Kyle Green for The New York Times
The Hatfield cemetery in Sarah Ann, W.Va. The Hatfield-McCoy feud officially ended in 2003 with a truce by the families, who are working together to promote tourism in the region.
Kyle Green for The New York Times
Emily Chaney performing a skit on the Hatfields at the cemetery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places but has fallen into disrepair.
Kyle Green for The New York Times
Ron McCoy, left, and Reo Hatfield. "If tourism goes away, it’s still my family,” Mr. McCoy said. “But we know the Hatfields and McCoys can be a real boon to this area.”
The New York Times
The area where the Hatfields and McCoys lived and where many of them are buried.
Kyle Green for The New York Times
The grave of William Anderson Hatfield, known as Devil Anse.
Kyle Green for The New York Times
The tombstone of the McCoy patriarch, Randolph, in Pikeville, Ky.
Hatfields and McCoys: bitter rivals to tourism draw
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DenverPost.com
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SARAH ANN, W.Va. — Standing on the back of an Appalachian hillside, Reo Hatfield fixed his gaze over the land of his infamous forebears, a scowl etched across his face.
Before him, the graves in the Hatfield Family Cemetery had surrendered to years of gravity and weather, slender headstones slumped and overgrown, the inscriptions of some erased by time.
"They come here with expectations of seeing something special," he said. "But you start up the road, and you can hardly walk up there. And once you get there, the graves are unkept, and the fence that guards the gravesite has fallen down in numerous places."
Four years ago, Hatfield approached West Virginia officials with a plan to clean up the cemetery, but they have been unable to determine whose land it is. The owner's approval is needed for the project to go forward, so nothing has happened. The lack of progress has frustrated Hatfield, who called the initiative a goodwill effort by both families after their truce in June 2003.
Local tourism departments, along with members of the Hatfield and McCoy families, are working to transform feud folklore into a dependable source of jobs and revenue for Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, a region facing the twilight of coal. In the past year, communities along the Tug Fork, the stream that is the state boundary in the area, have witnessed a surge in out-of-town foot traffic, tourists by the thousands drawn to the region in search of history.
Officials on both sides of the river attribute the increase to "Hatfields & McCoys," a 2012 History Channel miniseries that told the families' story. There is an urgency to capitalize on the show, Hatfield said, and to promote the feud as a major draw to the region.
In Pike County, Ky., thousands of state dollars have been funneled to the local tourism department to that end. Tony Tackett, the county's executive director of tourism, said his office had spent close to $40,000 in state money on billboards and a national advertising campaign since April 2012.
"The mines are shutting down every day," Tackett said. "We have to put our people back to work."
As Hatfield left the site of his family's cemetery on an April afternoon, Adam Warren stepped off a rented bus with a tour group. Warren said he decided to start his own business, Hatfield & McCoy Guided Tours, shortly after the History Channel show ended.
"As soon as the miniseries came out, we had tons of people showing up, looking for sites," he said. "I was home, applying everywhere away from here because I didn't want to work in the mines. But here I am. This is what I do."
The family feud — which some say started over a pig, and with a stabbing at a polling place — officially ended in 2003, after more than a century, when the families united in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks to show that they could overcome their differences and stand in solidarity, Hatfield said.
The last feud-related death has been traced to the spring of 1947, but a majority of the violence took place in the late 1800s, when dozens of Hatfields and McCoys died in tit-for-tat skirmishes.
Stepping around the cemetery with his customers — on that day the Romeos (Retired Old Men Eating Out) of Ashland, Ky. — Warren expressed concern about the state of the site.
Officials with the West Virginia Division of Culture and History said that they had fielded phone calls about the care of the Hatfield Family Cemetery but that the burden of site upkeep fell to the property owner. The state does not police the conditions of sites.
"People are concerned that it be taken care of, that it continue to be mowed, that it's accessible," said Susan Pierce, the deputy state historic preservation officer. "I know my mother would complain if she went up there."
Before him, the graves in the Hatfield Family Cemetery had surrendered to years of gravity and weather, slender headstones slumped and overgrown, the inscriptions of some erased by time.
The graveyard, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has become a focal point for Hatfield, 63, a Virginia businessman seeking to restore and preserve the cemetery in hopes of luring tourists eager to learn about the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
It is a burial spot for members of both families — some of whom died in the 19th-century interfamily war over land and family honor."They come here with expectations of seeing something special," he said. "But you start up the road, and you can hardly walk up there. And once you get there, the graves are unkept, and the fence that guards the gravesite has fallen down in numerous places."
Four years ago, Hatfield approached West Virginia officials with a plan to clean up the cemetery, but they have been unable to determine whose land it is. The owner's approval is needed for the project to go forward, so nothing has happened. The lack of progress has frustrated Hatfield, who called the initiative a goodwill effort by both families after their truce in June 2003.
Local tourism departments, along with members of the Hatfield and McCoy families, are working to transform feud folklore into a dependable source of jobs and revenue for Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, a region facing the twilight of coal. In the past year, communities along the Tug Fork, the stream that is the state boundary in the area, have witnessed a surge in out-of-town foot traffic, tourists by the thousands drawn to the region in search of history.
Officials on both sides of the river attribute the increase to "Hatfields & McCoys," a 2012 History Channel miniseries that told the families' story. There is an urgency to capitalize on the show, Hatfield said, and to promote the feud as a major draw to the region.
In Pike County, Ky., thousands of state dollars have been funneled to the local tourism department to that end. Tony Tackett, the county's executive director of tourism, said his office had spent close to $40,000 in state money on billboards and a national advertising campaign since April 2012.
"The mines are shutting down every day," Tackett said. "We have to put our people back to work."
As Hatfield left the site of his family's cemetery on an April afternoon, Adam Warren stepped off a rented bus with a tour group. Warren said he decided to start his own business, Hatfield & McCoy Guided Tours, shortly after the History Channel show ended.
"As soon as the miniseries came out, we had tons of people showing up, looking for sites," he said. "I was home, applying everywhere away from here because I didn't want to work in the mines. But here I am. This is what I do."
The family feud — which some say started over a pig, and with a stabbing at a polling place — officially ended in 2003, after more than a century, when the families united in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks to show that they could overcome their differences and stand in solidarity, Hatfield said.
The last feud-related death has been traced to the spring of 1947, but a majority of the violence took place in the late 1800s, when dozens of Hatfields and McCoys died in tit-for-tat skirmishes.
Stepping around the cemetery with his customers — on that day the Romeos (Retired Old Men Eating Out) of Ashland, Ky. — Warren expressed concern about the state of the site.
Officials with the West Virginia Division of Culture and History said that they had fielded phone calls about the care of the Hatfield Family Cemetery but that the burden of site upkeep fell to the property owner. The state does not police the conditions of sites.
"People are concerned that it be taken care of, that it continue to be mowed, that it's accessible," said Susan Pierce, the deputy state historic preservation officer. "I know my mother would complain if she went up there."
By contrast, Dils Cemetery in Pikeville, Ky. — the grave of the McCoy family patriarch, Randolph McCoy, and other family members — was once an eyesore, but it has been restored and is now heavily advertised as a must-see spot.
Standing in the cemetery with Hatfield, Randolph McCoy's great-great-great-grandson, Ron McCoy, 49, sympathized with his friend and the rest of the region.
"If tourism goes away, it's still my family," said McCoy, a finance officer for the state of North Carolina. "But we know the Hatfields and McCoys can be a real boon to this area."
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