Century. These spas were “purposefully situated at springs located at remote, high-elevation
sites, reflecting the long-held belief… that the cool, fresh air of the mountains was healthier than
the putrid air of towns and cities.”92
The popularity of such spas only increased following the
Civil War to the point that “Virginia society literally moved to the mountains in summer time,”93
highlighting another feature of these healing springs: recreation.
Just as in former times, pilgrimages to holy sites, including blessed wells, were taken not
only by the truly devout but most likely by the truly bored; so it was with visitations to healing
springs in Appalachia. It only takes a brief read of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to discover the
less-than-holy nature of former pilgrimages. The principle purpose of visiting healing springs in
Appalachia lies more in the “visiting” and less in the “healing,” thus demonstrating an alternative
form of healing which these springs provided, one of community. As places of gathering, the
healing springs of Appalachia began to be supplemented with aesthetically pleasing furnishing
such as bath houses and canopies to keep residents in comfort while enjoying company and
homeopathic medicine. In essence, healing springs supplied folks with holistic healing long
91
Ibid., 57.
92
Ibid., 57.
93
Richard B. Drake, A History of Appalachia, (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001)

- 55 -
before the concept came into vogue, simply by their innate ability to bring people together. This
was in turn advertised by Appalachians to the wider American public, and scores of folks from
across the nation established these places as their vacation resorts of choice. Especially following
the brutality and the wreckage left in families and communities across Appalachia with the Civil
War, community healing was needed. The inherent hospitality of Appalachians in reaching out to
those who had ostracized and even persecuted them throughout the war aided in healing the war-
wracked nation’s wounds.
In connection to the influx of outsiders willing to pay money to enjoy the natural
splendor of Appalachia, the healing springs also provided economic healing for a people left
reeling by the effects of the Civil War. Although before the war, much of Appalachia would have
been considered better off than other regions of the lowland south,94
it could be argued that the
region never truly recovered this stability, and today consistently ranks as one of the most
impoverished areas of America. However, in the late 19th
Century especially, “tourism was the…
major business in the mountains to take advantage of the improvement of transportation,”
especially the development of roads and railroads into the more remote locations suited for
healing springs spa resorts.95
Almost all tourism in Appalachia at the time was situated around
these healing springs, causing towns which had before the war had been thriving centers of
business for outsider trade to revive to life again with new infusions of cash.
Theological Interpretations of Folk Science
From the beginning, healing springs in Appalachia existed within a decidedly naturalistic
cosmological view, fitting quite nicely into the understanding of healing held by many
94
John C. Inscoe and Gordon B. McKinney, The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the
Civil War, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 15.
95
Ibid., 280.

- 56 -
Appalachians.96
From the days of settlement until today, “religion, contrary to popular belief,
does not figure prominently in the folk etiology of illness among low-income Appalachians.”97
Similar to the practice of water witching, faith is nuanced when it comes to healing springs. The
power to heal is simply observed in the springs, and since believing in their ability to heal, so
long as it does not diminish the power ultimately coming from God, is compatible with
Christianity, it therefore poses no threat to the integrity of any particular Christian’s faith. As a
part of creation, these springs were given by God for the benefit of those who were in need, and
therefore situates perfectly even in a robust Christian faith.
It is difficult to determine further what implications arise from the interaction between
the efficacy of naturalist healing methods with Christianity in universal terms. However, it
should be noted that churches in Appalachia are typically named for place-markers, and that
there are not a few named after known healing springs. These are situated near the springs, likely
because the springs were known and used, and therefore a convenient spot to attract parishioners,
and also for the use of the waters for the parishioners own sake. One of particular note is the
Baptist Church of Christ, of the Healing Springs, in the Barnwell District, which was
incorporated on December 21, 1804.98
This church was founded by Nathaniel Walker, a known “Indian trader” and Baptist
minister. The site at which the church is located was known since colonial times for the healing
springs nearby. The story goes that during the Revolutionary War, six Tory soldiers were sent
inland and were wounded in battle with the Americans. Natives found them and brought them to
the healing springs, after partaking of which all six recovered from their presumably fatal
96
Anthony Cavender, Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2003), 67.
97
Ibid., 180.
98
Leah Townsend, South Carolina Baptists 1670-1805, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003) 172.

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