From Big Stone Gap to Hollywood: The Enduring Legacy of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Who was the first American author to sell a million copies of a novel?
If you stopped folks on the street in New York City and asked, you'd probably hear the usual names. Mark Twain. Ernest Hemingway. F. Scott Fitzgerald. William Faulkner. Maybe even John Steinbeck. Few people would answer John Fox Jr., and fewer still would tell you he lived in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
Yet in 1908, Fox published The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, a novel that would eventually sell roughly two million copies and become one of the great publishing successes of its era. Today we're used to hearing about global bestsellers selling tens of millions of copies, but back then America had fewer than 90 million people, books were expensive (No Paperback Books), and there was no television, internet, or social media helping authors find an audience.
What Fox accomplished was extraordinary. He took a story rooted in the mountains of Southwest Virginia and turned it into a national phenomenon. Readers who had never set foot in Appalachia found themselves following the lives of June Tolliver and Jack Hale, caught between mountain traditions, family feuds, romance, and the arrival of a changing world. The novel introduced millions of Americans to a region they knew little about except through rumor and stereotype.
Success on that scale rarely stays confined to the printed page. Broadway stage adaptations followed, and Hollywood soon came calling. The most famous adaptation arrived in 1936 when The Trail of the Lonesome Pine reached movie screens starring rising actor Henry Fonda alongside Sylvia Sidney and Fred MacMurray. The film is remembered not only for its cast, but because it helped demonstrate the future of color filmmaking. Audiences accustomed to black-and-white movies suddenly saw Appalachian mountains and forests brought to life through Technicolor photography. In an unexpected twist, a story born in the coalfields of Virginia played a role in changing the motion picture industry.
More than a quarter-century later, the story found a new home.
In 1964 Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House, the Beatles were climbing the charts, and the Civil Rights Act became law. That same year, in the hometown of John Fox Jr., local leaders launched The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama. Few could have imagined the production would still be drawing audiences more than sixty years later.
Today the drama stands as Virginia's official outdoor drama and one of the longest-running outdoor productions in America. Generations of actors, musicians, directors, and volunteers have kept the story alive beneath the summer sky in Big Stone Gap, each adding their own chapter while remaining faithful to the spirit of Fox's original work.
The current season marks the 63rd year of the production and the first under director Lonijonli Fox. Although young by theater standards, Fox brings nearly two decades of experience to the role. She has performed throughout the Tri-Cities TN region, worked in film projects, and spent months studying previous versions of the script, researching the original novel, and consulting local historians before developing this year's production.
One of the traditions that makes the outdoor drama unique is that each director is allowed to put a personal stamp on the story. Fox embraced that challenge by studying seven previous scripts while digging through a well-worn copy of the novel filled with notes and observations. Her adaptation expands the role of the rival Falin family, adds touches of humor, and balances romance, feuding families, and mountain history in a way she hopes will appeal to longtime fans and first-time visitors alike.
Describing the story, she laughs and says it's "Romeo and Juliet with a better ending!"
Visitors quickly discover the production is much more than a play. A live band performs before the show, audience members are selected to serve as jurors during the famous courtroom scene, and local folklore remains woven throughout the evening. Fairy stones, mountain traditions, and stories handed down through generations continue to find their way onto the stage.
The history of the drama is also tied closely to the Polly family. When the production first opened in 1964, Barbara Polly portrayed June Tolliver, helping establish the character for generations of theatergoers. For many longtime audience members, she became the face of June herself and the Drama.
The family's connection to storytelling didn't end there. Barbara's son, John Polly, grew up with roots in Big Stone Gap and the legacy of the outdoor drama. Today he is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and Co-Executive Producer of RuPaul's Drag Race. It's another reminder that the influence of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine stretches far beyond Southwest Virginia to Hollywood of today.
That may be the most remarkable thing about this story. It never stayed in one place. It began as a novel written by a mountain author, traveled to Broadway and Hollywood, found a permanent home on an outdoor stage in Big Stone Gap, and continues to influence artists and storytellers more than a century after John Fox Jr. first put pen to paper.
In an age when most entertainment arrives through a phone screen, there's something comforting about that. On summer nights in Big Stone Gap, the lights still come up, the music still plays, and a tale first told in 1908 continues to find a new audience.
To experience the story for yourself, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama is performed at the Barbara Polly Theater in Big Stone Gap. Performances are held on Friday and Saturday evenings June 5th through August 8Th . Gates open at 7:00 p.m., the pre-show begins at 7:15 p.m., and the main performance starts at 8:00 p.m. General admission is $15, with discounts available for seniors, military members, and children. Whether you've seen the show a dozen times or never once sat beneath the summer sky at the Barbara Polly Theater, this season offers another opportunity to experience a piece of Appalachian history that has entertained audiences for more than six decades.
John W Peace II
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