Hatfields and McCoys

I live about two hours from where the Hatfields and McCoys had their spat. I had heard that you could visit where some of the happenings took place. I did that yesterday. It was an all day experience. Part of that was due to getting lost a couple of times. There is a detailed brochure/map of the spots. I talked with the guy who wrote it, who knows all the history of the feud. And that armed with my gps - what could go wrong? Turns out the mileage on his map was wrong once, and my gps is wrong a lot of the time. "Continue straight for the next 8 miles. Make a U-turn as soon as possible." She will often say something stupid like that. One conflicting sentence after another. She (I assume my gps is a she since it has problems with directions. Rimshot.) is right about 98% of the time. Those other 2% get stressful.

First stop was Pikeville. Pikeville was named for explorer Zebulon Pike, even though he wasn't born there or has any discernible ties to the city. I guess they just admired him. The feud wasn't actually fought there, but several are buried there. There was a trial and one was found guilty and hung there. The cemetery ironically has Hatfields and McCoys buried next to each other. The McCoy leader, Randall McCoy, is buried there.

I know quite a bit about the feud because of the book, Blood Feud, and watching the Kevin Costner mini-series. I've seen the mini-series a couple of times. The first time I don't think I paid good enough attention. Since it was pretty much a war, they should have worn uniforms. I would have had a much easier time of it. Even the second time I saw it, I was kind of confused at times. I think my gps and I had the same designer. Several times I thought "I'm lost", but that is a thought I have at some point of virtually every movie I ever watch.

Anyway, Pikeville also had the courthouse where the trial was held, the grave of Perry Cline (he was the slimy lawyer in the mini-series, although, not so much in real life) and where they hung Cotton Top. He was probably retarded and maybe technically guilty, but not nearly as much as others. Where he was hung is now a dorm for University of Pikeville. (UP - giggle).

I've got more H&M stories, so Part II is a later blog.