Petros is a small community (population 1,400) in the northeast portion of Morgan County. At one time a major coal mining community with several stores and a bank, Petros is now crippled by the decline of the deep coal mining industry. In 1890, Tennessee built a state prison in Petros, Brushy State Penitentiary, which housed James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin, and up until mid-1972 employed 180 men, 40 of whom lived in Petros. Because of an attempt to form a guard’s union, the Govern0r [sic] closed the prison permanently, again adding to the economic difficulties. It is now a distillery. Petros might also lose its Post Office and certainly will suffer a decline in population. But if the people leave, it is not because they want to. They will not be happy away from their families, the mountains, and their heritage.
Petros also suffers politically with the county, partly because of geography. It is on the other side of the mountain from Wartburg, the county seat. Wartburg has been designated a growth area, and because of this designation, State and Federal funds are concentrated there.
See page 23 of the 1972-1973 Annual Report for more information.
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Emma Ruth “Kate” Hobbs Bradley was born 13 October 1932 in Petros, Tenn., a small Appalachian coalfield community in the Cumberland Mountains. Kate was the sixth of seven surviving children in her family. Her father was a coalminer. Kate married…
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Jacob “J.W.” Bradley was born on 29 June 1930 and raised in Petros, Tenn., a small Appalachian coalfield community in the Cumberland Mountains. J.W. married Emma “Kate” Hobbs in 1951. As an adult, J.W. worked several jobs. At eighteen he…
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Bill Dow co-founded the Student Health Coalition while in medical school at Vanderbilt University, in 1969. His larger-than-life role in the SHC origin story and beyond warrants special telling, which we attempt in the essay that follows. Contributed by Margaret…
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Randy graduated Vanderbilt with a degree in civil engineering in 1975. Randy first worked with the SHC helping to construct the Petros Health Clinic in 1973. He served as SHC co-director from 1973-1974 and as a community worker in Jacksboro,…
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Betty Anderson shares how she first became involved with Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and the Student Health Coalition. Included in her account is a story about how she and others responded to opposition of the rural health clinics in…
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Janie Hiserote talks about being a nurse practitioner providing family and community care in the communities of Petros and Coalfield, Tennessee. She shares a touching story about attending to a dying man in the middle of the night and the…
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Caryl Carpenter, former administrator of the Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) of East Tennessee, talks about challenges in the structure of MPHC, which was founded in 1974 as a coalition of three rural health clinics in Norma (Scott County), Petros…
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Charles “Boomer” Winfrey and Maureen O’Connell discuss the local healthcare setting upon Save Our Cumberland Mountain’s (SOCM) and the Student Health Coalition’s (SHC) early stages of community organizing in East Tennessee. Maureen details several local factors which established a major…
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Caryl Carpenter, former administrator of the Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) of East Tennessee, talks about her experiences with MPHC, which was founded in 1974 as a coalition of three rural health clinics in Norma (Scott County), Petros (Morgan County)…
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This interview with J.W. Bradley and Kate Bradley is a follow up to interview U-0803. J.W. Bradley was born in Petros, Tenn., a coalfield community in the Cumberlands. He served as deputy sheriff in Petros. He was one of the…
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Stuart, Reginald. “Higher Appalachia Taxes Asked.” New York Times, June 22, 1974. Read article online.
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Kollar, Robert. “Health care for those off the beaten path.” Tennessee Valley Authority, post-1975. View PDF. More on the Tennessee Valley Authority:
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Topics discussed in this interview with Kate Bradley and J.W. Bradley include: birth in Petros, Tenn.; life history overview; coal mining father; history of Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM); women’s role in SOCM; relationship of Vanderbilt University medical students; Student…
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