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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Dozens of park-goers poured into the Oak Mountain State Park office to attend “From Highlands to Hollers,” a lecture about Scottish/Irish influence on Appalachian culture, on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Presented by Oak Mountain State Parks’ naturalist Lauren Massey and assistant park naturalist Anna Ruth Davis, “From Highlands to Hollers” experienced a brief delay due to relocation. The original site of the event was changed due to the number of attendees, so the group gathered in the park’s main office to hear the lecture.

Massey explained that Appalachia is heavily influenced by Scottish/Irish culture due to multiple reasons, including geography. The mountain ranges of Appalachia, Ireland and Scotland all used to be one mountain range, but are now separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

“You’re in the very tail end of the Appalachian Mountains right now,” Massey said. “A lot of people don’t realize that Oak Mountain is a part of the Appalachian Mountains, but it is. The Appalachian Mountain Range actually goes all the way up over the Eastern Seaboard into Scotland and Ireland and parts of Africa.”

In addition to similarities in geography, Appalachia experiences lots of similarities in culture due to heavy immigration from the British Isles caused by the Irish Potato Famine and the Highland Clearances following the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-46.

According to Massey, the heavy influence of Irish/Scottish culture can be seen in several aspects of Appalachian life, including music, food and folk tales. One example discussed in the program was dancing.

In Ireland, Irish step dancing is an incredibly intricate style of dance characterized by stiff, straight arms and the rhythmic tapping of feet. Massey compared this to flatfooting, an Appalachian dance style similar to clogging.

Beyond geography and music, Massey discussed how the areas have similar craftwork, such as quilting and weaving, but that Appalachian versions frequently also feature influence from Native American and African traditions.

The “From Highlands to Hollers” program did not end with the history lecture, but also gave guests the opportunity to make their own Brigid Cross.

As attendees gathered to try their hand at weaving a cross, Massey shared that the Oak Mountain State Park plans to hold an Appalachian cultural festival on Nov. 8, 2025.

“We are actually going to launch our very first annual Appalachian festival here at the park,” Massey said. “It’s going to be a lot of storytelling around the fire and we’re going to have vendors that are truly Appalachian makers.”

Those interested in learning more about the Oak Mountain State Park and their educational programming can visit Alapark.com/parks/oak-mountain-state-park/park-events.